The Cave Twins Part 2

CHAPTER TWO.

THE BISON FEAST.

For hours Grannie and the children worked together to get a huge pile of fuel ready for a feast which they hoped to have at night. It was something like getting ready for Thanksgiving.

"It is likely that old Sabre-tooth will be having a feast too," said Grannie. "He is as glad as any of us to see the bison come back. Maybe now he won't catch any bad children who stray too far into the wood."

You see, the fierce sabre-toothed tiger was the beast they feared most of all, but they always had to be on the watch for wolves and hyenas, and for the dreadful cave bear as well. There were wild horses, too, and elephants, and mammoths, and lions. Grannie had to keep telling the children about these dangers, just as our mothers tell us to-day to keep out of the way of trolley-cars and steam-engines and automobiles. Only trolley-cars and steam-engines don't run after us and stick their heads right into our front doors and try to eat us up, as the wild creatures did in those days.

It seems to us now that no one could possibly have had any happiness in a world so full of dangers, but you see Grannie and all the rest of the clan did not know that life could be any different. Just because there were so many dangers, they grew brave to meet them, and a brave man among dangers is far happier than a coward in a safe place. So perhaps they had just as good a time living as we do, after all.

By the time the children had gathered a heap of wood large enough to cook the biggest kind of a feast, it was afternoon. There was nothing in the cave to eat, and they grew hungrier and hungrier, but there were no signs of any hunters. Shadows began to gather in the woods. Now and then there was a cry of some night bird, or of a distant wolf. These were lonely sounds. Firefly began to be discouraged.

"Suppose they shouldn't bring home any meat after all," she said.

"Then we'll just have to go hungry," said Grannie.

Firetop laid his hand on his stomach and groaned.

"_Men_ never complain of such things," said Grannie.

Firetop took his hand off his stomach at once and made believe he had just coughed a little. You see the cave people taught their children to bear hunger and pain without making any fuss about it.

"I tell you what we could do," said Grannie. "If we had some water, we could have a place to boil the meat all ready when the hunters come back. Who'll go for water?"

"I'll go," said Firetop.

"So will I," said Blackbird.

"And I," said Squaretoes.

They were all boys. Robin and Firefly were the only little girls in the clan.

"Get the gourds and the pig-skin and run along, then," said Grannie.

"Keep a sharp lookout, for you know the wild beasts will soon be out for their night hunting."

Firetop ran for the skin of the wild boar which was in the cave. It was their water-cask. The other boys got gourds with holes cut in them to make dippers, and then they were ready to start.

Grannie took three sticks of pine and laid the ends in the fire. When they were burning well, she gave one of them to each of the boys for a torch.

"It isn't dark yet, but you will be safer with these, anyway," she said.

As soon as the three boys had gone skipping and whooping down the path to the river, Grannie and the girls set about getting a kettle ready.

They hollowed out a hole in the ground, not far from the fire. When it was deep enough they lined it with a heavy piece of hide. They put stones around the edge of it to keep it in place. Then they gathered piles of small stones and threw them in the fire to get hot. By the time all this was done the boys were back with the pig-skin full of water. Grannie poured it into the hollow dish in the ground.

It was almost dark, and it seemed to the children that they could not wait another minute, when they heard a welcome sound. It was the noise of voices, talking and laughing together.

They sprang to their feet and gave a whoop of joy. It was answered by a shout from the path.

"They are coming slowly and they are laughing. They have meat," cried Grannie. She threw more wood on the fire. Up flew the flames, lighting the forest with a red glare. Sparks floated away over the very tree-tops. By its light they saw Hawk-Eye and Limberleg and all the other men and women of the clan toiling up the path. The bigger boys were with them, too, and they were all loaded down with great chunks of bison meat!

The weary hunters dropped the bison-skins in one place to be stretched and cured the next day. The meat they threw down on the ground at the mouth of the cave, and Grannie and the other women began at once to cook it.

Some of it they put in the fire to roast and some of it they put in the leather kettle in the ground. Then they poked the hot stones out of the fire into the water. They kept taking the stones out of the water with sticks as they grew cool and putting them back into the fire to get hot again. In this way they soon got the water to boil.

The smell of the roasting and boiling meat was too much for Firetop. It made him so hungry that he couldn't wait. He just s.n.a.t.c.hed a piece of meat from the ground and ate it raw! But he was ready to eat again when the meat was cooked and the real feast began.

Then the great fire blazed and crackled outside the entrance and filled the cave with a warm red glow. The whole clan gathered in the front of the cave near the fire.

