Chapter 8

When I woke, the girls had already abandoned me. They were currently working through rotations in the bathroom and most of the ones who'd finished were cooking, boiling tea, or working on things to cook. They were even more creative this morning since we had a couple of the small apples each and a small dish of peeled peaches each.

The peaches made me think of cows or goats again since a little cream would have been great with them. I also thought of the bee trees. A little honey would go great with the oatmeal. I hated to evict the bees and steal their winter food supply so close to when they'd need it badly, but it was tempting.

We'd been out of bed long before sunrise this morning so I'd be ready to leave for my hunting trip in plenty of time. The girls had packed a lunch for me and it was time to get gone for the day.

I was sorry I had to take the light's power supply with me, but there was no help for it. They had made some provisions though and there were several small fires for light scattered around.

Figuring out a way to make another battery to run the lights was on my mind as I drove out the door. First though I'd have to learn to make ceramics to contain the liquid acid in the cells, and that was probably going to be a tall hurdle to jump right off the bat.

When I rolled into Jorka's camp he and five other men were waiting. Unlike with the women, seven men in the cab just wasn't possible no matter how friendly we were. Explaining it was hell too, so I had them give it a try to find out for themselves.

Since I wanted to keep things cordial I let them decide who got to ride inside and who had to ride outside, but I had misjudged the situation. When they discovered riding in the back was possible they all wanted to. Finally Jorka got into the cab with me. I guess he felt his new position required he demonstrate his bravery. When I thought it over it made sense they wouldn't want to be cooped up inside something which surely must be dangerous and could move on its own.

What the hell? I showed Jorka how to buckle his seat belt and told the ones outside to hold on. I don't think they fully understood until we got rolling and found the first ten or twelve rough spots of the hundreds we'd surely encounter. Grassy plains look a lot smoother than they actually are.

We didn't lose even one soul though and I could tell Jorka was impressed as we drove right up the ramp to the top. We found a bonanza waiting to be harvested. I pulled out my binoculars and gave the entire plateau a going over. With no way down except the ramp we were parked on, there was no rush. The game wasn't going anywhere without coming awfully close to us. Of course that was not going to happen.

Even though I had six grown hunters with me I was going to be the star of the show. The plateau didn't have enough cover to let men stalk close enough to make a kill with a stabbing spear. It was possible they could herd the bison, cut out one, and run it to ground by working in shifts, but it would be senseless since I could kill dozens in the time it would take them to get one.

With plenty of hand signals and jabber I found out Jorka and the others would just as soon have bison if they had a choice. It didn't matter to me. None of the animals were wary of man until he got fairly close and at a hundred and fifty yards they hardly paid any attention.

I laid out a ground cloth, set a couple of sand bags, and went to the prone position. It wasn't really necessary for such a shot since the Marlin 35 Remington wasn't a tack driver. I downed three of the biggest bulls in less than two minutes. The rest were still looking around when we mounted the truck again and headed for the carcasses.

Loading them was a stone cold bitch, and to top that off the Datsun wasn't up to carrying more than one of the things at a time. They must have weighed a ton or more each. We had it to do though and we got to it. Two of the men stayed to keep wolves and the like scared off the dead meat while the rest of us went to camp to unload.

After the three big ones had been unloaded they went back with me and I killed a younger and smaller bull for the girls and myself. They offered to come with me to unload it, but I didn't think it was necessary and took them home, then left after all the thanking I could put up with.

My mates were very surprised since I made it back before noon. After we unloaded my prize we had a meal and some tea, and then I told them my hunting story. It wasn't really worth the trouble of translating for the uneventful story, but we did it to help us get more familiar with each other's language.

They were learning much faster than I was, but it wasn't a race and the more they learned the easier it was for them to teach me. I revised my estimate and thought I'd probably be able to make reasonable conversation after we'd spent a winter inside together.

They'd spent a lot of time rearranging our things while I was gone and they could hardly wait until I finished my tale so they could ask about something they'd found. They'd come across the teeth and claws from the saber tooth I'd killed and they wanted to know all about it.

It wasn't all because I was so proud of the kill and wanted to brag on myself, but it wouldn't hurt a thing to tell them how I'd escaped death the first time in case something similar came up when I wasn't around. More talking practice wouldn't hurt a thing either.

In contrast to the bison story they were spellbound as I explained how I'd escaped the first time and then seemed even more impressed by my antics the second time. When the tale was finished they said they wanted to make a necklace for me out of the teeth and claws and I was able to understand it would immediately raise my status for anyone that saw me wearing it.

Hell, I didn't mind, but there was no way I was going to wear all that fuckers teeth and claws around all the time. We bargained it out and I agreed to let them make me one with the daggers and most of the other upper front teeth. They agreed to divide up the remainder and make each of them a necklace with those.

I really made their day when I went to my toolbox and retrieved a one sixteenth inch high-speed drill bit and a pin vice. It wouldn't be the easiest way to bore string holes in the teeth and claws, but I didn't have a rechargeable drill and the bit and pin vice was centuries ahead of anything they had. They went to work almost right away.

I noticed though that at least one of them seemed to keep and eye on me at all times, and if I got up or moved around the one watching me would come over and offer help or ask if they could help or could get me something. Hell, they were babying me. I could live with that.

Our world rocked along fine for nearly two weeks. At Jorka's request we made another quick hunting trip up onto the plateau and this time we took five big bulls for them. All but two of the men in his camp came along this time and all I ended up doing was firing eight shots and driving. I didn't even bother with one for myself since we still had more than plenty of meat.

Since I'd known there'd be plenty of room in the cab this time Arleeta, Cayta, and Zolta came along to watch the goings on and it was a good thing they did. Apparently, since I hadn't made a kill for us Jorka figured out the whole trip had been for his group's benefit. He talked to Zolta mostly and she ended up making a trade for some beans someone had gathered as a gift of appreciation for my help.