The Cave Boy of the Age of Stone Read online

  After Strongarm had eaten, he lay down by the fire. Nodding toward ithe said, "Where did you get it?"

  Flint then told him that he had brought it out of stones. Strongarmsat up and looked hard at Flint. Then Flint had to strike the stonestogether again, to let Strongarm see the fire come out.

  "Beaver Tail, an old ax maker, showed me how to do it," said Flint."He has worked in stone all his life. For a long time he has knownthat fire lives in stone. He has seen sparks fly as he chipped hisaxes. One day in making a spear head, he struck a quartz pebble withhis flint hammer stone. A big spark came! He struck again and again,and the sparks came fast and caught the dry grass at his feet!"

  "Um," grunted Strongarm, wondering. He thought for a long time; thenhe looked at Flint and said, "Fire lives in wood, too! My ax handlesgrow warm as I rub them."

  The boys listened in wonder to their grandfather's strange story of themaking of fire.

  The boys listened in wonder]

  After a time Thorn said, "We have always had fire in the cave. All thecave folks have it. They did not bring it from stones. Where did theyget it?"

  "Once, in the old days," Strongarm said, and turned to the boy, "a mansaw fire come out of the sky and begin to eat up the woods! He couldfeel the fire from where he stood. It made him warm, and he liked it.But he was afraid to take any, for he thought the fire man might beangry. But at last he did take some. He kept it, and grew to like itmore and more. With it burning beside him, the night was not so dark,and he was not afraid; for the hungry wolf and tiger turned away--teethand claws could not fight fire!

  "The other men saw that it was good to have fire; so, in time, theytook some of it. And ever since then every man has tried to keep hisfire burning."

  "It is better for us cave folks since fire came," Burr then said,nodding to the boys. "Why, before it came, there was no cooked meat,nor were there any sweet roasted seeds or roots. But the folks toretheir meat from the animal where it was killed, and stood by and ate itraw.

  "Nor was there a home before fire came. My grandmother told me that,long ago, in the old days, the men and women wandered from place toplace with their little children. And the women hunted and fished andfought beside the men. And at night the people curled themselves roundas the wild dogs do, and slept on the ground; and the rain wet them,and the cold winds made them shiver.

  "But after fire came, all this was changed. For the fire would go outunless there was some one to keep it. So a man told his wife that shemight stay and keep the fire, and said that he would hunt for both.

  "The woman then took a place that she liked, near a stream, and built ashelter of branches and made her fire there and kept it. And the manbrought meat to her, and she cooked it. And before very long all thepeople were living in that way. And so ever since that time, the manhas been the hunter, and the woman has kept the fire and brought waterfrom the stream and gathered seeds of the ripe grasses."

  Shelter of branches]

  "And always since then, too, the family place has been about the fire.We sit beside it and warm ourselves and work and talk and rest; andthat is home."

  "True, true," grunted old Flint; and Strongarm nodded his head.

  Acorns]

  CHAPTER VII

  THE CAVE TIGER

  One morning not long after the lion hunt, Thorn and his grandfatherstarted off to the stone yard. They soon came to the deep forest wherethey could not see far ahead of them, because the beeches and oaks andchestnuts grew close together, and under the branches there was a thicktangle of low bushes.

  Old Flint watched carefully as he led the way through the woods. Helistened to every sound, and looked often behind him. Farther along,the ground was more open; and from a hill they looked far away overwide level land. Herds of horses and bison were grazing there, andpacks of wolves skulked through the edge of the forest. They waited tospring upon the animals that should stray from the herds.

  Passing on, old Flint came upon the body of a rhinoceros partly eaten,and he stopped and looked anxiously around.

  "This is the work of a tiger," he said; "and he cannot be far off, forthe meat is fresh."

  Flint peered through the bushes; but the tiger was not in sight, so hequickly cut meat from the rhinoceros and walked on slowly.

