Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-05-20
Copyright 1907. by the Macmillan company.
3SPIEH XII.
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" toward the caves, an excited
f-- and diSordorly mob, that
ssssSI drove before il to their holes
All the small life of the forest and that
set the blucjays screaming impudentiy.
Now that there was no immediate dan
ger. Long Lip waited for his GRANDPA
thcr. Marrow Zone. and with the gap
of generation between them the old
fellow and the youth brought up our
rear
And 50 il was that Lop Ear became
n bachelor once moro. That night l
slept with him in the old cave, and
our old life of Cumming began again.
The loss Of his mate seemed to cause
him no grief At least he showed no
signs Of it nor Of need for her 1t was
the wound in his leg that seemed to
bother him. and it was all of week
before he got back again to his old
spryness.
Marrow Bone was the only OLD mem
Der in the horde Sometimes on look
ing back upon him. when the vision Of
him is most clear, note 4 striking re
semblancc between him and the father
of my fathers gardener The garden
nr's father was very old, very wrinkled
and vithered. and for all the world
when he peered through his tiny hleary
eyes and mumbled with his toothleSS
gums he looked and acted like old
Marrow Bone This resemblance, as a
child. used 10 brighten me. | always
ran when saw the old man tOttering
along on his two canes. Old Morrow
Bone even had bit of sparse and
straggly white beard that seemed iden
teal with the whiskprS Of the old man
As I have said. Marrow Bone was
the only old member Of the horde. He
was an exception. TIL" folk never LIVED
10 old age Middle age was fairly
rare. Death by violence was the com
mon way Of death. They died as m!
father had died as Broken Tooth hat
died. as my sister and the Hairless
One had just died-abruptly and brC
tally. in tie full possession of thei
faculties, in the full swing and rush o
life Natural death? To die violentl!
was the natural way of dying in thost
days
No one died OF old age among TIT
folk. | never knew of case. Ever
Marrow Bone did not die that way
and he was the only one in my genera
ping. any serious accidental or tempo
rary impairment of the faculties, mean
swift death rs rule these death
were not witnessed Members of tn
horde simply dropped out of sight
They left the caves in the morning
and they never came back. They dis
appeared the ravenous maws o
the hunting creatures.
This inroad of the Fire People on til,
carrot patch was the beginning of tn
end. though we did not know it. TIL
hunters Of the Fire People began t
appear more frequently as the tim
went By. They came in twos an,
threes, creeping silently through tn
annihilate distance and bring dow
prey from the top of the loftiest ire
without themselves climbing into II
The bow and arrow was like an cnor
nous extension of their leaping ant
striking muscles, so that. virtually
they could leap and kill at hundred
feet and more. This made them ia
more terrible than Saber Tooth him
self,
And then, too, they were very wise
They had speech that enabled then
more effectively to reason, and in ad
dition they understood cooperation.
We folk came to be very circumspec
when We were in the forest We wer
more alert and vigilant and timid. \.
longer were the trees a protection t
be relied upon. No longer could W
perch on a branch and laugh down a
our carnivorous enemies On the ground
The Fire People were carnivorous
with claws and fangs a hundred fee
long, the most terrible OF all the hunt
ing animals that ranged the primeva
world
One morning, before the folk had dis
persed to the forest, there was a PAM
among the water carriers and thos
who had gone down to the river t
drink. The whole horde fed to tn
caves. 1t was our habit at such time