Jack London. Before Adam -
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in the bluff, the open space, and the run-ways to the
drinking-places. And in the open space I saw many of the Folk.
I had been straying, alone and a child, for a week. During that
time I had seen not one of my kind. I had lived in terror and
desolation. And now, at the sight of my kind, I was overcome
with gladness, and I ran wildly toward them.
Then it was that a strange thing happened. Some one of the
Folk saw me and uttered a warning cry. On the instant, crying
out with fear and panic, the Folk fled away. Leaping and
scrambling over the rocks, they plunged into the mouths of the
caves and disappeared...all but one, a little baby, that had
been dropped in the excitement close to the base of the bluff.
He was wailing dolefully. His mother dashed out; he sprang to
meet her and held on tightly as she scrambled back into the
cave.
I was all alone. The populous open space had of a sudden
become deserted. I sat down forlornly and whimpered. I could
not understand. Why had the Folk run away from me? In later
time, when I came to know their ways, I was to learn. When they
saw me dashing out of the forest at top speed they concluded
that I was being pursued by some hunting animal. By my
unceremonious approach I had stampeded them.
As I sat and watched the cave-mouths I became aware that
the Folk were watching me. Soon they were thrusting their heads
out. A little later they were calling back and forth to one
another. In the hurry and confusion it had happened that all
had not gained their own caves. Some of the young ones had
sought refuge in other caves. The mothers did not call for them
by name, because that was an invention we had not yet made. All
were nameless. The mothers uttered querulous, anxious cries,