And I gat me to this ledge, and did eat and drink, and presently I
slept, and scarce had thought of Naani in the moment of my slumbering;
for a great weariness was upon me, the which I do think to have come by
reason that I was not yet proper rested from the task of the day that
was gone before that one. Now I waked very sudden, maybe seven hours after; and I had knowledge
within me that my spirit did wot of some nigh danger. And I gat upward
from the rock, very quiet, and had the Diskos ready in my hand. And I
lookt swift about me in the moment that I did wake; yet did see nothing;
for there was naught on the ledge with me. And I crept to the edge, and lookt downward, and lo! I did see that
there came up the rock two Humped Men; and they did climb very swift and
silent; and I perceived that they smelled me, and came to destroy me. And I made ready the Diskos to do battle, and ceased not to look
downward. And I saw how that the Humped Men did seem to be humpt by
reason of their being so monstrous thick and mighty of the neck and the
shoulder, as that they had been human bulls. And I saw that they were
very strong, and by the speed of their climbing, I knew they were swift;
and so did I make steady my attention and my heart to the saving of my
life; for truly I did know that I should be dead in a little, or they. Now I stept back a space from the edge of the rock, and had the Diskos
very ready; for it was needful that I should kill one of those brute men
speedy, that I have no danger that one take me in the back, whilst that
I fight with the other. Then, in a moment it did seem, there came upward of the rock edge, the
great and brutish face of the man. And in that moment that I slew him, I
did note curiously how that he had large teeth upon each side of the
mouth; and was aware that he had come so quiet as a great cat. And in
the backward parts of my brain, I bethought that even thus, maybe, was
primal man, so that a strange and secondary questioning and wondering
did live in that part of me; and I did learn from these scarce conscious
reasonings that I was of belief the thing was truly a man; but very
crude and dangerous. And surely it is strange that I had all this
thought in that little moment; but in verity so it was; though I doubt
not but I bettered it with after thoughts, when a while had gone. Now the first man died ere his great haired breast was come upward over
the rock; and he sank back, and sagged and fell dully, and I heard him
bodge downward from rock to rock, very lumbersome; and so in a moment
was silence. Then did I look this way and that way of the ledge; for the second Humpt
Man was not yet upon me; and I feared that the pause did mean a cunning
mischief and strategy. And when a little time had past, and all the
while I was ready with the Diskos, and naught did come upward to harm
me, I stept very soft to the edge of the rock-ledge, and lookt downward;
but there was nowhere any thing to see. Now, for a little moment, I did think that the brutish man had run off,
being feared by the death that I did deal unto the first; yet I put this
from me at once; for I did wot that such a creature did not be like to
fear in such wise; but was rather set to some horrid cunning of attack,
as I did fear, and was somewhere below me among the holes of the great
rock. Then I did think sudden that he might be gone upward, so that he should
come down upon my back, and I lookt upward of the mighty rock; but did
see naught; and afterward I stoopt forward a great way beyond the edge,
so that I should perceive whether the man did hide beneath. And, behold! he was there below me, and crouched under the rock-shelf, ready to his
spring. And in that moment, he made unto me with so mighty a leap as any
tiger should give. And he came half over the edge, and gript the Diskos
by the handle, in an instant. And surely I had lost that trusted weapon, or been pulled over and cast
into the depth, but that the Diskos did spin, and the Earth-Current did
make live the handle--as was intended--save where the "grip" was set. And lo! the man gave loose the handle very swift, for it had burned and
shaken the creature sore. And I staggered back, with the effort I had
made to withhold the Diskos; and the brutish man came upward again over
the rock edge, and leapt at me. Yet he gat me not; for I sprang unto my
right, and made a blow with the Diskos, even as I did leap. And the blow
came something short; but yet harmed the Humpt Man with a gash upon the
belly, very sore and horrid among the great brown hairs of the man. And
immediately he sprang after me; but I smote full at the face; so that he
leaped back from the strange roar and blaze of the Diskos, and yet was
harmed; for he gat not right free of the blow; but did be cut very sore
on the mighty and haired arm. Now, seeing that he was something feared of the weapon, I ran in upon
him, and smote again at the face; yet was the man gone out of my reach
before that the blow did reach; for, truly, he was quick as a panther. And immediately, he did leap unto the ending of the ledge, where it did
join upon the Rock; and he caught the living Rock between his two hands. And truly the Rock must have been splitten there; for he tore out a
monstrous lump, so great near as my body; and did run upon me with the
rock above the head of him. Now, I perceived I should be smashed in a moment, if that I did not slay
the man very quick. For so mighty was he, that he did leap this way and
that way after me, as though the great rock did cumber him no more than
it had been but a light matter. And you shall perceive that I leapt this way and that way, to avoid the
man; and twice did strike him; but yet was feared to brake the Diskos
upon the rock, which the man did use as a shield each time that I did
make a blow. And all the while, I did act to escape when that the man
should cast the rock, as I did conceive at the first to be his intent. Yet, truly, it was as that he had no wotting that a rock may be thrown;
for he strave only to come at me with the rock, that he should crush me,
as with a monstrous club. And, in verity, what should a man do against
so horrid an attack. And time and oft did I leap now to the right and now to the left, and
again in a moment, I did cut the Humpt Man; but the blow was something
turned off by the great rock in the hands of the man; yet so strange and
mighty was the power of the Diskos, that it shore away a small portion
of the rock, and did come to no hurt in itself. And, surely I had presently failed in wind and limb, because of the
leapings and chargings that I did make; and because of the weight of the
armour, that was not overmuch, yet to be considered; but that I fainted
not, was by reason of the wondrous hardness and leanness that I was
grown to, with so constant a journeying and strait living; for the
tablets did keep the strength in a man, though, truly, they eased not
the yearnings of the belly. And lo!