Jack London. Before Adam -
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rocky top of an open knoll. They ran under the rocks, and most
of them escaped; but occasionally I turned over a stone and
caught one. I was frightened away from this knoll by snakes.
They did not pursue me. They were merely basking on flat rocks
in the sun. But such was my inherited fear of them that I fled
as fast as if they had been after me.
Then I gnawed bitter bark from young trees. I remember
vaguely the eating of many green nuts, with soft shells and
milky kernels. And I remember most distinctly suffering from a
stomach-ache. It may have been caused by the green nuts, and
maybe by the lizards. I do not know. But I do know that I was
fortunate in not being devoured during the several hours I was
knotted up on the ground with the colic.
My vision of the scene came abruptly, as I emerged from
the forest. I found myself on the edge of a large clear space.
On one side of this space rose up high bluffs. On the other
side was the river. The earth bank ran steeply down to the
water, but here and there, in several places, where at some
time slides of earth had occurred, there were run-ways. These
were the drinking-places of the Folk that lived in the caves.
And this was the main abiding-place of the Folk that I had
chanced upon. This was, I may say, by stretching the word, the
village. My mother and the Chatterer and I, and a few other
simple bodies, were what might be termed suburban residents. We
were part of the horde, though we lived a distance away from
it. It was only a short distance, though it had taken me, what
of my wandering, all of a week to arrive. Had I come directly,
I could have covered the trip in an hour.
But to return. From the edge of the forest I saw the caves