those days. Sometimes they got fire by striking two bits of stone
together. There were men who knew how to make fire by rubbing bits of
wood together. Some day you might try that. I can promise you that you
will get very warm; but I don't think it will be because of the fire
which you make by it unless some one first shows you how, and Umpl and
Sptz's father did not happen to be one of the men who knew how. It was
thus a great misfortune when one day the fire went out, or, rather,
was put out by the roof falling on it. You must know, that if this was
before the days of cities, it was also before the days of houses, and
our young friends lived in a cave. On the whole, it was a good cave,
fairly high inside and small to get into, and not too smoky when the
wind was right. When it wasn't they could go outside, or have a
smaller fire: and when that ton of rock came down so suddenly on both
fire and supper they were not at all surprised. It had happened
before; but the father was angry just the same, and said that he would
rather it had fallen on Sptz. Girls were not thought so much of in
those days as they are now. But there! girls are like queens: they
don't like to be reminded of such things.

Well, the fire was out. So was the supper. The father picked up his
war-club and spear and went out after some more, thinking over in his
mind which of his neighbours had a fire and at the same time was not
at war with him. He did a deal of thinking and brought to mind every
cave for forty or fifty miles around, then shook his shocky head. It
was of no use whatever. It was all war. So, when he came back with a
bundle of hares they had to cook their supper without any fire, and
every one knows how hard that is.

What was nearly as bad, they could not depend on the fire to keep out
night prowlers. As they sat in the cave one night the stars in the