Chapter 4

The time had come for the annual mammoth hunt. This was the big event of the year, and everything else was timed as being either before or after the mammoth hunt. Everybody in the village went on the hunt. If you were too old or too sick to walk on your own, a travois was built, and you rode on that to the hunt. This was the nearest thing the people had to a religious experience.

Any babies born during the hunt were thought to be especially blessed. And any woman who was proven to be pregnant during the hunt was nearly as lucky. Evening Star hoped that she would start swelling enough to be deemed one of the lucky few. Every morning she checked her belly in hopes that she had started to show, but no luck so far.

She told Doug her problem, and he offered a solution: he took a strip of hide and wrapped it around her belly at its thickest point. He marked her circumference on the strip of hide and told her to check every morning to see if it changed. She could tell from the hide if she was getting bigger. She thought this was a great idea and checked herself several times a day.

The hunters were all excited by the hunt and the chance to use their new weapons on the mammoths. Doug was kept busy making spear points for the atlatl spears. All the hunters understood that it might take many hits to bring down an animal as large as a mammoth, but they were all sure that the smaller spears would still do the job. All the women hoped so, because every previous hunt had seen the serious injury or death of at least one hunter, because they had to get so close to make a kill with the stabbing spear.

The people no longer needed the mammoth meat to survive the winter, since the retreat of the great ice sheet had seen the return of many other game animals. Now they could hunt everything from elk to rabbits throughout the year, and there was no danger of starving because they ran out of mammoth meat. Nevertheless, they still commemorated the old days of ice the year round by holding a great mammoth hunt to keep the traditions alive.

All the people for miles around gathered together to go on the hunt. By the time everybody had joined in, there were over a thousand people taking part in this great experience. Not only was it a great hunt, but it was also a chance to trade for new things and to share gossip. Also, it was a chance to find a mate if you weren't happy with the choices available in your own village.

The chiefs of the villages met to iron out difficulties like always came up when there were overlapping hunting territories, Possibly two villages had an argument with each other, and they needed an outside arbiter to settle things. It was always possible to find a chief without a direct interest in the affair who could find a solution to satisfy both sides.

The village healers got together to discuss new ways of treating injuries or sicknesses. Sometimes, a healer would meet a healer from a different group of villages and learn something new. She would use this meeting to share her new knowledge with her colleagues.

And so it went, there was always something for everybody at the great mammoth hunt. And, be it important or trivial, everybody came away from the hunt with something new. This was why any person who wasn't dead just had to be at the great gathering.

Thus Doug and Evening Star went along with everyone else to the great gathering. Evening Star because she wanted her pregnancy to be noticed, and Doug because no self-respecting anthropologist would miss such an opportunity.

The village could only travel at the speed of the slowest member of the trek, so it took over three weeks to reach the site of the great meeting. There were already people at the site, but each village had a traditional place for their campground, so there was no bickering over a village's location in the great camp.

While they were waiting for everybody to show up, there were all kinds of activities for old and young. Many athletic contests were held and new champions were crowned every day. There were races and wrestling matches, singing and spitting contests, dancing and jumping exhibitions, and everything else anybody could imagine to have a contest over.

This is where Doug first gained notoriety. Little Bear had been having a beer with some acquaintances from another village and he happened to mention his first encounter with Doug. Now, Little Bear had a great reputation as a formidable wrestler, so he was scoffed at when he related how easily he was defeated by Doug on that first day. The argument grew and wagers were made over Doug's prowess as a non-traditional fighter.

In desperation, Little Bear sought out Doug and asked him to demonstrate his abilities. Doug was reluctant to do so, but was convinced to try when he found out that Little Bear had bet heavily on him and would lose if Doug didn't show up to defend Little Bear's words. With no choice in what to do, Doug agreed, reluctantly, to show some of his abilities.

Word quickly spread of this novel contest and very nearly everybody who could stand was at the contest location long before Doug, or any other contestant, showed up. A lot of bets were made when Doug finally arrived; he attracted a lot of support simply because he was 5 or more inches taller than any of his potential opponents and 50 pounds heavier. Some of the contestants backed out when they finally saw just how big Doug was, but others were just too full of testosterone or beer or both to back down.

The first contestant didn't wait for an introduction, but charged at Doug with arms spread to catch him in a bear hug. Doug simply stood and waited for the charging man to get close enough. Once he was within reach, Doug leaned to one side, grabbed the mans arm, and pulled him across Doug's outstretched ankle for a simple trip and fall. This was enough to satisfy the man's dignity, and he admitted defeat in a remarkably graceful manner, considering how much beer he had already drunk.

There was much talk about whether or not this was a fair exchange as wagers were settled, and a few arguments arose in the crowd. Finally, it was agreed that this was a contest of non-traditional fighting methods, so Doug could do as he damned well pleased, as long as he did not use a weapon.

The next contestant was smarter than the first, or else had not drunk as much beer. He walked up and was properly introduced before starting the contest. This man did not charge, but simply stepped close to Doug and tried to grab an arm. Doug merely slapped the man's hands away as they got close and kept this up long enough that there were some mutters in the crowd about getting down to business and not fooling around.

Doug's opponent was also getting tired and frustrated at his inability to come to grips with Doug, so was starting to lunge at Doug. Doug easily sidestepped these efforts and continued to brush off the man's attempts to grasp an arm. With a grunt of absolute anger and frustration, the man drew back his arm and threw a punch at Doug's chest. This is what Doug had been waiting for! He grabbed the man's arm as it came forward and hung on for dear life while dropping to the ground on his back. As he went down, Doug put a foot in the man's solar plexus and pulled hard.

This caused the man to go flying over Doug's head and land very hard on his own back. Doug jumped up and ran over to make sure that the man was not seriously injured. The man was simply suffering from having his breath knocked out and would recover reasonably soon. Doug patted him on the shoulder and stepped back. His friends ran up to the man, and then fell back in stunned disbelief as the man struggled to his feet and walked to Doug. He grinned widely and enclosed Doug in a great hug of appreciation of a fair victory.

These bets were settled, and the third contestant walked up. He was introduced and the contest began. This was the largest of the three contestants that Doug had to face, and Doug thought that this one might give him the most trouble. Most of this fight consisted of the man trying to hit Doug with his fist and Doug dodging out of the way. The man did land a couple of solid blows to Doug's chest and one to his head, so Doug knew that this was the time to end the fight.

This time, when the man swung at Doug, Doug grabbed his arm in both hands and drew the man in a hip throw to the ground. Unfortunately, the man landed in an awkward position and broke his leg. The serious part of the problem was that this was a compound fracture and a piece of the bone was sticking out of the man's thigh.

Of course, the man screamed, and several of the onlookers ran for a healer. While they were waiting, Doug applied a tourniquet to control the loss of blood. Luckily, there was no arterial damage, so the blood flow was easy to stop. The healer from the man's own village arrived and ordered the tourniquet removed. She had never seen one and didn't know what it was for. Blood began to flow as soon as the tourniquet was removed, and she was at a loss as to what to do.

Doug saw the healer from his village in the crowd, so he waved her over to help. He asked, "White Antelope, do you know how to treat this wound.?"

"Yes, all but how to stop the bleeding. How did you do that?"

"I used what my people call a tourniquet. It is used to stop uncontrolled bleeding. I will reapply it and let you continue the treatment while I monitor the tourniquet."