What happens to the trees and plants just before winter?
What do the animals that you know do before the winter
comes?
Do you know what people do to get ready for winter?
_How the Fire Clan Got a Cave_
Summer was almost gone.
The oak and the birch trees were dropping their leaves, and all the
plants were showing signs of the frost.
[Illustration: “_Sabre-tooth was going away_”]
The wild animals were getting ready for winter.
Some of them were crawling into their holes.
Others were starting for the south.
The fire clan hoped that in a few days Sabre-tooth would go.
They wanted his cave for the winter, so they kept watch of all that he
did.
They knew that he slept in his cave all the day and seldom left it
except at night.
One morning Strongarm saw him come out of the cave and start off toward
the south.
He believed that Sabre-tooth was going away, so he hurried and told his
people.
How glad they were to hear such news!
How excited they were as they took their firebrands and followed
Strongarm to the cave!
When they reached the cave they paused a moment, while Strongarm crept
in through the mouth.
When he was sure that it was safe for them to follow, he beckoned to
them with his hand.
One by one they crept through the mouth of the cave, their firebrands
lighting the dark way.
It seemed strange to be in such a dark place, but they knew that it was
safe and warm.
They all wanted to keep it for a home, but they knew that wild animals
would try to get it.
So the women gathered armfuls of branches and started a fire just
outside the mouth.
As the fire began to flame up toward the sky, the men gathered around
and watched it blaze.
The children played beside the fire or watched their mothers gather
branches.
All the people were near the fire when, suddenly, they were startled by
a shriek of terror.
Mothers clasped their children to their breasts, and fathers grasped
their knives to be ready to fight.
All eyes were soon fixed upon Firekeeper.
[Illustration: “_She stood trembling so that she could hardly speak_”]
She stood trembling so that she could hardly speak, but she pointed
toward a thicket.
The men stepped cautiously toward it, but Firekeeper pulled them back.
Then she told them what she had seen.
It was Sabre-tooth trying to come back to the cave.
When the fire clan heard this, they were filled with terror.
They huddled around the fire.
Nobody knew what to do.
Yet everybody knew that something must be done, for their lives were
not safe as long as Sabre-tooth was near.