high peaks.

They muttered sounds which no one could understand. They looked lean and
appeared to be starving. Hunger and cold seemed to have driven them from
their former homes.

There was not enough food in the valley for both the old inhabitants and
the newcomers. When they tried to stay more than a few days there was a
terrible fight and whole families were killed. The others fled into the
woods and were not seen again.

For a long time nothing occurred of any importance.

But all the while, the days grew shorter and the nights were colder than
they ought to have been.

Finally, in a gap between the two high hills, there appeared a tiny
speck of greenish ice. It increased in size as the years went by. Very
slowly a gigantic glacier was sliding down the slopes of the mountain
ridge. Huge stones were being pushed into the valley. With the noise of
a dozen thunderstorms they suddenly tumbled among the frightened people
and killed them while they slept. Century-old trees were crushed into
kindling wood by the high walls of ice that knew of no mercy to either
man or beast.

At last, it began to snow.

It snowed for months and months and months.

[Illustration: THE CAVE-MAN.]