Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-05-10


Ear and crept ashore. The logs drift
ed on cut of the eddy and swept away
down the stream. We looked at each
other. but we did not laugh We were
in n strange land. and it did not enter
our minds that we could return to our
own land In the same manner that we
had come.
We had learned how to cross a ri Ter,
though we did not know it. And this
was something that no one else OF the
folk had ever done. We were the first
of the folk to set foot on the north
bank of the river, and, for that mat
fer. | believe the last. That they
would have done so in the time TO
come is undoubted. but the migration
Of the fire people and the consequent
migration Of the survivors of the folk
set back orr evolution for centuries.
Indeed, there is no telling how disas-
trous was to be the outcome OF the Fire
Peoples migration. Personally l am
prone to believe that 1t brought about
the destruction Of the folk; that we.
branch of lower life budding toward
the human. were nipped short of and
persisted down by the roaring surf
where the river entered the sea. or
course in such an eventuality ! re
main to be accounted for, but | out
run my story. and such accounting
will be made before l am done.
have no idea how long Lop Ear and
| I wandered in the land north OF the
river. We were like mariners wreck
ed on a desert isle. so far as concerned
the likelihood of our getting home
again. We turned our backs upon the
river and for weeks and months ad-
ventured in that wilderness where
there were no folk. 1t is very diff
| cult for me to reconstruct our journey
ing and impossible to do it from day
to day. Most of it is hazy and indis-
tinct, though here and there I have
vivid recollections of things that hap
| pened
Especially do I remember the hunger
! we endured on the mountains between
| Long lake and Far lake and the calf
we caught sleeping in the thicket; also
there are the Tree People who dwelt in
the forest between Long lake and the
mountains 1t was they who chased
us into the mountains and compelled
/ us to travel on to Far lake.
First. after we left the river, we
worked toward the west till we came
to d small stream that flowed through
marshlands. Here we turned away
toward the north, skirting the marshes
and after several days arriving at what
I | have called Long lake. We spent
some time around its upper end. where
we found food in plenty, and then one
day in the forest we ran foul of the
Tree People. These creatures were fe-
rocious apes, nothing more And yet
they were not so different from us
They were more hairy. 1t is true; their
legs were trife more twisted and
quarry, their eyes a bit smaller, theil
necks bit thicker and shorter and
their nostrils slightly more like orifces
in sunken surface. but they had nc
!
of their hands and the soles Of their
feet, and they made sounds similar tc
ours with somewhat similar meanings
After all. the Tree People and the folk
were not so unlike
found him first. little withered
dried up old fellow, wrinkled faced
and beary eyed and lottery. He was
! legitimate prey. In our world there
was no sympathy between the kinds
and he was not our kind. He was a
tree man. and he was very old. He
was sitting at the foot of tree-evi
IDENTIFY his tree, for we could see the
tattered nest in the branches in which
he slept at night.
l pointed him out to Lop Ear, and
we made a rush for him. He started
to Climb but was too slow. | caught
him by the leg and dragged him back
Then we had fun. We pinched him
pulled his hair, tweaked his ears and
poked twigs into him. and all the
while we laughed with streaming eyes
His futile anger was most absurd He
was a comical sight, striving to far
into fame the cold ashes Of his youth
to resurrect his strength dead and
gone through the oozing of the years
making woeful faces III place Of the
ferocious ones he intended. grinding
his worn teeth together. beating his
meager chest with feeble fists
Also he had a cough, and he gasped
and hacked and spluttered prodigious
ly. Every time he tried to climb the
tree we pulled him back until at last
he surrendered to his weakness and
did no more than sit and weep And
Lop Ear and l sat with him. our arms
around each other. and laughed at his
wretchedness.
From weeping he went to whining
and from whining to wailing until al
last he achieved a scream. Thi.
alarmed US, but the more we tried tc
make him cease the louder he scream
ed. And then from not far away In
the forest came Cock. Cock" to
our ears. To this there were answer
ing cries, several of them. and from
very far Off we could hear a big bass
Cock, Cock. Cock Also the "Whoo
whoo.' call was rising In the forest
all around u.s.
Then came the chase It seemed II
never would end. They raced us