Chapter 4: The trip

During the next few days I kept busy, improving our accommodation with the parts I found amongst the wrecks. With the truck frames I managed to construct two structures one for our kitchen and another for our bathroom.

Yes! I managed to get a tap from a tank fitted to the side of the wrecked truck, which had been crushed. I was able to unscrew it and retrieve the nut and washer, which fell into the tank. I cut the top off the 44 Gallon drum knocked a hole near the bottom and managed to screw the tape in there.

Useing wheels from the cars, removed the tyres stacked them flat two high on three sides and stood the drum on them leaving an area to light a small fire.

The most difficult task was filling the drum with water. (I will use the detergent drums as buckets once they are empty).

With a small fire under the tank and keep it going all day, will produce our hot water.

I used the sink units the same way, standing them on wheels lying flat. With a bit of whittling I was able to make some sink plugs.

With a tarpaulin over the top of each structure and down the side it keeps the wind out. In addition I cut some brush and pushed the cut ends into the ground to make a hedge and wind break, it also camouflages the structures.

The Solar panels were working beautiful and I now have ten functional batteries.

I got the winches on the big truck working, and pulled all the wrecks over to the far eastern side of the clearing, now in an orderly row, as well as the old fridge and washing machine that we found in the van, and the area in general tidied up.

A set of steps was constructed from the crates in the old truck to makes it easier to get in and out of the van. Also a small decking with the short pieces from the small crates, it now stops the mud from our feet being taken inside the van.

We don't need to go to the stream to wash now that we have the sinks and bath working. Since there were no pipe connections on the bath and sink I made up a short pipe with old tins and a run-off made from some short pieces of tin into a soak well that I dug out and covered as I did the latrines. Making sure that it was covered with earth as it was close to our living quarters.

Jane was quickly picking up English, and in the process I was picking up her language as well, and we can now make up small sentences, sometimes using the wrong words, but at least we can talk to one another now. Sometimes I wish that I hadn't taught her, for at times she chatters on non-stop for hours, but it is nice to have her around. I have learnt a lot from her about living off the land and finding edible vegetation, previously I would have ignored. She still can't pronounce her R's, any word with an R in it sounds like L. but who cares I understand her.

We managed to find a couple of pairs of shoes that fitted Jane, well a pair of runners and a pair of slip-ons. She now feels quite comfortable with them on.

In the case of clothes, there was a pair of slacks, which she now wears instead of the dress, and she looks quite modern. Whether they are going to be practical we will have to wait and see

In bed she is a dynamo and is nothing like any woman that I had sex with before the incident.

I also found out what the small figures are, it is there god Mother Earth and the figures represent her. Apparently all the men carry this symbol around in a small bag around their necks if they are worthy hunters. Jane has never heard of women carrying them, maybe because they were that rare. Anyway, I gave her one, at first she was reluctant to take it but I insisted, eventually she relented and clasped it in her fist.

Now that the weather is improving and the buds are opening on the trees, I want to go on a recce of the surrounding area. We have packed rations for a week in two small packs one which was mine and the other must have belonged to the driver of the army truck.

Jane now carries a knife on a belt in a sheath she must have made from the deer hide; she chose a knife with a wicked 7-inch blade, which she seems to use for doing everything. We found one day a round flat sandstone about 2.5 inches round and this she also keeps on her, wrapped in a piece of cloth in a small bag attached to her belt, to keep the blade sharp, in the bag also is the small figure of Mother Earth which she cherishes very much.

All our other gear that was loose, I stowed away before we departed.

Jane told me that there were other families living in the area, and the men who had attacked her live in a land far to the west and periodically come on raiding forages. There seems to be a declared war between the two clans of people.

All her relatives live in the area, but it seems that when a woman is given in marriage she very seldom, or ever returns to her parent's home. Jane's people have a custom, that if a man kills another man then he is responsible for that man's family, I suppose this would stop quarrels from getting to much out of hand.

The raiding parties are out for loot and women, who they take back for concubines, but are treated like slaves, very seldom do they take male hostages.

Why they left Jane she does not know. They had staked her out wanting to know where she had hidden her salt, which seems to be worth more than gold.

She was so surprised that I had so much, and every ration pack held a small packet of salt. I included a few packets to take with us to be used for trade, or gifts, if we happened to meet any locals.

As we left the clearing I looked back over my shoulder, and was surprised at the change that had taken place over the past few weeks, I also felt that I was leaving home. Never before have I ever felt so attached to anyplace.

We made for Jane's old home site, I intended to sweep round in a circle to see what lay in the immediate area, and always be within a few hours of home base. Well that was the idea anyway.

