Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1916-04-05


M succession begins always with
SVWT@V the fight of Lop Ear and my
sSS&S self through the forest. The
Fire Man and Broken Tooth and the
tree Of the tragedy are gone. LOp
Ear and 1, in a cautious panic, are
fleeing through the trees. In my right
leg is a burning pain, and from the
flesh, protruding head and shaft from
either side, is an arrow of the Fire
Man. Not only did the pull and strain
OF it pain me severely, but it bothered
my movements and made it impossible
for me to keep up with Lop Ear.
At last 1 gave up, crouching in the
secure fork of a tree. Lop Ear went
rignt on. | called to him most plain
lively, L remember, and he stopped and
looked back Then he returned to me,
climbing into the fork and examining
the arrow. He tried to pull it out, but
one way the flesh resisted the barbed
head, and the other way it resisted the
feathered shaft. Also it hurt grleVolE-
", and 1 stopped him.
For some time we crouched there,
Lop Ear nervous and anxious to be
gone, perpetually and apprehens1Vely
peering this way and that, and myself
whimpering softly and sobbing. Lop
Ear was plainly in funk, and yet his
conduct in remaining by me in spite
of his fear 1 take as a foreshadoWing
of the altruism and comradeship that
have helped make man the mlghtlest
of the animals.
Once again Lop Ear tried to drag the
arrow through the flesh, and | angrily
stopped him. Then he bent down and
began gnawing the shaft of the arrow
with his teeth. AS he did so he held
the arrow firmly in both hands so that
it would not play about in the wound,
and at the same time 1 held on to him.
| often mediate upon this scene-the
two of us, half grown cubs, in the
childhood of the race, and the one
mastering his fear, beating down his
selfish impulse of fight, in order to
stand by and succor the other. And
there rises up before me all that was
there foreshadowed, and | see visions
of Damon and Pythias, of life saving
crews and Red Cross nurses, of mar
tyrs and leaders of fOrlorn hopes, OF
Father Damien and of the Christ him
self. and of all the men of earth,
mighty of stature. whose strength may
trace back to the elemental loins Of
Lop Ear and Big Tooth and other dim
denizens of the younger world.
When Lop Ear had chewed off the
head of the arrow the shaft was with
drawn easily enough. | started to go
on, but this time it was he that stop
ped me. My leg was bleeding profuse-
ly. Some of the smaller veins had
doubtless been ruptured. Running out
to the end of a branch LOp Ear gath
cred handful of green leaves. These
he stuffed into the wound. They ac-
complished the purpose, for the bleed
ing soon stopped. Then we went on
together back to the safety of the
caves.
Well do l remember that first win
ter after l left home. l have long
dreams of sitting shivering in the cold
Lop Ear and l sit close together, with
our arms and legs about each other,
blue faced and with chattering teeth.
1t got particularly crisp along toward
morning. In those chill early hours
we slept little, budding together in
numb misery and waiting for the sun
rise in order to get warm.
When we went outside there was
crackle of frost under foot. One morn
ing we discovered ice on the surface of
the quiet water in the eddy where was
the drinking place, and there was a
great how do you do about it. Old
Marrow Bone was the oldest member
of the horde, and he had never seen
anything like it before. ! remember
the worried, plaintive look that came
into his eyes as he examined the ice.
This plaintive look always came into
our eyes when we did not understand
a thing or when we felt the prod of
some vague and ineXpressible desireD
Red Eve, too, when he investigated
the ice, looked bleak and plaintive and
stared across the river into the north
east, as though in some way he con-
nected the Fire People with this latest
happening.
But we found ice only on that one
morning, and that was the coolest win
ter we experienced. l have no mem
DRY of other winters when it was so
cold. | have often thought that that
cold winter was a fOrerunner of the
countless cold winters to come, as the
ice sheet from farther north crept
down over the face Of the land. But
we never saw that ice sheet. Many
generations must have passed away
before the descendants Of the horde
migrated south or remained and adapt
ed themselves TO the changed condi-
tiOnS.
Life was hit or miss and happy go
lucky with us. Little was ever plan
ned, and less was executed. We ate
when we were hungry, drank when
we were thirsty, avoided our carniv-
orous enemies, took shelter in the
caves at night and for the rest just
sort of played along through life. We