"Well, I will make a little stone head for the stick."

"Good, grandfather!" said Thorn, clapping his hands.

Flint took a pebble from the pile and struck it with his hammer stone.
It did not chip in the right way, so he threw it on the chip pile. He
struck another. That was too soft; he threw that away. He tried many
pebbles before he found a good one.

"This will do," he said at last. "The chip leaves a slight rounding
hollow like the inside of my hand."

Then he began to work. He held the pebble in his left hand and struck
it a sharp blow with another pebble. He went on striking, round and
round the pebble, taking off a flake or a big chip at every blow. At
last the part of the pebble left was too small to work with any more.
It was the core; he threw it away.

[Illustration: He held the pebble in his left hand and struck it a
sharp blow]

"We chip axes by striking," he then said to the young ax maker. "That
way of chipping is good enough for axes; they are heavy and have,
besides, the weight of the arm to carry the blow. With spear heads it
is different; a spear is thrown, and the head should be sharp. I can
get a smaller chip, and so a sharper edge, by pressing than by
striking; so I chip my spear heads by pressure."

He laid a little piece of deer skin in his left hand. On this he laid