CHAPTER XII
Without a word of greeting or recognition, Grumgra came shambling up to Ru. Then, while his people drew back before him and he brought his club with a thud to the ground, he burst into a bellowing query: "Where have you been all these days, O Sparrow-Hearted? Why have you left your people when they were in need of you? Woonoo the Hot-Blooded and Kuff the Bear-Hunter brought word that you were drowned. Is it that you have escaped from the great wind-spirit?"
"Yes, O chief, I have escaped from the great wind-spirit," replied Ru, now thoroughly determined upon his course. "When all the people are here, I will tell them how."
A hard light came into the black little eyes of Grumgra, and his heavy brows contracted into a scowl. "Tell them, then!" he assented, gruffly. "But let every word you speak be the truth! For if it be not truth, you will have to be punished!"
Here Grumgra lightly fondled his club. And Ru—for all his self-assurance—edged away fearfully as he beheld the hostile glitter in the eyes of the chieftain.
And it was not without misgivings that he began his recital a few minutes later. Standing in the center of a small open space, with his tribesmen squatting in a rude circle about him, he felt just a little disconcerted at finding himself once more the focus of the eyes of all his people. Vividly he recalled the last occasion—when he had received the brand that still disfigured his throat and chest; and he well knew that his failure today might incur another and even more painful penalty.
"Make yourselves ready to hear wonderful things, my people," he began. "It is very strange that I am with you now, for I was drowned in the Harr-Sizz River, and my body was taken far away by the waters. Woonoo the Hot-Blooded and Kuff the Bear-Hunter will tell you so, for they saw me drown. Is that not so, my brothers?"
With a smile, Ru turned and pointed to Kuff and Woonoo; and both growled unwilling agreement.
"Now do you want to know how it is I came back to you?" resumed Ru. "Ask the river-spirit, and he will tell you! I lay long under the water, and it was cold and wet and dark, and I could not cry out and could not even breathe. At last, after a long, long while, I heard voices speaking—strange and terrible voices as loud as thunder. One was the voice of the river-spirit, and the other was the voice of that great wind-spirit who blows beyond the last mountains. And the wind-spirit said, 'Let me have Ru! I want him! He is mine!' But the river-spirit answered, 'No! I will keep him! He is mine!'
"They argued and argued so long I thought many suns must have gone down and come up again while I lay there in the water. And the wind roared, and the river rushed and foamed; but they did not know which was to have me. In the end, they said, 'Let us each take half of him! Let his body stay here in the water, but let the wind have that part of him that thinks and feels.' And straightway this was done.
"Now I did not feel cold and wet any more, and it was no longer dark. But I flew through the air like a bird, and I felt the arms of the wind-god about me; and I went over wide forests and high mountains, until I came to a great cloud all bright with the colors of sunset. And in this cloud was the lair of the wind-god; and he led me in, up into a great cave whose walls were red and yellow like the falling leaves in the season of frost. And he bade me stay there and be happy, for I was with friends—and there I met Grop the Tree-Climber and Wamwa the Snake-Eyed and all our tribesmen that we lost long, long ago and shall see no more.
"But I could not be happy, for I remembered my people here in the forest, and I knew that they needed me. And I begged the wind-god to let me go, but he would not. He said, 'No one has ever left here yet'—and so I thought I must stay there more days than there are sands by the bank of a river. And it would have been thus, had I not done a wonderful thing for the wind-god. Soon after I came there, a strange beast walked into that cave—like a bear, but much larger, for his claws were the size of Grumgra's club, and each of his teeth was as big as a man. And his eyes were of fire, and his whole body shone like the sun, and when he growled I thought it was thundering. Even the wind-god was afraid and did not know what to do; and even he might have been killed, if I had not thought of a way to fight the beast.
"'O wind-god,' I said, 'blind his eyes with your mists!' And this the wind-god did; and soon the great beast walked in a fog, and could not see any more. And it howled fiercely, like many wolves, and fell through a hole in the cave floor, and was killed on the rocks below!"
Ru paused; and two hundred pairs of black eyes gaped at him in unconcealed wonder.
"Tell us more! Tell us more!" came several eager cries, when the delay threatened to become protracted. And, satisfied with the astonished but not incredulous looks that greeted him on all sides, Ru continued blandly:
"When I told the wind-god how to save his cave, he was so happy that he blew all around me with a great glad noise, like that of waters falling in the forest. Then after a while he grew quiet again, and came over to me so gently that I could hardly feel him blowing upon my cheeks. 'A man like you,' he said to me, 'is very much needed by your people. You would do great things for them. If the river-god will let me, I will reward you by sending you back to them.'
