Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1916-05-24


two of us. The reason he did not fin
ish us of Immediately was that the
Swift One clogged his movements.
She had regained her breath and was
beginning to resist He would not re-
lease his clutch on her hair, and this
handicapped him. He got a grip on
my arm. 1t was the beginning of the
end for me. He began to draw me to-
ward him into a position where he
could sink his teeth into my throat.
His mouth was open, and he was grin
ming. And yet, though he had just be-
gun to exert his strength, in that mo-
ment he wrenched my shoulder so that
I suffered from it for the remainder of
my life.
And in that moment something hap
pened. There was no warning. A
great body smashed down upon the
four of us locked together. We were
driven violently apart and rolled over
and over, and in the suddenness Of
surprise we released our holds on one
another. At the moment of the shock
Big Face screamed terribly. 1 did not
know what had happened, though L
smelled tiger and caught a glimpse OF
striped fur as sprang for tree.
It was old Saber Tooth. Aroused in
his lair by the noise we had made he
had crept upon US unnoticed. Inc
Swift One gained the next tree to
mine, and Immediately joined her.
put my arms around her and held her
close to me while she whimpered and
cried softly. From the ground came
q snarling and crunching of bones. 1t
was Saber Tooth making his supper of
what had been Big Face. From be-
yOnd, with infamed rims and eyes.
Red Eye peered down. Here was
monster mightier than he. The Swift
One and / turned and went away
quietly through the trees toward the
cave, while the folk gathered overhead
and Showered down abuse and twigs
and branches upon their ancient enc
my He dashed his tail and snarled,
but went on eating.
And in such fashion were we saved.
1t was a mere accident-the sheereSt
accident. Else would have died there
in Red Eyes clutch, and there would
have been no bridging of time to the
tune of q thousand centuries down to
a progeny that reads newspapers and
rides on electric carS-ay, and that
writes narratives of bygone happen
ings even as this is written.
1t was in the early fall of the follow
ing year that it happened. After his
failure to get the Swift One, Red Eye
had taken another wife, and, strange to
relate, she was still alive. Stranger
still, they had a baby several months
Old-Red Eyes first child. His prevl-
Gus wives had never lived long enough
to bear him children. The year had
gone we'll for all of us. The weather
had been exceptionally mild and food
plentiful. / remember especially the
turnips of that year. The nut crop was
also very heavy, and the wild plums
were larger and sweeter than usual.
In short, it was a golden year. And
then it happened 1t was in the early
morning, and we were surprised in our
caves. In the chill gray light we awoke
from sleep, most of us, to encounter
death. The Swift One and 1 were
aroused by a pandemonium of screech-
ing and gibbering. Our cave was the
highest of all on the cliff, and we crept
to the mouth and peered down. The
open space was filled with the Fire
People. Their cries and yells were add
ed to the clamOr, but they had order
and plan, while we folk had none.
Each one of us fought and acted for
himself, and no one of us knew the
extent of the calamity that was be-
falling us.
BY the time we got to stone throw
ing the Fire People had massed thick
at the base of the cliff. Our first volley
must have mashed some heads, for
when they swerved back from the cliff
three of their number were left upon
the ground. These were struggling
and flOundering, and one was trying to
crawl away. But we fixed them. By
this time we males were roaring with
rage, and we rained rocks upon the
three men that were down. Several of
the fire men returned to drag them
into safety, but our rocks drove the
rescuers back.
The Fire People became enraged.
Also they became cautious. In spite
of their angry yells they kept at dis