l, and sometimes he paused and stared
up at us quietly for a long time, as if debating in his mind some way by
which he could get hold of us. But we only laughed and pelted him with
twigs and the ends of branches.

This tiger-baiting was common sport among the folk. Sometimes half the
horde would follow from overhead a tiger or lion that had ventured out
in the daytime. It was our revenge; for more than one member of the
horde, caught unexpectedly, had gone the way of the tiger's belly or the
lion's. Also, by such ordeals of helplessness and shame, we taught the
hunting animals to some extent to keep out of our territory. And then it
was funny. It was a great game.

And so Lop-Ear and I had chased Saber-Tooth across three miles of
forest. Toward the last he put his tail between his legs and fled from
our gibing like a beaten cur. We did our best to keep up with him; but
when we reached the edge of the forest he was no more than a streak in
the distance.

I don't know what prompted us, unless it was curiosity; but after
playing around awhile, Lop-Ear and I ventured across the open ground to
the edge of the rocky hills. We did not go far. Possibly at no time
were we more than a hundred yards from the trees. Coming around a sharp
corner of rock (we went very carefully, because we did not know what we
might encounter), we came upon three puppies playing in the sun.

They did not see us, and we watched them for some time. They were wild
dogs. In the rock-wall was a horizontal fissure--evidently the lair
where their mother had left them, and where they should have remained
had they been obedient. But the growing life, that in Lop-Ear and me had
impelled us to venture away from the forest, had driven the puppies out
of the cave to frolic. I know how their mother would have punished them
had she caught them.

But it was Lop-Ear and I who caught them. He looked at me, and then we
made a dash for it. The puppies knew no place to run except into the
lair, and we headed them off. One rushed between my legs. I squatted and
grabbed him. He sank his sharp little teeth into my arm, and I dropped
him in the suddenness of the hurt and surprise. The next moment he had
scurried inside.

Lop-Ear, struggling with the second puppy, scowled at me and intimated
by a variety of sounds the different kinds of a fool and a bungler
that I was. This made me ashamed and spurred me to valor. I grabbed the
remaining puppy by the tail. He got his