A Cave-man’s mortar stone for grinding paint.
But Fleetfoot stood near and saw everything that was done. Some of the men put on headdresses made of the antlers of the reindeer. Others put on reindeer suits without the headdress of antlers. Those that were to be the Cave-men painted their faces and carried trophies.
Fleetfoot wished that he could have a headdress and take part in the dance. He wondered how long he would have to wait before he could dance with the men. He wondered how many brave things he must do before he would rank as a man.
And when Fleetfoot saw the men standing in silence while Greybeard made offerings to the gods, he looked at the brave old man and wondered how a man could be so wise. Then he thought of Chew-chew’s stories of brave men of olden times.
At length Fleetfoot saw Flaker, who was sitting all alone. He went and sat beside him and they watched the men dance.
The men had finished dressing, and the women were seated on the ground. They had rolls of skin, and rude drums, and rattles of reindeer hoofs.
At a signal from Bighorn, a group of men came dancing to the music of the rattles. They moved about and made low grunting sounds as though they were a reindeer herd.
Then the music changed. The women drummed upon skins and hummed in a weird way. They tried to show by the sound of the music the coming of a storm.