The ease with which he could send a heavy stone out of sight, or bury a
smaller one in the side of a hog at short range, was wonderful to him;
but he was twenty years old before, by daily practice with his sling,
he brought his marksmanship up to that of his unaided hand, equal to
which, at an earlier date, was his skill at hatchet-throwing. He could
outrun and tomahawk the fastest hog, could bring down with his sling a
kangaroo on the jump or a pigeon on the wing, could smell and
distinguish game to windward with the keen scent of a hound, and became
so formidable an enemy of his troublesome rivals, the dingoes,--whose
flesh he disapproved of,--and the sharks in the lagoon, that the one
deserted his hunting-ground and the other seldom left the reef.

He broke or lost one knife and hatchet after another, and learned, in
making new ones, that he could chip them into improved shape when
freshly dug, and that he must allow them to dry before using--when they
were also available for striking fire. He had enlarged his pocket,
making a better one of a whole skin by roughly sewing the edges
together with thongs, first curing the hide by soaking in salt water
and scraping with his knife. His food-list now embraced shellfish and
birds, wild yams, breadfruit, and cocoanuts, which, even the latter, he
cooked before eating and prepared before cooking. Pushed by an
ever-present healthy appetite, and helped by inherited instincts based
on the habits and knowledge of a long line of civilized ancestry, he
had advanced in four years from an indolent, mindless existence to a
plane of fearless, reasoning activity. He was a hunter of prowess,
master of his surroundings, lord over all creatures he had seen, and,
though still a cave-dweller when at home, in a fair way to become a
hut-builder, herdsman, and agriculturist; for he had arranged boughs to
shelter him from the rain when hunting, had attempted to block up the
pass over the wall to prevent the further wanderings of a herd of hogs
that he had pursued, and had lately become interested in the sprouting
of nuts and seeds and the encroachments and changes of the vegetation.

Yet he lacked speech, and did his thinking without words. The
deficiency was not accompanied by the unpleasant twisted features and
grimacing of mutes, which comes of conscious effort to communicate. His
features were smooth and regular, his mouth symmetrical and firm, and
his clear blue eye thoughtful and intent as