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LaucHING Boy 13 RA A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A AA AAA AAA A AAA rn mitting dancing. The older people fell rapidly away. Inert forms like mummies stretched out in zmeir blankets by the embers of the feast fires, Most of the young men gave in, leaving about a ~undred knotted in a mass, still hard at it. They surrounded the drummer, an older man, intently serious over drawing forth from a bit of hide stretched across the mouth of a jar rapidly suc- ceeding beats that entered the veins and moved in ze blood. He played with rhythm as some men clay with design; now a quick succession of what

zemed meaningless strokes hurried forward, now

tae beat stumbled, paused, caught up again and ~hirled away. Devotedly intent over his work, zis long experience, his strength and skill ex- zended themselves in quick, wise movements of the wrist, calling forth a summation of life from a cece of goatskin and a handful of baked clay, while younger men about him swayed and rocked in recurrent crescendos. Night stood towards morning, now night grew id. Now the first white line was traced across the zast far away, outlining distant cliffs. Now it was Zrst light, and Dawn Boy was upon them. The Zrumming stopped; suddenly the desert was =mpty and vast. Young men, whose bodies felt “xe empty shells and whose heads still buzzed with songs, moved down to drink at the poel.

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