The Cave-man gave a startled jump.
“My goodness,” he said, “you startled me!”
I could see that he was quite trembling.
“You came along so suddenly,” he said, “it gave me the jumps.” Then he muttered, more to himself than to me, “Too much of this darned cave-water! I must quit drinking it.”
I sat down near to the Cave-man on a stone, taking care to place my revolver carefully behind it. I don’t mind admitting that a loaded revolver, especially as I get older, makes me nervous. I was afraid that he might start fooling with it. One can’t be too careful.
As a way of opening conversation I picked up the Cave-man’s club.
“Say,” I said, “that’s a great club you have, eh? By gee! it’s heavy!”
“Look out!” said the Cave-man with a certain agitation in his voice as he reached out and took the club from me. “Don’t fool with that club! It’s loaded! You know you could easily drop the club on your toes, or on mine. A man can’t be too careful with a loaded club.”
He rose as he said this and carried the club to the other side of the cave, where he leant it against the wall. Now that he stood up and I
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