Chapter 9

Flaker listened to all the stories that were told by the best hunters. He questioned them eagerly and learned many things which the hunters themselves soon forgot. He learned the haunts of the wild animals in the various seasons. He knew where to look for the best feeding grounds and the places of shelter from storms.

And so when the fame of Flaker was noised about among all the clans, people came from near and from far to make gifts and to get his advice.

#THINGS TO DO#

_Find soft wood or stone and see if you can engrave some animal on it._

_Find a stick with branches and carve the head of some animal upon the end of the short branches._

_Dramatize this story._

_Draw one of these pictures:_-- _Fleetfoot starting out with his drum._ _Flaker speaking to the young men of the brotherhood._ _Flaker inquiring of returning hunters about the game and the feeding grounds._ _Strangers coming with gifts to get Flaker's advice._

XXXIX

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Think of as many simple ways of catching fish as you can. How do you think the Cave-men fished?

What do you think people mean when they say that some one is living a "hand-to-mouth" life?

How do you think people learned to dry meat, fish, or fruit?

Why would the people honor the one who taught them to preserve food by drying it?

Can you think of anything which could be used as food when it was boiled, that would not be a good food eaten raw?

Name a bitter vegetable. What happens to the water in which a bitter vegetable is boiled?

Name a sweet vegetable. What happens to the water in which a sweet vegetable is boiled?

What do you mean by "parboiling?"

Do you think the Cave-men will learn how to boil food?

_How the Cave-men Learned to Boil and to Dry Foods_

Again the salmon feast came, and again the neighboring clans camped at the rapids. This time they caught more salmon than they had ever caught before. And this was the summer that the Cave-men began to dry salmon and to fish with harpoons.

It was Willow-grouse who thought of drying salmon, and carrying it to the caves. She remembered the berries dried on the bushes, and the dried meat she found in a tree. No doubt all the Cave-men had eaten dried meat many times before. Often the Cave-men left strips of meat hanging from the trees.

Anybody could leave meat which he did not care to eat. Anybody could eat meat which had been dried in the sun. But not every one was bright enough to think of drying meat.

Chew-chew had never dried meat, nor had any of the women. It was enough for them to prepare the meat which they needed day by day. Few of the people ever thought of laying up stores for the morrow. They lived a "hand-to-mouth" life.

But Willow-grouse remembered the famines. She knew food was scarce in the early spring. And when she saw the river full of salmon, she thought of the sun-dried meat.

And so Willow-grouse caught some salmon and cleaned them and hung them on the branches of a tree. And when they had dried, she took them down and the Cave-men said that dried salmon were good. And so all the people caught salmon and dried them in the sun.

The first few days the people fished as they had fished before. They waded in the water and caught salmon with their hands, or they stunned them with clubs or with stones. But soon the men began to catch salmon by spearing them with barbed harpoons.

Afterward the Cave-men fished with harpoons which had barbs on only one side. Perhaps they first used a broken harpoon. Perhaps they found they could throw with a surer aim when the barbs were on only one side. At any rate, the Cave-men used harpoons with barbs on one side for fishing, while they used harpoons with barbs on both sides when they went out to hunt.

It was about the time of the salmon feast that people began to boil food. Pigeon first boiled food to eat. She remembered the broth and partly boiled meat which Chew-chew said the gods had left. And she boiled meat and gave it to the men, and they all sounded her praises.

For a while the only boiling pot Pigeon used was a hole in the ground which she lined with a skin. Then she used a water-tight basket for boiling little things.

Pigeon always boiled by dropping hot stones into the water. She had never heard of a boiling-pot which could be hung over the fire. She had never heard of a stove. The Cave-men knew nothing about such things as stoves. It would have done them no good if they had, for their boiling-pots could not stand the heat. So instead of putting the boiling-pot over the fire, the Cave-men brought the fire to the boiling-pot by means of hot stones.

In times of famine, Pigeon learned to boil all sorts of roots and leaves. Many bitter plants, when boiled, were changed so that they tasted very well. Some plants which were poison when eaten raw were changed to good foods by being boiled.

And so the young women had their share in procuring food for the clans. While the young men invented new weapons for hunting, and tried to control the animals by magic, the young women learned to preserve foods and to keep them for times when game was scarce.

When the end of the salmon feast came, the people had dried many salmon. It was soon after this that the young men captured wives and took them to new hunting grounds. And one of the very bravest young men was the one who captured Pigeon.

