Next in valor and wise in counsel was Spread-mouth, the first man that was known to laugh. His associates observed the changing size of his mouth, which took as many dimensions as the chameleon took colors, and was seen to be biggest when he was with women. Others learned to imitate him, which was at first thought to detract, and then to add, to their beauty, until, at the time of which we speak, half of the Ammi had learned to laugh, but many of them awkwardly. The first laughs of men were hardly distinguishable from grins and growls, and many indulged in them unwillingly because of the huge teeth they displayed, which called forth shudders rather than responsive smiles. They who laughed, laughed alone, and not for many generations did a whole company join in laughter together. As there was little wit to encourage laughter, the habit was of slow growth, and its indulgence promoted quarreling rather than good humor, because of the defiant appearance of the laugher. Only when men became acquainted with laughter did they learn to like it, and not to resent it. This great Spread-mouth was, therefore, long the terror and the puzzle of the Ammi. Next in honor and influence was the great jawed and big-fisted Pounder, whose mouth and hands were a double terror to his enemies. He scorned to fight with clubs or sharpened stones, but thought himself sufficiently armed by nature to meet his enemy, whether man, or ape, or wild beast. He had fought the woolly Rhinoceros and Cave Bear; he had climbed after wild cats, and fought in the Swamp with alligators. Pounder had a long, narrow head, with retreating forehead, and great jaws filled with oblique teeth, which struck terror into an enemy. He was woolly-haired, being covered with coarse, dark-brown bunches of hair over his whole body, and a beard of lighter color. His arms were long, reaching almost to the ground, so that he could walk as well as fight with them, using sometimes one and sometimes both. They were powerful, whether to hold an object or deal a blow. His legs were short and thin, with undeveloped calves, and he walked half erect with in-bent knees, carrying a huge body that was ever ready for assault. He was impatient to reach the enemy, and at times quarreled with his friends that he might have somebody to fight. Pounder was more useful in war than in peace; and had not this conflict broken out to make him a hero, he would have been killed as a criminal.