Longhead: The Story of the First Fire

by C. H. Robinson

The woman soon gave Longhead to understand that she was hungry. The protective, or probably, the sexual instinct, prompted him to act as a provider, and he offered to assist her in a search for food. Together they roamed, finding here a few grubs and there a juicy root, and finally the man killed a small animal with his club, which they shared, Longhead tearing it in pieces with his hands and teeth and throwing small pieces to Broken Tooth, which he admiringly watched her devour. Her appetite finally satisfied, she lay back in the sunshine against the roots of a tree, closed her eyes in great contentment, and began a conversation with her companion in the few words then constituting the human vocabulary. She recalled their last meeting and asked why she had not seen him at any of the gatherings of the group since. He told her that in consequence of the jealousy of one of the giants of the group to which they both belonged, who had resented his attentions to one of the females of his harem, he had become involved in a fight with the giant in which he had been beaten nearly to death, and that, fearing to remain with his fellows, as well as on account of his serious injuries, he had retired to a distant part of the forest where he had found sufficient food and had recovered his strength. He told her that he had rather enjoyed his isolation and, had present company been with him in his forced retirement, he would have been entirely content. At this statement, the woman merely gave an incredulous sniff.

The man then related numerous encounters with wild animals, in which, of course, he had come off successfully—and just here he recollected his strange experience with the fire and his encounter with the tiger. With great truthfulness, and as much detail as his vocabulary permitted, he told her what had occurred to him the evening before and that very morning. How, seeking for refuge from a storm, he had been suddenly stricken unconscious, by what means he did not know; and the strange sight he had witnessed on recovery. He told her, also, of his adventure with the tiger that morning and its discomfiture. Broken Tooth laughed long and loudly at this and was wholly incredulous. Such a thing had never happened before, and consequently could not have happened now. She asked him what kind of a weed he had been eating, and said she was not born yesterday to believe such nonsense. This led to quite a discussion, the man insisting upon the reality of his experiences and the woman ridiculing the whole narrative as impossible. The colloquy finally ended by her asking him to conduct her to the place where he claimed such wonderful things had happened, that she might see if anything remained there to confirm his absurd story. Longhead assented and, as it was not far distant, they arrived at the locality a little before dark. The fire still smouldered in the decayed log and numerous sticks still smoked at their ends. Mindful of his morning's amusement, Longhead gathered a number of the burning poles, placed their glowing ends together and threw on them some dry leaves and twigs. In a moment a column of smoke began to ascend, followed soon by a tongue of bright flame and many rising and glowing sparks. One of these Broken Tooth caught in her hand, but dropped it with an exclamation of pain. "If a small one hurts so much, I don't wonder your tiger fled when you thrust a large one against his breast," she said.

Long they played with the fire, throwing upon it sticks and dry branches, and the woman clapped her hands and screamed with delight at each succeeding shower of sparks.

When at length night came on and the darkness made the firelight more brilliant, the man piled a large number of sticks on the fire to show how the forest was lighted up; but finally both became weary of the sport, and then he told her of the cave near-by—just large enough for two—and invited her to share it with him for the night. She consented, and as they were about to start, the man, without any thought of the effect, gathered up four or five of the sticks with live coals at the end and placed them together. These he waved in the air to amuse the woman with the flying sparks, as they passed along, she still screaming at each successive sparkle, until suddenly a bright flame shot up and, by accident, like many other valuable discoveries, a torch was invented. By its light they easily made their way to the rocky platform in front of the cave sheltered by the overhanging rock, and when Longhead cast down the torch Broken Tooth placed the ends of the burning sticks together as she had seen him do, and again the flame shot up. The new experience was too delightful to be given up, and, at the woman's suggestion, they gathered large armfuls of dry branches and some heavy logs which lay scattered about near the platform, which they piled up and from time to time added to the fire.

The night was cool, but as they sat back against the wall of rock under the sloping cliff to watch the blaze and flying sparks, a pleasant warmth, new to their experience, pervaded their bodies, and they gave themselves up to the luxury of the sensation.

