The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1915-06-23

| WHICH lay spread DelOW nlm Tnert
was scarce an object to remind him
of the world that had been but brief
instant before, for M could not know
that ages had rolled by since he took
hasty refuge in the lair Of the great
beast he had slain.
| He thought that he might be dream.
| ing, and so he rubbed his eyes and
looked again; but still he saw the I'M
familiar trees and bushes about him
| and. farther down In the valley, the
odd appearing vegetation of the jungle.
| M could not fathom the mystery of it.
| Slowly he stepped from the cave and
| began the descent toward the valley.
| for he was very thirsty and very hun
| cry. Below him he saw animals graz
| ing upon the broad plain, but even at
| that distance he realized that they were
| such as no mortal eye had ever before
rested upon.
Warily he advanced, every sense
| alert against whatever new form of
danger might lurk in this strange new
world. Had he had any conception of
a life after death he would doubtless
have felt assured that the earthquake
had killed him and that he was now
wandering through the heavenly vale
But men Of NUS age had not yet con-
ceived any sort Of religion other than
vague fear of certain natural phe-
nomena, such as storms and earth
quakes, the movements of the sun and
moon and those familiar happenings
which first awake the questionings Of
the primitive.
He saw the sun. but to him it was
different sun from the great, swollen
orb that had shone through the thick.
humid atmosphere of the Neocene.
From Oo's lair only the day before he
had been able to see in the distance the
shimmering surface of the restless sea,
but now so far as eye could reach there
stretched an interminable jungle of
gently waving tree tops, except for the
rolling plain ut his feet, where yester-
day the black jungle of the ape people
had reared its lofty fronds.
M shook his head. 1t was all quite
btNoHu MN. Dul iItTe were cpTlulu
things which he could comprehend:
and so. after the manner of the self
reliant, he set about TO wrest his live
lihood from nature under the new con
ditlons which had been imposed upon
him while he slept.
First of all, his spear must be at
tended to. 1t would never do to trust
to that crude patch longer than 1t
would take him to find and fit new
haft. His meat must wait until that
thing was accomplished.
In the meantime he might pick up
toward which he was bending his steps
In search of Il long. straight shoot of
the hard wood which alone would meet
his requirements.
In the days that had been NUS there
had grown in isolated patches a few
trees. The smaller of these the men
Of the tribe would cut down and split
lengthwise with stone wedges until
from a single tree they might have
produced material for a score or more
spear shafts. but now M must seek
the very smallest Of saplings. for he
had no time to waste in'splitting a lar
ger tree. even had he had the necessary
wedges and hammers.
Into the forest the youth crept, for,
though 100000 years had elapsed since
his birth. he was still to all intent and
,,n Of H..
saw strange and wonderful trees. the
like Of which had never been In the
forests of yesterday.
The growths were not so luxuriant
or prodigious. but for the most part the
trees offered suggestions OF alluring
possibilities to the semiarboreal M. for
the branches were much heavier and
more solid than those of the great tree
ferns Of his own epoch and commenced
much nearer the ground. Catlike he
leaped into the lower branches Of them.
reveling in the ease with which he
could travel from tree to tree
Gay colored birds OF strange appear
tnce screamed and scolded mt him. Lit.
tie monkeys hurried. chattering. from
Ms path. M laughed What n quaint.
siminutive world ii was indeed! No
where had he yet seen tree or crea-
tore that might compare in size to the
monsters among which he had Travelled
the preceding day.
The fruits, too, were small and
He scarcely dared venture
to eat Of them lest they be poisonous.
If the lesser ape folk would only let
him come close enough to speak with
them he might ascertain from them
which We're safe. but for some unac-
countable reason they seemed to fear
and mistrust him. This, above all
other considerations, argued to M that
he had come in some mysterious way
into another world.
Presently the troglodyte discovered
a slender, straight young sapling. He
came TO the ground and tested its
strength by bending it back and forth.
Apparently it met the requirements Of
a new shaft.
With his stone Ratchet he hewed II