ose to the ground and listened. They went and looked
at Fleetfoot, now fast asleep. Then they all sat down by the fire.

[Illustration: "_The tent was an old oak, which reached out long and
low-spreading branches._"]

At length the men turned to Greybeard. And Greybeard spoke to them and
said, "When I was young my clan lived in a cave near Sweet Briar
River. Every year, in the salmon season, the neighboring clans met at
the rapids. The Horse clan came from the Fork of the River, where the
Sweet Briar joins the River of Stones. They may live there still. This
boy may belong to them."

"Do you think they will follow us?" asked Bighorn.

Greybeard looked up, but did not speak. He seemed to be trying to
think. At length he turned to the men and said, "Sleep until the moon
sets; I'll watch and wake you."

So the Cave-men went to the tent and slept while Greybeard kept watch.
Not a sound escaped his ear that night. Not a leaf rustled that he did
not hear. Not a twig broke, as wild animals passed, but that he found
out what it meant.

As Greybeard watched in the moonlight he heard many a familiar sound.
Now he heard the roar of a tiger, and again the "hoo-hoo" of an owl;
now the howling of hyenas, and again an eagle's scream.

Among all these sounds Greybeard heard nothing that seemed to come
from the lost child's clan. But when the moon was set he roused the
people, and under cover of the darkness they hurried toward home.

They let Fleetfoot sleep, for fear he might answer if he were called.
And so the child slept while he was hurried away through the darkness.
At daybreak, when he awoke, he found himself in a new home.

#THINGS TO DO#

_See if there is a tree in your neighborhood that could be made
into such a tent as the Cave-men made._

_Find a thick branch and make such a tent in your sand-box._

_Draw one of these pictures:--_
_The council of the clan before going to sleep._
_Greybeard watching in the moonlight._
_Hurrying home under cover of the darkness._
_Fleetfoot awakes and finds himself in his new home._

_Act out part of this story and let some one guess what it is._

_Write as many calls of the birds as you know. Model one of the
birds in clay. If you know its nest, model that._

XV

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

How do you think Fleetfoot felt the first few days he was with the
strange clan?

What do you think