Chapter XVIII: Back in the Stone Age

Lursac, the first to turn away his head, touched Father Ravennes' arm.

"We no longer have any choice," he said. "If we wish to get out of here we shall have to find our way up to the temple, or at any rate climb one of the cliffs."

The missionary reluctantly turning from his contemplation of the mammoths shook his head.

"No," said he, "they are all smooth and absolutely unscalable."

"Then it remains to discover this entrance."

"I have thought of that," said the priest, "but...."

"But?" questioned Pierre.

"What can we hope from that?... Think of it, Lursac, we are two and they, up there in the temple...."

The young man shrugged his shoulders with restrained impatience:

"Have you another plan to propose to me?" he broke in.

And as the missionary shook his head, he went on bitterly:

"And in any case that's the only chance that we have of finding Wanda, perhaps of saving her...."

He looked at the priest and repeated still more forcibly:

"We must find the entrance to the temple and manage to get in somehow. After that, it is in the hands of God!"

The missionary saw him make a gesture which spoke of both resolution and despair.

"So be it!" said he. "According to the directions of Hmon, the sanctuary faced towards the Post, and consequently to the south. As we have come on it from behind, it is there, towards the south, that we shall find it."

He stretched his hand in front of him towards the extremity of the ravine which an angle in one of the cliffs prevented them from seeing.

"And what about the caves?" asked Pierre, surprised, "I thought--as you did for the matter of that...."

"No," said the priest, "no, I have come to a different conclusion since then...."

He hesitated, and his voice took on a peculiar intonation while he added:

"The caverns are used for ... something else ... at least I think so.... Look!"

Together they raised their heads in the direction of the dark openings. They were not now more than a hundred yards from them and they could distinguish details clearly.

The darkness which was gathering prevented their seeing into the interiors, but each of the caves had in front of it a platform with a gentle grassy slope leading down to the valley. The mouths of the caves, cut roughly and irregularly into the rock, remained empty and no sound or sign of life gave token that they were inhabited.

Slowly the dusk fell. Little by little the surroundings lost their distinctness: the ceiling of fog began to flow downward between the cliffs, while above the two forests at each end of the great depression and over the surface of the swamp a fine mist floated and spread. From the opposite end of the valley a confused murmuring arose. Astonished, the missionary looked across the marsh and searched the plain. By turns, visible and disappearing among the clumps of trees, he could see a brown spot. At the same time the noise which had surprised him became more distinct. It was a heavy beating of the ground like a hurried stamping of a herd in flight. He touched Pierre's arm. Both of them gazed eagerly. The spot grew larger, came nearer, and disappeared into a streak of fog and reappeared suddenly at the corner of a copse.

"Buffaloes!" whispered Pierre.

The missionary made no answer.

The herd was hurrying across the plain. Following the bank of the marsh opposite which it had debouched from the wood, it gained the grassy runway, spread along the bottom of the cliff and passed in front of the caves. The hammering hoofs mingled in a frenzied rush. The troop of over two hundred beasts tore along with their heads lowered, and the tall grasses mowed down by their weight were torn apart and trodden into the ground. The herd was rushing straight for the forest in which the two men were hiding. Now the animals could be seen with clearness and the priest shot a glance at Pierre as he corrected him:

"Buffaloes? No,--aurochs!"

The beasts galloping side by side in thick ranks formed a single brown mass. Leading the herd, a great male bounded along, holding his horns high and bellowing furiously. He passed in front of Lursac and the missionary, bearing away slightly to the right. His left haunch was bleeding; three arrows were sticking up to the heads in his tawny hide; in his withers, swinging at every bound, they could see the handle of a great axe sticking out. In a second he was buried in the shadows of the forest, and behind him with the rush of an avalanche the entire herd swept under the trees breaking down the bushes, tearing the thickets apart and smashing everything in their way. In another minute the thunder of their flight, mixed with bellowings, was separated from the observers by a screen of leaves and gradually faded away into the distance leaving silence behind it.

Father Ravennes recalled to his mind the great male who had charged galloping at the head of the herd, his vast size, his long legs, the crinkled hair of his head and neck, his great wicked-looking muzzle, his low-lying horns.

"Yes, ..." said he, "aurochs! The giant bulls of the quaternary epoch, of which the entire species is now extinct...."

"Ah!" said Pierre, "the hunters! What of the hunters! You saw the arrows, the axe?..."

The missionary gave him a quick look and turned round towards the plains.

"The hunters?" said he. "Well, look, there they are!"

Sudden emotion seemed to overcome him, his features were strained into an expression of intense expectation.

In his turn, Pierre turned to look.

At first he only saw a number of small dark specks, scarcely visible, which moved at the end of the valley and gradually came closer until they formed a single group which moved towards the marsh. Following the passage torn by the herd of aurochs a few moments before, they came along slowly and still without any regular formation. They reached the swamp and followed along the bank. The mist which floated on the waters prevented the watchers from seeing them clearly. They finally arrived at the entrance of the grassy runway and Pierre began to be able to see them better. There were about forty of them, divided in three groups following close after one another. First of all, alone, walking with great steps, was a Man. It was upon him that Lursac and the missionary's attention became concentrated.

Night was falling; a dusk of luminous mauve enwrapped the scene, flinging over everything a veil of indefiniteness and beauty. The entire plain, with its forests sunk in the shadows of the distance, with its gray walls and it green grasses and the silvery surface of its swampy lake, gave the impression of a picture harmoniously and cunningly put together by some classic artist.