  "The tiger may be somewhere near, sleeping. Keep a sharp look-out,boy; he is yellow with dark stripes, just the color of the dry grass,and you can walk almost onto him before you see him. No animal canhide better than he, and none can walk the forest paths with less noisefrom his padded feet."

  They had not gone much farther when old Flint stopped and, catching hisbreath; stared into the shadows of a tree. Clutching Thorn's shoulder,he pointed to the spot without saying a word. There on a limb, asleep,beautiful in his tawny skin and easy grace, lay the great animal.Thorn looked while his heart beat fast. Never before had he seenanything that so held his eye. He would have liked to stay and watchhim--to see him walk, to see his great claws and teeth, and his wildeyes. But Flint hurried him off, and without a sound they left theplace. Not till he had put miles between himself and the tiger didFlint shake off a feeling of terror, and speak in answer to Thorn'squestion:

  "How does the tiger get things to eat?"

  "He steals to the river bank where the shade is deepest," said the oldman, recalling many a sight of the crouching beast. "There, on someover-hanging limb or rock, he waits for deer or horse or any otheranimal to come to drink. Then from his hiding place, with an angrysnarl, he springs upon the back of his prey."

  "Oh, many a time I have seen him," continued old Flint, thinking ofpast years; "for when I was a boy, my father's cave was in a highcliff, close to the river. A little way below, there was a place wherethe animals came to drink. And often I have felt the hair rise on myhead as I heard the cry of some wounded animal, and saw it rush awaywith a yellow patch clinging to its neck."

  Tiger]

  "I have a tiger's jaw which I found once long ago. You may see it sometime. Then you will know why the tiger can kill the rhinoceros, whosethick skin no other animal's teeth can pierce. In the tiger's upperjaw, there are two teeth that are long and sharp and thin. The tigerthrusts these into the neck of the rhinoceros, and he sinks to theground, and the tiger feeds upon him."

  "You say the tiger springs upon the back of the rhinoceros. Well, whatwould happen if he should miss, and not land on the back?" asked Thorn.

  "In that case he would likely have short time to live," said Flint."For the rhinoceros is a furious beast when angry. If he gets histerrible two-horned snout under the body of his enemy and gives anupward fling of his powerful neck, the end is near. So fierce is therhinoceros when angry, that even the mammoth is afraid of him and keepsout of his way."

  Tiger's tooth]

  CHAPTER VIII

  THE MAKING OF STONE WEAPONS

  Thorn and his grandfather walked for a long time, but at last Flintpointed to a cave in the side of the hill and said, "We rest there."

  As they came up, Thorn saw his grandmother sitting in the sun at herdoor. Flint said to her, "Here is Thorn, your grandson."

  "The little man!" she said, and laid her rough hand on his shouldergently.

  Then she quickly cut off big pieces of the rhinoceros meat and ran along stick through them, and placed the stick over the burning fire.While the meat was cooking, Flint was telling about Burr and her littlefamily; and of Strongarm's surprise at the making of fire; and of thelion hunt; and of the sleeping tiger they had seen on the way home.

  After the hungry man and boy had eaten great pieces of the roastedmeat, they went to the stone yard. There Thorn heard the sound ofstone hammers and saw a big rocky place in the hillside. Three men saton the ground at work. Other men sat about talking. Pointing tothese, Flint said, "They are waiting to buy axes."

  There were piles of bowlders on the ground, and little piles of stonechips around each ax maker.

  Flint went up to one of the
m and said, "Redtop, my boy wants to makeaxes. Show him how."

  Redtop grinned at Thorn, and threw him a smooth oval bowlder.

  "That is your hammer stone," he said. "Now take a stone about the sizeyou want your ax, and chip it this way."

  Redtop sat on the ground. He held a flint bowlder and began chippingit with his hammer stone. Every time he struck the bowlder, a chipflew off. He kept on striking, first on one side and then on theother. Thorn watched with shining eyes. Redtop worked fast andeasily, and after some time held up a beautiful ax. It was broad atthe sharp end and narrow at the head. Thorn saw the little places allover it where the chips had come off.

