Shame of Man by Piers Anthony

but there was hilly country ahead, and this was where the beest fled. The band had not yet explored that region, but the chances were that if the cow went there, there were no lions nearby. In any event, lions seldom advanced on a full band of people; they preferred to hunt down solitary animals, exactly as the band was doing now. So it was probably safe enough, and if it wasn't, well, it wouldn't be the first time theyhad fought such a creature. They never did it by choice, because the lion well might kill one of them before they beat it off, but enough men with clubs could sometimes make a single lion retreat.
    The beest had lost the smell of the herd, and no longer knew where she was going. She wouldn't turn now; she would just keep going straight ahead, trying to leave them behind. And she could do so, for a while—but they would keep following her spoor, and would catch up in time. All it required was patience and good legs.
    As the day passed, the terrain became irregular, with ridges and valleys. There were even some trees—and some berry patches. The women and children broke off to feed on these, and that was all right, because the full band was no longer needed to chase the beest.
    In fact now another aspect of the hunt developed. The women not only fed themselves, they picked extra berries and put them in baglike patches of animal hide they carried. Then, when darkness came and the men had to halt the pursuit, they brought these bags to the men so they could eat without leaving the trail. Lil brought Hue a nice meal of berries, then gave him sex before joining the spot camp and going to sleep.
    Hue realized something he perhaps should have noticed before: though Lil indulged him in sex as always, she was not in heat, and had not been for some time. Now her body was thickening, and she seemed to tire more readily than usual. She was old, of course, but he thought it was more than that. She was carrying a new baby.
    He pondered that as he sought sleep, and concluded that it was time to find a new mate. A man normally had several. It was a sign of maturity. But he had no particular prospects in mind, and the matter wasn't urgent.
    In the morning the men moved out early, leaving the women and children behind. The men had to maintain the pursuit of the beest, giving her no time to rest by day, while the women foraged so as to sustain the men during the hunt.
    They soon spied the cow, who had simply lain down to sleep when the pursuit seemed to stop. It had been safe to let her be, because her kind had no real initiative. Individual beests moved when the herd did, or to find better grazing, or to avoid threats. Otherwise they slept.
    They closed on her, and she lurched up and away, still being driven from the original herd. She fled into the hills, not pausing to nibble grass, and they followed. Their striding was slower than the beest's running, but it was constant. The cow could not rest.
    Hue looked around at the landscape as he moved, maintaining his place in the line. He was used to hunting on the plain, while the women foraged in the garden regions. These hills were eerie. Now he saw greater hillsbeyond them, with steep slopes, and clouds shrouding their tops. His people had seen a lot of clouds recently, with many days of heavy rain. The water had coursed across the land and into the lake, and the lake had grown, encroaching on the garden and their hunting range. Between rains the water ebbed away, but left muck. So at last they had had to search for new land, and that had taken them to this weird hilly country. Others disliked it, but Hue was intrigued. He wanted to explore those strangely steep slopes, afraid they would be gone before he had the chance. He almost seemed to remember terrain like this, though it must have been a dream.
    But the hunt came first. They had not had solid meat for many days, and they were hungry for it. Berries were food for women and children; a man needed flesh. However, the beest