74 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



time. Surrounded by a heroic aureole, the names of 

 these ancient slayers of monsters have reached us. 

 Such is the name of Meleager, borne by the young 

 man I just mentioned. 



* l The skin of a wild beast on his back for clothing, 

 in his hand a stout stake sharpened to a point and 

 hardened in the fire, on his shoulder a quiver full of 

 arrows pointed with little sharp stones, in his belt a 

 bludgeon of hard wood and a stone hatchet sharp- 

 ened on the sandstone, the ardent hunter ranged over 

 the country, tracking the formidable animals to their 

 very lairs in dark forests and mountain caves over- 

 grown with an impenetrable barrier of reeds. ' ' 



"Why didn't those men," asked Emile, "if they 

 had to fight such ferocious animals, use something 

 better than sharpened sticks and stone-pointed ar- 

 rows ? Why did n 't they take regular firearms I ' ' 



"For the very best of reasons: metals were un- 

 known, and iron, one of the latest to be discovered, 

 was not used by man until long after this time. Men 

 armed themselves, therefore, as best they could, with 

 the point of a bone or the sharp edge of a broken 

 stone.'' 



"I understand, then," said Louis, "how danger- 

 ous such hunts must have been, and how courageous 

 the hunters. To-day one would cut a sorry figure at- 

 tacking a wolf with only a sharpened stake for a 

 weapon." 



' ' And how would it be if one found oneself face to 

 face with the wild boar of which Meleager rid the 

 country? According to the old writers who handed 



