although strong arm, who was the wisest and strongest and swiftest man among the cave people had been dead, and in part eaten and in part buried beneath a great pile of earth and stones, the cave people felt sure that he had not remained dead.
more than one of the members of the tribe had seen him fighting and hunting, eating and dancing, during the dreams that come in the night, and so they believed that a part of strong arm, the spirit or ghost part of strong arm, still lived. again and again he had appeared to them in the spirit, or in dreams, to advise them about the things the tribe intended to do.
the cave people were unable to understand these things and there was nobody to tell them that dreams were not of the world of reality. and so they believed that strong arm still lived, and that other dead men and women and children of the tribe still lived in the spirit world. it was true that the spirits of these dead did not appear in the broad light of day, but the cave people believed that they haunted their old grounds, invisible to the eyes of their tribesman.
152they believed that the spirits of the dead may return to befriend the members of the tribe, or to hinder their enemies, provided, always, that the members of the tribe enlisted their aid and their affections.
now big foot, since there was no longer the wise voice of strong arm, nor the mighty strength of the old chief to enforce the good of his people, set himself to become the leader of the cave people. he slashed his hairy thighs with his flint knife to prove how brave he was, allowing the gashes to become sores in order to prolong the evidence of his courage. he strutted about and waved his poison-tipped arrows when the young men refused to listen to his words. also he rubbed the noses of all the women of the tribe and sought to caress them, attempting to drive the men of the tribe from the new nests, or caves or huts, which they had built in the far north country so many moon journeys from the old hollow where little laughing boy was born.
big foot boasted with a loud voice and bullied the children and spoke soft words to the women, while he glared at the young men and urged them into the forest to hunt for food. always he kept his poisoned darts at his side and he managed to secure for himself the tenderest portion of the young goats which the people had discovered leaping and running wild amid the sharp slopes and crags of the mountains.
153so the tribe grew weary of his sorry ruling and there was much fighting and discord, which laid them open to the attacks of their many enemies.
without doubt big foot was possessed of much cunning, for while other men of the tribe were as strong of limb and as fleet of foot, big foot was more powerful than they. longer was his arm because he had learned first how to make and to wield his great bow and arrows almost as well as young one ear, who had escaped from the arrow throwers and returned to his own people, the cave dwellers, bringing knowledge of the weapons of these strange enemies.
the cave dwellers had paused in their journeyings and battlings northward, on the banks of the lake that shone like white fire when the sun beat down upon its rolling surface. the way was new to them and unknown dangers threatened everywhere and they had utmost need to walk warily, lest a new tribe descend upon them with some new weapon of destruction and turn them back into the dangers they had outstripped.
instead of holding the people together with wise words and instead of preparing to search out the lands to prepare for the strange evils that lie in wait for primitive man whenever he travels beyond the ways of his experience, big foot caused nothing but conflict. it was only his superior skill in the use of the flint-tipped arrows, which the 154cave people were acquiring very rapidly, that prevented him from being slain by the members of the tribe.
then it was that one ear dreamed a dream. he thought that his spirit had journeyed far into the spirit world where it encountered the spirit of strong arm. and strong arm had spoken with one ear, sending words of wisdom to the people of the tribe. he had called big foot the enemy of the cave people. and when he wakened in the morning, one ear remembered his dream. so he gathered all the people together and told them these things. and no man or woman among them knew that he spoke only of a dream. they believed that the spirit of strong arm still lived and that the things in one ear’s dream had actually occurred.
so the cave people chattered together and gesticulated and stole the fresh meat big foot had hidden in his cave and menaced him from cover by shaking their clubs and growling like angry dogs. big foot fled to his branch hut, where he glared at the members of the tribe and waved his long arrows.
the cave people had long respected the words of strong arm and when they heard what he had spoken to one ear in a dream, they hated big foot more fiercely than ever.
at last big foot returned to the people of the tribe, many of whom were sitting about a 155wood fire, and he spoke to them, trying to gain their good will and attempting to show them that none was so swift, so strong or so brave as he. but the people screamed “strong arm! strong arm!” to remind big foot that the old chief had spoken against him.
and big foot grew frantic with the rage that came upon him. he seized the club of strong arm which had been given to laughing boy in order that he might derive from it some of the virtue of bravery which his father, strong arm, had possessed. big foot spat upon it and crushed it beneath a great stone; then he hurled the shattered fragments far out into the green waters of the lake.
all the cave people shivered with fear, for they thought this was a very foolish thing. they believed that the spirits of the dead grow angry when their weapons are broken or destroyed and they felt sure that the spirit of strong arm would punish big foot for the desecration he had worked on the club of the old chief.
but big foot was too angry to be afraid. white foam appeared upon his lips. when he thought of the spirit of strong arm he longed for a tangible foe, with flesh upon his bones that he might crush, with red juice in his skin that he might spill, with ears and a nose that he might bite and twist and tear. he desired an enemy into 156whose soft belly he might hurl one of his sharp arrows.
but there were only the cave people beside him and the menace in their eyes and their lips, pulled back, snarling from their teeth, made him afraid. so he lifted up his voice in a frenzy of hate and scorn while he called the name of “strong arm! strong arm! maker of lies;” he called him, and “fool! coward! weak one! baby!” and “snake-that-crawls!” while he made violent gestures of hatred and disgust.
