Chapter 3

"What are those camels and wild dog doing here?" Wolfgard asked.

"The dog is a valuable member of our clan and I will show you later on just what the dog can do," I responded.

"The camels I capture a summer ago when their mother died. I was going to kill them for food, but then thought about the dog. I decided try and tame them. Now instead of us carrying our possessions, we can packet them on the camels," I told him.

I made netting out of some vines and hemp. I took the netting and fit it over the camel's back. We then can attach baskets and other containers to the netting. That way the camel's can haul them for us.

The girls had finished with their baskets and loaded them on the backs of the two camels. We all went back to the cave.

"What is this?" The shaman asked in a shrill voice.

"This is our home, I killed the bear that was in this cave," I informed them all.

"There is plenty of space for the women and children inside the cave. If you don't want to sleep in the cave, then you can sleep at the front entrance." I said.

The girls took the women folk and the children into the cave to show them around. Both Wolfgard and the shaman looked a little dubious about the cave.

I took Wolfgard with me and left the shaman there to figure things out. I showed Wolfgard my bow and arrows. I told him all that has happen to us since the tribe banished both Sparrow and me.

We had extra mouths to feed, so I sent the dog off to locate some game. Shortly he chased a nice buck by us and I dropped it with one shot from the bow. I shot the deer at a distance that Wolfgard could only dream of. I just proved how deadly the bow and arrows can be. He is amazed by what I have done so far.

"When we get back to the cave, I will make you a nice bow," I said to him. I knew he is an expert with the spear, so I figured it would not take him long to master the bow.

We got back to the cave and the shaman is there waiting for us.

"We need to rebuild the tribe and I have some ideas on how to do this," he informed both of us.

"The two young girls are just about ready to come into breeding age and the four women are still able to bear children," he said. "Wolfgard and I will breed with the four women. We will wait a summer or two to let the young girls get older before breeding with them. You will maintain breeding with your three women folks," he said. "After the passing of many summers the tribe should begin expanding and revive," he stated.

The passing of time has a habit of doing it faster than anyone in the tribe could seem to grasp. The next fifteen years seem to come fast for the tribe. The tribe had entered a period of tranquility, staying in the meadow where the cave is. We managed our resources and stayed out of the way of trouble.

In those fifteen years the women gave birth to eighty children of which sixty-five survived, thirty-five boys, and thirty girls. These children would be the building blocks to strengthen our tribe.

Wolfgard, myself and the ten oldest boys (twelve to fifteen age group), made up the first group of hunters. All the boys when they reach the age of ten, they are taught how to use a bow and spear to hunt with and a club and knife for close quarter combat. At the age of twelve, the boy would go out for their first hunt.

The shaman is teaching the boy that came with them and one of his son's about tribe customs and laws. They were to carry on when he died. I had taught all the boys ten and older the basic survival rites: how to make a fire, how to trap animals for food, how to hunt, and how to build temporary shelter. The girls were taught how to make fire and shelter also.

Wolfgard and the shaman both were starting to show their age. They both wished to make one more journey to the great meeting grounds. We have not been there since a few years before my ouster from the tribe. I agreed that we should go. Both Wolfgard and the shaman knew how to get there. Once a year, when summer ends and fall starts the tribe's gather to meet at the great meeting ground.

"It is time to make the trek to the great meeting grounds," the shaman informed me one day.

"It will take us over one turning of the full moon to get there," he told me.

We closed the cave up to keep unwanted guests out. Loaded up the two camels with the goods we want to take with us, gathered up the children, and went west toward the great meeting grounds.

Sparrow had just given birth to our seventh child a girl, seven weeks ago. She has produced seven children, five boys, and two girls. War Hawk is my oldest boy at age 15. Fawn and Robin have produced twelve children between them, five boys, and seven girls, and they are both with child now. Tribal custom states that you should wait at least two full moons, before having sexual intercourse with your mate.