El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-07-10
ASAGER
By Ernst Kaempfer.

TT WAS in the early days of humani-
& ty. which the scientists call the pre-
= historic period.
Intense calmness was reigning in the
primeval forest but suddenly the quiet
was interrupted by faint cry, fol-
lowed by the sound of a deeper voice.
The noise came from a mountain
cave, the entrance to which was hidden
by the dense underground In the cave
lived Gnub, the prehistoric man and his
family. The entrance of the cave was
closed by a big rock, which was easily
moved from the inside but resisted
any attempt from without.
In the cave were three people. a
woman who was rocking a baby in her
lap and a boy of perhaps 10 years who
was busy fastening a sharpened stone
Ratchet to a rough wooden handle The
woman and the boy were dressed in
skins. while the baby was quite naked
On the floor lay, besides few print
tive weapons and utensils a number of
skins of bear and deer. It was almost
dark inside the primitive dwelling.
The woman laid down her baby on
heap of dry leaves and went to the en-
trance to look out through a narrow
opening at the side of the movable
rock
Grub had gone out hunting at sun
rise. The boy, who used to accompany
his father, had remained at home to-
day because of cut in his foot which
made walking painful.
1t was afternoon and still Gnub did
not return and dreadful dangers
threatened mans every step in those
days when his weapons were still OF
the most crude kind
- of
growing anxiety. The great struggle
for mastership between man and beast
was still raging-on one side, the gil
gantic prehistoric monsters; on the
other the awakening intellect Of feeble
mankind.
For many hours Grub had been
walking through the forest in vain in
search of game. Then all at once he
caught sight of an immense bear. He
Immediately prepared to fight it, Grip
ping his stone knife firmly, he planted
himself in the path of the big beast.
The bear stopped a moment, when it
caught sight of its enemy, then it
raised on its hind legs and rushed at
him with a roar of fury. Motionless
Gnub awaited the attack.
The beast had almost reached him;
only an arms length separated the for
est giant from the puny, foolhardy man.
who in a moment seemed to be crushed
in its deadly embrace. Then Grub
Ieaped forward. With a yell he struck
at the bears heart with his stone knife
His aim was good, but the miserable
weapon failed. The knife broke.
Before Gnub had time to flee the
bear was upon him. Gnub felt he was
lost. He felt his ribs giving way in
the dreadful embrace and he was about
TO lose consciousness when the bear
gave another roar and fell heavily to
the ground. 1t was several minutes
7 before Grub understood that he had
had a wonderful escape from death. In
the bears left eye was the point of
broken stone spear. This was the So
luton of the puzzle. Before Gnub met
it. the bear had been mortally wounded
by another hunter, but thanks to its
giant strength it had succeeded in get
ting away until death overlook it just
in time TO save Gnub's life.
Suddenly he felt a heavy hand on
his shoulder. He jumped to his feet
an looked into the angry face of an
other man. The appearance Of the
stranger show that he must have
| been in a terrible fight. The skins
that clothed his body were torn into
shreds and there was a deep wound
across his broad, hairy chest. In his
right mana ne nelu DrOken spear.
He turned TO Grub and said angrily:
What do you want with the bear that
Asager"-he pointed to himself
'lxilled?'
He spoke in short, inarticulate
sounds. accompanied by vivid gestures.
Human language was still in its infan-
cy and gestures played an important
part.
Gnub's eyes shot fire. He had no in
tention Of giving up his booty. To be
sure, Asager had killed the bear, but
Grub recognized only one right, that
Of the stronger. and the stronger-one
glance at the unarmed Asager told him
was himself. Quickly he picked up
the stone mallet he had thrown aside
when he made ready to fight the bear
and with all his strength he brought il
down on Asager's head. The stranger
dropped like a log
Calmly Grub began to pull the deao
bear toward the edge of the rock and