drew in closer. While
most of them stood by with bows and arrows, ready to shoot any of the
Folk that exposed themselves, several of the Fire-Men heaped the dry
grass and wood at the mouths of the lower tier of caves. Out of these
heaps they conjured the monster we feared--FIRE. At first, wisps of
smoke arose and curled up the cliff. Then I could see the red-tongued
flames darting in and out through the wood like tiny snakes. The smoke
grew thicker and thicker, at times shrouding the whole face of the
cliff. But I was high up and it did not bother me much, though it stung
my eyes and I rubbed them with my knuckles.

Old Marrow-Bone was the first to be smoked out. A light fan of air
drifted the smoke away at the time so that I saw clearly. He broke out
through the smoke, stepping on a burning coal and screaming with
the sudden hurt of it, and essayed to climb up the cliff. The arrows
showered about him. He came to a pause on a ledge, clutching a knob of
rock for support, gasping and sneezing and shaking his head. He swayed
back and forth. The feathered ends of a dozen arrows were sticking out
of him. He was an old man, and he did not want to die. He swayed wider
and wider, his knees giving under him, and as he swayed he wailed most
plaintively. His hand released its grip and he lurched outward to the
fall. His old bones must have been sadly broken. He groaned and strove
feebly to rise, but a Fire-Man rushed in upon him and brained him with a
club.

And as it happened with Marrow-Bone, so it happened with many of the
Folk. Unable to endure the smoke-suffocation, they rushed out to fall
beneath the arrows. Some of the women and children remained in the caves
to strangle to death, but the majority met death outside.

When the Fire-Men had in this fashion cleared the first tier of caves,
they began making arrangements to duplicate the operation on the second
tier of caves. It was while they were climbing up with their grass and
wood, that Red-Eye, followed by his wife, with the baby holding to her
tightly, made a successful flight up the cliff. The Fire-Men must have
concluded that in the interval between the smoking-out operations we
would remain in our caves; so that they were unprepared, and their
arrows did not begin to fly till Red-Eye and his wife were well up the
wall. When he reached the top, he turned about and glared down at them,
roaring and beating his chest. They arched their arrows at him, and
though he was