Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1916-04-12

from the sea has died down. and tho
shadows are iengthen 'ng vi b the il
Of the suns descent. And tLel sad
denly from Red Eyes cave breaks a
wild screaming and the Id .
blows. Ee is beating his wife.
At first an awed silence comes upoI
us But as the blows and screams
continue we break out into an insane
gibbering of helpless rage. 1t is plah
that the men resent Red Eyes actions
but they are too afraid of him. Tx
blows cease. and low grooming die
away, while we chatter among our
selves and the sad twilight creeps
upon us.
We, to whom most happenings were
jokes, never laughed during Red Eyes
wife beatings. We knew too well the
tragedy of them. On more than one
morning, at the base of the cliff, did
we find the body Of his latest wife. He
had tossed her there, after she HAD
died, from his cave mouth. He neve
buried his dead. The task of carrying
away the bodies that else would have
polluted cur abiding-place, he left to
the horde We usually flung them into
the river below the last drinking place
Not alone cid Red Eye murder his
wives. but he also murdered for his
wives, in order to get them. When he
wanted q new wife and selected tho
wife of another man, he promptly kill
ed that man. Two of these mu derS
hA
but could do nothing. We had not YET
developed any government to speak OF
inside the horde. We had certain Gus
toms and visited our wrath upon the
anlucky ones who violated those Gus
toms. Thus, for example. the indi
vidual who defiled a drinking place
would be attacked by every onl"oLer
while one who deliberately gave
false alarm was the recipient of much
rough usage at our hands. But Red
Eye walked roughshOd over all our
customs, and we so feared him that we
were Incapable Of the collective acton
necessary TO punish him.
1t was during the sixth winter in our
cave that Lop Ear and | discovered
that we were really growing up. From
the first il had been a squeeze to get
iD through the entrance crevice. This
had had its advantages. however. III
had prevented the larger folk from tax
ing our cave away from us. And ii
was a most desirable cave. the highest
on the bluff. the safest. and in winter
the smallest and warmest.
To show the stage of the mental de
velopment of the folk l may state that
it would have been Il simple thing for
some of them to have driven us ont
and enlarged the crevice opening. But
they never thought of it. Lop Ear and
l did not think of it either until our
increasing size compelled us to make
an enlargement. This occurred when
summer was we'll along and we were
fat with better forage. We worked
at the crevice in spells, when the fancy
struck us.
At first we dug the crumbling rocks
away with our fingers, until our nails
got sore, when l accidentally stumbled
upon the idea of using a piece of wood
on the rock. This worked well; also
it worked woe. One morning early we
had scratched out of the wall quite a
heap of fragments. l gave the heap
a shove over the lip of the entrance.
The next moment there came UP from
below a howl of rage. There was no
need to look. We knew the voice only
too we'll. The rubbish had descended
upon Red Eye.
We crouched down in the cave in
CONSERVATION. A minute later he was
at the entrance, peering in at us with
his infamed eyes and raging like Il
demon. But he was too large. He
could not get in to us. Suddenly he
went away, This was suspicious. By
all we knew of folk nature he should
have remained and had out his rage.
| crept to the entrance and peeped
down. l could see him just beginning
to mount the bluff again. In one hand
he carried a long stick. Before | could
divine his plan he was back at the en-
trance and savagely jabbing the stick
in at us.
His thruStS were prOdigiOuS. They
could have disembOweled us. We
shrank back against the side walls,
where we were almost out of range.
But by industrious poking he got US
now and again-cruel, scraping jabs
with the end of the stick that raked
OFF the hide and hair. When we scream
ed with the hurt he roared his salts
faction and jabbed the harder.
| began to grow angry | had
temper of my own in those days and
pretty considerable courage, too, al
belt it was largely the courage of the
cOrnered rat l caught hold Of the
stick with my hands. but such was
his strength that he jerked me into the
crevice. He reached for me with his
long arm, and his nails tore my flesh
as / leaped back from the clutch and
gained the comparative safety Of the
side wall.
lie began polling again and caught
me a painful blow on the shoulder.
Beyond shivering with fright and yell
-,-J,o,, 10 11-oe, bit On TVo1. dill moth