help tan the skins of wild animals into a beautifully soft kind of
leather which they could make into cloaks for winter wear by pricking
holes in them with sharp bits of bone and weaving thongs, instead of
sewing edges together with needles and thread. Sptz never saw either
in all her girl-life.

Umpl had his own work. Outside, hare-catching kept him busy. It is
wonderful how many a family can eat when it tries hard, and when deer
are scarce, or the father is a long way off on a hunt and there is no
meat in the kitchen. Then he had to dig up certain juicy roots that
were good--when he could find them. A great part of his time also was
spent in breaking bones and stones into small pieces for his father to
work up into arrowheads. Umpl hated that. He would not have minded
doing the fine work about it, but just to crack bones all his spare
time was not joyful; and, now that there was no fire to pull wood for,
he had just so much more spare time for bone-cracking.

One afternoon both Umpl and Sptz went out together. It was not very
late, and on so clear a day one could see a long way through the
glades among the tree trunks, which was something to be considered.
Once when it was not so clear they had spent a long time on the outer
branches of a tree waiting for a Cave Bear to get hungry enough to
give them up and hunt for another dinner. But this was a better day.
They knew of a log in the forest, that was all covered with vines, and
this was the time of the year when also it would be covered with
berries that were worth having. They gave a careful look around before
sitting down, marked a tree that looked like easy climbing, and then
went for the berries; but they still sat facing different ways, so
that any danger which might come from any side could be seen in time
for flight. Overhead they had not thought of looking.