ThuswasIreceivedintothehorde。Red-Eyepaidnofurtherattentiontome，andIwasatlibertytowhimperandsobtomyheart’scontent。Severalofthewomengatheredcuriouslyaboutme，andIrecognizedthem。Ihadencounteredthemtheprecedingyearwhenmymotherhadtakenmetothehazelnutcanyons。
Buttheyquicklyleftmealone，beingreplacedbyadozencuriousandteasingyoungsters。Theyformedacirclearoundme，pointingtheirfingers，makingfaces，andpokingandpinchingme。Iwasfrightened，andforatimeIenduredthem，thenangergotthebestofmeandIsprangtoothandnailuponthemostaudaciousoneofthem——noneotherthanLop-Earhimself。Ihavesonamedhimbecausehecouldprickuponlyoneofhisears。Theotherearalwayshunglimpandwithoutmovement。Someaccidenthadinjuredthemusclesanddeprivedhimoftheuseofit。
Heclosedwithme，andwewentatitforalltheworldlikeacoupleofsmallboysfighting。Wescratchedandbit，pulledhair，clinched，andthreweachotherdown。
IrememberIsucceededingettingonhimwhatinmycollegedaysIlearnedwascalledahalf-Nelson。Thisholdgavemethedecidedadvantage。ButIdidnotenjoyitlong。Hetwisteduponeleg，andwiththefoot（orhind-hand）madesosavageanonslaughtuponmyabdomenastothreatentodisembowelme。Ihadtoreleasehiminordertosavemyself，andthenwewentatitagain。
Lop-EarwasayearolderthanI，butIwasseveraltimesangrierthanhe，andintheendhetooktohisheels。Ichasedhimacrosstheopenanddownarun-waytotheriver。Buthewasbetteracquaintedwiththelocalityandranalongtheedgeofthewaterandupanotherrun-way。Hecutdiagonallyacrosstheopenspaceanddashedintoawide-mouthedcave。