He handed it to him. Another ax was small and
light. That was Burr's. She put out her hand for it. There were two
little axes. These the boys snatched with shouts of joy.
The axes were wide at the sharp end and narrow at the head, and you
could see where every chip had come off.
Strongarm turned his ax over and looked at it. He rubbed his fingers
along the rough sharp edge.
[Illustration: Stone tools]
"That is a good ax," he said, and he held it up and looked it all over
again.
"Grandfather," said Thorn, pressing close to the old man's side, "when
I am a man, I shall be an ax maker like you."
"Begin now," said his grandfather, with a gruff laugh. "It takes a
long time to learn to make a good ax."
"Can anybody learn?" asked Pineknot.
"No," said Flint. "Some men can chip stone, and others cannot. That
is why some men make axes, and other men use them."
"Well, I will try," said Thorn. "When you go back to the stone yard, I
will go with you."
Strongarm turned round where he sat and pulled up a little hickory
tree. "We will put handles on these axes," he said.
He hacked off a piece of the little tree and split it half way down,
and hacked off one split piece. The other split piece he bent around
his ax. Then he took wet string made of skin. This he put around and
around the ax handle, and pulled it tight.
[Illustration: Stone axe]
The boys stood by watching.
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