One day as Bolo peeped into Bek’s cave the old man was drawing a picture on a smooth place on the rock wall. He had a queer little lamp made of hollowed chalk-stone. This was filled with fat. Into the fat Bek had stuck a bit of the pith of a water-rush. He could light this little chalk-cup lamp and go on with his pictures when he had no need for fire.
Picture of a Mammoth Cut in Ivory by a Cave Man and Found in one of the Caves of France.
“What are you doing?” asked Bolo.
“Come and see,” said Bek.
When Bolo went closer he saw that it was a drawing of a reindeer. He watched as Bek added line after line, bringing out the graceful curve of the neck, the turn of the long, branching horns, and the dainty, slender legs.
“I should like to make a picture, too,” said Bolo eagerly.
“You may try,” said Bek, handing him the bit of brown soft stone he had been using.
So Bolo tried and tried, but when he was done no one could have told what it was he had been trying to draw.
“I will make pictures yet some day,” cried Bolo, throwing down the stone. “I will make the cave bear I killed, and the mammoths.”