Part 19

Long after Fleetfoot fell asleep, the strangers talked quietly. They held their ears close to the ground and listened. They went and looked at Fleetfoot, now fast asleep. Then they all sat down by the fire.

At length the men turned to Greybeard. And Greybeard spoke to them and said, "When I was young my clan lived in a cave near Sweet Briar River. Every year, in the salmon season, the neighboring clans met at the rapids. The Horse clan came from the Fork of the River, where the Sweet Briar joins the River of Stones. They may live there still. This boy may belong to them."

"Do you think they will follow us?" asked Bighorn.

Greybeard looked up, but did not speak. He seemed to be trying to think. At length he turned to the men and said, "Sleep until the moon sets; I'll watch and wake you."

So the Cave-men went to the tent and slept while Greybeard kept watch. Not a sound escaped his ear that night. Not a leaf rustled that he did not hear. Not a twig broke, as wild animals passed, but that he found out what it meant.

As Greybeard watched in the moonlight he heard many a familiar sound. Now he heard the roar of a tiger, and again the "hoo-hoo" of an owl; now the howling of hyenas, and again an eagle's scream.

Among all these sounds Greybeard heard nothing that seemed to come from the lost child's clan. But when the moon was set he roused the people, and under cover of the darkness they hurried toward home.

They let Fleetfoot sleep, for fear he might answer if he were called. And so the child slept while he was hurried away through the darkness. At daybreak, when he awoke, he found himself in a new home.

#THINGS TO DO#

See if there is a tree in your neighborhood that could be made into such a tent as the Cave-men made.

Find a thick branch and make such a tent in your sand-box.

Draw one of these pictures:-- The council of the clan before going to sleep. Greybeard watching in the moonlight. Hurrying home under cover of the darkness. Fleetfoot awakes and finds himself in his new home.

Act out part of this story and let some one guess what it is.

Write as many calls of the birds as you know. Model one of the birds in clay. If you know its nest, model that.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

How do you think Fleetfoot felt the first few days he was with the strange clan?

What do you think he will learn of them? What do you think he can teach them?

Fleetfoot is Adopted by the Bison Clan

For a few days Fleetfoot missed his mother and Chew-chew more than he could tell. He missed little Pigeon, too. He missed the people he had always seen. But he said very little about them.

It was Greybeard who told him that he was now living with the Bison clan. Not all of the people belonged to that clan, but there were more of that clan than of any other. And so they were known as the Bison clan.

At first Fleetfoot was afraid of the men and large boys. Most of all he was afraid of Bighorn, for it was Bighorn who captured him.

But before one moon had passed, he was adopted by the Bison clan. And soon after that, he began to feel at home. Greybeard told him stories, and gave him little spears. Antler was kind to him, and the children were always ready to play.

Fleetfoot liked to play with the children. He liked to play with Flaker best of all. Flaker was Antler's child, and he was about the size of Fleetfoot.

As the days became cold, the women worked upon skins. There was not a smooth spot near the cave which was not covered with a skin. Fleetfoot watched Antler as she cut little slits in the edges. He helped stretch the skins out on the ground and drive little pegs through the slits. He watched her stretch a skin on a frame and put it near the fire.

Antler scraped a skin until the fat was off, and the inner skin was removed. Then she roughened it by scraping it crosswise, so as to make it flexible.

When Fleetfoot saw Antler roll the skins in a loose roll, he asked if she was going to chew them. Antler smiled as she asked Fleetfoot how his mother softened skins.

Fleetfoot showed how his mother did it. And he told Antler about Chew-chew. He told her that Chew-chew got her name because she learned to chew the skins.

While Antler and Fleetfoot were talking, all the women and children gathered around. They wanted to see what they were doing, and to hear what Fleetfoot said.