#THINGS TO DO#

_Find some kind of raw food which you can dry. Dry it and tell what happens. What dried foods do we eat? In what kind of a place do we keep dried foods?_

_Find the best way of boiling bitter vegetables. Tell what happens when you boil them. Find the best way of boiling sweet vegetables._

_Draw one of these pictures:_-- _Catching salmon just below the rapids._ _Drying salmon._ _Pigeon boiling meat for the Cave-men._

XL

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Do you think that any of the young men and their wives would live with Fleetfoot and Willow-grouse? Where do you think Flaker will live?

Can you think why Willow-grouse would take great pains to embroider her baby's clothing?

Why would Willow-grouse want pretty colors? Think of new ways she might find of getting pretty colors. How could she get the color out of plants into the stuff she wished to color?

Why was it easier to make pretty dyes after people knew how to boil?

_The New Home_

A year or so passed and Fleetfoot and Willow-grouse were settled with their kinsfolk in a new rock shelter. Its framework was covered with heavy skins instead of woven branches. Heavy bone pegs and strong thongs served to keep the skins in place.

Flaker and other young men with their wives lived in the rock shelter. There were little children, too, and tiny babies.

Willow-grouse had a baby and she thought he was a wonderful child. She dressed him in the softest skins which she embroidered with a prayer. And she hung a bear's tooth about his neck because she thought it was a charm. In winter she put him in a skin cradle and wrapped him in the warmest furs. In summer he played in a basket cradle which Willow-grouse wove on a forked stick.

In all that Willow-grouse did, she always asked the gods for help. The baskets she made for boiling food, were also prayers to the gods.

She searched for the choicest grasses and spread them on a clean spot to dry. No one knew so well as Willow-grouse when to gather the twigs. She knew the season when they were full-grown and gathered them before the sap had hardened. She gathered them when the barks peeled easily and when the rich juices flowed.

When the twigs were gathered the women soaked them and peeled off the bark. They left some of the twigs round, but others they made into flat splints. Sometimes they stained them with the green rind of nuts, and sometimes they dyed them with pretty dyes.

Instead of weaving the baskets, Willow-grouse sewed them with an over-and-over stitch. In this way she made the soft grasses into a firm basket. She began by taking a wisp of grass in the left hand and a flat splint in the other. She wound the splint around the wisp a few times then turned the wrapped portion upon itself. When she had fastened it with a firm stitch, again she wound the splint around the wisp and took another stitch.

Sometimes Willow-grouse made baskets for boiling food, and sometimes she made them for carrying water. The baskets she prized most were the ones into which she put a prayer. The prayer was a little pattern which she made for a picture of one of the gods. Sometimes it was a wild animal and sometimes it was a bird. Sometimes it was the flowing river and sometimes a mountain peak. And sometimes it was a flash of lightning, and sometimes it was the sun.

All the Cave-men wanted the gods to be friendly and they wanted them to stay near. That is why they took so much pains in making pictures of them. That is why that soon after the rock shelter was made they engraved a reindeer upon the wall.

Greybeard, now old and feeble, walked all the way to the spot. Fleetfoot and Flaker wanted him to perform the magic rites.

Not all the people who lived there were allowed to take part in the ceremonies. Only the grown people were allowed to see the first part. And only the wisest and bravest ones went into the dark shelter.

For a moment, those who went in stood in silence waiting for a sign. Then, by the light of a torch, Fleetfoot chiseled a reindeer on the hard rock, and Greybeard, holding a reindeer skull, murmured earnest prayers.

A feeling of awe came over them while they worked. They began to feel that the god of the reindeer was really there with them. They asked the god to take good care of those who lived in the rock shelter, and to send many herds of reindeer to the Cave-men's hunting grounds.

#THINGS TO DO#

_Make a rock shelter with walls of skin instead of plaited branches. Use bone pegs to keep the curtains drawn tight._

_Find a forked stick and several smaller ones and make a framework for a basket-cradle. If you cannot weave such a cradle as the one shown in the picture, make one in some other way and fasten it to the framework._

_Find grasses and splints and see if you can make a sewed mat or basket. Make a simple pattern for your mat._

_Look at the picture of a water basket. Why do you think it was made to bulge near the bottom? Why was the bottom made flat? Why was the neck made narrow? Why were handles put on this basket? Tell or write a story about this basket._

_Turn to the frontispiece and find a picture with this legend: "A feeling of awe came over them while they worked."_

XLI

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

What might happen that would lead the Cave-men to work together? At what times might the clans help one another?

Think of as many ways as you can of making tents out of poles and skins.

_How the Clans United to Hunt the Bison_

In spite of all the Cave-men did to appease the wrath of the gods, it seemed to them that a powerful god was trying to do them harm. Soon after the bison came, the grass near the caves disappeared. Then the herds scattered and the Cave-men said, "The god has driven them away."

