Chapter 8

Chatako, Bala, and Bally volunteered to provide escort for those heading back to Bollo's former camp for the rest of their things and to salvage all the skin coverings for huts.

Callon and another new man went with me and my mates to help us with things from our former cave. It took two trips to load and carry everything, but we moved along smartly and just before Katala and some of the new women had lunch ready all our things were in the cave. The last loads were still on travois, but that could be taken care of later.

Just after lunch we had a small meeting. I assumed I was going to be the leader since I knew Choto and Chatako had no desire to be. Callon had already told me he didn't want the job either when I asked him.

"You are our new leader. You killed Bollo after all, and I've spoken to every man already. We want you to be leader. You are much smarter than Bollo," he said. If I was going to be leader I wanted to get some things straight.

The first thing I pointed out didn't go over so well at first, but at least they listened mostly quietly until I explained. They were surprised and skeptical about catching and riding horses, but they saw the value in not hunting in our valley at once. Of course predators were fair game, but aurochs, horses, buffalo, pigs, and any other game living in the valley weren't to be hunted.

"After you all have bows and arrows, and yes, we are going to make sure you all do, hunting will not be nearly so difficult. We will kill off all the predators we can in the valley and leave the game animals to feed and reproduce until they become so numerous they are bothersome. Soon there will be plenty and we can simply walk outside and take one or two at our leisure.

"At any rate we won't lack meat since we are close to the plain where bison graze often. We don't even have to chase them down any longer. We can merely get close enough to take them with arrows," I said, and they all agreed, but I could see they were still eyeing the bison and horses and other game in the valley.

I decided it would be best to show them what Chatako and I could do with bows. Earlier I'd noticed a large herd of bison grazing slowly our way so I told them we'd be hunting them this afternoon. We wrapped things up and all the men fetched their spears and their women. I had to make another strange, to them, announcement.

"The women will not need to go. We will only take three large bison and we can easily bring them here on travois. We will be able to clean and skin them more easily here and there will be less waste. Come, you will see the truth in it."

They were more skeptical now, but neither Chatako nor I were worried. We brought our heavy bows this time and Bala, Bally, Rayene, and Chalala came with us with their bows to make sure we were well protected.

It was almost too easy, and I was glad because it made the men firm believers. The bison weren't even nervous when Chatako and I moved within sixty or so feet of them. They got nervous after we dropped the third one and they moved away when we came close enough to slit the throats, but none of them panicked.

One thing I hadn't counted on was the tremendous weight. We had to build serious travois and only the strongest men were able to pull them, and we had to have others help push. It was a bitch, since a travois was ideally a one-man vehicle.

All the way home I kept telling myself we wouldn't have another bison hunt until we had a horse caught, trained, and harnessed to pull the travois next time.

Once we had the bison home everything was Jake with everyone. The women were delighted to have the meat delivered and they descended on our kills like locust. Chatako, Bala, Bally, Rayene, Chalala and I headed around the valley's rock walls to scout for a place to make a catch pen for the horses.

We found a suitable place as soon as we reached the woodline near the back half. The trees were close enough so we could make a good fence by lashing smaller trees to the larger ones. It would be work, but the pen needn't be too large. We only needed to catch a few at first.

Fresh roasted bison made everything right at supper and I told everyone we'd be catching some horses tomorrow. The men were excited in spite of themselves and anxious to see how it was done. I was sure they wouldn't be nearly so excited tomorrow after they'd learned about building fence.

After breakfast the next morning I got a reminder of a lesson I'd already learned more times than I wanted. Stone axes aren't much past better than nothing. Even for felling small trees they are a pain in the ass. They will work though and we had it to do.

We made the pen's entrance forty feet wide and it was about sixty feet deep. We used one of the valley's rock walls as one side, which saved a lot of work, but the gate had to be sturdy enough to support itself without live trees to lash it to, except when we moved it in place to close captured horses inside.

It took all damned day to get it done and we were too tired to even think about chasing any horses into it. We'd even skipped having lunch. The women took good care of us at suppertime though and my only worry was whether we'd be too sore tomorrow to run. I was pretty sure I'd worked as hard as anyone so I thought I'd have the first warning before breakfast.

I was sore when I woke and more than a little. I was sure I could move around well after a little stretching though. I watched the other men before and during breakfast and they actually seemed to be in better shape than I was. I made sure not to eat so much breakfast I'd be overfull today, since I didn't want to have to stop and puke my guts up in front of the others.

When we got to it things weren't in such great shape. We had to slip down along the wall opposite from the pen, filter into the woods and haze the horses carefully away from the woodline and over toward the valley wall where we wanted them.

Things went fairly well though and with careful work we were able to put forty or so horses into the pen and get the gate in place with only two slipping away. Things in the pen were a bit crowded for roping on foot, but I was hesitant to turn any more horses loose.

Chatako and I shook out our loops, made a couple of warm up throws, and then climbed in with our quarry. A bit of natural horse behavior helped us out then. The lead stallion came to the fore and I'm sure he intended to protect the herd. It played right into our hands and both of us put a loop over his head right away.

I'd tried my best to tell and demonstrate the next move to Chatako, and for once a plan came together on the first try. We had to flick our wrists and try getting our loops up near the stallion's throatlatch before we let them tighten. I'm sure it was mostly luck but we got it done.

Though everything I'd hoped for had come about we weren't home free. We didn't have a tiger by the tail, but we had one mad as hell black stallion by the neck, and he was one hell of a lot larger than I'd thought he would be. Fifteen hands at the withers at least and muscular as hell everywhere. He must have weighed twelve hundred pounds and we were both hooked to him.

He was at a serious disadvantage though. He could pull us backward easily, but he couldn't see where he was going when he did. Our ropes kept his head pointed directly at us.

He could rush us, but we could separate, and, one at a time, drop our ropes to escape if we needed to without completely losing our hold on him. The ropes were long enough we'd be able to detour and pick one back up if we had to release it.

A horse's most efficient direction of travel is forward and most of its power is generated in that direction, but this one had no opportunity to turn his ass to us to pull or run. One or the other of us would be able to force his head around. Their necks are fairly long, and not strong enough to pull a man if the man's loop is up near the head and the man doesn't want to be pulled.

It was fifteen or so exhausting minutes of fighting before the horse finally figured out he was caught for good, but we weren't through yet. Callon got in the pen with us and took my rope then as Rayene handed me another. I roped the stallion again, and then passed this rope under the lower rail of the gate to Hoto and Gregger.

Their job was to make sure the stallion didn't' get a running start after we urged it out the gate. It turned out to be unnecessary. When other men pulled the gate back to make enough space for the stallion to move out of the pen he did, but only kept moving slowly as the rest of us followed him.

We worked him over to a nearby tree, which was not close to any others, and I put the rope I was holding against the tree while the others hazed him around it over and over, wrapping the rope I had around his neck up around the tree. We didn't stop until he couldn't go any farther.

I'd taught the women how to plat and assemble stout halters already and Hoto, who was done with his part of rope duty now brought one to me. I had the main rope holding the stallion tied off now so it couldn't unwrap. He was tired and lathered by now and his sides were heaving.

I was able to move slowly and get close enough to stroke his neck and then pet and rub around on it and finally I was able to get the halter tied on him and the previously placed lead line tied securely to the halter.