Hawk-Eye was the leader of the clan, because he was the strongest man and the best hunter. He was a large man with little sharp eyes and red hair which covered his breast and legs as well as his head. Around his neck was a string of bear's teeth.

There were four other men. They were called Eagle-Nose, Grey Wolf, Big Ear, and Long Arm. There were three other women besides Limberleg and Grannie. They were the wives of the men. There were four big boys, who were already hunting with the men, and there were Blackbird, Robin, and Squaretoes, besides Firetop and Firefly. These were all there were in the clan of the Bear.

When the feast began, the people all sat down in a circle, all but Grannie. Grannie stood up and handed out great chunks of meat to the others and kept the fire bright. But she had a bone in her hand all the time, and whenever she had a chance, she gnawed it. There were no knives or forks or plates, of course. They all took their meat in their hands and just gnawed and gobbled as fast as they could! n.o.body had any manners, and not a single mother said, "Have you washed your hands?" or "Don't take such large mouthfuls or you will choke yourself," or anything like that. There were some things about those days that must have been very pleasant, after all.

For a long time they ate and said nothing. You see, food had been scarce for so many days that they had to make up for lost time. But by and by, when they were all stuffed full, Firetop rolled over on to the skin of a bear which was lying on the cave floor, and said to his father: "Tell us about the hunting. Who killed the meat, and how was it you all came back together? Did you hunt in a pack, like the wolves?"

"Not just like the wolves," said Hawk-Eye, laughing. "There were five of us after the bison. The women went off to set snares for rabbits, and the boys to hunt eggs along the bluffs up the river. I felt in my bones that we should see the bison to-day. So the men and I took our way toward the lowlands. We knew they would come from that direction.

We followed the bluffs for a long way, but found nothing. We were beginning to think we should come home empty-handed, when far away I heard bellowing. Then I saw a little black speck moving along the green valley. Two black specks moved beside it. They were the leader and his two sentinels, and behind them came the herd."

"We saw the herd, too," cried Firetop. "I saw them first," said Squaretoes. "I saw them just as quick as you," shouted Blackbird.

"Shut up," said his mother, and Blackbird did. Fathers and mothers in those days used just such language as that, and if the children didn't mind at once, they were likely to get something worse than just language. It wasn't a polite age at all.

"We crept down the bluffs as quietly as snakes," went on Hawk-Eye, when everybody was still again. "I was in front. When the leader of the herd got to our hiding-place, I sprang from the bushes and threw my spear with all my strength. He gave a mighty roar. He stood on his hind legs and thundered. Then Big Ear sprang forward and threw his spear. The leader fell. The herd broke and ran. The sentinels could not control them. Then we ran toward them. We killed two young cows with our axes. The rest of the herd rushed past. The leader and the two cows were left behind. The leader was old and tough. We pulled out our spears and left him to the jackals and hyenas. The two cows were small. We skinned them and cut them into pieces and started for the cave. At the foot of the path we met the other people. They were weary and had caught nothing. When they saw us they laughed for joy."

"We heard them," cried Firefly. "Grannie said you would bring meat.

She said so when we heard the laughing. She said so when the herd pa.s.sed by. She saw that they had been frightened. That is why we had the kettle ready."

"Grannie is a wise old woman," said Hawk-Eye. "Now, get to bed, every one of you."

The children scuttled away and threw themselves down on heaps of skins which lay about the cave, and were soon sound asleep. At least the others were asleep, but for some reason Firetop and Firefly stayed awake. Maybe they had eaten too much. At any rate they lay in their corner, on their own heap of skins and watched Hawk-Eye and Limberleg and Grannie and the others as they sat about in the cheerful glow of the fire. n.o.body had said anything for a long time, and the Twins were beginning to feel quite sleepy, when Hawk-Eye spoke. What he said made them sit up and listen with all their ears. Of course neither Hawk-Eye nor Limberleg thought for a moment that the Twins were awake or listening. Grown people are often very stupid about such things!

Anyway, they were awake, and they did listen, and this is what they heard.

Hawk-Eye said, "I am going across the river to-morrow."

"Why are you going?" asked Big Ear.

"I want to see what lies beyond the blue hills that the sun climbs over," Hawk-Eye answered.

"But no one of our clan has ever gone across the river. Our hunting-grounds have always been on this side," said Long Arm.

"It's time some one did go, then," said Hawk-Eye. "Game will be plentiful now everywhere, but after the reindeer go, there is a long time that we have little food. We need to find new hunting-grounds. I am going to seek them."

"Then I am going, too." It was Limberleg who spoke. "I can hunt. I can trap as well as anybody. And I can throw a spear as straight. I am not afraid. Grannie will look after the children while we are gone."