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Show BEFORE ADAM fxf By JACK LONDON Copyright, 1907, by the M&cMillan Company SYNOPSIS A modern city boy tolls of Ilia strange dreams wren, ns Ills Tooth, lie lived in prehistoric times. When ho la a mere tutor lie teemed from a wild boar by the nullity of his mother and his father attache the savage 11K. Driven from homo by the Chutterer, ho Boos to Join the folk, who live in caves In a Liu ft, lied i:e, a powerful savage, attacks him, and he and Iop U.ir become, friends Saber Tooth, a tiger, nhiwarj. The folk drive tho tiger away, and Broken Bro-ken Tooth is killed by a fire man, who uiies u slraiiKo weapon, a bow and arrow, A (Ire man shoots 1213 Tooth In tho leg, end Lop IJar saves Ills life. They capture two wild dog pups. Illg Tooth and Lop Ear aro chased into tlicir cava by lied Eye, but they attack him Willi stones and drive him away. Lop Car and nig Tooth make a crude raft and sail down a river. They see the Swift One, a girl, but cannot overtake her. They have a narrow escape when Ited i:yo attacks tliem and make a long Journey Jour-ney to tlio Fire People's country. They play with the tire of the Fire reo-ple reo-ple and start a great conflagration. The Fire Peoplo drive them away. Dig Tooth has another narrow escape from Tied Eye, and his sister Is killed by the (Ire men, who wound Lop Ear. The Tire Teople continue their deadly attack, at-tack, Big Tooth and the Swift Ono are marrlod, Red V.ye pursues the Swift One. Ho captures her. nig Tooth attacks him, and tho light Is stopped by tho rush of Saber Tooth. The Flro Peoplo massacre the folk. Big Tooth, the Swift One nnd a handful of the folk flee far to the south and seek a now home. Red Ee joints tho Tree People. ! I I 111 ' -. -' bo seen ftom tho ground. Into this Lop Ear squeezed. I followed with difficulty, so narrow was the entruuee, nnd found myself In n small rock chamber. It was very low not more thnn a couple of feet In height ami possibly three feet by four In width nnd length Here, cuddled together In each other's arms, wo slept out the night. While the more courageous of the youngsters plajed In nnd out of the lnrge mouthed caves 1 early leitrnod that such mu's wero unoccupied. ."o ono slept In them nt night. Only the crevice mouthed caves wero lined, the narrower the mouth the better. This wns from fear of tup .pre lug animals that made life a burden to iw In those da.s and nights. The first moinlng after my night's sleep with Lop Knr 1 learned the ml vnntago of the narrow mouthed caves ft was Just daylight when old Saber Tooth, the tiger, walked Into the open space. Two of the folk were already up. They made n rush for It. Whether thej weie panic' sti liken or whether ho was too close mi their heels for them to attempt to seinmblo up the Mutt to the crcUccs, I do not know, but at uny rnte they dashed Into the wide mouth ihI cne wherein Lop I'iir and I had played the afternoon before. What happened lusldu there w.is no wny of telling, but It Is fair to conclude that the two folk slipped thiough thi connecting crevice Into the other t a e. This crevice was too small to allow for the passage of Saber Tooth, and he came out the way he had gone In, uusatlsllcd and angry. It wns evident that his nlght'H hunting hnd been unsuccessful nnd that he hud o.petted to innUe a meal off of us Ho caught sight of the two folk nt the other cum- mouth and sprang for them Of course they darted through the passageway Into the first enve. He qmergid angrier than oir and snarling. snarl-ing. Pandemonium broke loose among the rest of us. All up nnd down tho great bluff we crowded tho crevices nnd out-sldo out-sldo ledges, nnd wo weru nil chattering chatter-ing and shtleking in n thousand keys. And wo were all making faces snnrl lng faces; this was nn instinct with us. We wero as nugry ns Saber Tooth, though our anger was allied with fear. I remember that I shrleketl nnd made fnces with the best of tliem. Not only did they set the example, but I felt the urgo from within mo to do the same things they were doing. My hair was bristling, and I was convulsed with a fierce, unreasoning rngc. For some tlmo old Saber Tooth continued con-tinued dashing In and out of first the one ene nnd then the other. But the two folk merely slipped bnck and forth through the connecting crcvico and eluded him. In