The fire roared and blazed merrily, Broken Tooth shouted in glee, and Longhead began to think, in a slow ponderous way, that this new agent in his life might do much for his comfort if it could be perpetuated, but his mental power was too limited to suggest any method for this.

Their shouts and laughter had attracted the attention of the wild animals, and all at once Broken Tooth saw two glowing eyes and the crouching form of a great tiger almost at the edge of the platform. Longhead caught sight of it at the same moment, and with a yell of fear each scrambled for the narrow entrance of the cave. Broken Tooth, lighter of form and quicker of movement, reached it a moment the soonest, but no promptings of sex, gallantry or politeness prevented Longhead from throwing her roughly to one side while he attained the coveted shelter. Once within, he began to fill the entrance with stones, leaving his companion to the fate which he supposed had already befallen her, when, greatly to his surprise, she tumbled in unhurt. Filling the entrance so that it would not admit the body of the tiger, they peered together through the openings and saw the disappointed animal pacing back and forth just at the edge of the semi-circle of brilliant light made by the fire. Long they watched the baffled beast, and at first they were unable to understand why the animal did not approach the entrance and attempt to remove the stones and secure his prey. At length Broken Tooth said: "I believe he is afraid of the fire." She did not, of course, use the word "fire;" she probably said "brightness," or some equivalent word, if they had one. Longhead agreed that this might be the case, and together they watched the animal with great interest. Finally Longhead, emboldened by the tiger's hesitation, removed one of the stones, and, protruding his head, shouted in derision at his ancient enemy. The animal, whose rage or hunger made him momentarily forget his fear, made a dash toward the cave, but, when he came within the bright light and felt the heat of the fire, he retreated precipitately. Longhead finally crawled outside and Broken Tooth soon followed him. They taunted the great cat with the vilest words they knew; threw stones at it, and simply revelled in their new sensation of safety. Here was Old Saber-Tooth, the one animal of all others whose vicinage carried terror wherever he went, at bay at last. For a while the animal would make dashes toward them, when Broken Tooth would tumble into the cave and Longhead draw near the entrance, ready for instant retreat to safety; but each time the fear of the fire sent the tiger back beyond the charmed circle of its light, where it gave vent to its disappointment in savage growls and spittings. At length, wearied by the unprofitable labor, and awed by the strange light and heat, the beast disappeared; its snarls and growls grew fainter in the distance and ceased to be heard. Saber-Tooth had at last found something he feared, and man a protector.

Delighted with this new feeling of security from danger in the night, the man and woman sat long before the cheerful blaze and enjoyed its grateful warmth. They agreed that wild animals were afraid of this new agent, and if they could always have its protection they would have nothing to fear from them; but to their weak intellects no thought of an attempt to perpetuate the fire was suggested.

When their fuel was exhausted and nothing but a bed of glowing coals remained, they retired to the cave, carefully closing the entrance against the possible return of the tiger or the attack of some other animal, for they realized that the fire, being now nearly out, they could no longer depend upon it for protection.

Late in the morning Longhead and Broken Tooth emerged from the cave. The fire was out and the ashes cold. When they thought of the pleasurable warmth it had produced and the protection it had afforded they indulged in some expressions of regret that it was gone, and then thought no more about it. They soon made their way to the place of the smouldering log, but it was now nearly consumed. Directly the woman noticed two or three tiny threads of smoke, and on investigation they found that some dry excrescences, which we call "punk," had fallen away from the burning log and that on one side of each was a small spark. Broken Tooth took up one of these and, noting the white ash so like the down on certain plants which she had often blown away in sport, she blew upon it as she held it in her hand, and was delighted to see the spark spread and glow afresh. Longhead, too, picked up a piece of the lighted punk and, after blowing upon it for a few minutes, dropped it carelessly at his feet, where it fell upon some dry rotten wood and leaves. Without noticing this, he watched the amusement of his companion as she made the sparks fly from the piece she held, and then, suddenly, with a yell of pain, he jumped aside and hopped about on one foot, holding the other in his hand. The rotten wood and leaves upon which he had dropped the punk had ignited and the fire had reached his foot. He now understood the defeat of the tiger the morning before, and had ocular and painful demonstration of the fact that punk will retain fire, at least for a few hours.