On the background of this sylvan scene the Man advanced. Soon he was within three hundred yards of them, ... two hundred. His outline, an outline of strength, tall and vigorous, became larger and more distinct. Certain details standing out little by little from the vagueness caught the attention. First of all his raiment; a simple animal skin with long brown fur, shaped like a chasuble, which fell down to the middle of his thighs and was bound to him by a cord; then his weapons--a heavy club which he balanced on his bare arm, a lance on which he leant now and again with his left hand.

The hunter was by this time at the foot of the caves scarcely one hundred yards away from the missionary and Lursac. They saw him in profile. He had stopped, apparently waiting for the rest of the troop to come up. He lifted his arm and made a sign, and his call mounted in the silence:

"_O ... ô ... iê ... êp ... iê ... ê ... êp._"

He turned slowly, and his face became visible; red-skinned, crude, large and low-browed, with high cheek bones and eyes deeply set--a face simple and uncivilized with something savage and yet sweet in it at the same time, a fierce and powerful face, framed in long reddish hair falling to the shoulders....

The missionary seized the young man by the arm, gripping him with almost painful violence:

"The quaternary man ... the ancestor of the human race. The man of Cro-Magnon and of Mentone ... alive! ... alive!..."

He trembled; his voice, hardly understandable, seemed to scrape his throat painfully. He gave the young man no time to give vent to his astonishment; he went on:

"Yes ... you heard correctly.... I am not drunk! ... this is not a nightmare.... The Red Gods: a clan of prehistoric men who continue to lead here in this deep recess which walls them in from the rest of the world the same life that they have lived for thirty thousand years, and everything is explained. The mystery with which the sorceresses envelop this region, the death with which they strike those who wish to penetrate it, the flint arms which bestrew the entire district, the legend of the Living Gods, everything! ... everything!..."

"But," said Pierre.

"I am sure of it ... sure of it ... I suspected it long ago. The whole thing, tangled and obscure, has been turning over and over in my mind for some time. When I heard Hmon pronounce those words: the Red Gods ... the Red Ones,[16] that is to say the earliest ... yes ... at that moment I began to.... However, I was doubtful. It appeared to me so fantastic that I did not, could not believe it. I looked for some other explanation. But now the truth is standing there before me. However incredible it is, I cannot disbelieve it. You have seen the face of the Man. He belongs to no existing race. His appearance is neither that of a Moï, a Chinese, a Lao-ese nor yet of a European. These features are those of the primitive Mongoloids, of the primeval ancestors of the human race."

[Footnote 16: Father Ravennes was here making allusion to the traditions of antiquity which are all agreed on the existence of a prehistoric race called the Red Race which must have been the first human race. This Red Race was that of the masters, the Gods. The Egyptian bas-reliefs show (writes M. Michel Manzi in a remarkable scientific work) that there were then four races, the red, the yellow, the black and the white. In India the famous Rutas who are traditionally supposed to have brought civilization to the world are represented as red men. All the most ancient peoples, the Iberians, Basques, Chaldeans, etc., claimed to have been of this color and to be descended from the sons of Ad the first man, the Red. The word Adam indeed means Red Man.... The Arabs also claim descent from the sons of Ad, the great antediluvian race, the race of giants who erected vast buildings of hewn stone.]

An immense joy had taken possession of the soul of the scientist. He raised his head proudly, his voice filled out with sonorous resonance.

"This extraordinary thing _we_ have been the first to see. It is we, Lursac, _we_ who have made this astounding discovery. All the old disputes of the schools, all the theories about which the seeker and scientist argue, the great problem of the origin of humanity--we have found their solution! We!... We!..."

* * * * *

Meanwhile the tribe had begun the ascent of the slope leading to the caves. The hunter with the club walked at their head. Behind him came eight men carrying on their shoulders a litter made of leaves and branches. On it lay the body of an animal. Of its monstrous bulk nothing could be seen but one of its enormous black hairy paws which hung over the side of the improvised stretcher and swayed gently with the motion of its carriers.

Then in a compact group the other hunters followed slowly. The sound of their voices could be heard, now and again dominated by a high guttural note. They were all armed with lance and pointed axe, and all alike clad in dark reddish furs. Their faces all showed the same characteristic features, and were framed by the same long red hair which fell round their shoulders in bright tawny locks.

Although they were of a stature well above the normal, they seemed less finely built and less harmoniously developed in every way than the Man who walked at their head and was evidently their chief. At a sign from him they stopped.

With his face turned towards the cave's opening, about fifty yards ahead of him, the hunter once again emitted his hoarse cry:

"_O ... ô ... iê ... êp._..."

And after him the men took up the call and sent it ringing across the valley. For a moment they all stood motionless, faces turned towards the platforms of the caves. Already the night was stealing along the cliffs. The dark mouth of the caverns became indistinct and only the narrow platforms which stood in front of them still caught a little light from the bluish dusk.

There was silence. Then other voices thinner and less strong, worn voices of old men, clear high voices of women and children sounded through the valley:

"_O ... ô ... iê ... êp._..."

Dark forms swarming out of the caves ran on to the platforms and leaned over. A few of them separated from the mass and began to descend to meet the men. A last ray of light shone slanting on the little hill. The troop of men had resumed their march. The darkness thickened, their silhouettes became indistinct. On the shoulder of the hill the ray of light narrowed and retreated. The chief of the clan first, and after him the body of the hunters, reached it and passed through it, and their slow procession crossing through the pencil of pale gold again went into the darkness; while before the caverns the fires, lighting up one by one, pierced the obscurity with their seven-fold spears of red light.