Robert Ervin Howard

“ Each footprint had its individual characteristic. That of the man he knew to be Ka-nanu. The other track was the same as that in front of his cave. He wondered, idly as Ga-nor was wont to do all things except the painting of pictures.
Then, at the spring, he noticed that the footprints of the girl ceased, but that the man's turned toward the jungle and were more deeply imprinted than before. Therefore Ka-nanu was carrying the girl.
Ga-nor was no fool. He knew that a man carries a girl into the forest for no good purpose. If she had been willing to go, she would not have been carried. ”

“ No longer they rushed roaring to battle, but cunning and frightful, they slunk about the forests, the terror of all beasts, brooding in their brutish minds with hatred for the men who had driven them from the best hunting grounds. ”

“ He seized her by the wrist.
"Turn not away, fair maiden," said he. "It is your slave, Ka- nanu."
"Let me go," she answered. "I must go to the spring for water."
"Then I will go with you, moon of delight, so that no beast may harm you."
And accompany her he did, in spite of her protests.
"There is a gur-na abroad," he told her sternly. "It is lawful for a man to accompany even an unmated maiden, for protection. And I am Ka-nanu," he added, in a different tone; "do not resist me too far, or I will teach you obedience."
A-aea knew somewhat of the man's ruthless nature. ”

“ The more primitive a race, the more intolerant their customs. Vice and licentiousness may be the rule, but the appearance of vice is shunned and condemned. So if A-aea had been discovered, hiding near the cave of an unattached young man, denunciation as a shameless woman would have been her lot, and doubtless a public whipping. ”

“ Of mighty power and little mind, savage, bestial and cannibalistic, they inspired the tribesmen with loathing and horror--a horror transmitted through the ages in tales of ogres and goblins, of werewolves and beast-men. ”

“ Unless she could get past him, he would corner her and seize her. So she pretended to spring to one side. The Neandertaler lumbered in that direction, and quick as a cat she sprang the other way and darted past him, out into the ravine. ”