Shame of Man Read Free Page A

now that he had made the decision, he felt his curiosity about what lay ahead. He had wanted to explore farther, but hadn't dared. Now there was as much of a threat behind as ahead, so it was easier to go on.
    Be scampered close behind him. She was afraid too, but trusted Hu to keep her safe.
    They came to the first vapor vent, and plunged through it. The air was hot but they weren't in it long, so it didn't hurt. But there was another vent beyond, with thicker steam.
    Hu halted. Be stopped so close she was nudging him. He looked back. The prior steam masked the cleft beyond it. He couldn't see whether Bb was coming after them. But Bb couldn't see Hu and Be either. Would he come? Maybe he would just wait until they returned, then pounce.
    Hu thought of the rocks that might roll down from above. He didn't want to wait here long. So he moved forward again, Be nervously pacing him.

    He paused before the steam. The odor was bad, but it wasn't making him choke. The hissing was steady rather than menacing. Maybe it was safe. Should he try to leap through it? He saw some of the path beyond, and it looked all right.
    There was a sound behind. Hu leaped through the steam. He landed safely beyond it, with Be almost underfoot.
    The way ahead was narrower than ever, and it curved. But Hu was recovering confidence. This path was not as deadly as it had seemed. Where did it go?
    They moved on, passed through one more steam vent, and then the crevice got wider. The two mountains pulled away from each other and the steam vents stopped.
    They went on, and the slopes on either side got less. Finally they were able to scamper out of the cleft. A valley opened out before them—and it was green with trees. They were through the mountains!
    They made their way down the slope, and found a rich berry patch. They fairly gobbled the berries, which tasted wonderful. Their juice helped quench Hu's growing thirst, too.
    But now the day was getting late. Shadow crossed the valley and reached up the mountain slope. It was weird, because it was coming from the wrong direction. This was morning shadow, coming at night.
    Be began to whimper, picking up the subtle wrongness of this region. She wanted to go home. So did Hu. So they put down their knuckles and ran back to the narrow cleft.
    But the shadow got there before them. The cleft was dark. How could they go there?
    As Hu stared, he saw that the darkness was not complete. He could still see the bottom of the cleft. Soon it would be all the way dark, but there was time to get into it before that happened. So he bounded on down into it, with Be fearfully close.
    Once at the base path, they ran without pausing into its narrowness, though the steam, along its close curve, through the next steam, and finally through the last one. There was the rock pile, and Bb was gone. They could get the rest of the way through!
    It seemed only a moment before they were back where the band had been—but the band was gone. No problem; they sniffed out the trail and soon found it a short distance back, huddling under a rocky overhang. There was no cave, but this seemed good enough. Hu and Be had not even been missed.
    In the morning the indecision remained. No one knew where to go or what to do. Most of the band were hungry, for the berries nearby had all been eaten, including unripe ones, and bugs and grubs were hard to find. Afoolish rabbit was spied, and was immediately circled and pounced on; soon the redly dripping fragments of it were being avidly eaten by the dominant males. But that merely made the rest of them hungrier.
    Yet Hu knew where there was food. He tried to tell his mother, but she was distracted and did not understand. So he told his half-brother Ra. “Food!” He touched his mouth, then his belly.
    Ra understood immediately. He and Fa came with Hu, following him down to the crevice. There they hesitated, but Hu plunged on in, and they followed. He ran over the pile of stones and plunged through the first