Chapter 30

Finally we were in bed and after my mates decided that Lanita was doing at least a passable job of pretending to be asleep, they got down to business on me. Nita claimed the right for the first ride, but I managed to do justice to all them. I had to, because they didn't intend to let me sleep until I had.

I woke with Lanita on my chest again the next morning and she was smiling at me when my eyes opened. I tickled her a little and then we got up and dressed, managing to do it without rousing the others. Lanita was trying not to giggle out loud as we left the hut.

"Oh, Daddy, they will be so surprised that they slept late and that we made our escape without waking them," Lanita said.

"Maybe, but we'll have to make sure they don't sleep much longer. Remember, they're the ones that bring breakfast."

"You're right, maybe we should go right back and wake them," she said.

"No need to worry, we were awake already, we just let you slip out," Nita said, as the three of them came out too.

"They have tricked us Daddy," Lanita squeaked.

"Doesn't matter, they can trick me as often as they like, just as long as the meals come on time."

"You do have a point there Daddy. Let's go visit Buttercup and Nosey, and all the others," she said, and so we did.

When breakfast was ready, we were ready for it. It was nice to have a real meal again instead of warming up traveling food. It was also nice to have Lanita in my lap waiting to be fed.

"What will we do first, Carl," Denac asked, as we finished.

You and Caltort and I will figure out how to make the wagons first, and then I think it will be you and I gathering material for Caltort while he makes them. I already know that he is much better at working with wood than I am," I said.

"He is better at it than anyone I've ever seen. Not only that, but he seems to like it," Denac said.

We found Caltort a few minutes later and he did seem excited about building something new. It took quite a bit of explaining and examples to get the idea into his head.

First I showed him exactly how my dolly worked, again, and then I took him to the large wheel rims that I'd been provided. It took a pencil and paper for me to finish explaining how the wheels had to be made, but with a couple of drawings and a few experimental uses of the tennon cutter, wheel borer, spoke shave, and the other tools, he thought he could get going right away.

That left Denac and I to get started but we grabbed a couple of the loners to help too. I didn't know the names of these two yet, but I did know they were the two who preferred each other's company. Hell, that was jake with me. They were also two of the largest and hardest working.

They weren't quite as large as Denac or Shaton, but they didn't miss it much. Though they weren't built like he'd been they reminded me of the Chicago Bear's defensive lineman, Refrigerator Perry. He'd always been called biscuit by his teammates, since they claimed he was only one biscuit shy of three hundred pounds. Our two gay cavemen were probably just about that, and they always seemed very clever when working with their hands, their big hands.

Since we needed dried wood, even if it was more trouble to cut, we went back to the burned section. We felled a large oak that was remarkably straight for about twenty-five feet. After it was down, we cut the trunk into two twelve-foot sections and then started sawing one down the long way for boards. This is not the easiest way to acquire lumber, but it was the easiest way available to us, at the moment.

Cutting slabs off the trunks wasn't the only sawing that had to take place either. We had to saw down the length to cut off the round edges left by the tree's curved outer surface and we also had to saw the wide cants into two or more twelve foot boards. Leaving them twenty to thirty inches wide was just an invitation for them to split.

We all worked our asses off. We'd enjoyed about all the sawing we could stand by lunchtime and I knew damned well we didn't even have enough cut for one wagon yet, not to mention that it was only roughed out.

When we went back for the noon meal we found that at least Caltort had been making progress. He had Jagbac helping him too, and they seemed to be doing well so far. They were cutting out and shaping felloes first and they had made real progress. The bad part, as far as Denac and I were concerned, was that we couldn't even use more help effectively. We had the available tools in use, and while one more man might be helpful to give breaks, it really wouldn't speed up the process any.

After lunch, Jagbac and Caltort came out where we were cutting and took a look around, mostly looking for material. Caltort figured that there would be plenty he could use that we had been forced to discard, and he was right. He and Jagbac cut off plenty from the trees we'd felled. They found just what they needed above where we'd cut out our twelve-foot sections. Jagbac also clued me in on how I could use some extra labor.

All we were cutting would need to be sanded smooth somehow, and that was going to be even more labor intensive than what we were doing now. He suggested I get someone started on it right away. Then Denac told me he could get that done, so I let him. He took off for a while and I helped with the sawing.

Denac was back with four men in about thirty minutes. They were regular members of the Calak. They grabbed up a twelve-foot plank each and headed for the river with them. Not to get them wet or anything, but for the sand they'd be using to smooth them out. Just as the last one left with his work, Chalti and Jastal came out to help with the cutting, and Denac eased me off to one side.

