The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1916-05-04

We were afraid only Of the dark.
We had no germs of religion, no con.
ceptions Of an unseen world. We
knew only the real world. and the
things we feared were the real things.
the concrete dangers, the flesh and
blood animals that preyed 1t was
they that made us afraid of the dark.
for darkness was the time of the hunt.
ing animals. Ii was then that they
upon one from the dark wherein they
lurked invisible.
Possibly II was out OF this fear of
the real denizens Of the dark that the
fear of the unreal denizens was later
to develop and eliminate In whole
and mighty unseen world As imagi.
nation grew It is likely that the fear
of death increased until the folk that
were to come projected this fear into
the dark and peopled 1t with spirits
l think the Fire People had already
begun to be afraid of the dark IN this
fashion. but the reasons we folk had
for breaking up our hee-hee councils
and fleeing to our holes were old Sa.
Der Tooth. the lions and the jackals.
the wild dogs and the wolves. and all
the hungry. meat eating breeds.
Lop Ear got married. 1t was the
second winter after our adventure jour.
ney. and It was most unexpected. He
gave me no warning. The first knew
was one twilight when l climbed the
cliff to our cave. I squeezed into the
entrance and there | stopped. There
was no room for me. Lop Ear and
his mate were In possession, and she
was none other than my sister, the
daughter OF my stepfather. the Chat
terer.
l tried to force my way In. There
was space only for two, and that
, space was already occupied. Also,
| they had me ut disadvantage, and,
what with the scratching and hair pull
ing | received, was glad to retreat. l
slept that night, and for many nights,
in the connecting passage Of the dou-
BILE cave. From my experience 1t
seemed reasonably safe. AS the two
folk had lodged old Saber Tooth,
and as had lodged Red Eye, so 1t
seemed to me that l could dodge the
hunting animals by going back and
forth between the two caves.
l had forgotten the wild dogs. They
! were small enough to go through any
passage that / could squeeze through.
One night they nosed me ont. Had
they entered both caves at the same
time they would have got me. AS II
was. followed by some Of them through
the passage. ! dashed out the mouth
! of the other cave. Outside were the
rest Of the wild dogs. They sprang for
me as l sprang for the cliff wall and
began to climb. One OF them, n lean
and hungry brute. caught me In mid.
leap. His teeth sank into my thigh
muscles and he nearly dragged me
back. He held on. but made no effort
to dislodge him. devoting my whole
effort to climbing out Of reach Of the
rest of the brutes.
Not until was safe from them did
l turn my attention to that live agony
on my thigh. And then. dozen feet
above the swapping pack that leaped
and scrambled against the wall and
fell back. got the dog by the throat
and slowly throttled him. was long
time doing 1t. He clawed and ripped
my hair and hide with his hind paws
and ever he Jerked and lunged with
his weight to drag me from the wall.
! At last his teeth opened and released
my torn flesh. ] carried his body uT
the cliff with me and perched out the