the meantime tho rest of us up the bluff hnd proceeded pro-ceeded to action. Ever' time lie np-peared np-peared outside wo pelted him with rocks. At first wo merely dropped them on him, but wo soon began to whiz them down with tho ndded force of our muscles. CHAPTER V. BCnS bombardment drew Saber Tooth's attention to us and mudc him nugiler than ever. Ho abandoned his pursuit of the two folk and sprang up the bluff toward the rest of us, clawing tit the crumbling rock and snnrllug ns he clawed his upward way. At this awful aw-ful Hlght the last one of us sought refuge ref-uge Inside our caves. I know this, be-ciuisc be-ciuisc I peeped out and saw the w hole bluff sldo deserted, suvo for Saber Tooth, who had lost his footing and was sliding und falling down. I called wilt the cry of encouragement, encourage-ment, nnd again the bluff was covered by tho screaming horde, and tho stones wero falling fnster than ever. Saber Tooth was frantic with rage. Time , Saber Tooth Was Frantlo With Rage. nnd ugnln ho assaulted tha bluff. Once ho oven gained tho first crevice entrances en-trances before ho fell bnck, but wns ' unnblo to forco his way Insldo. With each upward tush ho mndu wnves of feur surged over us. At first nt such I times most of us dashed Inside, hut sumo remained outside to hammer hlin I .11 Mil I J.i n III .1 i . with stones, nnd soon nil of us remained re-mained outside and kept up the fusillade. fusil-lade. i Nvcr was so masterly a crcaturo so ceinrlctely batlled, It hurt his pride terribly thus to be outwitted by the small and tender folk. He stood on the ground and looked up nt us, snarling, snarl-ing, lashing his tall, snapping at the stones that fell near to hlin. Once I whizzed down n Mono, and Just nt the right moment he looked up It caught him full on the cud of his uosp, and he went straight up In the air, nil four feet of him, routing and caterwauling, , what of tho hurt mid siirpilsc. He was beaten, and he knew It. lie-icwcrlng lie-icwcrlng his dlgnlt, he stalked out solemnly from under the rain of stones t lie stopped In the middle of the open space nnd looked wistfully and bun ; giily back nt us. !U hated to forego the menl, and wo weie Just so much meat cornered, but Inaccessible. This -Iglit of him started us to laughing We laughed derisively nnd uproarious-ly uproarious-ly nil of us. Now, animals do not like mockery. To be laughed nt inaKes i them angry And In such fashion our i laughter affected Sitbor Tooth. He I turned with a roar and charged the 1 bluff again. This was what we want-i want-i ed. Tho fight had become u game, and wo took hugo delight In pelting him. Hut this nttaclt did not hist long. He quickly recovered his common sense nnd. besides, our missiles were shrewd in hurt. Vividly do I recollect the t i slon of one bulging ejo of 'his, swollen almost shut by one of the stones we had thrown. And vividly du I retain the picture of him ns he Mood on the edge of the forest whither he had finally retreated. He wns looking back nt us, his writhing lips lifted clear of the very roots of his huge fangs, his hair bristling mid his tail lashing. lie gave one last snail and slid from lew among tho trees. And then such u chnttcrlug ns went up. Wo swnrmed out of our holes, ex-ninluglng ex-ninluglng the marks his claws had made on the crumbling rock of the bluff, nil of us talking at once. One of the two folk who had been caught In i the double cave was part grown, half child and half youth. They had come out proudly from their refuge, nnd we surrounded them in an admiring crow d. Then tho young fellow's mother broke I through nnd fell upon him In n tremendous tre-mendous rage, boxing his cars, pulling his hnlr and shrieking like n demon. Sho wns n strapping big womnu, very hairy, and tho thrashing she gave him wns a delight to tho horde. We roared roar-ed with laughter, holding on to one nnothcr or rolling on the ground in our glee. In spite of tho reign of fear under which wo lived the folk were always great laughers. Wo hnd tho sense of humor. Our merriment wns Gargantuan. Gargan-tuan. It wns never restrained. There wns nothing halfway nbout It. Wheu n thing wns funny we wero convuUcd 1 with nppreelutlon of it, nnd the simplest, sim-plest, crudest things wero funny to us. Oh. we were great Inughers, I can tell you! The wny wo hud treated Saber Tooth was the way wo treated