Before Adam by Jack London Read Free Book Online Page B

threw him far out, backwards, as he fell. And as he fell he turned around sideways in the air so as to face the other branch into which he was falling. This branch bent far down under the impact, and sometimes there was an ominous crackling; but it never broke, and out of the leaves was always to be seen the face of Broken Tooth grinning triumphantly up at us.
    I was ‘it’ the last time Broken Tooth tried this. He had gained the end of the branch and begun his teetering, and I was creeping out after him, when suddenly there came a low warning cry from Lop Ear. I looked down and saw him in the main fork of the tree crouching close against the trunk. Instinctively I crouched down upon the thick limb. Broken Tooth stopped teetering, but the branch would not stop, and his body continued bobbing up and down with the rustling leaves.
    I heard the crackle of a dry twig, and looking down saw my first Fire Man. He was creeping stealthily along on the ground and peering up into the tree. At first I thought he was a wild animal because he wore around his waist and over his shoulders a ragged piece of bearskin. And then I saw his hands and feet, and more clearly his features. He was very much like my kind, except that he was less hairy and that his feet were less like hands than ours. In fact, he and his people, as I was later to know, were far less hairy than we, though we, in turn, were equally less hairy than the Tree People.
    It came to me instantly, as I looked at him. This was the terror of the north-east, of which the mystery of smoke was a token. Yet I was puzzled. Certainly he was nothing of which to be afraid. Red Eye or any of our strong men would have been more than a match for him. He was old, too, wizened with age, and the hair on his face was grey. Also, he limped badly withone leg. There was no doubt at all that we could outrun him and out-climb him. He could never catch us, that was certain.
    But he carried something in his hand that I had never seen before. It was a bow and arrow. But at that time a bow and arrow had no meaning for me. How was I to know that death lurked in that bent piece of wood? But Lop Ear knew. He had evidently seen the Fire People before and knew something of their ways. The Fire Man peered up at him and circled around the tree. And around the main trunk above the fork Lop Ear circled too, keeping always the trunk between himself and the Fire Man.
    The latter abruptly reversed his circling. Lop Ear, caught unawares, also hastily reversed, but did not win the protection of the trunk until after the Fire Man had twanged the bow. I saw the arrow leap up, miss Lop Ear, glance against a limb, and fall back to the ground. I danced up and down on my lofty perch with delight. It was a game! The Fire Man was throwing things at Lop Ear as we sometimes threw things at one another.
    The game continued a little longer, but Lop Ear did not expose himself a second time. Then the Fire Man gave it up. I leant far out over my horizontal limb and chattered down at him. I wanted to play. I wanted to have him try to hit me with the thing. He saw me, but ignored me, turning his attention to Broken Tooth, who was still teetering slightly and involuntarily on the end of the branch.
    The first arrow leapt upwards. Broken Tooth yelled with fright and pain. It had reached its mark. This put a new complexion on the matter. I no longer cared to play, but crouched trembling close to my limb. A second arrow and a third soared up, missing Broken Tooth, rustling the leaves as they passed through, arching in their flight and returning to earth.
    The Fire Man stretched his bow again. He shifted his position, walking away several steps, then shifted it a second time. The bow string twanged, the arrow leapt upwards, and Broken Tooth, uttering a terrible scream, fell off the branch. I saw him as he went down, turning over and over, all arms and legs it seemed, the shaft of the arrow projecting from his chest and appearing and