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Show BEFORE ADAM By JACK LONDON Copyright, 1907. by the MacMlllan Company SYNOPSIS A modern city boy tells of his strange dreams when, ns Uls Tooth, he lived In prehistoric times. When ho Is n mere babr he Is saved from a wild boar by the agility of his mother and his duller attacks tho Havana pigs. DrUon from home by the Chatterer, he Roes to Join tho folk, who live In caves In a blufr. Ited Eye, n powerful oavwie, attacks him, and lie and Lop Ear become friends. I Rabcr Tooth, a User, appears. I The folk drive tho User away, and Broken Bro-ken Tooth Is klllid by a tire man, who uses a strango weapon, a bow and arrow. A (Irs man shoots Ulg Tooth In the leu, and Lop Ear saves his Ufa. Thoy capture two wild dog pupa. Big Tooth and Lop Ear aro chased Into their cave by Red Eye, but thoy attack him with stones and drive him away. Lop Ear and Die Tooth make a crude reft nnd sail down a river. They see tha Sulft One, a girl, but cannot overtake her. They have a narrow escape when Red E)o attacks them and mako a long journey jour-ney to tha flra I'ooplo'a country. Tlicy play with the tire of the Fir People Peo-ple nnd start a great conflagration. The Fire I'oople drive them away. Dig Tooth liau another narrow escape from Red Kje, and his sister Is killed by the tiro men, who wound Lop Ear, The Flra People contlnuo their deadly attack. at-tack. Rig Tooth and the Swift One ure married. Red Eyo pursues the Bwlft Ono. ! Ho captures her. HIr Tooth attneks htm, nnd the fight Ih stopped by the rush of Saber Tooth. Tho Fire People massacre the folk. Rig Tooth, the Swift One nnd a handful of the folk lloo far to tho south and seek a new home. Red Eyo Joints tho Tr,e People. Wo were afraid only of the dark, Wo had no germs of religion, no conceptions con-ceptions of an unseen world. We knew only tho real world, and the I tilings wo feared wcro tho real things, i tho coucrcto dangers, tho flesh and blood nnlmals that preyed. It was they tlint made us afraid of tho dark, for darkm-sii wis tho time of the hunt lng nnlmals. It wns then tlint they enmc out of their Inirs nnd pounced upon one from the dark wherein they lurked Invisible. Possibly It wns out of this fear of tho real denizens of the dark that the fear of tho unreal denizens wns Inter to develop and culminate In n whole nnd mlhty unseen world. As imagination imagi-nation grew It Is likely that the fenr of death increased until tho folk tlint wero to come projected thli fear Into tho dnrk nnd peopled It with spirits. I think tho Fire People had already begun to bo nfrald of (he dark lu thN fnshlon. but tho reasons we folk had for breaking up our hce-hoo councils nnd fleeing to our holes wero old Saber Sa-ber Tooth, tho lions nnd the JncknN. tho wild dogs nnd tuo wolves, nnd nil the hungry, meat cntlug breeds. Lop Ear got mnrrled. It wns the second winter nfter our adventure Journey, Jour-ney, nnd It wns most unexpected. lie gnvo mo no warning. Tho first I knew wns one twilight when I climbed the cliff to our envo. I squeezed Into the entrance nnd there I stopped. Then-was Then-was no room for me. Lop Ear nnd his jnnte were In possession, nnd she wns none other thnn my sister, the daughter of my stepfather, tho Chatterer. Chat-terer. I tried to forco my wny In. There wns space only lor twu, nnd tlint space was nlreudy occupied. Alio, they hnd me at a dlsndvuntnge, nnd, what with tho scratching nud hair pulling pull-ing I received, I wns glad to retreat I slept Hint night, nnd for many nights, In the connecting passage of the double dou-ble cave. - From my experience It seemed reasonably safe. As the two folk had dodged old Saber Tooth, mid as I hud dodged Ited Eye, so It seemed to me that I could dodge tho bunting hnlmtiU by going back and forth between the two caves. I hnd forgotten the wild dogs. They I were small enough to go through nny passage thnt I could squeeze through. One night they nosed me QUt. Hnd they entered both caves at the same tlmo they would have got me. As It wns, followed by some of them through the passage, I dashed out the mouth of tho other cave. Outside