satisfied that they had rescued Fae and driven off the attackers. It was time to return to the interrupted hunt.
Rae paused, knowing by the smell what had happened between his friend and his sister. He saw Fae standing very close to Hue, almost touching him, happy. Then he shrugged and moved on, accepting the situation.
They moved as a group back the way they had come. Fae stayed right with Hue throughout. When they returned to the berry patch, where Bee and Lee waited, the two children stared, immediately knowing the changed relationship. Then they too shrugged; these things happened.
Joe screamed with outrage. Everyone looked. There on the far side of the valley was a band of strangers consuming the beest. They had run down the prey the home band had worn out, and killed her, while Hue and the others were rescuing Fae. Now they were hacking and tearing off the most available portions, to carry away for slow consumption elsewhere.
The home band charged in a mass, eager to fight the interlopers. But it took time to cross the valley, and in that time the strangers were busily eating. Finally they retreated, as they were about to be caught, leaving the carcass to the home band. But the best parts of it were gone.
Hue realized what had happened. There had been no ambush. Bub and Sis had deliberately lured Hue, Rae, and the other males away from the chase, and kept them occupied while their other band members poached the cow. It was a marvel of sneakiness. Now the home band was left with the leavings, as if they had come across carrion. It was an insult, but there was nothing to be done. At least they had a good deal of solid meat remaining. All of them came to eat, their anger fading along with their hunger.
That night Fae joined Hue in his tree, bringing him further novelty of new sex and attention. Lil did not object; it was not her nature or her place. A man could have as many mates as he could govern, and Fae had always been nice to the children. Perhaps Lil was satisfied to avoid sex for a while. They would get along.
Sex among chimpanzees is frequent and universal; each member of a band may do it on an hourly basis, and every male has access to every female with the possible exception of his mother. Females can be quite forward about it, approaching males, giving them sex, then taking food from them. The competition for procreation occurs mostly in the testicles, which grow large and produce enormous quantities of sperm, so as to displace the sperm of rivals, rather than displacing the rivals themselves. It is a way of facilitating group social relations: a male did not fight with a female with whom he shared sex. Early humans may have followed that pattern, or shifted to the harem pattern, with dominant males reserving a number of females to themselves. Monogamy was a concept whose time had probably not yet come. But perhaps within the harem, man and women were reasonably loyal to one another, once they had made their choices, as they are today. Sex was not a matter of great concern, as long as it was among friends.
Lake Victoria probably expanded and contracted many times as the local climate shifted, causing the people living there to move back and forth more than they might have chosen. It is not surprising that some bands left it to range southeast through the neighboring geography. Hue and his friends did not realize it, but they had discovered a section of the Eastern Rift Valley, whose volcanic soil made for rich plant life, and therefore rich animal life. They left their footprints and their bones there, all the way north to the Afar Triangle. The great Rift system, including the Lake Victoria basin in its center, was the crucible that forged man. But it had not yet completed the job.I
CHAPTER 4
----
FIRE
By two million years ago, mankind was using stone tools. He had always used clubs, which did not survive as fossils, and stones, which have not been recognized as tools or weapons because they were not
Rae paused, knowing by the smell what had happened between his friend and his sister. He saw Fae standing very close to Hue, almost touching him, happy. Then he shrugged and moved on, accepting the situation.
They moved as a group back the way they had come. Fae stayed right with Hue throughout. When they returned to the berry patch, where Bee and Lee waited, the two children stared, immediately knowing the changed relationship. Then they too shrugged; these things happened.
Joe screamed with outrage. Everyone looked. There on the far side of the valley was a band of strangers consuming the beest. They had run down the prey the home band had worn out, and killed her, while Hue and the others were rescuing Fae. Now they were hacking and tearing off the most available portions, to carry away for slow consumption elsewhere.
The home band charged in a mass, eager to fight the interlopers. But it took time to cross the valley, and in that time the strangers were busily eating. Finally they retreated, as they were about to be caught, leaving the carcass to the home band. But the best parts of it were gone.
Hue realized what had happened. There had been no ambush. Bub and Sis had deliberately lured Hue, Rae, and the other males away from the chase, and kept them occupied while their other band members poached the cow. It was a marvel of sneakiness. Now the home band was left with the leavings, as if they had come across carrion. It was an insult, but there was nothing to be done. At least they had a good deal of solid meat remaining. All of them came to eat, their anger fading along with their hunger.
That night Fae joined Hue in his tree, bringing him further novelty of new sex and attention. Lil did not object; it was not her nature or her place. A man could have as many mates as he could govern, and Fae had always been nice to the children. Perhaps Lil was satisfied to avoid sex for a while. They would get along.
Sex among chimpanzees is frequent and universal; each member of a band may do it on an hourly basis, and every male has access to every female with the possible exception of his mother. Females can be quite forward about it, approaching males, giving them sex, then taking food from them. The competition for procreation occurs mostly in the testicles, which grow large and produce enormous quantities of sperm, so as to displace the sperm of rivals, rather than displacing the rivals themselves. It is a way of facilitating group social relations: a male did not fight with a female with whom he shared sex. Early humans may have followed that pattern, or shifted to the harem pattern, with dominant males reserving a number of females to themselves. Monogamy was a concept whose time had probably not yet come. But perhaps within the harem, man and women were reasonably loyal to one another, once they had made their choices, as they are today. Sex was not a matter of great concern, as long as it was among friends.
Lake Victoria probably expanded and contracted many times as the local climate shifted, causing the people living there to move back and forth more than they might have chosen. It is not surprising that some bands left it to range southeast through the neighboring geography. Hue and his friends did not realize it, but they had discovered a section of the Eastern Rift Valley, whose volcanic soil made for rich plant life, and therefore rich animal life. They left their footprints and their bones there, all the way north to the Afar Triangle. The great Rift system, including the Lake Victoria basin in its center, was the crucible that forged man. But it had not yet completed the job.I
CHAPTER 4
----
FIRE
By two million years ago, mankind was using stone tools. He had always used clubs, which did not survive as fossils, and stones, which have not been recognized as tools or weapons because they were not
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