made the teeth of
a flint saw.

But Flaker had made a saw. It was only the rough edge of a flint
flake. No doubt such rough edges had been made many times before. But
Flaker learned to use the rough edge by pushing and pulling it back
and forth.

[Illustration: _A Cave-man's dagger of carved antler._]

When Flaker sawed the prongs from the beam, some of the places were
rough. So he rubbed them with the face of the flint until he made them
smooth. When Flaker did this, the flake, which had been only a knife,
became a file as well as a saw.

Greybeard and Chipper tried the new daggers and found that they were
sharp and strong. And the next time they went on the chase they took
the new weapons along.

Bighorn saw the new weapons, but he said little about them. For
Bighorn knew better than to make fun of weapons Greybeard used.

Nothing pleased Flaker more than to be able to help Greybeard. And so
he cherished the new tool that he used in shaping reindeer horn.
Sometimes he showed it to Greybeard, who was always kind to the boys.
But even the wise old man had no idea of what a wonderful tool it was.

The other Cave-men saw the tool, but they thought very little about
it. They cared a great deal about the weapons they used in the chase.
But few of the Cave-men ever thought of making anything they did not
need right away.

And so little was said about the new tool which was a knife with two
blades, a saw, and a file, all in one. Nobody dreamed at that time
that the little tool was the forerunner of a great change.

#THINGS TO DO#

_If you can strike off a large flint flake with three faces, see if
you can make it into a knife-saw-file._

_Look at the picture, or at the real tool you have made, and find
the plain face that can be used as a file._

_Find the two edges which can be used as knives. Find the edge
which has a crest of teeth, and which can be used as a saw._

_Draw one of these pictures:_--
_The women chopping prongs from the beam of the antler._
_Flaker sawing the prongs off the antler._

XXIX

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Can you think why the females and the young males of the reindeer
herd could drive the old stags away during the winter? Could they
do it in the summer?

Why can the reindeer walk easily in the snow or on slippery places?

What is it that makes the clicking sound when reindeer walk or run?