  He looked at it and laughed, and then sat down and tried to do whatRedtop had done. He struck with his hammer stone, but the bowlder didnot chip. He worked on and on, for a very, very long time. Still thebowlder would not chip, and his arm was ready to drop off.

  He struck with his hammer stone]

  At last Redtop said, "Enough for to-day! You will do."

  Thorn threw down his stones with a shout and ran to his grandfather.

  Old Flint sat at work under a big beech tree. At his side there was alittle pile of bowlders, and about him there were chips of flint.

  "Well," he said, as he looked up at the boy, "how is stone work?"

  "It is not so easy as it looks, and it makes my arm hurt," said the boysoberly; "but Redtop said that I would do."

  "Um," grunted the old man with an unsmiling face, the while laughing tohimself.

  He worked on. After a time he said, "The little thing you shoot with,your bow--did you bring it?"

  "Oh, yes!"

  "Well, I will make a little stone head for the stick."

  "Good, grandfather!" said Thorn, clapping his hands.

  Flint took a pebble from the pile and struck it with his hammer stone.It did not chip in the right way, so he threw it on the chip pile. Hestruck another. That was too soft; he threw that away. He tried manypebbles before he found a good one.

  "This will do," he said at last. "The chip leaves a slight roundinghollow like the inside of my hand."

  Then he began to work. He held the pebble in his left hand and struckit a sharp blow with another pebble. He went on striking, round andround the pebble, taking off a flake or a big chip at every blow. Atlast the part of the pebble left was too small to work with any more.It was the core; he threw it away.

  He held the pebble in his left hand and struck it asharp blow]

  "We chip axes by striking," he then said to the young ax maker. "Thatway of chipping is good enough for axes; they are heavy and have,besides, the weight of the arm to carry the blow. With spear heads itis different; a spear is thrown, and the head should be sharp. I canget a smaller chip, and so a sharper edge, by pressing than bystriking; so I chip my spear heads by pressure."

  He laid a little piece of deer skin in his left hand. On this he laidone of the flakes he had just broken from the pebble, and held it fastwith his fingers. Then he took a piece of deer antler.

  "This antler," he said, "is soft enough to spring a little when I pressit against the pebble. Yet it is hard enough to bring off a chip."

  He began pressing with the antler along the edge of the flake. Hepressed very hard; and every time he pressed, a little chip flew off.He worked very fast.

  "I must not let a hump come in the middle," he said; "for then I shouldhave a turtle back. Look on that chip pile; you will see many turtlebacks that I have thrown away."

  The old man was making the point now, and he began to sing:

  "I give you the eye of the eagle, To find the rabbit's heart! I give you the eye of the eagle, To find the rabbit's heart!"

  As Thorn listened, and caught the meaning of the song, his eyes grewbright and he held his head high.

  "Grandfather hopes that I will hunt with the little bow and spear!" hesaid to himself.

  He was very glad. He began to dance and clap his hands in time withthe old man's song. Then he caught the words and began to sing withhis grandfather:

  "I give you the eye of the eagle, To find the rabbit's heart! I give you the eye of the eagle, To find the rabbit's heart!"

  Before long the little spear head was done. It was thin and sharp andbeautiful. Thorn tied it to the little straight stick, and he had anarrow for his bow!

  Flint worked on.

  "We make all of our axes and spear heads and knives and scrapers offlint," he said after a while. "It chips more easily than any otherstone."

  After some time Flint and the boy left the stone yard.

  Deer antlers]

  CHAPTER IX

  AT THE GRAVEL PIT

  As they walked along, the old man pointed to a place in the hillsideand said, "That is the gravel bed. From it we dig all the stone forour axes and spear heads."

