Helgvor of the Blue River

by J. -H. Rosny aîné

  Little by little the jackals had come back, more crafty than ever, but kept at a little distance from the Dholes. They retreated before a dozen wolves who had appeared from the east, but who presently dispersed, leaving the place free for the hyenas. These animals trotted along in an exasperating way, with a convulsive motion of their sloping backs, giving vent at intervals to bursts of laughter like those of an old woman.

  Two dwarf bats were circling around on their soft wings; higher up a roussette, whose wings were as wide as an eagle’s spread, floated under the stars; near the fire the bewildered nocturnal insect world quivered in myriads, the gnats formed into humming columns and the foolish beetles fell among the glowing logs.

  Two bearded monkeys’ heads were peeping out from a banyan-tree; a marsh owl moaned on a hillock and a hornbill thrust its enormous beak through the feathered leaves of a palm-tree.

  Aoun was beset by anxiety. He watched all those gaping jaws and sharp teeth, and those staring eyeballs, which shone in the firelight like living carbuncles.

  Death was hovering about him. There was enough energy assembled there to destroy 50 men. The Dholes had the strength of the horde, the hyena’s jaws were as strong as the tiger’s: the tall wolves showed their muscular necks, even the jackals, with their pointed teeth, could have torn Aoun and Zouhr to pieces in the time it would take a branch to burn. The fire stupefied these staring animals; they were cunning but not audacious, and the difference of their species disunited their common covetousness.

  They waited for some event to happen such as rewards those who watch and wait; and at intervals mutual hate threw them upon one another. When the wolves howled the jackals took refuge in the shadows, but the Dholes gave tongue together, and all fell back before the hyenas. These animals, who are but a slight menace to man, being averse to all risks and accustomed to prey on the dead or the defenseless remained there, held fast by the crowd around them and by the fascination of that strange light which emanated from the ground.

  At last a leopard appeared and Aoun woke Zouhr up. The wild beast crouched before the Dholes. His amber colored eyes were riveted on the flames and on the tall forms of the two men.

  Aoun exclaimed indignantly, “The son of Urus has killed three leopards.”

  The animal stretched out its paws with the long claws, and let its lithe flexible body lie at full length. It was of great height and more massively built than the spotted leopards which the Oulhamr were acquainted with. Its skin was loose over its muscles. It could easily have sprung over the fire and attained the ridge where the two men stood. It endeavored anxiously to recognize what those two upright creatures were. Their smell and the shape of their bodies reminded it of the gibbon, but the gibbon was smaller and had not the same appearance. The red light showed them to be taller than the gaur; their movements and the curious objects which they balanced at the end of their arms, awoke the leopard’s prudence. Besides he was alone and these creatures were ready to face him.

  Aoun shouted more loudly, his voice sounded like that of a powerful enemy… The leopard crept towards the left, hesitated a moment before the empty space which separated the fire from the ridge, then passed to one side and backwards. A stone struck him in the face. He gave vent to a howl of rage, but retreated. He crouched in a threatening attitude as if about to spring, then scratched the earth with his claws and swerved towards the river. He was followed by a party of jackals, the Dholes and wolves gave signs of fatigue, and the hyenas roamed in ever-increasing circles, and only appeared intermittently in the flickering light…

  Suddenly all the hordes were on the qui vive, all their nostrils sniffed the air towards the west, and the sharp ears were pricked. Short strident roars broke the silence and made the men on the ledge start. Then a sinuous body rose up in the shadow and alighted in the full blaze of the firelight. The Dholes had gone away, tense excitement kept the wolves immovable and caused their eyes to flame, the hyenas came back at a trot, and two civet cats mewed in the half light.

  Aoun and Zouhr recognized that red fur and those terrible teeth…

  The beast crouched by the fire. He was hardly bigger than the leopard and not so large as the tallest hyenas, but all the other animals bowed before a mysterious power which emanated from his movements and his immense eyes.

