Page:Silversheene (1924).djvu/17

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best of all he loved to watch. If one of the men creatures saw him, he would pluck a torch from the campfire and wave it at him, or perhaps throw it, and he would at once slink away into the darkness.

The gray dog-like brute had a great fear of the bright warmth which these men creatures handled so fearlessly. This was one reason why the animal admired the animallike man. He was not afraid of fire.

If the gray animal came in too close and did not mind the sign of the fire which the man creature made to him, the man would take up a curved stick with a strong piece of deer thong stretched from end to end. Then he would fit a sharp stick in it and send the sharp stick singing into the darkness at the skulker. If the aim was good the stick bit so deeply into the inquisitive one that he would lie down and sleep with his curiosity stilled forever. If it simply stuck in his side he went away wounded. This would cure him for a while, but this creature who walked on two legs instead of