the cave people watched him fearfully. to them it did not seem the part of wisdom to mock and defy the spirit of strong arm, which still lived, though his body had perished. something was bound to happen. strong arm had never permitted any man to speak thus of him when he was living in the flesh and they did not believe his spirit would endure insult from big foot. indeed, yes, something was sure to happen.
but it was not good for the whole tribe to be punished or blamed for the foolishness of big foot. this they knew and they made haste to put wide distances between themselves and him, pursuing their own work or their own ends with much ostentation as far as possible removed from his presence. if the spirit of strong arm was hiding in the valley and had chanced to overhear the evil words of big foot, no flat-headed savage among the tribe wanted strong arm to fancy 157he had anything to do with these things. they washed their hands of the whole affair and departed from the immediate presence of big foot.
the more big foot raved, the oftener one ear called upon the spirit of strong arm, crying:
“brave one! wise one! swift of foot” and “give us of thy counsel!” and the cave people began talking in loud voices of the good deeds of their old chief, of his courage and strength, of his wisdom and his “eye-that-never-slept.”
while big foot defied the spirit of strong arm, one ear and the cave people sought to propitiate him with loud words of admiration and some flattery.
“stronger than the hairy mastodon” they called him and “father of all the lions.” he could outleap the mountain goat and outclimb the longest armed ou-rang-oo-tang. his voice was like the thunder and his breath like the winds that bend the trees on the river banks.
they felt more certain than ever that something was going to happen. they expected the spirit of strong arm to make it happen. but they did not desire to share in untoward events if a little information given to the spirit of strong arm could prevent this thing.
but the day passed, and the sun slid down the wings of the sky into the red fire of the lake, and still big foot strutted about with loud and boasting 158words. still the cave people waited and hoped, and were afraid.
and that night the spirit of strong arm again appeared to one ear in a dream and his voice was fierce with anger against big foot and, in the dream, he counselled one ear to tell the cave people to push big foot from the tallest crag along the mountain gorge so that his body would be crushed upon the sharp stones below.
in the morning one ear told these things to the people of the tribe and they drank the words of strong arm eagerly, begging big foot to join in a hunt for the wild goat amid the slopes of the mountain. but big foot was afraid and hid in his hut, making queer mouthings and snatching food from the children and waving his sharp arrows.
so the cave people gathered about one ear urging him to meet the spirit of strong arm once more and to ask for more wisdom on how to dispatch the evil man who brought dangers and conflict to the tribe.
again in the morning one ear called the people together, saying that the spirit of strong arm counselled the people to build fires about the hut of big foot in the night so that he might be destroyed.
and so, when darkness wrapped the valley in her soft folds, the cave people stole from their shelters, each bearing branches and glowing coals 159from the camp fire, which they hurled in the door of big foot, with stones and spears so that he might not escape and injure the tribe.
the night was black and big foot was unable to hit the people with his sharp arrows. coals were thrown upon the dry thatch of his hut and soon the flames encircled him with their burning tongues.
and when it was discovered that his body was burned to ashes and that the spirit of big foot had escaped, the cave people rejoiced in their hearts. but their lips were dumb. for the first time they spoke well of big foot, whom they hated in their hearts. for was not the fate of big foot proof of the foolishness of speaking ill of the dead! was not the victory of the cave people who had spoken well of strong arm proof of their wisdom in these things?
the cave people believed the spirit of big foot would be actively inimical to the tribe, just as they believed that the spirit of strong arm had proved itself to be the friendly father of the people.
and one ear continued to dream dreams, which he related to the cave people, giving them words of wisdom and courage from the spirit of strong arm and evil words from the spirit of big foot. thus they grew to believe wondrous things of strong arm. his virtues grew with the passing of the suns, just as his strength increased 160and his wisdom was extolled until he became almost a god to the people of the tribe.
and when ill befell the cave people, one ear told them it had been caused by the evil spirit of big foot and when they escaped from these evils, he reported how the spirit of strong arm had befriended the tribe. always was one ear dreaming dreams. he told how the spirit of strong arm had counselled the people to make of big nose their leader and chief, which they did.
as he grew in years and in power, one ear demanded that the best joints of meat, the warmest place by the fire, the safest cave or hut, be his portion. these things he declared were the commands of strong arm.
and so one ear became a great man of the tribe. when the forest fire swept the plains and drove the wild fowl and the forest animals far inland, and brought famine to the cave people, one ear reported that the spirit of strong arm had done these things to punish the people because they had not brought young fowl, of which he was very fond, every day to one ear.
thus one ear became the first priest of the tribe, protected before other men in order that the good spirits might not take vengeance upon the tribe should ill befall him. people brought him sharp knives and soft skins with which he made himself warm when the far northern winds blew cold in the winter time. and one ear said 161good words to the great spirits for these bearers of gifts, so that they might be prospered and escape the sharp tooth of the crocodile.
by and by there came other dreamers of dreams who spoke with the great spirits and also brought messages to the people. strong arms of the tribe clashed and there were great battles among the cave people, till the pretenders were slain, when once more peace and harmony reigned within the valley upon the shores of the great lake.
