The Cave Boy of the Age of Stone | Page 4

the old days," he said, rubbing away, "the cave men had nothing to fight with but a club. Before they had even that," he went on, grinning, "they fought with nails and teeth, or with a stick or a stone snatched from the ground." Then laughing loud, he added, "No wonder that in the old days people lived in trees, and ran if they saw a wildcat."
"I should be sorry if you had nothing to hunt with but a club, father," said Pineknot, making a long face. "We should go hungry oftener than we do now."
After they had gone into the cave, the boys began to play with the baby. In fun they pushed her into the room behind the one they lived in. She cried out, because she was scared at the darkness.
"How loud her voice sounds in there," said Thorn.
"What is the rest of the cave like, father?" asked Pineknot. "Is it very big?"
"Yes, it goes far back into the hill," said Strongarm. "I have never been to the end of it, myself."
"Show it to us, father," said Thorn; and he ran to get a burning knot.
Strongarm took the torch and led the way into the next room. He held the torch up high. The light looked small and dim in the darkness of the big room. They went on and came to room after room and to long halls. Some places were narrow and low, so that they had to crawl on hands and knees to get through; and all the walls and floors were wet and slippery.
Everywhere in the cave the limestone showed beautiful rough layers. In all the rooms long pointed rocks hung from the roof or stood up from the floor. Water dripped from each pointed rock above, and fell on the pointed rock just beneath. In many places two pointed rocks touched each other and formed a great, rough, beautiful pillar. In some of the rooms the walls and pillars were lovely and white, glistening in the torch light.
The boys looked at all these things in wonder.
When at last they had come back to their own room, Pineknot asked, "Father, what is the water that we heard trickling in the cave?"
"It is a stream. It used to come down through that hole," said Strongarm, pointing to the smoke-hole. "But afterwards it went down another way."
He sat thinking for a while. Then he said, "When I fought with the other young hunters and carried off your mother, I wanted a cave to bring her to. I came to look at this one. Bears were living here then. But one evening while they were all away, I came in and made a fire at the door."
Strongarm laughed long and loud, and the rest laughed to hear him.
"Since then the cave has been mine," he went on. "Well, you should have seen the floor! It was covered with old bones that the bears had brought in to gnaw. I threw them all out and broke off the rocks that stood up from the floor. That gave more room. Then I brought your mother here."
"It has made us a good safe home," said Burr, nodding her head.
After a while Thorn jumped up and said, "I want some honey."
He took a burning stick from the fire and ran out. He walked through the forest and looked and listened. At last he saw bees go into a hole in a hollow tree.
"Here is my bee tree!" he cried, waving his torch.
Bees were in a crowd about the hole, crawling over each other, and going in and coming out. Thorn could hear them humming from where he stood. He swung his torch from his arm; then, hand over hand, up the tree he went.
When he came to the bees' nest, he threw his leg over a branch. He swung the smoking stick back and forth. The bees flew off humming angrily. Thorn quickly broke off the yellow honeycombs and put them into his bag. Then down the tree he slid, followed by the angry bees.
[Illustration: The bees flew off humming angrily]
"Oh, oh, oh!" he cried, as he ran like a deer. When he went into the cave with the wild honey, the baby held out her little hands. He gave her some and said, "You are sweet. You are honey."
So the baby came to be called Honey.
At sundown, the boys went out into the woods to set the traps. A beautiful mother deer and her fawn were drinking at a brook. Crickets sang under old bark, and frogs on the edge of the pond. And birds were singing their low sweet evening songs.
[Illustration: The edge of the pond]
The little hunters went straight on from trap to trap. But they found no fox or wolf or wildcat in any of them.