restoratives.

Then he took the lantern from where it hung to the ceiling and lighted
it. It was a dark lantern. When lighted it still left the children in
shadow.

Ursus half opened the door, and said,--

"I am going out; do not be afraid. I shall return. Go to sleep."

Then letting down the steps, he called Homo. He was answered by a
loving growl.

Ursus, holding the lantern in his hand, descended. The steps were
replaced, the door was reclosed. The children remained alone.

From without, a voice, the voice of Ursus, said,--

"You, boy, who have just eaten up my supper, are you already asleep?"

"No," replied the child.

"Well, if she cries, give her the rest of the milk."

The clinking of a chain being undone was heard, and the sound of a man's
footsteps, mingled with that of the pads of an animal, died off in the
distance. A few minutes after, both children slept profoundly.

The little boy and girl, lying naked side by side, were joined through
the silent hours, in the seraphic promiscuousness of the shadows; such