  Aoun and Zouhr held their weapons in readiness. The son of Urus had a harpoon in his right hand, his club was at his feet; Zouhr who was not so strong preferred the spears. They both considered the saber-tooth was superior in strength to the tiger, and perhaps even as much to be feared as the enormous wild beast from which Naoh, Gaw and Nam had made their escape some time ago in the country of the Men-Devourers. They already knew that he could cover 20 ells at a single bound, a greater distance than that which separated him from the ridge. But the fire stopped him. The red tail lashed the earth; the thunderous voice resounded in volleys; the two men’s muscles stiffened as if they had been made of granite…

  Aoun brandished his harpoon and took aim…the saber-tooth leaping sideways deferred the combat, and Zouhr said in a low voice, “Once he is struck the red brute will spring despite the fire…”

  Although he was as skillful as Naoh himself, Aoun was not capable of inflicting a mortal wound on a wild beast 20 ells away. He took Zouhr’s advice and waited.

  The saber-tooth stood in front of the blazing fire.

  He came near to it until he was only 15 ells from the warriors. They could see him better. His chest was covered with fur of a paler hue than that on the upper part of his body, his teeth shone like onyx stones, and when he turned his head towards the shade the fire of his eyes shone like glow-worms.

  Two points of rock prevented him from making his spring, and also impeded the men in throwing their javelins or harpoon.

  He must advance three ells. He prepared himself to do so; for the last time he gazed hard at his adversaries, while his bosom throbbed with ever-increasing rage, for he foresaw the courage of the human race.

  Suddenly a pandemonium broke out in the ranks of the Dholes; the wolves were in a tumult, and the hyenas beat a retreat towards the banyan-trees. By the light of the stars they could make out an enormous heaving mass. Soon the red blaze disclosed a heavy muzzle towards the end of which grew a horn longer than that of the buffalo. The skin was like the bark of old oak-trees; wrinkled columns supported a body which was as heavy as that of six horses. Haughty, purblind and unobservant, agitated by some incoherent anger, the beast trotted along. All got out of his way; a wolf, whom panic had thrown on the rhinoceros’ path, was crushed like a rat. Aoun knew that a lion or a cave wolf would have suffered the same fate. It seemed as if even the fire would not stop the monster. But it did stop him. The colossal body swayed before the scarlet flames, the small eyes dilated, the horn menaced those around it…

  Then the saber-tooth appeared before the rhinoceros.

  Stretched out so that he seemed like a snake, his chest flat on the earth, the carnivorous beast snarled without ceasing.

  A vague recollection made the pachyderm uneasy but this quickly gave way to fury. On the steppes, in the jungle, far away on the moors, no life had been able to resist his weight; he had crushed everything which did not flee from him. His horn pointed towards the red beast, his heavy legs resumed their course… He was like an avalanche. It would have needed a rock or a mammoth to stop him. Another two steps and the saber-tooth would have been in shreds…but the saber-tooth effaced himself.

  Before he had time to turn the colossus rolled up to the banyan grove, and the red beast was upon his shoulders. It gave vent to a hoarse roar, dug in its four sets of claws and began its work. The artery which it knew and which had been known to its ancestors millions of years before, was there under a fold of the skin, which was thicker than the bark of ancient cedar-trees, and as hard as the shell of the tortoise. It was impenetrable to the tiger’s or the lion’s teeth or to those of the giant feline of the caverns. Only his long incisive teeth knew how to force a passage. The
skin and flesh were gashed open and a jet of blood gushed out, rising the height of an ell into the air. The immense beast tried to shake off its assailant, and being unable to accomplish this rolled upon the ground.

  The saber-tooth was not defeated. With growls of pleasure he bounded to one side and defied that strength, which was twenty times as great as his own. An unfailing instinct told him that the beast’s life was ebbing away with that hot stream and that he only had to wait. Already the rhinoceros was staggering, the Dholes, hyenas, jackals, and civet cats were approaching the antagonists, clamoring enviously.

  The vanquished colossus would afford food for all of them for one day; the saber-tooth purveyed more than any other wild beast for the parasitic hordes that escorted the great carnivore.