  Thorn looked and saw a big hollow in a gravel hill. The hill was madeof sand and clay and pebbles and bowlders. The rain had washed some ofthe sand and clay away, and the stones had fallen down and now lay inpiles on the ground.

  "Men come from far away for our stone," the old man went on. "It isgood stone for axes. They bring us shells and amber and meat and skinsfor our stone. Some of them take the stone to their homes and maketheir own axes; others buy our axes."

  At the gravel bed, men were at work. One man had a big digging stick.He put it under a rock and pushed it out of the ground. Another manhad the shoulder bone of a bear. He pushed it under some pebbles andlifted them and threw them upon an ox skin on the ground. Then hegathered up the corners of the skin, took it on his back, and carriedit down to the stone yard.

  As Thorn watched the men getting out stone for their axes and spearheads, he said to his grandfather, "Who made the axes for the cave menbefore you made them?"

  "Oh, ever since the old days," said Flint, "there has been an ax maker.Some men can chip stone well and easily. Others can never learn to doit in their whole lives. So the men who can chip stone do it; and theyare the ax makers. The other men use the axes, and they are thehunters.

  "My grandfather told me," said Flint, as he walked slowly down thehill, "that in the old days the cave men did not have stone axes andspears. They hunted with sticks; they threw a stick like your mother'sdigging stick; and they struck with a stick like your father's huntingclub. And they used the sharp stones they chipped only for knives andscrapers. But one day, a man thought about tying a sharp stone to astick! There, you see, was the first spear!"

  Forest scene]

  "That was a great day for the cave men!" Flint went on, while his grimface lighted up. "For with a stone weapon they could hunt the swiftwild animals, and so get more food."

  Then he stamped his foot and said, "And they could kill enemiesbetter!" And he clenched his fist, while his face grew hard.

  The next day, men from the stone yard went out to make a fish trap.They drove sticks across the river bed where the water was low. Thenfrom stick to stick they tied string made of skin. Rushes grew by theriver. They took these and wove them in and out of the strings untilthe trap reached clear across the river. The water could go throughthe rushes, but the fish could not; and the men speared them or caughtthem with their hands.

  Spear]

  CHAPTER X

  A SUMMER CAMP

  Berries were ripe now, and Flint and the other cave people around himleft their caves and went to live near the berry fields. The men wentout to hunt early next morning, and the women and children went to pickberries.

  The women and children went to pick berries]

  There were plenty of wild huckleberries and little yellow plums. Thewomen and children ate and ate the sweet fruit, and then filled bagsand baskets to carry home.

  The women and children ate and ate the sweet fruit]

  As they left the berry fields, the children pulled down the wild grapevines and bit into the little grapes. But they made faces and cried,"Oh, how sour! After awhile they will turn p
urple; then they will besweeter."

  And there were trees full of little green apples. The children tastedsome of them, but threw them away. "Too sour!" they cried.

  When day came to an end, the men gathered sticks and lighted the nightfires. Then they threw themselves on skins, and all talked together.They called to each other from fire to fire, and told long stories tillfar into the night. At last, in the middle of a story, they droppedoff to sleep.

  Half asleep on his reindeer skin beside his grandfather, Thorn saw theold yellow moon go down. Around him he heard the noises of the greatforest. Katydids and locusts and tree toads were singing, and from faraway came the long howls of wolves. From a branch overhead a greatsnowy owl kept calling to his mate. That was the last the boy knewtill the sun lighted up the tree tops.

  The next evening it rained. The women quickly bent little trees overand tied their tops together and threw skins over them. Then they saton the ground under the shelters and laughed and talked and watched therain. Some of the women made baskets.

  Snowy owl in tree]

  One woman had an elm branch. She broke off the rough outside bark toget the soft inside bark. This she pulled off in strips and twistedtogether into long strings. Then she broke little branches from thetree bending over her, and tied them together at one end. With twopieces of string, she wove under and over a stick and crossed thestrings. In this way she wove around and around the basket to the top,and tied a stick for a handle.