Busy now were the preparations for dire war. Not that troops were to be armed, or supplies collected for a long campaign. No vessels were to be fitted out to cross the Swamp, or ambulances prepared for the wounded. No loans were to be negotiated or preliminaries of diplomacy settled. The early men were always ready for war, in fact were always at war. One of the first advances of mankind was made when wars were separated from peace, and men observed the difference. As yet war was the natural state, and never had to be declared. Whenever a man met an ape, or even a wild beast, the signal was given for a fight. The race had not yet learned peace, which had to be learned before war, the arts of peace being all of later development. Men had fists before they had plows, and took their food before they produced it. But the Ammi were, nevertheless, busy with preparations for war. Those are often busiest who have least to do. The excitement made them active, and they rushed about impatient to begin the fray. They had not yet learned to wait, or to take time for things. To resolve was, as yet, to commence. Unaccustomed to those great achievements which require time for preparation, they would enter into a long war as quickly as into a single battle. Had they found their enemy they would have fought that day. The battle generally comes too late for savages, the impulse for war being expended before the fight begins. Still a few things had to be prepared. While they expected to get their rations from the Swamp, and to rely on some stone heap for weapons, they remembered that in the few years of their separate life as Men they had accumulated some wealth. This it was thought best to protect. They had large quantities of cocoanuts and other fruits in their dens; they had made some valuable instruments of stones and shells; their dug-outs themselves were worth much to them, and would likely be destroyed in their absence; for all which reasons some of the older men opposed the project of war; for wealth is always a promoter of peace. “It is better to keep our caves and cocoanuts,” said Oko, a stingy fellow, “then to get back a girl.” Their very position in the Cocoanut Hill region was deemed valuable on account of its abundant fruits and its nearness to the Swamp with its game. They found it advisable, therefore, to protect their homes and country, and for that purpose determined to leave some at home. They learned also that some of their implements might be used in war, or rather recalled the fact, since they were first invented for purposes of war; and it took some time to select what they wanted and to provide for its transportation. Some, not accustomed to hunt, or not liking the products of the Swamp, concluded to take with them the sweetest nuts and juiciest fruits of the Cocoanut Hill region, while others were busy determining the best route to the other side of the Swamp.