CHAPTER XI

THORN MEETS THE CHILDREN OF THE SHELL MOUNDS

Every day Thorn worked for a little while at the chipping of stone
axes, but he had plenty of time for play. One morning he ran to the
river and jumped on his raft.

"Ha!" he said, "my other self jumped the stream with me. And now it
leans over a shadow raft and reaches for a shadow pole."

He looked about him. On the grass lay the long shadows of the trees.
In the clear water were the pictured banks.

"Everything has another self," he thought.

As he grew busy with his bow, he heard loud talking, and looked up and
saw strange men and children coming along the other bank.

"The men are coming to buy axes," he thought. "The children have come
along with them."

The men jumped into the river and swam across and went to the stone
yard. But the children came swimming up around the raft like wild
ducks. Some of them had long hair that floated about on the water.

"Are you Thorn, the cave boy?" one of them asked him.

"Yes, who are you?"