  One more effort. The fierce horn charged the enemy, the muzzle dribbled and the voice became hoarse, despair beat at the heart of the powerless mass… Then the end came. The hot flood ceased to flow; all energy was lost in the mystery of a swoon, the fear of death was wiped out by death itself. The rhinoceros sank down like a rock, and the saber-tooth enlarged the wound which had killed the monster, and devoured the yet warm flesh. Then the jackals licked up the blood from the ground, and the Dholes, hyenas and wolves waited humbly till the red beast was satiated.

  IV. The Men and the Red Beast

  After the saber-tooth’s victory Aoun and Zouhr put fresh branches on the fire. Then Aoun lay down, guarded by his companion. The peril was past, that circle of hungry jaws which had threatened the two men, were now pressing around the rhinoceros. Zouhr could see the stars, which a little while ago touched the crests of the ebony-trees, sinking towards the river. More timorous than Aoun, he felt himself strangely enveloped by the unknown, in that new land, where a wild beast hardly larger than a leopard destroyed huge pachyderms…

  The conqueror took a long time devouring his prey.

  Either through caprice, or because he liked it, or in pursuance of an inherited habit, he tore away the skin in every direction, only remaining for a moment at each place. The more feeble animals, the jackals and the civet cats, slipped into the places he had left without interference from the victor, but he growled when the Dholes, the wolves and above all the hyenas pressed too closely upon him.

  The Moon, which was in its last quarter, was rising on the opposite side of the river when the saber-tooth left his prey. Then the wolves, the Dholes and the hyenas threw themselves frantically upon it. It seemed as if they would exterminate each other: there were only a few inches between their tusks, and an immense chorus of howls went up to the stars… But a truce was made in the very heart of the tumult; the wolves took possession of the shoulders and chest, the hyenas tore at the vitals, the Dholes flung themselves on the back and the hindquarters. The jackals and civet cats knew their place and got away.

  For a moment the saber-tooth turned his head towards the swarming mass of jaws. The blood was dripping from his lips, which he licked unconcernedly; his jaws were heavy with the effort of devouring, his eyelids half closed. He awoke with a start, and made a few steps towards the fire and towards that human being who irritated his instincts; then, confident in his own unvanquished strength, he laid himself down on the savannah and went to sleep.

  Zouhr observed him with suspicion. He considered whether he ought not to take advantage of the beast’s slumbers to make his escape, but thinking that no doubt the animal would sleep for a long time he did not arouse Aoun. The Moon grew smaller as she rose above the hills, making the starlight seem pale. The mass of rhinoceros flesh grew smaller among the swarming mouths; the dawn was near when the son of the Men-without-Shoulders touched Aoun’s chest.

  “There is no more wood,” he said as his companion sat upright, “the fire is low…the red beast is asleep. Aoun and Zouhr must leave this place.”

  The tall Oulhamr considered the scene. He saw the motionless saber-tooth lying 200 ells off their encampment. A sudden hate seized him. He again saw the brute roaring before the flames, he saw the cruel teeth plunged into the skin of the colossal herbivore: the whole race of man and of those by whom he lives was threatened by that unfamiliar form.

  “Could not Aoun kill the beast in its sleep?” he asked.

  “It will awaken,” replied the other, “it would be better to pass to the other side of the rock.”

  The son of Urus hesitated. The force which urged him to fight was one of the primary instincts of his species. Neither Faouhm nor Naoh would have suffered a wild beast of that size to dog his steps in order to devour him.

  “Naoh killed the tigress and the gray wolf,” said the Oulhamr somberly.

  “The tigress and the gray wolf would have fled before the rhinoceros.”

  That reply appeased the warrior. He gathered together his harpoon and bow and spears, and took his club in his hand. After a last look at the beast they cleared the ridge and descended from the rock. They were dejected, having slept badly, and they thought of their horde on the other side of the mountains.

  Day was about to break, the sunrise was pale, and the carnivorous voices were silent on the river bank; the leaves and flowers seemed more motionless than usual…

  A hoarse sound broke the stillness. Aoun and Zouhr turned around and beheld the saber-tooth. Some trifling movement, or simply the two men’s departure, had awakened him; instinct caused him to follow the two creatures who had surprised his confused mentality.

  “Aoun should have fought the red beast when it was asleep!” said the Oulhamr, freeing his harpoon.

