The Cave Boy of the Age of Stone | Page 8

ashes, too, were wet; and there were no coals from which to start the fire again.
He looked at the black fire-place.
"Now I must walk all the way to old Hickory's for fire," he grumbled; "and it is growing dark."
Tired and hungry, he left the cave.
He had not gone far when a dead branch fell across his path. He jumped back.
"The people who live in the trees did that--some of those shadow people," he said to himself. "They tried to kill me. The man who lives in the wind is angry, too. Hear him roar!
"I do not like shadow people," he thought as he walked on. "They live in trees and wind and rivers and fire and stones and everything, but you cannot see them. They will hurt you if you make them angry. I am afraid of them. I wish I had a torch to scare them off. All the other shadow people are afraid of the fire man."
Then to keep up his heart he sang in a loud gruff voice:
"O why did the water put out the fire? O why did the water put out the fire?"
Strongarm gave a loud call as he came up to Hickory's cave. The old man came to the door and asked what the trouble was.
"Trouble enough," growled Strongarm. "My fire is out. I came for coals."
Old Hickory gave a great roaring laugh. His wife laughed, too, as she pushed the children aside and raked out coals. These she put into a hollow branch that Strongarm handed her.
"They will keep alive in there," he said, "even if it rains."
Then with a good pine torch and his branch full of coals, he hurried home.
When Burr came back to the cave, she, too, found the fire out. There was a deer on the floor, so she knew that Strongarm had come from the hunt.
"The man has gone to old Hickory's for fire," she told her father.
"Um," said Flint, "he might have rested his legs. I can get fire from stones."
"From stones!" cried Burr, her face white.
The old man quietly pulled two stones from his bag. One was flint, the other was quartz. He took dry leaves from his bag and rubbed them very fine between his hands and laid them on a rock. Over the leaves he held the two stones and began to strike one with the other.
Burr and the boys watched with scared faces.
"The fire man--will he not be angry?" she asked.
Flint said nothing. He was striking the stones together. A spark came! then another and another! He kept on striking very fast until the sparks came like a flame and caught the dry leaves. He put on more leaves and little sticks, and soon there was a good fire blazing on the floor.
[Illustration: The sparks came like a flame and caught the dry leaves]
"From stones!" Burr kept thinking, as she shook her head and watched it out of the corner of her eye.
When Strongarm came with the coals, the cave was already warm and light and full of the smell of good things cooking. He looked at the fire and wondered where it had come from, but said nothing.
Near the fire his wife had a basket lined with clay. In it were the seeds of the wild grains and acorns, with hot coals. She shook the basket around and around until the seeds were roasted. Then from the ashes she pulled the roots she had put there to roast.
After Strongarm had eaten, he lay down by the fire. Nodding toward it he said, "Where did you get it?"
Flint then told him that he had brought it out of stones. Strongarm sat up and looked hard at Flint. Then Flint had to strike the stones together 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 known that fire lives in stone. He has seen sparks fly as he chipped his axes. One day in making a spear head, he struck a quartz pebble with his 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; then he looked at Flint and said, "Fire lives in wood, too! My ax handles grow warm as I rub them."
The boys listened in wonder to their grandfather's strange story of the making of fire.
[Illustration: The boys listened in wonder]
After a time Thorn said, "We have always had fire in the cave. All the cave folks have it. They did not bring it from stones. Where did they get it?"
"Once, in the old days," Strongarm said, and turned