all animals thnt luaded the village. We kept our j ninwnH and drinking plnct-H to our- ' selves by making llfo miserable for tho animals that trespassed or strayed upon our Immediate territory. Even tho fiercest hunting animals wo so bedeviled be-deviled that they learned to leave our places alone. Wo wero not lighters llko them; wo wero cunning nnd cow-nrilly. cow-nrilly. nnd It was because of our cunning cun-ning nnd cownrdlco and our lnordlnnto capacity for fear that wo survived in that frightfully hostile environment of tho younger world. Lop Enr, I figure, was a year older than I. What his past history wns he hnd no way of telling me. but ns I never snw anything of his mother I believed hlin to bo nn orphan. After nil, fathers did not count In our horde Marriage wns as yet In a rude state, I nnd couples had a way of quarreling ' and separating. Modern man, what of his divorce Institution, does the same I thing legally. Hut we hnd no laws. Custom wns all wo went by, and our custom lu this particular matter was r..lher juomlscucras Neveitheless, ns this nnnntlve will show later on. wo betrayed glimmer lug adumbrations or the monogam.v that was later to give power to and make mighty Biich tribes us embrnted It Furthermore, even ut the time I was born, there weie sovoiul faithful I couples that lived In the trees lu the neighborhood of my mother. Living In 1 tho thick of the hordo did not conduce I to moiiogumy. It was for this reason, undoubtedly, that tho fulthful couples went nvvuy and lived by themselves Through mnny eais these couples stajed together, though when the man ) or woman died or was eaten the sur vlvor invariably found n new mate. There wits one thing thnt greatly puzzled mo during the first dnys of my residence In tho horde. There was a unraelcBs and Incommunicable fear thnt rested upon all. At first It np-pearcd np-pearcd to be connected whollv with direction. Tho horde feared the northeast north-east It lived In perpetual npprehen-slon npprehen-slon of that quarter of the compass, And every Individual gazed moro frequently fre-quently nnd with greater alarm lu that direction than In nuy other. When Lop Ear anil I went toward tho northeast to eat tho stringy rooted carrots that at that season wero at their best ho lx-camo unusually timid He wns content to cat tho leavings, tho big tough carrots nnd tho little ropy ones, rather than to venturo a short dlstnnce farther on to whero tho carrots wero as yet untouched. When I so ventured he scolded mo und quarreled quar-reled with me. Ho gnvo mo to understand under-stand thnt In thnt direction was somo hofrlblo danger, but Just what tho hor-rlblo hor-rlblo danger wits his paucity of language, lan-guage, would not permit him to say. Many n good meal I got In this fash- . ! Ion, while ho scolded nnd chattered i jH vainly at me. I could not understand. H I kept very alert, but I could see no V M danger. I calculated always the ills- H tauco between myself nnd the nearest U tree and kuuvv that to that haven of U refuge I could outfoot the Tawny Olio M or old Saber Tooth did one or the oth- i M er suddenly appear. 1' M One late afternoon In the village n M great uproar arose. The horde was M animated with u single emotion, that M of fear. Tho bluff side swarmed with I H the folk, nil gazing and pointing Into . H tho northeast. I did not know what It was, but I scrambled all the way up to tho safety of my own high little "H cave before ever I turned mound to M And then ncross the liver, away Into k 'H tho northeast, I saw fur the first time H tho mystery of smoke It was tho M biggest animal I had ever seen. I M thought It was a monster snake, up M elide I, rearing Its head high above the H trees and swaying back and forth. M And yet somehow I seemed to gather M from the conduct of tho folk that the M smoke Itself was not the danger. H They uppcucd to fear It as the token , H of something else. What this some- H thing else was I wns unable to guess. M Nor could they tell me. Vet I was H soon to know, and I was lo know It as u thing more tenlblc than tho H Tawny One, than old Saber Tooth, ', M tthnii tlie .snakes themselves, than M which It seemed thero could be no H things inoie tenlblc. Broken Tooth wns another young- M ster who lived by himself. Ills moth- H er lived In the eaves, but two mote M children had come after him und he M