Chapter 28

"How did you get so much salt John?" Geera asked.

"I have my ways, why do you ask?"

"I have never seen so much salt in my life. I have only ever seen about this much at one time," Dieta said, and held her hands out cupped together to show how much she meant.

"It is very precious and hard to get," Dalia added.

"Well as you can see we have plenty for now and I'm sure I can get more if we need it," I said.

They didn't have a clue what sugar was either and when I had them all try a taste they were amazed again.

"It is so sweet, what is it?" Winna asked.

"It is called sugar and it is used for cooking and for sweetening things. Some people like to put it in their coffee. I will let you try it tomorrow. I don't put it in my coffee, but some of you might like it."

That was about it for show and tell tonight. We didn't finish loading the wagon though. We just got naked and then into bed.

I ended up with Dieta behind me and Dalia to snuggle up behind. I put an arm over Dalia and she wiggled back to press against me. My dick rose as I played with her wonderfully round and firm titties and it was soon pressing into her ass.

She opened her legs a little and reached between them to grasp it and put it in place to lie between her thighs up near her pussy, then she lowered her leg to hold it along her warm cuntlips. It felt exquisite and I knew I'd done the right thing by formally asking her to also be one of my mates. Knowing she would deny me nothing was great, but feeling she would offer herself freely to me was even better.

The next morning I was up early again so I dressed and returned to the horses. I hadn't been there long enough to decide which mare to start with before Delia and Maia joined me. I walked up to each mare and decided to start with the one which shied the least as I approached. I put a lead rope on her halter and then tried to lead her. She didn't want to budge. I explained to Delia and Maia how Merita had helped me last time and Maia gave it a try. It took about thirty minutes to have the mare following when I walked off and stopping when I did. She didn't seem to have any fight left in her so I took a chance and tied her to the fence near the canyon wall.

Taking another one Delia helped me this time. This one took longer, but we had her leading and stopping in a little under an hour. I tied her off to the fence too. Winna came out and asked if we didn't want to take a break and eat now and we decided to.

Even though I had forgotten the coffee I'd promised to make for them I remembered when I saw its container as I came inside. We ate first and then I dug out the pot and opened the coffee. I let them all smell it and of course it smelled wonderful. Even they thought so. I brewed a pot and gave them all about half a cup. To a woman they turned up their noses at what they considered the foul tasting brew.

"It takes some getting used to," I said.

"But why would you want to get used to something that taste bad?" Jaada asked.

"I'm not sure exactly. I do know I like it now. Why don't you all drink at least what you have and tell me if you don't notice something in a little while?" I asked.

They all agreed and drank their share. Nearly twenty minutes later Jaada spoke up.

"I feel different. Is this what the coffee does? I feel like I want to get up and do something," she said.

"That is what the coffee does. If you drink it at night you will have a harder time going to sleep. If you drink it when you first get up in the morning you will wake up faster and want to get moving. The more you drink the more awake you will get. If you drink too much you might get nervous or get an upset stomach."

"It wasn't so bad when I got to the last of it. I might like to try it again," Merita said, and the others mostly agreed.

"It will probably never come up, but if you have to go somewhere on a horse which is very tired, you can often get them to go further and faster for a while by giving them about a half gallon of coffee. You must let it cool before you give it to them though and it will usually cause them to work themselves to death."

"Why would you want to do it then?" Waaya asked.

"You would only do it if getting where you needed to was more important than keeping the horse alive. It could also not be very much farther since the horse would probably not last more than another hour or so. I doubt it will ever come up, but I wanted you to know just in case it did."

"We don't even know how to ride the horses yet," Winna said.

"I know, but you will know how soon. I will have a horse for each of you before long. You might never even want to ride one but they can help in other ways too by carrying things for you."

With that Delia, Maia, and I went back out to the horses. The next one I tried did even better than the first had. I could tell it seemed to want to learn what I was trying to teach it. The last one of this group though, the first one I had roped yesterday definitely didn't want to learn shit. It would stand tied peacefully by now, but it just wouldn't cooperate with being led. With Delia and Maia helping we did get it over to the fence by the gate to tie it so I could use all the snubbing posts for the next bunch.

I estimated it was about two PM when I had the last of four more mares tied to the snubbing posts. We went in and got a little something for lunch and then rested for another hour.

I was a little pissed off at the mare who wouldn't lead and as I was thinking about it the answer came to me. The wagon was already loaded except for the bedding on the bed and some food and utensils we would need for cooking until we left. I went out and roped Sally and Jane and hitched them up. All the girls came out to watch since I told them it might be funny.

Maia and Delia opened the gates for me and made sure none of the horses switched pens while I was doing this. I drove the wagon into the large pen and then into the small one then turned it around and headed back out the small pen's gate. I stopped it with its rear end just inside the gate then got down and moved the balking mare, Bonehead, and tied her to the back of the wagon.

When I got back on the wagon and signaled Sally and Jane to move out they did. Bonehead planted her feet and tried not to move. There was no chance of her staying still. Sally and Jane had already learned to pull the wagon even when it was hard.

When Bonehead put a strain on the lead rope Sally and Jane just leaned into the harness and pulled. Bonehead made several attempts to stop the progress and she nearly fell over forward a time or two, but Sally and Jane knew it was their job to keep the wagon going. Bonehead was going to learn to lead or going to break a leg or her neck and by now I didn't really care which.

Maia closed the gate and I asked Delia to open the large pen's gate. When she had it open I had Sally and Jane pull the wagon out and I headed them up river. I drove them up about two miles then turned around and came back into first the large and then the small pen. When I untied Bonehead's rope and tried to lead her off she didn't give me a bit of trouble.

She followed when I walked and stopped when I stopped. I tied her back to the fence then and took the wagon back into the cave, unhitched the team, and turned them loose again. As I let them go I thanked Sally and Jane for their help, but they didn't seem to notice.