CHAPTER XXII.
Having repaired the damage of the earthquake and flood, the Ammi set out on their march to the country of the Lali, having, first, however, armed themselves with the light weapons and provisions already mentioned. The expedition was led by Koree, who labored hard to remove every obstacle, and he set an example of endurance, as well as infused courage in the irresolute.
“We start out for Sosee and glory,” he said. “The time will come when we will delight to recall the difficulties which now trouble us.”
They marched more around the Swamp than through it, keeping, however, near its borders. This was a longer route, but fraught with less danger and difficulty. At night they retired to the Swamp, lest they should be surprised by the Lali, and when they became hungry they scattered to collect food, of which there was great abundance. The earthquake shock and the floods had shaken the fruits and nuts from the trees, where they could now readily be gathered.
Oko, the greedy fellow mentioned, suggested that they collect stores for the whole campaign, and take them along, since they might not find fruits so abundant as they proceeded. “There is plenty in the Swamp,” replied Koree, who had recently passed that way. “The whole region between the Ammi and the Tali abounds with things to eat. Let us not, therefore, burden ourselves with what we may gather as we need it.”
THE GREEDY OKO.
THE GREEDY OKO.
Determined, therefore, to forage as they went, and so to live at the expense of beasts and reptiles, they proceeded on their march for several days almost uninterrupted.They moved slowly, planning the details of their campaign as they went.
Among those who took part in this expedition, and were prominent in the counsels and events that followed, were these:
First was Cocoanut Scooper, the great hunter of the hills, who, if not fierce in battle with wild beasts, was no less esteemed because of his services in procuring provisions. He had scoured all the country round about, and knew every tree and the quality of its fruit. He could at a distance distinguish a palm, a walnut, a fig and a cinnamon tree; from the appearance of a region he knew its value as a source of supplies; he was expert in finding thickets where rabbits and other game abounded, and he learned all the shoals of the Swamp where crabs and clams could be taken. This man had charge of the commissaries, and looked out for provisions for the expedition. During all their march his eye was on the foliage of the forest, rather than on the trail of the Apes, looking for something to eat rather than to fight.
Next was Fire-tamer, the bright-eyed hunter who took prisoner the red-winged beast that feeds on wood, and, having caught him in his lightning errand to earth, kept him a captive in the camp of the Ammi, feeding him on brush and bark, and confining him within an earthen mound. The all-devouring monster could not be satiated, but, after consuming all the wood they could carry him, died when they stopped feeding him.
Next in valor and wise in counsel was Spread-mouth, the first man that was known to laugh. His associatesobserved the changing size of his mouth, which took as many dimensions as the chameleon took colors, and was seen to be biggest when he was with women. Others learned to imitate him, which was at first thought to detract, and then to add, to their beauty, until, at the time of which we speak, half of the Ammi had learned to laugh, but many of them awkwardly. The first laughs of men were hardly distinguishable from grins and growls, and many indulged in them unwillingly because of the huge teeth they displayed, which called forth shudders rather than responsive smiles. They who laughed, laughed alone, and not for many generations did a whole company join in laughter together. As there was little wit to encourage laughter, the habit was of slow growth, and its indulgence promoted quarreling rather than good humor, because of the defiant appearance of the laugher. Only when men became acquainted with laughter did they learn to like it, and not to resent it. This great Spread-mouth was, therefore, long the terror and the puzzle of the Ammi.
Next in honor and influence was the great jawed and big-fisted Pounder, whose mouth and hands were a double terror to his enemies. He scorned to fight with clubs or sharpened stones, but thought himself sufficiently armed by nature to meet his enemy, whether man, or ape, or wild beast. He had fought the woolly Rhinoceros and Cave Bear; he had climbed after wild cats, and fought in the Swamp with alligators. Pounder had a long, narrow head, with retreating forehead, and great jaws filled with oblique teeth, which struck terror intoan enemy. He was woolly-haired, being covered with coarse, dark-brown bunches of hair over his whole body, and a beard of lighter color. His arms were long, reaching almost to the ground, so that he could walk as well as fight with them, using sometimes one and sometimes both. They were powerful, whether to hold an object or deal a blow. His legs were short and thin, with undeveloped calves, and he walked half erect with in-bent knees, carrying a huge body that was ever ready for assault. He was impatient to reach the enemy, and at times quarreled with his friends that he might have somebody to fight. Pounder was more useful in war than in peace; and had not this conflict broken out to make him a hero, he would have been killed as a criminal.
A very different man from this, one shrewd in counsel and valiant in war, was Abroo, known also as Family-Man. He had kept to one woman for years, and kept together the children born to them, so that they constituted a family. The children of his children were also recognized, and they, with his other relatives were bound together in a kind of clan. He favored this group, and sought to gain every advantage for it from the other men. They kept their fruits together, and lived in common. A few others were, indeed, admitted to their number, and all together they formed a “set,” and the social distinction thus made was the foundation of caste. Abroo was the leader, or patriarch, of this group, and all its members adhered together in time of dispute. He acted for them all, which was the beginning of representative government. He considered more what was to theiradvantage than what was to the advantage of the whole people; and many issues turned on whether the Abrooides or the rest of the Ammi should control. The adherents of Abroo formed a kind of aristocracy. They were high-minded, and, by general consent, deemed better than the average man. Abroo had a great contempt for Pounder, and in a recent quarrel would have been killed by the latter, had not his clansmen interfered to save him. Abroo proposed that they fight by clans, saying that he would lead his own hosts; but the suggestion did not prevail, as most of the Ammi were not grouped in families, and did not even know their relations. Abroo, however, persisted in keeping his party together in war, as in peace, and in directing their movements.
There were many other valiant men who went up in this march, and some women. Among the latter was Watch-the-girls, who protected females from the embraces of the stronger sex. She beat Spread-Mouth almost to death for trying one of his smiles on a young girl in the woods, and pulled bunches of hair out of his back. She scratched an eye out of Goat-strut for his persistent attentions to unwilling females, and even Pounder was afraid of her, not that she could vanquish him in fight, but because other men generally assisted her in a fight against a lascivious lover. She went fearlessly to war, and led many women and young girls to battle. For, as yet, both sexes fought, and not the male only; and Watch-the-girls had more followers than Abroo.
Such were the hosts that went up against the Lali. They numbered two thousand, although subsequentaccounts placed them at many times this number. They were less numerous, however, than the Lali; but owing to their greater skill and to their arms, they hoped to overcome larger numbers.