had been thrust out to shift for him- 'H self We had witnessed the perform- H once during the several preceding days, H and It had given us no tittle glee. Bro- H ken Tooth did not vvuut to go, und H every tlmo his mother left the cavu ho H .sneaked bnck Into It. When sho re- ; H tinned and found him there her rage i H were delightful. Half tho horde mado H a practice of watching for these mo- H incuts. First, from within the cave, , H would come her scolding mid shriek- H lng. Then wo could hear sounds of H the thrashing und the yelling of Bro- H ken Tooth. About this time the two H younger children Joined lu. And Dual- H ly, llko the eruption of n miniature H volcano, Broken Tooth would come lly- H At tho end of several days his leav- H lug home was accomplished. Ho wall- i H ed his grief unheeded from the center H of the open space for nt least half nn Vj H hour, nnd then came to live with Lop " H Ear mid me. Our cavo was small, but H with squeezing there was room for H three. I have no recollection of Broken H Tooth spending more thnn one night H with us, so the accident must havo H happened right away. H It ciimo In the mlddlo of the day. In H tho morning we had eaten our fill of H thu carrots and then, mndu heedless by H play, we had ventured on to tho big " H trees Just beyond. 1 cannot under- H stand how Lop Ear got over his ha- J H bltuiil caution, but It must have been H tho play. Wo were having u great H time playing tree tug. And such tugl H Wo leaped ten or fifteen foot gaps as H a matter of course. And a twenty or H twenty-live foot deliberate drop clear H down to tho ground was nothing to us. H In fact, I am almost afraid to say tho H great distances wo dropped. As wo H grew older and heavier we found wo H had to bo moro cautious In dropping, H but nt that ago our bodies wero all H strings nnd springs, and we could do H anything. H Bioken Tooth displayed remarkable H agility In tho game. lie was "It" less H frequently than any of us, nnd lu tho H course of the game he discovered one M dllllcult "slip" that neither Lop Eur M nor I wns nlilo to accomplish. To bu M truthful, wo wero ufrnld to attempt it. H When wo weie "It" Bioken Tooth H always ran out to tho end of a lofty H brunch In n ceitalu tree. Prom the end H of tho blanch to the ground It must ) i H havo beeu seventy feet und nothing lu- , ', jH tervened to break a fall But about , H twenty feet lower down nnd fully II f- i ' ' H teen feet out from the perpendicular 'vJI was tho thick branch of another tiee. 'H As we ran out the limb llioken H Tooth, facing us. would begin teeter- H lng This naturally Impeded our piog- H irss, but tlicle wns mole in the teeter- H lug than that. He teetered with his H back to the Jump he was to make. Just H as we nearly readied him ho would let H her go The teeteilug brunch was llko H a hprliigboaid It threw him far out, H backward, as he fell And ns he fell H he turned around sldewlse In the air H so as to face tho other branch Into H which ho wns falling. This brunch H bent far down under thu Impact and , H sometimes there was au ominous I t H crackling, but It never broke, and out .' H of tho loaves was a!wiis to be seen '' H Hie face of Broken Tooth, grinning trl- H uinphantly up at us H I was "It" the last time Broken H Tooth tried this. lie had gained tho H end of the branch and begun his .tec- , H terlng, und 1 wns cieeplug out after H him, when suddenly thero came n low H warning cry from Lop Ear. 1 looked H i1 own and saw him lu the imla fori: H of tho tree crunching close against the- -H trunk. Instinctively I crunched down H upon the thick limb. Broken Toolli H stopped teetering, but tho branch H would not stop, and his body coiitlu- iH ued bobbing up ami down with tho . rustling leaves . H I heard the cracklo of a dry twig 'H and, looking down, saw my first Fire ,H Mau. IIo was creeping stealthily uIuiik 'H on the ground and peering up Into tho' H tree. At llrst I thought ho was a wild H auliKPl, becauso ho wore around his r wal it and over his shoulders u ragged .H pleco of bearskin. And then I taw H Ids hands and feet nnd moro clearly , H hi' features. IIo wns very much llko H my kind, except thnt ho was less hairy - H and that his feet wero less llko hands , ''H than ours. In fact, ho and his people, " ' H as I win later to know, wero far less I, t H To Be Contlnuoa j ' I M J |