ave her for longer than an
hour. The poor thing was forever complaining that God might have made
her out of something better than a rib, if He was going to make her
at all.

It was a colder night than usual, when the Woman was crying very
bitterly and the hyena was doing more than his ordinary share of
scoffing, that the idea occurred to the Man. The hyena was scoffing
because he was comfortable; he was comfortable because of the heavy coat
that he wore. The Man determined to teach him a lesson by taking his
coat from him. It was another remedy; he hoped that if he clothed the
Woman with it, she might grow strong. Telling her that he wouldn't be
gone for long, he padded stealthily away, followed by the dog, and faded
out of sight among the shadows.

They found the hyena in an open space which the elephant had been
clearing the day before. He was seated on his hind legs, gazing up
at the moon with his fine warm coat all bristly, scoffing and scoffing.
He was far too busy with his ill-natured merriment to hear them coming.
In a flash the dog had him by the throat, holding him while the man
robbed him of his clothing. When they had stripped him of everything,
even of his bushy tail, they let him go and he fled naked, howling the
alarm through the forest. By the time they got back to the Woman all the
underbrush was stirring. From every part of the wilderness, in twos and
threes, the animals were coming together. The night was alive with their
glowing eyes; the leaves trembled with their savage muttering.

"Be quick," whispered the Man. "Put this on."

She dried her tears as she felt the warmth of the fur. "It's comfy," she
sobbed. "It fits exactly." And then, "Oh, Man, I'm frightened. What have
you done? You gave me a present once before."

The Man was making a club out of a tree. As he stripped it of its
branches, he answered boastfully, "It was I and the dog; we did it
together. You were cold, so we stole the hyena's coat from him. All the
animals are angry. They know that we shall do again what we have done
once. They feel safe no longer. They say it must be stopped. They want
to get back the hyena's coat from us."

"And they will, oh, my master," the dog interrupted, "unless we protect
ourselves. Through the wilderness, not many miles from here, a limestone
ridge rises above the forest. In the limestone ridge there is a cave. If
we can win our way to it before our enemies come together, we can stand
in the entra