The left foot of the skeleton was curiously twisted and deformed; but presently, on being exposed to the air, the bones turned to powder and nothing remained but the flints. At first the men thought that they had opened a prehistoric grave; but considering that the skeleton was lying face downward, in a sprawling attitude, and that the flints upon which it lay, were but half finished and were charred by fire, something like the truth dawned upon the workmen, and they wondered over their cans of noonday food what manner of man the lame flint maker had been and what life had been like in the old days.
But we know that the lame flint maker was old No Foot, and that first, last and always he was a good workman.
CHAPTER XVII
COLD AND HEAT
All that were left of the tribe, foot sore and uncomprehending, came at length to rest on a high and barren plateau.
Miles behind them, to the southward, the fire still raged on their trail. East and West as far as the eye could travel, black smoke poured upward, but thro’ and above the smoke to the westward, the heavens flamed with the glory of the setting sun.
To the North, the whole country pitched barrenly downward, and then became an undulating level bare of trees and water courses; beyond this desert expanse, rose a barren of purple mountains capped with snow.
It was not until he reached the plateau that Sunrise came up with She Wolf and Dawn. She Wolf was keeping an anxious eye out for him; but Dawn, broken with fatigue, had thrown herself face downward and was asleep.
Sunrise, sick with grief, greeted She Wolf, and went about counting heads. Many had been overladen in that hunt; old men, women and children. One Eye had saved his skin, but Moon Face had perished with his riches. Maku was missing, and No Foot, and there were many others.