The Cave Boy of the Age of Stone | Page 6

puppy saw
something in the woods and ran after it.

Pineknot called to him, "Come here, Wow wow!"
And the call came back from the rock, "Wow wow!"
"Oh, hear my talking shadow, brother," said Pineknot.
"Yes," said Thorn, laughing, "let us talk a while with our talking
shadows."
So they lay down on the ground and began to call.
[Illustration: So they lay down on the ground and began to call.]
"Ho, there!" called Thorn.
"Ho, there!" came back from the rock.
"Come here, talking shadow."
"Shadow," was the answer.
"We want to see you," called the boys.
"See you," said the echo.
"Ho, ho, ho!" laughed the boys.
"Ho, ho!" laughed the talking shadow.
That evening Pineknot came running to the cave, calling, "O Thorn, I
was coming along on the high rock, and I heard little cries. I crawled
through the bushes and looked over and saw a nest full of young eagles.
They were skinny and had no feathers on their bodies. The nest was
made of sticks; and oh, it was big, and there was a lot of feathers in it!"
[Illustration: A nest full of young eagles]
Pineknot stopped for breath.

"Go on, go on," said Thorn, "tell more."
"As I looked, a shadow bird went over the rock," said Pineknot; "and
then down dropped the mother eagle with a snake in her claws."
"Oh," cried Thorn, "I wish I had seen it."
"The young eagles held their mouths open," Pineknot went on, "and
their mother fed them with the snake, a little bit at a time. When the
snake was all gone, the mother eagle waved her big wings and flew
away. Then the young ones' heads fell down. They were asleep."
A day or two after that, Thorn came into the cave with an eagle's
feather in his hand. And there were long red cuts and scratches on his
body.
His father looked at him with a scowl.
"Men bring meat from the hunt, not feathers," he said roughly.
The boy looked pitiful; his mother felt sorry for him. She said to herself,
"He has been to see the young eagles. The mother eagle saw him. He
fought her alone with his little stone ax. He will be a great hunter!"
She looked at him proudly, and put cold water on the little torn body.
"Gr-r-r," growled Strongarm, scowling. "Would you make a baby of
the boy? A fight is good for him. He will learn to make his way."
CHAPTER IV
HOW STRONGARM HUNTED A BEAR AND A LION
In those days Strongarm was busily digging a big hole away out in the
forest. He cut the dirt up with his stone ax, and threw it out with a clam
shell. He had worked now for days, and at last the hole was large
enough. He laid branches over it, and over the branches he hung the leg
of a wild goat.

That night the wild things of the woods came out to hunt for food. A
cave bear came by and smelled the meat. He went to get it and fell
through the branches into the hole beneath.
The next day when Strongarm went to the hole, he found the great cave
bear in it. He killed the bear and carried the meat home to eat, and the
skin to sleep on.
Burr took the bear skin from him and laid it out on the ground. She
drove sticks down through the edges, all the while pulling the skin tight.
Then with her stone scraper, she scraped off all the meat and fat. She
left the skin stretched on the ground, and thought, "It will dry there, and
another day I will scrape it again. Then it will be good and soft to sleep
on."
[Illustration: She scraped off all the meat and fat]
She looked up as a man came running toward the cave.
"Oho, Hickory!" called Strongarm, "what is it?"
"A lion hunt!" shouted Hickory, and shook his spear.
Strongarm's bold face lighted up.
"Tell about it," he said.
"A lion has come among the caves by the river. He kills the people and
carries off the children. The women dare not go to the river for water.
The men are afraid to go alone to hunt. So they want help to kill the
lion. They want all the strong men and the good hunters. They have
sent for you."
Strongarm quickly took his club and spear and went off with old
Hickory. The men went over two hills and across a stream, and came to
Hickory's cave. There other men joined them. All the men had clubs
and spears and stone axes. They went together toward the river caves.
They found the lion and killed it.

Strongarm came home after some