ight he went back to his bed of reeds by the river and went
to sleep. We rolled a big stone from a high rock and killed him while
he slept. Then we went down to where he lay. We saw that he was an
old lion; he could not hunt animals enough to eat, and that is why he
had begun to kill people."

[Illustration: Lion's tooth]

CHAPTER V

THE OLD AX MAKER VISITS HIS DAUGHTER

As they were talking, a long call came from far away. They listened.
The call came again, and Strongarm put his hands to his mouth and
answered.

"It is old Flint, the ax maker," he said to his wife.

"Grandfather!" cried the boys, and they ran to meet him.

Soon they came back with an old man. His hair was rough and gray, but
his eyes were bright under his bushy eyebrows. He wore an old brown
bear skin.

"Ho, man!" called Strongarm, "come on!"

"Sit and rest, father," Burr said.

The old man sat down on the root of a tree. Burr brought him bison
meat and wild honey and a horn of water.

"Eat, you are tired and hungry."

The old man ate all he wanted. Then he began to talk. He told about
his wife, and the work at the stone yard and the gravel bed, and of the
men who had come from far away to buy his axes.

The boys stood by and listened.

After some time Burr looked at the bag on the old man's shoulder.

"Have you a new ax in there for me?" she asked with a little laugh.

Smiles came about the old man's mouth, and he slowly pulled four
beautiful chipped axes from his bag. One ax was big and heavy. That
was for Strongarm. He handed it to him. Another ax was small and
light. That was Burr's. She put out her hand for it. There were two
little axes. These the boys snatched with shouts of joy.

The axes were wide at the sharp end and narrow at the head, and you
could see where every chip had come off.

Strongarm turned his ax over and looked at it. He rubbed his fingers
along the rough sharp edge.

[Illustration: Stone tools]

"That is a good ax," he said, and he held it up and looked it all over
again.

"Grandfather," said Thorn, pressing close to the old man's side, "when
I am a man, I shall be an ax maker like you."

"Begin now," said his grandfather, with a gruff laugh. "It takes a
long time to learn to make a good ax."

"Can anybody learn?" asked Pineknot.

"No," said Flint. "Some men can chip stone, and others cannot. That
is why some men make axes, and other men use them."

"Well, I will t