Dreams -- Fiction; Fantasy fiction; Prehistoric peoples -- Fiction
As twilight came on, the open space was deserted. The Folk were seeking
the safety of the caves. Lop-Ear led the way to bed. High up the bluff
we climbed, higher than all the other caves, to a tiny crevice that
could not be seen from the ground. Into this Lop-Ear squeezed. I
followed with difficulty, so narrow was the entrance, and found myself
in a small rock-chamber. It was very low—not more than a couple of feet
in height, and possibly three feet by four in width and length. Here,
cuddled together in each other’s arms, we slept out the night.
CHAPTER VI
While the more courageous of the youngsters played in and out of the
large-mouthed caves, I early learned that such caves were unoccupied.
No one slept in them at night. Only the crevice-mouthed caves were
used, the narrower the mouth the better. This was from fear of the
preying animals that made life a burden to us in those days and nights.
The first morning, after my night’s sleep with Lop-Ear, I learned the
advantage of the narrow-mouthed caves. It was just daylight when old
Saber-Tooth, the tiger, walked into the open space. Two of the Folk
were already up. They made a rush for it. Whether they were
panic-stricken, or whether he was too close on their heels for them to
attempt to scramble up the bluff to the crevices, I do not know; but at
any rate they dashed into the wide-mouthed cave wherein Lop-Ear and I
had played the afternoon before.
What happened inside there was no way of telling, but it is fair to
conclude that the two Folk slipped through the connecting crevice into
the other cave. This crevice was too small to allow for the passage of
Saber-Tooth, and he came out the way he had gone in, unsatisfied and
angry. It was evident that his night’s hunting had been unsuccessful
and that he had expected to make a meal off of us. He caught sight of
the two Folk at the other cave-mouth and sprang for them. Of course,
they darted through the passageway into the first cave. He emerged
angrier than ever and snarling.
Pandemonium broke loose amongst the rest of us. All up and down the
great bluff, we crowded the crevices and outside ledges, and we were
all chattering and shrieking in a thousand keys. And we were all making
faces—snarling faces; this was an instinct with us. We were as angry as
Saber-Tooth, though our anger was allied with fear. I remember that I
shrieked and made faces with the best of them. Not only did they set
the example, but I felt the urge from within me to do the same things
they were doing. My hair was bristling, and I was convulsed with a
fierce, unreasoning rage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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