  A feeling of sharp regret stabbed at his heart. The Wah hung his head, feeling that his prudence had been ill-timed, and he looked humbly at Aoun. But Aoun bore no malice; his great chest swelled at the thought of the combat, and Zouhr was like a part of himself. First they stood shoulder to shoulder, combining their strength. Aoun shouted his war-cry.

  “The son of Urus and Zouhr will spear the red beast and crush its bones!”

  The saber-tooth did not hurry himself. When the human beings stopped, he stopped too; he watched them make ready their bows and javelins and stretch out their limbs in a curious manner. As before, their articulated shouts surprised him: he began to move along a parallel track which did not bring him nearer to them.

  “The red animal is afraid of man,” shrieked Aoun, and he brandished his harpoon and club together.

  A prolonged roar answered him, the saber-tooth made two colossal bounds. Before he could spring for the third time Aoun and Zouhr’s bows had come into action. Struck by arrows in the neck and in the body the wild beast threw himself upon the men in a frenzy. The son of Urus threw a harpoon which lodged in his ribs, Zouhr’s weapon flayed his hard skull… The beast was upon them.

  In one bound it threw Zouhr to the ground and sunk its fangs in his chest. Aoun attacked it with his club. The oaken bludgeon struck horizontally and only met thin air; the saber-tooth had drawn back… The Oulhamr and the beast stood face to face. He avoided the first attack by a leap to one side, he repulsed the second by a whirl of his club which grazed the brute’s shoulder. An irresistible mass threw him to the ground and itself fell headlong, overthrown by its own impetus. The man found himself kneeling on one knee at the moment when the saber-tooth came back to the charge. The fainting Zouhr flung his axe, while Aoun brought down his club with both hands. It resounded on the massive head, and the wild beast began to turn around and around as if he had become blind. A second blow paralyzed his neck. Then Aoun shattered his ribs, broke his legs, and crushed his jaws. The muscles continued to quiver for a long time, and the heart, which had been laid bare, continued to beat; it required two thrusts with a spear to finish its agony, and Zouhr sighed in a hoarse and feeble voice,

  “Aoun has killed the red beast… Aoun is stronger than Faouhm… Aoun is as strong as Naoh, who won the secret of fire in the country of the Devourers-of-Men!”

  The Oulhamr was intoxicated by his companion’s words, pride dilated his nostrils, the sadness which had made his bones so heavy
when he fled in the night had left him; his whole being was triumphantly elated by adventure, and turning towards the purple dawn he felt a passionate love for the unknown land that lay before him. Zouhr continued to stammer, “The son of Urus will be a chief among men!”

  Then he uttered a cry, his face became the color of clay and he fainted. Aoun, seeing the blood flowing from the breast of the wounded man, was as concerned as if it had been his own, and the still face terrified him. The time they had lived together rose up before him in chaotic scenes. He saw again the sylvan solitudes, the brushwood, the marshes and the rivers, where their energies had joined, where each was for the other a living weapon. But Aoun gathered together leaves and herbs, crushed them with stones, and applied them to the wounds of his companion, and Zouhr opened his eyes. At first he was surprised to find himself lying there, then his eyes searched for the fire, then he remembered and repeated the words which had preceded his fainting fit, “Aoun will be a chief among men!”

  Becoming conscious of his feebleness he wailed, “The red beast has pierced Zouhr’s chest…”

  Aoun continued to dress his wounds while the Sun rose in its grandeur beyond the river. The wild beasts of the night had disappeared. Some entellus monkeys were making the branches move; the white-headed crows were hovering over the carcass of the rhinoceros, two vultures soared in the breeze, and the herbivores rose up in their masses. The hour of peril had passed for Wah and the Oulhamr; the great destroyers slept in their dens or in the jungle.

  But the day itself is an enemy when the light is too strong and the earth is roasted with heat. Zouhr must be carried into the shade. Like all the Oulhamrs, Aoun had an instinct for caverns. He scrutinized the landscape in the hope of discovering some rocks, but he could only see steppes and brushwood, a few palm groves, the clumps of banyan-trees and clusters of ebony or bamboo.