The Later Cave-Men Part 17

XXVI

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

What do you think had happened to Flaker? If any of his bones were broken, do you think the Cave-men could set them? Do you think there were doctors when the Cave-men lived? Who would do the work which doctors do to-day?

_What the Cave-men did for Flaker_

Fleetfoot ran ahead of Greybeard and found Flaker on the ground.

Fleetfoot stooped and looked into his face. He called him by name. No answer came. Then Fleetfoot asked Greybeard if Flaker was dead.

Greybeard shook his head as he bent down and laid his hands upon the boy. He examined his wounds, then said to Fleetfoot, "Let's carry him down to the cool spring."

So Greybeard and Fleetfoot lifted Flaker and carried him gently down to the spring. There they bathed his face and the ugly wounds with fresh cool water. They bound his wounds with strips of the skins that the boys wore that day.

When Greybeard tried to set the broken bones, Flaker began to moan. He opened his eyes for a moment; then he fell back in a swoon.

Then Greybeard sent Fleetfoot to the cave for help. And Fleetfoot hurried and told Antler; and Antler, picking up some little things which she knew she would need, and telling the women to follow quickly with a large skin, went with Fleetfoot to the spot where Flaker lay.

Greybeard was watching beside the boy when Antler arrived. He helped her set the broken bones and then they prepared to carry him home.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _What the Cave-men did for Flaker._]

Taking the skin which the women brought, Antler stretched it upon the ground. Then the women helped her lift the boy and lay him upon the skin. Gently they laid him upon the stretcher. Softly they stepped as they carried him home. They tended him carefully many days.

Flaker's wounds soon healed. But when he was strong enough to walk, the Cave-men saw that he was lame.

Flaker was always lame after that. The bones had slipped out of place and now it was too late to reset them. Afterwards the Cave-men learned better ways of setting broken bones. They found better ways of holding them in place while they grew together.

Perhaps the Cave-men learned this by watching the wild animals. Some birds, when they break a leg, hold the bones in place with wet clay.

Sometimes we use a plaster cast, but the Cave-men knew nothing about such a way.

The days seemed long to Flaker while he was getting well. Everybody was kind to him, but it seemed hard to keep quiet when everybody else was moving about.

When Fleetfoot went out to hunt, Flaker wanted to go too. But he could not go, and so Fleetfoot used to tell him everything that happened.

#THINGS TO DO#

_Show how the women helped Antler put Flaker upon the skin. Show how they carried him home. Draw one of the pictures._

_Find out why a child's bones will grow together more easily than an old person's bones. See if you can find out what bones are made of. Soak a bone in acid and see what happens to it. Burn a bone and see what happens to it. Why do a child's bones break less easily than an old person's?_

_If there is a spring in your neighborhood, go and see it. Find out where the water comes from._

XXVII

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

If Flaker is lame, how will he be able to get food? What do you think he can do that will be useful to the clan?

Do you think the Cave-men took as good care of the sick, and the lame, and the old people, as we do? What could they do for them?

Why did the men use weapons more than tools? Why did the women use tools more than weapons?

Think of as many tools as you can that the women used.

_How Flaker Learned to Make Weapons of Bone_

Before Flaker was hurt he and Fleetfoot had planned to do many things.

But now Flaker was lame, and all the Cave-men knew he would never be able to hunt.

When Flaker first knew it, he was very sad. And so Fleetfoot tried to comfort him. Each day he brought him a bird or a rabbit, and he told him all that had happened.

For a while Flaker thought that if a man could not hunt, there was nothing else for him to do. But soon he found there were many things to do besides going out to hunt.

Flaker began by doing a few little things to help Fleetfoot. He helped him flake heads for harpoons and javelins and make strong shafts.

When Greybeard and Fleetfoot praised his work, Flaker was very happy.

And so Flaker busied himself in the workshop when the men went out to hunt. Sometimes Chipper helped him, and often Greybeard worked with him.

When Flaker was tired he would look at the trophies which were fastened on the wall near the cave. He was always glad to see the locked antlers of the two stags.

As he looked at the strong antlers, he could almost see the handsome stags. He thought of them standing head to head ready to strike deadly blows. And he wished he had had such powerful weapons to meet the bison's charge.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A wedge or tent pin._]

The children wanted to be good to Flaker and so they brought him the antlers they found. They liked to play with the antlers, and their mothers used them in many ways. They had learned to cut them with choppers and chisels, and sometimes they cut them with stone knives.

All the women used the small p.r.o.ngs of the antlers. They used them as wedges in prying the bark loose from the sap-wood of young trees. All the women had learned to make hammers of antler by making two cuts near the base. And sometimes they used the broad end of the brow antler instead of a stone chisel.

Once when Flaker was watching Antler, he thought she was making a dagger. But Antler had not thought of making a dagger. She was making a hammer and wedge. When she had finished, she dropped the long beam of the antler upon the ground and went away with her tools.

Flaker kept his eyes fixed upon the long beam. The more he looked at it, the more it looked like a dagger. At length he reached and picked it up. Then he took his knife and began to cut it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _The head of a javelin._]

That night when Fleetfoot came home, Flaker gave him a dagger of reindeer horn. Fleetfoot showed it to Bighorn, who took it, then tossed it on the ground.

Bighorn had never seen such a dagger. He thought a good dagger had to be made of stone. So he made fun of Flaker's weapon, then thought no more about it.