wcro tho rest of the wild dogs. They sprang for me ns I sprang for the cliff wall and began to climb. Ono of them, a lean nnd hungry brute, caught mo In mid-leap. mid-leap. His teeth sank Into my thigh muscles and lie nearly dragged me back. Ho held ou. but I made no effort to dislodge him. devoting my whole effort to climbing out of reach of tho rest of the brutes. Not until I wns safe from them did I turn "my nttcntlon to thnt live ngony on my thigh. And then, n dozen feet above tho tmnpplug pack that leaped and scrambled against the wall nnd fell back, I got tho dog by tho throat and slowly throttled htm. I wns a long time doing it. lie clnwed nnd ripped my bnlr and hide with his hind pnws. nnd ever he jerked and lunged with his weight to drag mo from the wall. At last his teeth opened nnd rclenscd my torn flesh. I curried his body up the cliff with me nnd perched out the Ha Jerked and Lunged With His Weight to Drag Ms From tha Wall, night lu tho cntranco of my old cave, wherein wcro Lop Ear and my sister. But first I had to endure a storm of tibuso from tho aroused horde for being be-ing tho cause of tho dlHturhaiu-e. I had my revenge. From time to time, as tho noise of the pack below cased down. I dropped a rock nnd stnrted It up agnln. Whereupon from nil n round tho nbuso of tho exasperated folk began be-gan afresh. In the morning I shared tho dog with Lop Ear nnd his wife, nnd for several days the three of us wcro neither vcgctnrluus nor fruitarians. fruita-rians. Lop Ear's innrrlngo wns not a happy one, mid tho consolation about It Ik thnt It did tint Inst very long. Neither he nor 1 wn linppy durln? that period I wns lonely. I suffered the Ineon-vcnlenco Ineon-vcnlenco of being oust out of my safe llttlo cave, nnd somehow I did nut ft"." "" 'I-tlV'mm.- 'I ij5-X22'SM8li VJla I mnke It up Vllh any other of tho young males. I suppose my long con-, con-, tlnued chumming with Lop Uir had be-' be-' como n habit. I might havo married, It is true, nnd most likely I should havo mnrrled had It not been for tho dearth of females In the horde. "This denrth, It Is fair to assume, was caused by the exorbltnnc" of Bed Eye. and It Illustrates the inon-nce inon-nce ho was to the existence of the horde. Then there wns the Swift One. whom I hnd not forgotten. At nny rate, during the period of Lop Ear's mnrrlngo 1 knocked about from 1 pillar to post. In' dnnger every ulght thnt I slept and ueer comfortable. One of the folk died, and his widow wns taken Into the envo of nuother one of the folk. I took possession of the nbnndoned enve. lint It was wide mouthed, nnd after Bed Eye nearly trapped me lu It ono day I returned to sleeping lu tho passage of the double ! cave. During the summer. howeer, 1 UFed to stny uuny from the caves for weeks, sleeping In n tree shelter I mndo I uenr the mouth of the Blough. I hnve snld that Lop Ear wns not happy. My sister wns tho daughter of tho Chntteier. nnd sho mnde Lop Ear's life miserable for him. In no other enve wns there so much squabbling nud blekctlug. If Bed Eye wns n Blue-benrd, Blue-benrd, Lop Enr was henpecked, and 1 , Imagine that Bed Eye was too shrewd I ever to covet Lop Ear's wife. I Fortunately for Ip Ear, sho died, i An unusual thing happened thnt Hummer. Hum-mer. Lute, almost ut the end of It. n teeond crop of the stringy rooted enr-rots enr-rots sprang up These unexpected second sec-ond crop roots were young nnd Juicy nnd tender, nnd for some time the enr-rot enr-rot patch wns the fnvorlto feeding place of the horde. Ono morning early several score of us were there limiting limit-ing our breakfast. On one sldo of me wns the Hairless One. Beyond htm were his father and son. old Mnrrow Bono nnd Long Up. On the other side of mo were my sister nnd Lop Enr. sho being next to me. There wns no wnrnlng. On the sudden sud-den both the Unlrless One and my sister sprang nnd screamed. At the snmo Instant t heard the thud of tho nrrowB thnt transfixed them. The next I Instant they were down on tho ground. I floundering nnd gnsptng, nnd tho rest I of us wero stampeding for tho trees. j An arrow drove past me nnd entered tho ground, Its feathered shaft vibrating vibrat-ing nnd oscillating from the impact of Its nrrested flight I remember clearly clear-ly how I swerved ns I ran to go past It nnd that I gave It n needlessly wide berth. I must have shied nt It as a horse shies nt nn object it feurs. Lop Enr took a smashing fall ns he ran becldo mo. An nrrow hnd driven through tho-calf of his leg nnd tripped him. IIo tried to run, but wns tripped and thrown by It n second time. He snt up, crouching, trembling with fenr and called to mo plendlngly. I dashed back. He showed me the arrow. 