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two cave lions appeared, scattered a pack of hyenas, and occupied their spot. They sat watching,
occasionally roaring but not offering to approach closer. And then the hyenas suddenly attacked the lions.
Gribardsun shouted at Drummond to take pictures. This was too good to miss. There was nothing
cowardly about these great beasts, and their teamwork was worthy of wolves. One would dash in and
snap at a lion, and when the lion whirled and leaped, another would run in behind him and bite. Every
time a lion bounded after a fleeing hyena, he had to quit chasing it because of painful bites on his tail or
rear legs.
But a hyena was caught and killed by one of the lions as it tormented the other. Before it died, the
hyena bit down once and the immensely powerful jaws broke the lioness's right front leg. The lioness
closed her jaws on the hyena's hindquarters and scooped out its entrails with a huge paw. But she was
crippled thereafter, and her mate, a giant possibly a third larger than the African lions of Gribardsun's
time, was hard put to it to defend her. He was of a beautiful golden color that reminded Gribardsun of a
pet he had once had in Kenya. He lacked the mane of the African lion, however.
The people had stopped working on the mammoths when the uproar of the battle broke out.
Thammash spoke to Gribardsun.
'Those lions may be the ones that killed Skrinq last year. It would be good if we made sure that the
male is dead, too, and so revenge Skrinq. And also make life a bit safer for us.'
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'I think the hyenas will do your work for you,' Gribardsun
The lion had just wheeled on a tormentor, and as he did so, the two who had been dancing just a few
feet from him, ran in and seized a leg. They gave one bite and spun and raced away. The lion turned
again, but he fell on his side. Though he got up immediately, it was evident that he was hamstrung in one
leg. 'After the lion is dead, kill the hyenas,' Thammash said. 'We have lost more people, especially
children, to the hyenas than to the lions.'
'When I was a young man, I hated hyenas,' Gribardsun said. 'They seemed to me to be only
cowardly stinking carrion eaters. But I came to know them better and to end up by admiring them. They
are not cowardly, just intelligently cautious. They hunt quite often and bring down game. And they have
affection for their cubs and can, if caught young and raised properly, be very intelligent and affectionate
pets.'
The idea of raising any animal as a pet - except for the bear cubs - boggled Thammash. But that
anybody could admire hyenas almost staggered him.
The tormenting attacks lasted for about five minutes more. Then the lion was bowled over and he and
about six hyenas became a rolling, roaring, cachinnating, yelping mess. Two hyenas were killed and one
was severely wounded. But the lion was dead, his windpipe crushed between a male's jaws.
The lioness was next, and she ripped the side off a hyena before she died. The survivors began eating
at once, and the wolves and birds moved in closer, waiting for their chance. Thammash ordered some of
his men to follow him in an effort to drive off the hyenas. He wanted the two heads and the tails. The rest
the hyenas could have, since there was already so much meat harvested. The hyenas retreated reluctantly
but did not attack. The heads and tails were hacked off and brought back triumphantly.
'This has been a great day!' Thammash cried. 'You have brought us much good fortune, Koorik!'
Thammash did not think the fortune was so good when the people moved on to the site of the dead
rhinoceros. He and the three strangers and half of his tribe were moving across the plain to the
rhinoceroses when they saw three men racing toward them. Thammash ran out to meet them. Gribardsun
followed. He was in time to hear Shimkoobt, a man of about forty, gasp out the end of his story.
While the six Wota'shaimg were cutting up one of the rhinos, they were attacked by fourteen
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Wotagrub. These sprang out from the heavy growth, yelling and throwing spears and boomerangs.
Treekram had fallen with a spear sticking out of his thigh. The remaining five had thrown their spears
without effect. The invaders had then thrown a second volley, and Lramg'bud had been hit in the neck [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]