The men went over two hills and across a stream, and came to
Hickory's cave. There other men joined them. All the men had clubs
and spears and stone axes. They went together toward the river caves.
They found the lion and killed it.
Strongarm came home after some days, bringing lion's meat. Burr cooked
it, and Strongarm said to the boys, "Eat, it will make you brave."
After a while Strongarm sat down and made a hole in a lion's tooth.
Then he took off his necklace. It was made of shells and bears' claws
and a tiger's tooth and a bit of amber. He put the lion's tooth on his
necklace and held it up and looked at it and said, "Men will see that
and say, 'There is a brave man. There is a good hunter. He has helped
to kill a lion.'"
[Illustration: Tiger's tooth and bear's claw]
The boys stood by, watching. Thorn pointed to the tiger's tooth.
"How long and sharp it is! I never saw a tiger."
"You never want to see one unless you are where he cannot see you,"
roared Strongarm.
"Tell us about the lion hunt, father," begged Pineknot.
[Illustration: Lion]
"We watched the lion for days," said Strongarm. "We found that he
slept nearly all day in the thick reeds by the river. At sundown he
went out to hunt. He hunted all night; we heard him roar at times. In
the early light he went back to his bed of reeds by the river and went
to sleep. We rolled a big stone from a high rock and killed him while
he slept.
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