1 caught hold of It to pull It out. but the consequent hurt mnde hlm selzo my hand nnd stop me. A flying nrrow passed between us. Another struck n rock, splintered and fell to tho ground. This was too much. I pulled suddenly with nil my might. Lop Ear screamed as the nrrow enmo out nnd struck at mo nngrlly. But the next moment we were In full flight ngnln. I looked bnck. Old Marrow Bone, deserted nnd far behind, was tottering silently nlong In his handicapped rnce with denth. Sometimes ho almost fell, ond'onco ho did fnll; hut no more nr-rows nr-rows were coming. He scrambled weakly to his feet Ago burdened him heavily, but ho did not want to die. Tho three Are men. who wcro now running run-ning forwiud from their forest ambush, am-bush, could easily have got hlm, but they did not try. Perhaps ho wns too old nnd tough. But they did want the Hnlrless Ono nnd my sister, for ns I looked bnck from tho trees I could see tho fire men beating lu their heads with rocks. One of the flro men was tho wizened old hunter who limped. CHAPTER XII. . a r TJ wont on through tho trees W toward the caves, an excited 5W'"0 nl"l disorderly mol. that I Iv-Tr'Si drove boforo It to their holes I nil the small life of tho forest nud thnt set the bluejiiys screaming Impudently. Vow that theio was no Immediate dan- , ger. Long Lip waited for his grandfather. grandfa-ther. Mnrrow Bone, nnd with the gap of it generation between them the old fellow nnd tho youth brought up our rear. And so It wns that Lop Ear became n bachelor once more That night I slept with him lu the old cave, and our old life of chumming beghu ngnln Tho loss of his mate seemed to cnuso hlm no grief. At lenst lie showed no signs of It nor of need for her. It wns tho wound In his leg that seemed to bother hlm, nnd It was all of n week boforo he got back again to his old spryness. Mnrrow Bone wns the only old member mem-ber lu the horde. Sometimes on look-lng look-lng back upon hlm. when the vision of hlm l.s most clear, I note n striking resemblance re-semblance between him nnd the father of my father's gardener The gardener's garden-er's fnther was very old. very wrinkled nnd withered, nnd for nil the world when ho peered through his tiny bleary eyes nnd mumbled with his toothless gums he looked nud ncted llko old Mnrrow Bone. This resemblance, as n child, used to frighten me. I nlwnys ran when I snw the old man tottering along on tils two cnues. Old Morrow Bone even hnd n bit of sparse and straggly white henrd that seemed Identical Iden-tical with tho whiskers of tho old mini. As I have said. Mnrrow Bono wns tho only old member of th horde. Ho wns nn exception. Tho foil: never lived to old ngo. Middle ago was fairly rare. Death by violence wns tho common com-mon way of death. They died as my father had died, as Broken Tooth hud died, as my sister uud tho Hairless One hod Just died abruptly audbru- M tally, In the full possession of their M faculties, in tho full swing nnd rush of M life. Xnturnl death? To die violently H was tho natural way of dying lu thoso M Xo one died of old age nmoug tho " M folk. I never knew of n ense. Even M Mnrrow Bone did not die tint wny, M and he wns tho only one In my geuern- M Hon who had the clinuco. A had crip- M pllug. any serious necldeutnl oiMcmpo- N M rnry Impairment of the fuetiltles. monnt M swift death As u rule these deaths M were not witnessed. Members of tho M horde simply dropped out of sight. M They left the cnu-s In the morning, M nud they never cntno back. They dls- M nppented Into the ravenous maws of M the hunting creatures. M This Inroad