One morning he ran to the
river and jumped on his raft.
"Ha!" he said, "my other self jumped the stream with me. And now it
leans over a shadow raft and reaches for a shadow pole."
He looked about him. On the grass lay the long shadows of the trees.
In the clear water were the pictured banks.
"Everything has another self," he thought.
As he grew busy with his bow, he heard loud talking, and looked up and
saw strange men and children coming along the other bank.
"The men are coming to buy axes," he thought. "The children have come
along with them."
The men jumped into the river and swam across and went to the stone
yard. But the children came swimming up around the raft like wild
ducks. Some of them had long hair that floated about on the water.
"Are you Thorn, the cave boy?" one of them asked him.
"Yes, who are you?"
"I am Clam, a shell mound boy."
Then the children came up around the raft and shook it so that Thorn
almost fell off.
"Stop, or I will shoot you!" he cried, laughing.
"Oh, he will shoot us!" cried the children, and they hid behind one
another, playing they were afraid.
"Is that your bow?" Clam now asked. "We heard about it. Shoot for us."
"Yes," said Thorn.
He began to paddle to the bank, but the children crowded around the
raft and quickly pushed it to shore. Thorn jumped off and began to
shoot at the trees. The children went along with him and watched with
big eyes.
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