And though Noah argued with them, and explained all the terrible possibilities of the case, still they hesitated, and in their different tongues and ways talked it over, and would not be hurried. Then Noah called them Stumbling Blocks. But even this did not move them. [Illustration] 7. GOING ON BOARD And Noah was vexed, and left them, and began to drive his domestic animals on board, hoping to set the others an example. And his sons--Shem, Ham, and Japheth--helped him, while he kept count. [Illustration] 8. CONFUSION Then new troubles began. For now the other beasts and birds, fearing to be left behind, all tried to get in at once, and could not be controlled. But they did not leave behind their dislikes and ancient feuds. For how could the cats and the mice live together in peace, or how could the fox and the geese agree? And the hounds and the hares? And quarrels and dissensions came into the Ark. And confusion reigned. And Noah lost count, and lost patience as well. [Illustration] 9-10. THE PROCESSION But after much trouble order was established; and the mighty procession, once started, filed steadily in. And they came from far and near: a great host of beasts and birds and creeping things: [Illustration] 9-10. THE PROCESSION (_continued_) The big elephant and the polar bear, the giraffe and the striped tiger, and the woolly bison of the west. And from the mountain and the jungle, the hill and the plain, came great and small. And the earth trembled with their tread, while the sky was dark with flapping wings. [Illustration] 11. THE DINOSAURS’ DILEMMA And then came even the huge dinosaurs, for in those days were mighty beasts. But they were too big for the door, and could not squeeze in. Now Noah sorely regretted this miscalculation, but could find no way to help it. And the dinosaurs, alas! had to be left behind. [Illustration] 12. THOSE WHO WOULD NOT GO IN But the mammoth and the mastodon, and the dinotherium, the palæotherium, and the anoptherium, and the pterodactyl, and the archæopteryx,--and a host of other strange beasts and birds with long Latin names,--refused to go in at all, in spite of Noah’s warnings. All these of course were doomed to be lost, and become fossils, to be put in museums with stones and labels. [Illustration] 13. TAKING IN SUPPLIES Then Noah took on board in plenty foods of every kind for men and beasts. While the hungry animals inside complained that he should have done this first instead of last. And then he took his wife and his sons’ wives into the Ark, though Mrs. Noah was loath and rebelled: “For the domestic arrangements,” she said, “are impossible.” [Illustration] 14. WAITING FOR THE RAIN And now, all being at last ready, the sun still shone, and the rain did not come. And they waited and waited. And the scoffers laughed and jeered, and called to Noah that it was going to be a dry season.