LONGHEAD: _THE STORY OF THE FIRST FIRE_ L. C. PAGE & COMPANY 53 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. [Illustration: "THEY CAUGHT SIGHT OF THE LIGHT MADE BY THE FIRE." (_See Page 63._)] Longhead: The Story of the First Fire BY C. H. ROBINSON Author of "Hawk: The Young Osage," etc. Illustrated by CHARLES LIVINGSTON BULL BOSTON L. C. PAGE & COMPANY MDCCCCXIII _Copyright, 1913_, BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY (INCORPORATED) _All rights reserved_ First Impression, July, 1913 THE COLONIAL PRESS C. H. SIMONDS & CO., BOSTON, U. S. A. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION OF FIRE 1 II. WEAPONS--COOKED FOOD--COMPANIONSHIP 36 III. GERMS OF SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 62 IV. CO-OPERATION 76 V. DAWN OF INVENTION, ART, MARRIAGE, RELIGION AND GOVERNMENT 97 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE "THEY CAUGHT SIGHT OF THE LIGHT MADE BY THE FIRE" (_See page 63_) _Frontispiece_ "A HUGE TIGER WHICH WAS SLOWLY CREEPING UP BEHIND HIM" 5 "AFTER SOME VIGOROUS BLOWING, PRODUCED FLAME" 33 "SOON THEY HAD A TOLERABLY FIRM PATH FROM THE SOLID GROUND TO A PLACE NEAR THE GREAT BEAST" 82 LONGHEAD: THE STORY OF THE FIRST FIRE CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION OF FIRE "A fire-mist and a planet, A crystal and a cell, A jelly-fish and a saurian, And a cave where the cave-men dwell; Then a sense of law and beauty And a face turned from the clod,-- Some call it Evolution, And others call it God." A strange-looking animal was running across the open glade toward the forest. It looked something like a human being, but was entirely naked. Its body, except on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, was covered with reddish-brown hair, but on the head it was nearly black and long and matted; while on the rest of the body it was short and curled--nearly fur, in fact. Its arms were long, reaching below the knees, and the great toes, as it ran, stood nearly at right angles to the others. The animal carried no weapon of any kind, if we except a club or staff broken from a dry branch, which it seemed to use in maintaining an upright position as it hurried toward a large tree with pendent branches which stood at the edge of the forest.