We passed the spot where we were ambushed, and there was hardly anything left of the remains of the three men who had attacked us. It looks as if the wild animals, and the crows had picked their bones clean, and they were scattered all over the place.

When we arrived at the clearing that had been her previous home, I spotted the tears running down Jane's face. From what she had told me the children had been hers, and the man who had lain over her body was that of her husband. The house had burnt to the ground and there was no sign whatsoever of any bones. We did not dwell but proceeded on.

Instead of turning east, we carried on southeast to a path I hadn't noticed the last time I was in this clearing and Jane wanted me to follow her in that direction. First change in the plan.

In only about one hour we came to another but larger clearing, with five of these low round houses. It was obvious that the village was deserted as some of the roofs of the houses had been burnt and there was skeletal remains lying in the open ground. This no doubt had been the result of a similar raid, which had devastated Jane's old home.

This time we just walked through the village and headed on to the path, which this time was going in the direction, which I wanted to go.

A short way in we arrived at a small clearing by a stream with a felled tree over it, and decides this was as good a place as any to have a small snack and a rest. We were in no real hurry anyway. I was getting a bit cheesed off though with all this forest, and was hoping to see some wide-open space. The biggest space so far that I had seen was our own clearing. The wild life round here was abundant, and there were signs everywhere that they used this stream as a watering place. There were even wolf tracks as well as badger and wildcat. If there were predators then there had to be game.

I lay back to look at the sky, but that was an open invitation for Jane to lie down by my side and start kissing me. I pulled her too me and gave her a big hug. I could feel that she just wanted to be beside someone and be just held and comforted.

"Did you know anyone from the village with the burnt houses?" I asked in our mixed languages.

"That was my husband's home village. There were," she indicated twenty by opening her hands twice," people there."

We were getting on a lot better now in our communication using our hands and the small number of English wordsand the equally small number of her words that we each now knew. Stringing a long sentence together however was just not possible. It is amazing how much information one can pass to one another with just a few words, facial expressions and the use of the hands.

She had become so much of my life now that I could not imagine living a life without her. We lay for about half an hour just holding one another and it was so relaxing.

The stream was easy to cross due to the felled log, and there was a definite path, which we could follow. It went on in the general director for at least ten miles, it took us just over three hours to walk the well-worn path. Suddenly the scene in front of us opened up, and there in front of us was a swath of open space, about a mile wide and two miles long, with just a scattering of trees throughout the area.

On the bank of the river that flowed its whole length of the clearing, was a village; maybe I should call it a settlement. I just could not count the number of round houses that were there. Jane indicated that this was her home village where she had spent her childhood. In the village would be her relatives. She hoped her father and mother would still be alive.

We made our way towards the village, and I could see that they had spotted us, but instead of coming to meet us, started rushing into their houses. We also heard a horn being blown and the few people who had been out in the open space beyond the village, rushed back and into their homes.

We just kept on at the same pace, but I un-slung my rifle and held it across my chest. I also released the strap on the Browning. We walked into the village and I could feel eyes watching us as we moved further in.

As we walked Jane was calling out in a loud voice a short sentence, but the only two words I could distinguish was "Hroth and Modthryth".

Eventually an old man appeared at the door of the house right in front of us and just stared, but Jane seeing the old man rushed to him and threw her arms around his neck.

The old mans eyes suddenly lit up and then they were at it, I just could not understand a word that was said and I had been giving myself a pat on the back, feeling I had mastered some of her language. They were talking so fast, I thought that they were trying to recite the whole of the bible in an hour.

Whilst this was going on the other people slowly started emerging from their homes, but giving me a wide berth, and staring intently at me. Both Jane and I were so differently dressed from these people that it was no wonder that they were staring. As no doubt people from my time would stare at someone dressed in hides, and looking as though water had never been invented, yet here they were living on the banks of a river.

Anyway, once Jane had stopped talking for a while, she brought the old man over and introduced me to her father

"Chally this is my father Hroth."

So that was what she was calling, her fathers name! I stuck out my hand to shake his but he just stared at me, I think he was that frightened that if I had said "Boo!" he would have dropped dead on the spot. He was also staring at Jane, as she was dressed in slacks, a blouse with the heavy jumper, and her knife tied round her waist, wearing socks and runners. She was armed better than any of the men that were around us. Some not looking at all happy!

The women looked as Jane had looked when I first found her. (And I had thought that it was due to her being tied down on the muddy ground) Maybe if they were given a bath, then they too would look like my Jane as she does now, her hair was well brushed and free from the knots that I saw in all the people around, her skin was clean and free from blemishes, I could hardly see theirs for the dirt. A very healthy specimen of womanhood you could behold was my Jane. As I said maybe the others would look as good if they attended to their toiletry a bit better.