"We needed you to show us how to do this Carl, but I have a handle on it. I think you should get back to what you're best at now, training cashda and people to ride them. If we run into something we can't handle we know where to find you," he said.

"You're sure? I'll admit I'd much rather work with the cashda, but I don't want to put the hard work off on someone else just because I don't like it so much," I said.

"Carl, there are men sitting around camp wishing they had something to get busy on. Go teach a few of them how to drive the thaka," Denac said, and I decided I just might.

While walking back to the campsite I realized that men weren't the only ones I needed to introduce to cowboy ways. Katia, Shaeta, and Nita needed to learn too. It wasn't only because Katia and Shaeta were by far the best riders besides me either.

We didn't have enough Clydesdales for all the men to have one, and there were few men that didn't seem to be too large for the quarterhorses. There were about four of the younger boys who were old enough to learn to drive cattle and still small enough to ride quarterhorses, but that was it.

We needed about twenty or so more Clydesdales, especially since the wagons would need two each to pull them. This didn't even consider the fact that quarterhorses were much better for driving cattle.

The Clydesdales were acceptable for moving cattle, but they didn't pay attention to what the thaka were doing. The rider had to furnish all the know-how when using a Clydesdale. With the quarterhorses it didn't take much training to have your mount start helping you without much direction.

It wasn't that the Clydesdales were stupid about the thaka; it was more like they weren't really interested in them. They did well enough, but their hearts weren't in it, and they weren't even nearly as nimble on their feet.

Strangely the donkeys appeared to enjoy driving the thaka also. They were too small for any but the youngest children to ride, and though we'd given them some training, they weren't really interested in carrying a rider, they would, but they didn't like it much. What they would do was help with the herding on their own, without a rider.

I didn't understand why, but they seemed to enjoy it. I'd even seen Nosey at it, and he wasn't a bit ashamed to run up and bite a thaka on the ass if it didn't go where he intended for it to. I nearly fell off Red from laughing the first time I saw him do it.

It seemed that we'd need to find some more Clydesdales if we could, or else many of the men would have to walk to the new place, or ride in the wagons along with our freight.

But right now I needed to turn my mates and a few other women into drovers. I found the girls with a few other women, still working on saddle and tack construction, and asked them to take a break for a powwow.

"I hate to put more work on you women, but I don't see how to keep from it," I said, to get the ball rolling.

"What do you need for us to do?" Nita asked.

"I need to teach you how to herd the thaka."

"I thought that the men would do most of that," Matita said.

"It would be better if they could, but as it turns out they would be at a disadvantage."

"Why?" Shaeta asked.

"The quarterhorses are just better at working with cattle," I said.

"What are quarterhorses, and what are cattle?" Katia asked.

"Quarterhorse is what we called the cashda that aren't the largest. Cattle is what we called beast similar to the thaka," I said.

"Oh. I had wondered that there wasn't a different name for the different cashda. It's obvious that they are not the same. So quarterhorse is what you call the smaller ones. What did you call the big ones?" Shaeta asked.

"Clydesdales, they were normally used to pull things and carry loads, even though they can be ridden too. Most people where I was from were smaller. In fact I was a rather large man there," I said, explaining.

"I have noticed that what you call quarterhorses seem to be straining to carry the larger men," Matita said.

"Yes, they can do it, but they will be too tired before a day of it is over. They are not very good for pulling a load either. Their shoulders don't fit the harness well," I said.

"I don't see that there is anything we can do about it. We will just have to learn to drive the cattle. I hadn't thought about it, but I should have. Counting on my fingers should have told me that there aren't enough of the larger cashda, the Clydesdales, as you call them," Nita said.

"I'm glad you understand. I feel bad about putting this on you too, but I don't see another way," I said.

"I see another way," Shaeta said, "but not completely. Won't it be very helpful if we find some more of the Clydesdales?

"It won't make them any better at driving the thaka, but as you said they can do an acceptable job. If we had enough so all the men had one to ride, they could help with the thaka, even if the Clydesdales aren't the best for the job.

"I don't mind learning to drive the thaka, in fact, it sounds like fun to me, and the cashda will be doing most of the work. I do think that we should try to find some more of the Clydesdales though," Katia said.

"I think we should explain this to Caloe before we decide on anything. Maybe she will figure out a better way," Shaeta said.

"That is an excellent suggestion my mate. I'm afraid I was about to overstep my authority," I said, and grinned, and then they gave me a good laughing at.

We needn't have worried though. Caloe had caught sight of our little get together and she came up about then. I explained the whole thing again, and since they'd had a few minutes to think about it, the women shared some of their views too.