ADH'S FIRST FIGHT
WHEREVER he went, Adh carried about with him a club. He had found
himself a new one, now that his first was broken, and this new club
was short and heavy, with a great hard knob on the end of it, as big
as his two fists. He had broken it from the limb of a tree, and rubbed
and polished it on the rocky floor of the cave until it was hard and
smooth. Besides the club, he had made himself a long straight spear,
with the end of it rubbed to a point against the rocks. He used the
spear for getting fish, and had become so skilful that he hardly ever
missed them.
One night, when the cold rains were over, and the trees in the valley
were covered with fresh new leaves, Adh was sitting on a flat rock in
front of his cave, eating a large fish.
He was not thinking of anything, except how good the fish tasted, when
suddenly his quick ears heard a sound, and looking up he saw a great
beast, like a bear, covered with hair, making its way slowly up the
rocky hillside toward him.
It was a huge, clumsy animal, much larger than himself, but it walked
on all fours, snuffing the air as though it smelt the fish Adh had been
eating. The Ape-Man had never seen such a creature before.
The hair on Adh's neck stood straight up, for he was very much
frightened, and his first thought was to run away as fast as his legs
would carry him. Then he remembered his wife and child, lying asleep
inside the cave, and instead of running away, he picked up some heavy
stones and threw them at the oncoming enemy.
One of the stones hit the beast on the shoulder, but instead of
stopping, it gave a grunt of rage and came on faster than ever,
straight toward the cave.
Adh picked up his club from where it lay on the rock beside him and
stood before the door of the cave, chattering and screaming with anger
and fear. His wife, awakened by the noise, came out of the cave and
stood just behind him, holding the young one in her arms, and also
uttering shrill cries.
The creature's black snout, with small fiery red eyes, came slowly
forward until Adh could feel its breath on his face. Then, just as the
beast started to rear up on its hind legs, Adh raised his club, and
springing forward, struck the animal across the nose with all his might.
The Ape-Man was very strong, and his blow was a terrible one. The great
beast gave a howl of pain, and rearing up, tried to reach Adh with its
huge claws. But Adh's fear had all left him, now. His eyes gleamed,
and his mouth foamed with rage. Raising his club he struck again and
again, until the beast, with blood streaming from its crushed snout,
turned tail and ran away down the rocky hillside. There was a great
deep wound in Adh's breast, where the claws of the beast had torn him,
but he hardly knew it, in his joy at winning the fight. He pounded his
clenched fist on his chest until the sound echoed through the valley,
and uttered shrill cries of defiance.
[Illustration: THE CAVE MAN'S FIGHT WITH A BEAR
The great beast gave a howl of pain and, rearing up, tried to reach Adh
with its huge claws.]
His wife came up to him and stroked and patted him proudly, chattering
all the time with pleasure. This made Adh feel very happy, and he
pounded his club on the rocks and grunted with delight. He had made
this great beast fear him, and the thought filled him with pride.
That night, as he lay on the floor of the cave, a terrible fear came
over him. What if the creature should come back again, while he was
asleep, and carry him off. He got up, and crouched for a long time in
the door of the cave, his club ready in his hands. After a while he
grew sleepy and wished that there were something across the cave door
to keep the beast out, in case he came back. The thought worried him so
much that at last he went out, and getting four or five large stones,
rolled them to the mouth of the cave, and after crawling inside, fixed
them so that the hole by which he crept in and out was almost blocked.
After that he went to sleep without feeling afraid.
The next morning he followed the bloody trail of the beast over the
rocks, but lost it far down the valley. The creature had disappeared.
Adh went on spearing fish and forgot all about his enemy. From that
time on, Adh often had to fight for his life and that of his wife and
child, but he was not afraid.
As the years went by, his boy grew up to be strong like his father,
and very smart and quick, and when he was old enough, Adh got into the
habit of taking him along when he went down the valley after fish, or
to gather fruit or nuts. The boy carried a spear, like his father, and
used it very skilfully, so that the little family never wanted for
food. There were other children, now, and later on, grandchildren and
great-grandchildren, and Adh had made the cave bigger, by scraping away
the soft rock of the walls. Each year, with the coming of the warm
Spring, the rains ceased, and all the trees and bushes in the valley
were soon covered with bright new leaves, and later, with blossoms and
fruit. Adh and his family were very happy.
The oldest boy they called Kee, because when he was very young he
always said "Kee-Kee" when anything pleased him. And before long the
cries or grunts they used for the things they saw about them, such as
fruit, or fish, or the Sun, the Rain, or the cave, came to be used over
and over, and in this way they began to have words for things. There
were not many words at first, but Man had invented speech, which was
something none of the animals had ever done.
[Illustration: THE HOME OF EARLY MAN
The first houses built by man consisted of boulders piled up to form a
cave and covered with sod. The one shown below represents the earliest
attempts with rough, unhewn stone. Above is a stone house of later date
showing that the boulders had been hewn for the purpose.]
Mother Nature watched the progress of her children with a smile.
"Just see," she said to the Sun, "how quickly they are learning. Did I
not tell you that Love would teach my Ape-Man many things? If he had
not loved his wife and child, he would have run away when the bear came
to attack him, but because of them he stayed, and fought. And he has
made a door to his cave, to keep his enemies away, during the night."
"What are those strange grunts and cries I hear them using?" the Sun
asked.
"They are beginning to make a language," Mother Nature replied. "Before
long, they will be able to say many things to each other, and be
understood. They are certainly doing very well. I hope nothing happens
to them."
"It seems to me they are awfully slow," said the Sun.
"Not at all. Think how many thousands of years they have ahead of them.
There is no hurry, you know. The Earth is only a hundred million years
old. They have plenty of time. I think I shall go away now, and take
a look at another sun I am making, many times bigger than you are. I
shan't be back for several thousand years. Good-bye."
"Good-bye," said the Sun, in a surly voice, for it made him very angry
to think that there were any suns in the Universe bigger than he was.