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While his mother was a firm believer in discipline she was never too severe; and often, after the chastisement she hastened to caress him so that he quickly forgot the occurrence. Warruk's real education began when his mother started to bring some of her victims to the lair. For this purpose she always chose the smaller animals which she ordinarily should not have bothered to kill for her own use.
Something flashed dark beneath his nose and he drew back with a start; the action, sudden and violent, mired his forefeet deeply in the soft mud. Before he could recover his balance the long snout of a crocodile was thrust above the surface; the jaws opened, revealing rows of gleaming, peg-like teeth, and they closed again almost instantly with Warruk's left paw in their clasp.
The deer turned and vanished with a crackling of reeds and the splash of water; in a moment it was safe in the depths of the marsh. Suma knew better than to follow; she merely bestowed a look of disgust upon her young and moved away. That very afternoon Warruk's very existence was threatened.
As yet their bodies were naked excepting only for dark rows of pin feathers bursting through their sheathes; and their bills were very short instead of long and thick like those of their elders. When the monkey, after peering intently into the opening for some time finally reached into it and drew out one of the struggling young birds, Warruk's interest was aroused at once.
"It is indeed a spirit from the world of darkness," Sagguk panted, his superstitious fancy encouraged by Choflo's words. Sagguk had thrown the spear that grazed Warruk's flank. "For, did I not thrust my spear full into his heart so that the blood gushed out in a crimson torrent? Yet the demon turned, grasped the shaft in his teeth and drew it out without sign of pain."
It seemed however, that this was destined to be Warruk's unlucky day. Scarcely had he thrown himself down upon the litter of soft chips than another black, rounded form hove into view, precisely where the first had been; but it was of larger size. This time there would be no mincing of matters. He was determined that the new prize should not escape him.
Suma the mother was a creature different from Suma the hunter moving shadow-like through the forest intent on slaughter. The hunting instinct asserted itself early in Warruk's life, and quite unexpectedly. On one of his excursions around the outstretched form of his mother he suddenly became conscious of a black fluff of something that was jumping nervously from side to side.
Food was abundant although it required almost constant effort to secure enough to supply the two for the reason that only the smaller animals were stalked for Warruk's benefit so that he might become a successful hunter, learning his lessons step by step.
The turtles hurried back to the water to remain in the depths of the muddy river until the following year. Warruk looked in amazement at the seething mass of life. "Ca-urgh, ca-urgh, ca-urgh, urgh, urgh, urgh," a gruff, coughing roar pierced the still night air from near the deep channel and Warruk's muscles tensed as he listened to the sound. It was the voice of one of his kind.
One of the tormenters, unobserved by the captive, stole over the rim of the stub to investigate things in the gloomy interior and, while its brethren were busy outside found an undisputed field for activity in the cavity. Swooping low it dug its sharp, strong beak into Warruk's back just above the root of the tail. The effect on the prisoner was magical.
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