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beings in the distance, and the horse was going round at a smart gallop
quite a long way off to the right.
The human beings were on the opposite side of the river, some still in
the water, but they were all running away as hard as they could go. The
advent of a monster that took to pieces was not the sort of novelty they
cared for. For quite a minute Ugh-lomi sat regarding them in a purely
spectacular spirit. The bend of the river, the knoll among the reeds and
royal ferns, the thin streams of smoke going up to Heaven, were all
perfectly familiar to him. It was the squatting-place of the Sons of
Uya, of Uya from whom he had fled with Eudena, and whom he had waylaid
in the chestnut woods and killed with the First Axe.
He rose to his feet, still dazed from his fall, and as he did so the
scattering fugitives turned and regarded him. Some pointed to the
receding horse and chattered. He walked slowly towards them, staring. He
forgot the horse, he forgot his own bruises, in the growing interest of
this encounter. There were fewer of them than there had been--he
supposed the others must have hid--the heap of fern for the night fire
was not so high. By the flint heaps should have sat Wau--but then he
remembered he had killed Wau. Suddenly brought back to this familiar
scene, the gorge and the bears and Eudena seemed things remote, things
dreamt of.
He stopped at the bank and stood regarding the tribe. His mathematical
abilities were of the slightest, but it was certain there were fewer.
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