noon
As for Oak , he was fairly aflame with excitement . He was far from slow of mind and he recognized in a moment the enormous advantage of the new way of killing either the things they ate , or the things they dreaded most . He could scarcely restrain his eagerness to experiment for himself . Before noon had come he was gone , carrying away the bow and the good arrows . As he disappeared in the wood Ab said nothing , but to himself he thought : `` He may have all the bows and arrows he can make , but I will have Lightfoot myself ! '' Ab and Mok started for the cave again , Ab , bow in hand and with ready arrow . There was a patter of feet upon leaves in the wood beside them and then the arrow was fitted to the string , while Old Mok , strong-armed if weak-legged , raised aloft his spear .