Chapter 26

At last it was close enough to noon for a meal to be a good possibility. Denac and I mounted up, and of course Lanita wanted to ride. Nosey knew he needed to go too, and away we went.

Showing that he was a very smart donkey, Nosey joined the others for the raft ride over the river instead of following us. He had to gallop to catch up after he was across, and he berated us with several hee haws while he was at it. This announced our return to camp.

Nosey and Lanita didn't get much adult attention this time, but most of the children still wanted to stand near Nosey. He was perfectly willing to let them pet him, often.

When the food was ready Lanita came with me and we took our normal spot. Of course Nosey came too, but when he realized that there wasn't a bowl of food for him, he made do with grazing while we were having lunch. He did trot over to have a few words with Buttercup, but they whispered and we couldn't hear what they were talking about.

"Daddy, where will Nosey sleep tonight?" Lanita asked, between bites.

"Anywhere he wants to I guess. Do you want to put some hobbles on him so he won't wander off," I asked.

"I don't think he will. I can tell he likes it here. Will he be safe while we're asleep?" she asked.

"I'm sure he will be, unless he gets into something in camp and messes it up, and that is a possibility."

"I don't think there's much worry about that. Even if he turns over something he will still be ok. Nosey has friends in high places," Katia said, and then she, Nita, and Shaeta giggled.

"What?" I asked.

"Mother just loves Nosey for some reason. She thinks he is just the cutest thing. She even had Daddy moved outside on his pallet so he could meet Nosey. I think Daddy likes him too," Katia said.

"I'm sure he likes Nosey, since he has already told Nosey his name," Shaeta said, and they laughed again.

"Can Nosey have a travois of his own Daddy?" Lanita asked.

"I will make one for him if you think you need it. Will you have a lot to carry during the next move?" I asked.

"Not so much, but I don't want him to feel left out if all the other cashda and donkeys have one," she said.

"We'll make sure he has one by the time we move then," I said.

Caltort came by after we'd eaten and before we headed back. He wanted to know if I could look at something he'd been working on, and Denac and I left with him. I'd noticed I hadn't seen him around much for the last few days and I guess whatever it was had been keeping him busy.

I knew what it was as soon as I saw it, but I could hardly believe what a good job he'd done from that one explanation I'd given him. He'd made a potter's wheel and it was much better than I'd have thought he could do. When I gave it a spin it turned so smoothly I wondered if he'd discovered bearings. In a way, he had.

It was built into a four-legged table; the legs were all lashed to stout pegs that had been driven into the ground, so the whole arrangement was very stable.

The amazing thing was how smoothly the wheel turned. It was apparent that Caltort had spent a lot of time fitting the collar of hardwood that the vertical axle turned inside of and also that he had lubricated it with some type of fat or oil. The bottom of that axle turned in a sort of hardwood cup that kept it in place and also supported the weight. This was kept full of the same lubricant.

"It looks nearly perfect Caltort, you must have spent a lot of time with it," I said.

"I did at that, but it is still wanting. It can be turned by hand against the edge of the wheel, but that seems to move the whole thing and disturb the work," he said.

"That is easily fixed, but I'm still marveling over how well this operates," I said.

"Well this is my sixth try. I have made it and remade it. It seemed every time I got it going a better way to do it occurred to me," he said.

"Well I think I can suggest an improvement that won't require any changes to what you have. Let me see if one of my mates will help us out."

We headed back to where I'd left them but they were all now near the central fire so we tracked them down. Of course they all wanted to help when I mentioned what we were working on.

What I wanted now was a belt, sort of. I had them take part of one of the eight-strand lead ropes they were working on and plait the ends together to make it an endless loop. Caltort was mystified by now.

When we got back to the potter's wheel I had him raise the turntable so that I could put the loop around the vertical axle. I used a short piece of a tree limb I found on the ground nearby and put it through the other end of the loop, giving the loop a quarter twist. Then, by holding the piece of wood horizontally, keeping it tight to the vertical axle and twisting it in my hands, the horizontal rotation was transferred to vertical rotation of the wheel's axle.

"Now that you see how it works, you can build a shaft here with a handle on it for making it turn. One person can crank the shaft while the other works at the wheel," I said.

