The tribes were few and small, and there was plenty of room for
the hunter, the farmer, the trader. Life was not such a scramble of man
against man, but rather of man against nature----"
"No wars?" asked Ross. "Then why the bow-and-dagger drill?"
"Wars were small affairs, disputes between family clans or tribes. As
for the bow, there were formidable things in the forests--giant animals,
wolves, wild boars----"
"Cave bears?"
Ashe sighed with weary patience. "Get it through your head, Murdock,
that history is much longer than you seem to think. Cave bears and the
use of bronze weapons do not overlap. No, you will have to go back maybe
several thousand years earlier and then hunt your bear with a
flint-tipped spear in your hand if you are fool enough to try it."
"Or take a rifle with you." Ross made a suggestion he had longed to
voice for some time.
Ashe rounded on him swiftly, and Ross knew him well enough now to
realize that he was seriously displeased.
"That is just what you don't do, Murdock, not from this base, as you
well know by now.
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