of tho Flro People on tho enrrot patch wns the beginning of tho H end, though we did not know It. Tho H hunters of the Fire People began to M nppenr more frequently as the tlmo went by. They enmc In twos and M threes, creeping silently through tho M forest, with their flying nrrow s able to M annihilate distance and tiling down prey fiom tho top of the loftiest tieo H without themselves climbing Into It. M The bow uud nrrow was like an enor- mous extension of their leaping nnd H Htrlklng muscles, so thnt, virtually, H they could leap nnd kill nt n hundred H feet nnd more. This made them f.ir H .more terrlbto than Saber Tooth hlm- jH And then, too, they wcro very wise. B They had speech that enabled them H more effectively to reason, nnd in ad- M dltlou they understood co-operntlon. Wo folk ciunu to be very circumspect when wo weie lu the foiest. Wo wero H more alert uud vigilant nud timid. No H longer were the trees a protection to H bo relied upon. No longer could wo H perch ou a branch and laugh down at H our carnivorous enemies on the ground. H Tho Flro People were cnnilvorous, H with claws nud fangs n hundred feet H lung, the most terrible of all tho hunt- H lug nnltnnls that ranged the primeval H world. H Ono morning, before the folk bad dls- H persed to the forest, there was n panic H nmoug the wntcr carriers and thoso H who had gone down to the river to H drink. Tho whole horde tied to tho H eaves. It was our habit ut such times fl Red Eye. H to flee first nnd investigate nfterwaid. I We walled In the mouths of our eaves H and watched. After somo time n flro H man stepped cautiously Into tho open space. It was tho llttlo wizened old H hunter. Ho Mood thcro for n long tlmo uud watched us. looking our enves and tho H cliff wnll up and down. Ho descended one of the runways to u drinking place, fl returning a few minutes later by an- H other runway. Again lie stood and I watched us curefully for a long time. Then ho turned on his heel nud llnicd Into the forest, leaving us culling qucr- ulously nud plaintively to ono another from tho ciuo mouths. H "H I found her down lu the old neigh: borhood. near the blueberry swamp. H where my mother lived mill where Lop H E.ir uud I hnd built our llrst tree shel- H ter. It was uuexpecled. As 1 camo H under the tree I henrd the fumlllnr H soft sound nnd looked up. There sho IH was. the Swift One. sitting on a lluili H and swinging her legs buck nnd forth as she looked ut me. I stood still for some time. Tho sight of her had mndo u:e ery happy. H And then nu unrest null u pnlu begaiu H to creep In ou this happiness, I start- ed to climb tho tieo utter her. and sho I retreated slowly out the limb. Just as I reached for her she sprung through the ulr nud landed lu tho brunches of tho next tree. From nmld the rustling leaves sho peeped out at mo and madu soft sounds. I leaped straight for her. H and after an exciting chase the situ- H ntlon was duplicated, for there she was, making soft sounds nnd peeping I out from the leaves of a thhd tiee. H It w-HH borne lu upon mo that some- H how- It wns different now- from tho old days before Lop Ear uud I had gone on our adventure Journey. I wanted to be near her. and I knew It. I And she knew It too. That was why U she would not let me come near her. I H forgot thnt she wns truly the Swift I One uud that In tho art of ellinbln- she I linil been my teacher, I puistiod her from tree to tree, utid over she eluiled me, peeping bnck at me with kindly eyes, making soft sounds nnd dancing nnd leaping and teetering before mo U Just out of reach. The more she chid- V ed mo tho more I wanted to catch her, I nnd the lengthening shadows of tho nfteruoou bore witness to tho futility I of my effort, U As I pursued hor or sometimes rest- I ed lu nn adjoining treo and watched her I noticed the change In her. She was larger, heavier, moro grownup. Her H Hues wero rounder, hor muscles fuller. ' Tin eo years sho had been gone threo years at tho very least nnd tho cliango in her was marked. I say three years. S It Is as near as I can measure tho H time. A fourth your may havo elapsed B To Be Continuous M m |