As the word passed from cave to cave, all the people were frightened. Wise men shook their heads and looked about in despair. Then it was that the younger men spoke of Fleetfoot and Flaker.

Scarface knew of Fleetfoot's courage. And when he heard of Flaker's magical power, he sent messengers, bearing gifts, to invite them with their people to a meeting of the clans.

Fleetfoot and Flaker accepted the gifts and made ready to go. The women made a stretcher for Flaker. And when they had buried their household treasures, all set out to the meeting of the clans.

They arrived at the Fork of the River where Fleetfoot had lived when he was a child. There the frightened clans had gathered to seek aid against a common foe.

When the people saw Flaker upon the stretcher, their voices were hushed and all was still. And when Flaker, arising, fixed his eyes upon something that no one else could see, they scarcely breathed. They were sure that something was going to happen.

Instead of offering gifts, Flaker threatened the angry god. He made faces at him; he shook his fists, and he made a great noise. And the people, becoming excited, joined Flaker in making threats. They made faces, they joined hands, they danced about and they made such a horrible noise that they began to feel that the god was frightened and that he had gone away.

When the ceremony was ended, the people hoped to find the herds. Scarface asked for young men to go ahead and act as scouts. Several young men at once stepped forward from different parts of the circle of the clans. And Scarface selected Fleetfoot and Blackcloud to go in search of the herds.

The people listened as Scarface spoke thus to the young men: "Go follow the tracks; listen to each sound; find where the herds are feeding. Do not frighten them away. Return quickly and report what you have seen. If you speak not the truth when you return, may the fire burn you; may the lightning strike you; may the Big Bear shut you in his dark cavern!"

The scouts nodded their heads, and looked to Flaker for a sign. And Flaker, turning to the scouts, said, "The gods will lead you. Follow where the green grass is cropped. Follow where the grass is trampled. These are the signs which the gods will give to show that you are on the right way."

The scouts departed. The first day the clans made ready to move. The second day the scouts returned and brought news of the herds. The third day all the clans were traveling toward the fertile plains.

Fleetfoot and Blackcloud led the way and at midday caught sight of the herds. At once, Fleetfoot gave the signal and Scarface ordered the clans to stop. Then the men prepared to attack the herds, while the women built the tents.

There were no large trees in sight, but there were a few small ones. A grassy plain stretched all around for a long, long way. And so the women built their tents out of slender saplings.

Most of the women made a framework by leaning poles against the branch of a tree. The roof and the walls of such a tent were one and the same thing. Willow-grouse and her companions tried a different way.

It was by trying different ways in the different places where they camped, that the women at length learned to make tents with the roof separated from the wall. The Cave-men made pictures of some of these tents upon a piece of antler.

When the men parted from the women, they considered ways of attacking the herd. It was hard to approach it on the grassy plain without being seen. And the men knew that if the herd was alarmed, it would gallop far away.

At length Fleetfoot showed the Cave-men a plan for surrounding the herd. And he asked who would volunteer to follow two leaders in separate lines.

All the bravest men volunteered, for they were eager to make an attack. Fleetfoot placed them in two lines and told them what each one was to do.

Fleetfoot led one of the lines through the grass to the right, and Blackcloud led the other to the left. They crept softly through the tall grass until they had surrounded the herd. Approaching the herd cautiously, they drew nearer and nearer together.

Fleetfoot gave the signal to attack when they were about a spear's throw away. At once the harpoons whizzed through the air and struck many a mortal blow. The bison were taken by surprise and they attempted to escape. But no sooner had they run from one side than they were attacked from the other.

Many a bison was killed that day and many others were wounded. Many of the Cave-men carried away marks of an ugly bison's horns.

But all of the people had food and all the people were happy. And to show that they honored both Fleetfoot and Flaker they bored holes through their batons.

#THINGS TO DO#

_Make such a stretcher as you think the women made to carry Flaker._

_Make tents whose roof and walls are one and the same thing. Make a tent whose roof and walls are separated. Tell how you think people learned to make such perfect tents._

_Dramatize one of the following scenes and then draw a picture to illustrate it:_-- _The fear of the people at the disappearance of the herds._ _Bearing gifts to Fleetfoot and Flaker._ _Flaker threatening the angry god._ _Sending the scouts._ _Surrounding the herds._ _Showing honors to Fleetfoot and Flaker._

XLII

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

If there were not men enough to surround a herd can you think of anything the Cave-men might do to drive them where they wanted them to go?

How do we get animals into traps?