"I think I do see. I will try it and come for you if I run into something that doesn't seem to work," Caltort said, but that was about all he got out, because I could tell that he was going over it in his mind already.

That was a good thing; he was already better at this type of construction than I could be, even though I knew how it worked. The quality of the workmanship he had displayed let me know he was the man for the job. I might have done as well with modern tools if I'd had them, but Caltort had basically made the potter's wheel by cutting raw wood with sharp rocks. That wasn't the type of job I could do well at.

Lanita decided that she'd stay around camp again this afternoon so she and the other youngsters could play with Nosey. Denac and I mounted and rode back over to the ranch. I wanted to check on Red and see about how we were coming along with the other larger cashda.

Red was standing three legged by the snubbing tree and seemed fully resigned to his fate. I wasn't convinced yet though, so I left him there and after dismounting I went to see Jortah. I was impressed.

Jortah had made a few changes, not in procedure but in resource application. Now there were only three men doing the initial gentling in the chute, and he had one doing the final fittings to the in progress halters my mates had put together.

These halters were more than half done and after the initial settling down when a new cashda was in the chute, the halter finisher fitted the halter and finished plaiting it together. After the candidate was good and calm, one of the others would start leading it and teaching it to whoa.

All the men that weren't involved gentling or leading a cashda were constantly walking around among the others and the donkeys. They hadn't tried to catch any; they were only walking around letting the cashda get accustomed to their presence. It was good thinking on Jortah's part and I told him so.

"I thought it was a good idea too, but it wasn't mine, he thought of it," he said, pointing out one of the heaviest built of them all. The guy was only about six-four but he looked very strong and probably weighed two-seventy-five. He saw us pointing to him and came over. He gave Denac and I his name, Jonalton, right away so we returned the courtesy.

"Jortah tells me that you thought of this way of getting a head start on gentling the cashda."

"Yes, it just occurred to me that they would become more comfortable with us if we were among them but not really bothering them," he said.

"It was good thinking. Have you tried any men walking around in the pen with the larger ones?"

"We didn't think of that. The only ones who go in there are when someone enters to put another one into the chute," he said.

"I think you should try it, and remember, we will want to be able to put a halter on and lead even the young ones in the pen. You must be very gentle with them especially, but remember, if they kick you it will hurt."

He went over and climbed into the pen then and began milling around, almost like the cashda were. It confused them at first, since they apparently noticed that they were being put into the chute one at a time and there was already a subject being treated.

After they decided the chute wasn't about to be loaded again, some of them, especially the smaller ones, began to get curious about Jonalton. In a few minutes one of them approached him and then the others drifted over. He was hurriedly pressed into petting and scratching duty.

Leaving them to it, Denac and I found a handy boulder and remounted. I decided that we should try riding among the cashda and donkeys ourselves, maybe as a preview to what they had coming.

Hell, I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. The cashda didn't seem a bit put out that Denac and I rode Buster and Candace in among them; even the lead mare didn't get disturbed. The secondary stallion made a small attempt to posture at first, but when Buster snorted loudly at him, and bowed his neck, that was all over.

After about an hour of mingling I decided to go over and start leading Red around some more. I left Denac and Buster at it and went back toward the pen, calling Jonalton out of it.

"Have you watched me riding?" I asked him.

"Yes, every time I get the chance," he said.

"Do you think you're ready for your lesson?"

"If not I will make myself ready," he said.

I told him how things went for nearly half an hour, emphasizing that slow gentle movements were the best policy if possible. I explained how to pull the rein gently for steering while making sure the other rein lay against the cashda's neck on the other side. We wanted all of them fully trained to neck reining as soon as possible so an early start was best.

After a few more explanations and tips I led Candace to the mounting rock and had him get on. He heeled her gently and away they went. I'd told him to ride out away from the group for the first half hour or so, to get accustomed to what it was like in privacy.

I headed for Red then, and I'm sorry to say he didn't seem a bit glad to see me. He came around slightly when he realized I was releasing him from the snubbing tree, and his attitude improved when I led him away. He even seemed to be paying more attention as I had him start and stop over and over.