"And then suddenly I had left the cave, and the wind-spirit was lifting me through the air again; and I crossed back over the great forests and tall mountains, until I saw the Harr-Sizz River running like a snake beneath me. And I was very glad, for I knew that I was coming back home. But soon I felt myself go down into the river again; and it was cold and dark and wet, and I lay on the bottom once more, and could not move or speak.
"But I heard the wind-god talking to the river-god. 'Let Ru go!' he said. 'His people need him! He will do great things for them! I will give up my half of him, if you will give up yours.' But at first the river-god did not want to give up his half of me, for it was hard for him to get someone he liked so well. And the wind-god had to blow very hard and get very angry and stir up big waves before at last the river-god let me come up from the bottom and walk once more on the land.
"And that, my people, is my story. For two days already I have been out of the river; and all that time I have been coming back to you, so that I might be with you when you needed me. The wind-god has shown me how to find you, and will always be at my side and help me."
Ru ceased, and dropped to a seat among his fellows. For a moment an awed silence held the audience; then, as the spell was gradually dispersed, a torrent of questions burst forth; and Ru was showered with innumerable inquiries as to the wind-spirit and the river-spirit, and what they looked like and how they acted, and how it felt to be under the river and how terrifying it was to see the shining monster in the cave of the clouds. Although sometimes hard-pressed, Ru answered every question with great seriousness; and, in so doing, he added vastly to his descriptions, and supplied much detail of a sort to make his hearers stare and marvel.
Meanwhile many of the people sat about in small groups, chattering among themselves, discussing Ru's miraculous story. "What do you think? Is it true?" one would ask another; and brows would be contracted and grave heads would nod sagely: "Yes, it must be true, for did not Woonoo and Kuff see Ru drown?" But in other quarters the opinion would run in a different vein, although to much the same effect: "How could Ru think of such a story if it was not true? Besides, he spoke like one who tells the truth.... Do you not remember the tales our mothers told of how the wind-god takes dead spirits to his cave in the clouds?"
Yet, despite the general acceptance of Ru's story, there were still one or two skeptics. In most cases the doubters dared not even express their views, for fear of being overwhelmed instantly by derision and laughter; but soon it developed that there were some dissenters to whom all must listen respectfully.
After most of the questioners had flung forth their queries and been silenced by Ru's resourceful tongue, a more formidable adversary stood up suddenly amid the throng. It was Zunzun the Marvel-Worker; and the sullen glow in his dark eyes seemed not to bode well for Ru.
"My people, do not let yourselves believe lies!" he urged, as he pointed a bony finger malevolently at his adversary. "Is it that you are all becoming like the Sparrow-Hearted, to listen to such foolish stories and think them true? No man has ever come back from the cave of the wind-spirit, and no man ever can come back. Let Ru show us that he has been in the cave of the wind-spirit! Let him show that we have need of him, as he says! Come, let him give us something more than empty air and words!"
And shaking his grizzled right arm menacingly while his eyes gleamed hostility and wrath, Zunzun slumped back to his seat on the grass.
Even while Ru opened his mouth to reply, and the throng waited gaping-eyed, a larger and more redoubtable figure towered gravely in their midst. And little murmurs of excitement traveled from end to end of the assemblage as the bellowing voice of Grumgra broke forth.
"Zunzun speaks rightly," he began. "The Sparrow-Hearted has been telling us nothing but lies. If he has been to the cave of the wind-god, he must give some sign, so that we may believe him. He must show what he can do for our people! He must call his friend the wind-god to help him!"
With a sneer that was half a snarl, Grumgra paused momentarily. Then, lifting his club high in the air and bringing it down with a thud upon the grass, he resumed: "After the sun has gone down and come up, and then gone down and come up again, Ru must show us that he speaks truth. If he cannot show us, he will be punished! And this time his punishment will not be such as we give to a child!"
And, turning to Ru with a sudden mildness that was almost genial, the Growling Wolf inquired: "But maybe you do not want to wait so long, O Sparrow-Hearted? Maybe you can show us now some sign from the clouds."
"I do not need to show you any sign from the clouds," replied Ru, slowly and thoughtfully. "But listen to this, O chief. The wind-spirit told me that he has blown past the caves of strange wild men, who wander in these woods and kill and eat other men. Be careful, O chief! For some day we may meet these beast-men! And you may find them more terrible than wolves or bears! And then you will know that I spoke truth!"
Grumgra, merely grinning incredulously, did not reply. But from scores of throats came a rippling laughter of unbelief. Many of the people—they who had not doubted Ru's word about the wind-spirit—turned to their neighbors, and murmured: "This time the Sparrow-Hearted tells us lies! The Sparrow-Hearted only wants to frighten us!" And prolonged and hearty was the merriment at Ru's incredible report.