Why do you think people first began to make fences and walls?

How do you think they used them?

Why do we have fences? What do we use them for?

_How Things were Made to Do the Work of Men_

When the clans returned to their own hunting grounds, they could not surround the large herds. There were not enough men in one cave to hunt in this way. Sometimes they partly surrounded a herd and drove the animals over a cliff, but unless the herd was near the cliff, there were not enough men to drive them.

And so the men tried to coax the animals to the edge of the cliff. Sometimes they did it by imitating the cries the animals made. Sometimes they did it by dressing so as to look like the animals themselves. But even then they often failed to get the animals into their trap.

It was when Fleetfoot saw a bison frightened by a feather that he thought of making things do the work of live men.

The greater part of the day the bison fed some distance from the cliff. Fleetfoot wanted to find a way of driving them up to the very edge. The bison drive which he invented was the way he succeeded in doing it.

It was shaped like a letter #V# with the point cut off. The sides were piles of brush, or stones, or vines stretched from tree to tree. At the edge of the cliff where they started, the sides were only a short distance apart. But the farther out they extended, the farther they were apart.

Men, women, and children joined in making the bison drive. They piled stones and heaped up brush, and they hunted for long vines. Then they hunted for feathers and bits of fur, which they tied along the lines.

Flaker performed the magical ceremony before the hunt began. Fleetfoot dressed in a bison's skin so as to coax the herd along. Women and children hid behind piles of stone and brush. And the men formed themselves in line far out from the cliffs in the rear of the herd.

Everybody kept still until Fleetfoot's signal sounded. Then the men sprang up and with loud shouts they ran after the herd. The bison saw Fleetfoot in disguise; and, thinking he was one of the herd, they followed where he led.

When the bison came near a pile of stones a woman or child frightened them. When they came near the fence of vines they were frightened away by the feathers and fur. And so the herd kept on toward the steep cliff.

And with loud shouts and drumbeats, with the clatter of weapons and hard hoofs, the bellowing herd galloped madly on toward the steep cliff. Then Fleetfoot, throwing off his disguise, slipped under one of the lines; but the frantic herd rushed headlong to the brink of the precipice. Then, seeing the danger, the foremost ones attempted to escape. But the maddened herd pressed blindly on and pushed them over the cliff.

After such a hunt as this, there was food enough for many days. Very likely the women dried meat during this time.

#THINGS TO DO#

_Model in your sand-box a good place for the bison drive. Make the drive and show what happened from first to last._

_Draw one of these pictures:_-- _Bison feeding some distance from the cliff._ _Building a bison drive._ _Fleetfoot leading the herd._ _The bison at the edge of the cliff._ _Drying meat._

XLIII

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Can you think why people make rules and laws? Why do we have them?

What kind of rules and laws do you think the Cave-men made?

What laws do you think they would make about hunting animals?

What laws would they make about the use of plants?

What people did the Cave-men honor most? What must any one do to be honored? What were some of the signs that a man was honored?

When dangerous work needs to be done, what kind of men and women are needed?

_How the Cave-men Rewarded and Punished the Clansmen_

Again the clans went to hunt on the fertile plains. Again the women built the tents while the men went out to hunt. But before the tents were finished, the women heard the thunder of the galloping herd. Angry shouts followed, and the women began to feel alarmed.

All the men were angry with Blackcloud. He had frightened the herd away. Fleetfoot had planned to surround the bison as they were surrounded before. But a stronger and braver young man than Blackcloud, helped Fleetfoot lead the lines.

Nobody dreamed that Blackcloud would do it. Everybody knew that each one must be careful not to frighten the herd. The men crept quietly through the grass when they saw a bison browsing near the line. But when Blackcloud saw a young cow, he rushed forward and made an attack.

The loud bellow of the wounded cow gave the alarm to the herd. And before the Cave-men could stop them, the bison were galloping madly away.

And so all the men were angry with Blackcloud. Bighorn wanted to have him flogged. Others wanted to kill him. He dared not come near them for many days. No one would hunt with him, and no one would give him food.

Afterward, when he begged to be taken back, the people let him come. But first they gave him a hard flogging in the presence of the clan.

As years passed, the custom grew of making rules for the hunt. And those who broke any of the rules were punished by the clan.

Every day the Cave-men recited the brave deeds of the clan. They watched every one carefully, so as to know who the brave men were. Those who were found most useful to the clan were given special honors. And when a man did a very brave deed he was given a hole in his baton.

Brave hunters, besides keeping trophies, engraved a record of their brave deeds. Sometimes they kept a hunter's tally, and sometimes they engraved the animal they killed.