Chapter 9

The girls had me up and fed before the next sunrise. Ayla and Arleeta were going with me today and as the sun came up we hopped into the Datsun and took off.

Even with taking it very slowly we were still up on the plateau before any of our customers made it. A few days ago I'd noticed my thermos bottle among the things we had from my truck and we had hot tea with us this morning. We took time for a cup while we were waiting.

Chabagwa and eight of his men showed up before long and since he obviously wasn't a hunter I wondered why he'd come along. I didn't have to wonder for long after he and Ayla had a little talk. He had come to make sure his men were on their best behavior.

It would work out much better this way, and come to think of it things would be a lot safer for his people. If the men got some idea in their heads they were running the show I'd have been forced to cash a couple in to get their attention.

As it was they seemed a little unsettled when we didn't start hunting their way right off the bat. One of them tried to start a little argument, but Chabagwa said something to him to settle him down.

I had Ayla ask Chabagwa what type animal they wanted first and it surprised him. He finally let on aurochs would be fine and I thought it was probably because they happened to be closest. Whatever. I shouldered the Marlin and took the two biggest of the nearest group.

It was a conversation stopper. Chabagwa and his men just stood there with their mouths hanging open. They started mumbling to each other and I asked Ayla to tell them I'd be back in a few minutes. I left the gabbing and headed down the slope, drove over to a bunch of trees and built a travois for the bumper hitch.

I was back up the hill in less than an hour and I drove right over near the kills I'd made. It took a little hand waving and explanation from Ayla, but soon enough Chabagwa got the freight loaded. I was able to get him in the front seat and after Ayla and Arleeta were in the back we took off.

Chabagwa was nearly completely flummoxed, but we were able to get him to point out the way. I thought I knew it, but knew he did and there was no sense guessing. There was one hell of a lot more confusion when we pulled into camp and the hardest part was getting someone to tell us where to drop the meat.

Finally Ayla was able to make Chabagwa understand we didn't give a fat rat's ass where the meat was to be unloaded - all we wanted to know was the spot. She finally reminded him we could be back killing more if we could get rid of this load. He managed to pull himself together and get things moving after he got in on the plan.

We pulled the same trick three more times and for the last trip back to their camp all the men rode along too - half in the truck bed and half on the travois.

The whole camp seemed nearly in shock by the time we made the last delivery. They were swarming the carcasses like a kicked over ant hill, but it was easy to see they all looked happy about it. Ayla and Arleeta wanted to hang around for a while and I let them. I found a handy stump and sat on my ass to watch them work.

The annoying thing about wild animals is they are wild. They usually do what they want to do until some other animal causes them to change their outlook. I guess mother cave bears are a lot like any other type bear I'd ever heard of. They take up for their cubs no matter what kind of shit the cubs get into.

Two cubs decided they'd make a stroll through the Neanderthal camp about two hours after we arrived with the last load. I'm sure they thought it would be a nice afternoon diversion. It might have been if they hadn't scared the shit out of most everyone.

Someone threw a rock at one of them though and the crybaby raised a ruckus. Of course both the mothers came to see what had befallen their charges. It was a fatal mistake on their part, but I could see where things wouldn't have looked dangerous to them.

Hell, we were just a bunch of puny humans. It was just their tough luck one of us was armed and dangerous. I was able to nail the first one while she was still down on all fours. It was a lucky headshot and I knew it, but she was dead right away anyhow.

The other mature female rose to stand on her hind legs and started making a hell of a lot of noise. I wasn't so sure about shot placement this time, but I figured her heart and lungs had to be in the general area you'd expect so I started sharing lead with her. It took four shots before I hit something immediately important, but she was just as dead before she could cause any real trouble.

It seemed a little unfair to just cash the youngsters in, but what the hell, they'd started all the trouble and they looked to weigh about three hundred pounds each and meat is meat.

Most of the camp was struck dumb again, but Chabagwa finally got hold of himself and came over thanking me early and often until it was nearly embarrassing. After I got him settled down he started asking Ayla something and then she asked me.

"He wants to know if you'd like for them to load the bears onto your pickup," Ayla said.

"What in the hell would we do with all that meat? I doubt we could eat the young ones in a month."

"You are right of course, but what shall I tell him?"

"Ask if they'll take the meat from the two big ones and give us the skins, teeth, and claws. We'll take the two youngsters home and deal with them there."

Was Chabagwa satisfied with the meat and willing to let me keep the trophies? Hell yes he was and he was happy about it. He even said he'd throw in a honey tree as soon as they could get his bee man to take one down.

It took about fifteen minutes to work out the details, but I told him I could take down the tree and load it in the woods if the bee man would go now. When he talked it over with the guy he was all for having someone else to get stung with him.

With most everyone still working on skinning and cutting up Ayla, Arleeta, and I plus the bee man and another man rode off into the woods toward a tree he knew of.

It turned out the bee guy didn't really know shit about bees after all - he was just the only one dumb enough to let them sting the shit out of him. At least I knew smoke would do a number on bees. I showed him, his buddy, Ayla, and Arleeta how to make torches with plenty of leaves in them and we smoked the bees to sleep that way.

The chainsaw and I dealt with the tree and then cut out the section which was full of honey. We had it in the back of the truck and were gone with it while most of the bees were trying to get their shit together again. I was just happy the hollow bastard didn't break apart when I felled it.

Chabagwa and the others were surprised when we came back so quickly, but they were even happier with me now since they had more meat than the law allowed. They loaded the two cubs into the Datsun's bed and after Ayla made them understand we'd be back in a couple of days for the skins, teeth, and claws we headed home.

Ayla and Arleeta could hardly believe our luck and they talked about it most of the way home. I was glad to get the bear meat and honey too, but I was happier about something else. I knew there was going to be plenty of wax in that honey tree. The honey would be a treat, but the beeswax would let me show them how to make candles and maybe they'd lighten up about no electric lights when the truck was gone.

When we pulled back into the cave everyone was tickled. There was plenty of work right away since the bears needed cleaning, skinning, and cutting up and the honey tree needed ... What the hell, we didn't know what it needed first. We found out soon enough. It needed to go right back outside.

There were plenty of bees still in the fucker. I pulled back out after the bears were unloaded and we dragged the tree out onto the path. After I had the truck back inside we built a couple of small fires near the tree and piled leaves on them for plenty of smoke.

While the women took care of the bears I tended the fires and kept them making plenty of smoke. During the time I could get away from the fire tending I looked through my things we'd removed from the truck and found one window screen. It had been along for the ride since I'd recently had it repaired.

I unrepaired it and found a couple of small saplings. After cleaning them of bark I made a square frame about twelve by twelve inches and then attached some screen wire. This was going to be my strainer for the honey from the tree.