ir escape.

With an attitude of deference, yet carrying both club and spear in
readiness, he slowly approached the barrier, at the point where the
flames were lowest and least imposing. Their heat made him very
uneasy, but under the eyes of the girl he would show no sign of fear.
At a distance of six or eight feet he stopped, studying the thin,
upcurling tongues of brightness. Their heat, at this distance, was
uncomfortable to his naked flesh, but as he stood there wondering and
took no further hurt, his confidence grew. At length he dared to
stretch out his spear-tip and touch the flames, very respectfully. The
green-hide thongs which bound the flint to the wood smoked, shriveled
and hissed. He withdrew the weapon in alarm, and examined the tip. It
was blackened, and hot to the touch. But, seeing that the bright
dancers had taken no notice, he repeated the experiment. Several times
he repeated it, deeply pondering, while the girl, from her place at
the edge of the grass, stared with the wide eyes of a child.

At last, though the green thongs still held, the dry wood burst into
flame. Startled to find that when he drew the point back he brought a
portion of the shining creature with it, Grom dashed the weapon down
upon the ground. The flame, insufficiently started, flickered and
died. But it left a spark, winking redly on the blackened wood.
Audacious in his consuming curiosity, Grom touched it with his finger.
It stung smartly, and Grom snatched back his finger with an
exclamation of alarm. But by that touch the spark itself was
extinguished. That was an amazing thing. Sucking his finger, Grom
stood gazing down at the spear-tip, which had but now been so bright,
and was now so black. Plainly, it was a victory for him. He did not
understand it. But at least the Mysterious Ones were not invincible,
however much the bears feared them. Well, he did not fear them, he
said proudly in his heart. Aloud he said to A-ya:

"The Shining Dancers are our friends, but they do not like to be
touched. If you touch them, they bite."

His heart swelled with a vast, unformulated hope. Ideas, possibilities
which he could not yet grasp, seethed in his brain. Dimly, but
overpoweringly, he realized that he had passed the threshold of a new
world. He picked up the spear and turned to renew his experiments.

This time he let the fire take well hold upon the spear-tip before he
withdrew it. Then he held it upright, burning like a torch. As