The wonder stick

by Stanton A. Coblentz

It was many minutes before, his savage hunger appeased, Ru began to observe his surroundings. But when his huge portion of meat had been cleared away almost to the bone and he was toying pleasantly with the few remaining fragments, he took careful note of the details of the cavern. The section occupied by his people was higher-roofed and far wider than the average, and reached for hundreds of yards without the usual turns and windings; while the proximity of the open air was revealed by a steady white light that shone in through an opening some distance beyond. Ru was surprised to see that the walls about him were blackened as with the smoke of many fires, and that on the ground was a fine gray dust as of accumulated ash.

But he was less interested in his physical surroundings than in the individuals composing the throng about him. Among them he recognized Woonoo the Hot-Blooded and Kuff the Bear-Hunter; but after a while he caught sight of more welcome features, and felt a great warmth rising within him as the sparkling glance of Yonyo the Smiling-Eyed fell upon him. In her expression there was a silent greeting, which he silently returned, and which filled him with more gladness than words could have done. She did not come forward to speak to him, nor make any demonstration; and he knew that this was because of her fear of Grumgra and Grumgra's terrible jealousy. Yet, when at length he questioned the people, and again asked how they had chanced to be in this cave, it was she who undertook to answer.

"We have not much to tell you, Ru," she said, while she smilingly looked him full in the face. "After we saw you go into the cave, all the people stood waiting a long, long while outside, thinking you would soon come out. But you did not come, and at last it grew dark, and terrible things were whispered among us, for it was said that the bad spirits of the cave had taken you, so that you could never come back. That night we camped on the river bank just under the cave, but when the sun came up you were still away, and we thought that you were dead.... And that thought was like a great pain, Ru.

"Only Grumgra did not believe you had died. He said the Sparrow-Hearted had run away, and should be punished. But not many of us believed him, for had anyone seen you come out? And so when Grumgra asked for someone else to go into the cave, we all cried out that the cave-gods were evil, and would strike down any man they could catch. And no one could be found to go in; and at last we had to go on and look for another cave.

"But we did not have to look far. The sun was not yet in the middle of the skies when we saw another opening high up in the rocks. Grumgra sent Mumlo the Trail-Finder to climb into it; and soon he came back and told us it was big and empty, so that we could all go to live there. And this we did, and the cave he saw was the one we are in now. We have spent one night here already, and Grumgra says this is to be our cave always."

Yonyo paused, and over Ru's mind flashed the explanation of his sudden reunion with his people. The cave had more than one entrance—possibly many entrances far apart and connected by long winding galleries; and he had entered by one of these gateways, and, without knowing it, had been making his way toward another.

But as this comforting solution came to him he recalled once more the pile of bones in the twilight grotto—and the battered human skulls. And the terror and mystery of the cave seemed as great as ever!

Yonyo's next words only confirmed Ru's apprehensions. "Many of our people think we should not stay in this cave," proceeded the Smiling-Eyed, while her auditors nodded agreement. "They say there are bad spirits here, who will bring great harm to us unless we go away. And they are right in saying this, for we have found some things which the spirits have forgotten and left behind them. On the floor we saw the ashes of the fires that the spirits have lighted, and the black bones from the feasts that the spirits have eaten; and we picked up the broken flint tools that the spirits have used, and a great club all colored and marked with dried blood. This is an evil sign, as Zunzun the Marvel-Worker will tell you. What do you think, Ru?"

"I think the Smiling-Eyed speaks wisely," declared Ru. "It is true—the cave is filled with bad spirits. And some of these look like men, but have the hearts of hyenas and eat other men. You shall see them soon, very soon—unless you go to some other cave."

Ru dropped into a frowning silence, and low murmurs of dread and horror shuddered through the assemblage. But almost instantly there sounded an authoritative bellow, which drowned out every other voice.