gonch was not dead although a few moments more of kutnar’s throttling grip would have made him so beyond question. some men are hard to kill. gonch was of that kind. even as he lay, to all appearances, stiff and stark, the life-blaze flickered feebly, gathered fresh strength and flared up. his chest heaved, he uttered a deep sigh, then groaned and opened his eyes.
for a moment he was dazed by the position in which he found himself. he lay sprawling in the snow among the bushes, staring at the sky. far in the distance, he could see the peak of castillo. the sun setting behind the mountain-top, crowned it with a rubescent halo. the day was nearing its close.
gonch gnashed his teeth with terrible rage as he remembered why it was he lay there. he, warrior and second man of the castillan tribe, had been bested by a boy. his humiliation was beyond power to describe. his hate and fury were even worse. he would have given his last drop of life-blood for a chance to grapple again with kutnar but this opportunity was denied him, for the lad was gone.
[165]
“gonch recovered by degrees”
[166]
gonch recovered by degrees. he lifted his head and shoulders, supporting himself in a couchant position upon his elbows. there he rested for a time gathering renewed vigor from the fresh air with which he now filled his lungs. he raised himself to a sitting position. the wind sweeping down upon him from the northeast was biting cold. he shivered. “i will surely die if i stay here much longer,” he thought as he observed the sky’s fading light. he must get back to castillo somehow and it must be done soon, before sundown. the cave-men might find him, true enough but not before morning. by that time he would be frozen solid and past mentioning. he could almost feel the rending teeth as his mates ripped the flesh from his bones. “not that—not that!” he whined in an agony of terror. the fear of being eaten gave him strength. he grit his teeth in desperation and was soon crawling through the snow on his hands and knees toward the distant mountain.
it was black dark and the cave-men were snoring out their sleep when the night fire watcher heard cries coming from far down the mountain side. he listened and recognized them as those of a human being, so he went down and found the muskman crawling upward his laborious way. with the man’s aid, gonch was brought to the top where he fell exhausted beside the fire. this aroused some of the sleepers and they issued from the cave-entrance to learn what was the matter. at sight of their distressed comrade, they made so much ado[167] that soon the whole tribe was wide awake and stirring. the giant hetman came forth and prodded gonch with his foot. “you are late,” he grumbled and then looked all about him. “where is the boy? he went with you. where is he now?”
“gone,” the muskman moaned feebly.
“gone?” totan observed his henchman’s torn throat. he howled vindictively as the truth dawned upon him. “and your ax; it too seems to have disappeared. did boy and ax go together?”
it was in gonch’s mind to tell a falsehood ascribing his condition to the fury of some fierce beast, but he was too exhausted to think of aught but kutnar’s escape and the necessity for immediate pursuit. “yes,” he groaned. “the boy struck me down and escaped. he must be followed and brought back.”
the hetman scowled and grinned with cruel malice. “in good time,” he sneered. “he who allows himself to be mauled by a boy, may not give commands. we are not bats to fly around in the darkness and bump our heads to no purpose. the boy will not have gone far. at the first sign of light, we will feast and be on our way to find him.”
“feast?” inquired one of the men. “on what?”
“this,” replied the hetman digging his toes into gonch’s ribs. “he promised to bring us the mammoth man and failed. he has lost us our most expert hunter. empty boasts are fit only to fill empty stomachs. tell me, hungry men, what is the penalty?”
[168]
“death,” growled a voice.
“death,” echoed from four-score pairs of lungs, and there ensued a great rattling of clubs. the hetman stilled the tumult with a wave of his hand.
“tut, tut,” he protested good-naturedly. “the poltroon is all but dead now. in the morning, i will give you a rare treat—fresh meat with the blood still dripping from it. we will roast him alive.”
gonch heard and sickened with deadly fear, but he retained wit enough to lie quiet and appear as dead as possible. totan rolled him over with his foot and peered into his face. the face was that of a corpse. it looked as though the hetman’s little joke would be spoiled long before sunrise. he left the body lying there and returned to the cave-entrance. the others followed and soon all were settled down and asleep once more. apparently gonch’s lucky star had set for the last time, then something happened to send it soaring to the zenith with renewed brilliancy.
one man remained by the fire as a sentinel to watch and feed the blaze. had the muskman made an effort to escape, this man if wide awake would have noticed it and given the alarm. however, he fell asleep after a time as was evidenced by his attitude and the sound of his loud breathing.
gonch may have been more dead than alive, but the fear of what morning meant for him was the best tonic in the world for his ailment. almost imperceptibly inch by inch he shifted his body away from the fire to the coping of the ledge and lowered himself[169] noiselessly down. once out of sight of wakeful eyes, he crept around the mountain beyond hearing distance of castillo and climbed upward. no one would expect him to venture in that direction; therefore he chose to perform the unexpected. up, up he crawled through the darkness, regardless of the pain and weariness his efforts cost him. time was precious, for the fire-tender might awake at any moment and give the alarm.
gonch reached the mountain crest and lay gasping amid piles of rubble and jagged boulders. there were plenty of places to hide and as he was nigh fainting with exhaustion, he chose the remotest recess available and secured himself snugly within it. in a few moments he was sound asleep.
