“It is finished. He is dead.” Pic stood at the cave-mouth facing the two animals who all this time had remained awed spectators of what was transpiring within.

Wulli took a long deep breath. He turned to the Mammoth. “The Trog-man is dead. Why should we stay here?”

“Yes, why?” Hairi glanced at Pic. “And you—what will you do now?”

The Ape Boy looked thoughtfully at the sky.

“I scarcely know. Now that my father is dead, I am quite alone. I have lived much alone but while he was alive I did not feel as now—without any friends at all.”

“None at all? What of us?” The Mammoth appeared much grieved.

“I meant men-friends—my own people,” Pic replied. “They say—my father said so too—that men and animals can never be friends. I do not see why it should be so. Except for my father, I have known none that please me more than do you and Wulli.”

[80]

“Why not join us?” said the Mammoth. “We are two; with you we would be three. I wish it could be so.”

“And the Rhinoceros—what does he say?”

Wulli’s eyes twinkled. He bobbed his head up and down until his ears rattled.

“We are three,” he grunted. “Good; let us be off. We can be of no more help to this dead Trog-man.”

“Agh!” Pic looked down and scratched his head. “What is to be done with the body? I cannot leave it like that—so cold and alone.”

“But not for long,” Wulli snorted with brutal frankness. “The Cave Beasts will attend to it. Every hyena in the neighborhood will hear the news by nightfall.”

“Yes, I know.” Pic was quite familiar with this method of caring for the dead. Hyenas were prompt and obliging undertakers. The Cave Lion might prefer food of his own killing; but hyenas were not so particular. Pic shuddered, as in his mind’s eye he saw these unclean scavengers rending and devouring the lifeless body.

“The foul brutes must not touch him,” he said determinedly. “This grotto is now my father’s home and in it he shall lie where no flesh-eater can reach him.”

“What do you intend to do?” Wulli asked.

[81]

“Wait and see.” The Ape Boy turned, re-entered the grotto and kneeled upon the floor. The Mammoth and Rhinoceros crowded closer into the low entrance and looked wonderingly on. They heard the sound of chopping—of flint-ax striking into hard dirt. In the dim light they could barely see the figure of the Ape Boy hard at work upon the cave-floor. Chop, chop,—the ax rose and fell, stopping at intervals as he laid it aside and scooped out the loosened earth with his hands. Long and earnestly he toiled while his friends stood guard at the cave-mouth and awaited developments. The work went on until a long shallow trench and piles of dirt bore witness to Pic’s untiring energy. Finally the chopping ceased and he came crawling to the light on his hands and knees.

Hairi and Wulli shifted to make room as he emerged and seated himself in the sunlight to rest and fill his lungs with fresh outside air.

“Why do you make that hole?” the Mammoth inquired.

“To bury the body,” Pic replied. “Once covered, the hyenas will find it hard work to dig him out.”

“Umph!” said Wulli. “I thought you were hunting for something in the cave-floor.”

“Whoow!” Pic’s eyes opened wide. “My father told me of something before he died. I had nigh forgotten.”

[82]

“What?”

“He was grateful because I helped him. He spoke of treasure that might some day be mine.”

“Treasure? What does that mean?” Hairi asked.

“Something nice. Something I would like to have.” The Ape Boy clapped his hands together. He grinned like a pleased child.

“What is it?”

“Umm—now what is it?” Pic screwed up his face much perplexed. “Agh! I do not know. My father did not say nor did I think to ask.”

“How unfortunate,” said the Mammoth. “Where did he say this treasure was? We can go and find it.”

“In a cave on a mountain side, buried in the floor near the entrance beneath a stone: that is what he said.”

“What cave; what mountain?”

Pic looked blank and threw up his hands, palms outwards.

“I am sure I do not know,” he replied helplessly. “I was not thinking of such things just then and forgot to ask.”

“Ooch, ooch,” Wulli snorted. “You should have known that we would like to see it. Is it something to eat!”

“My father did not tell me what is was.”

[83]

“What would you think?”

“I don’t know.”

“Nuts or fruits possibly,” Hairi suggested. “Squirrels and other animals sometimes bury them in the ground.”

“The flesh-eaters often act like that. I have seen them,” Wulli declared. “But they hide only bones. The treasure may be bones; who knows?”

“Not bones,” said the Ape Boy with a smile. “Bones without meat would be of no value to a cave-man. As for fruits and nuts, they would rot away. It is something else.”

“What, then?”

“I have no idea.”

The two animals raged inwardly, now that their curiosity was aroused and found nothing to satisfy it. Even Pic felt a new interest in the treasure, of which his father had spoken. He had not thought much about it at the time. His interest in the sick man had precluded all else. Now he inwardly rebuked himself for his lack of foresight. He might have learned the nature of the treasure and its place of concealment; but now his father was dead and the secret had died with him.

“Then the only thing to be do............