Chapter 37

Juko had stopped the mower and was staring across the plateau. I noticed it was into the general direction they'd been coming from when we first met them. I walked over to him and he asked to borrow my binoculars so I handed them to him.

"It's them, still trying to find us," he said, handing back the glasses and pointing.

He had hellacious eyesight, he must have, because even with the glasses I could barely tell the six figures were Cro-Magnon, but he was claiming he was sure he knew and recognized them. They were at least five miles from us still.

Of course it was frightening for him and I didn't blame him, but they were only walking to their death and I knew it. Goondoe came over then. He'd stopped the combine and come to see what was happening. After he had the story he had a question.

"What shall we do Jack? I don't see a need to be friendly. They are not hunting and are obviously headed this way in hopes of finding Juko and his people. What else could they be doing?"

"I agree, but I'm wondering exactly what to do. I have enough mates already. I know these men need to be killed, but I do not need their mates. Still, I don't want women to suffer because their mates are stupid enough to get themselves killed for nothing. The men are thieves though and need to be done away with.

"Will you kill them Juko if I show you a way to do it easily?"

"I will be glad to."

They were still at least an hour from us, but it wasn't enough time to teach him to shoot. We could save shooting for later though. My girls and I could make them much easier to kill for now.

Rose, Shayta, Keeta, Nanita, and I walked back down to the cave and told the others what was up. We all saddled mounts then and headed back up top. We were carrying Marlins in our saddle scabbards, but the main implement we'd be using would be our lariats. Catla, Shayta, Nanita, and Keeta were nearly as good with them as I was, and Rose could rope a little too.

It might seem dangerous to try roping men armed with spears, but the men didn't know shit about throwing the spears and a rope was much longer. We saddled a mount for Juko too and led it back up top. I explained what I intended while we were trotting toward the small group.

All those who'd come with Juko were right behind us by now. They were curious as hell no doubt and as we trotted toward the uninvited guests they kept following.

The interlopers were a motley looking bunch, but they were all mature men and no doubt determined after they'd come so far. My plan was simplicity as far as I was concerned. I intended to decide which one I thought was the leader, rope him, and let Jingo do the rest after I'd dragged the victim away from the others.

As we came near it was easy to see the men were not quite as sure of themselves as they might be. One of them stepped forward to harangue us energetically. It was a good enough sign he was the leader to me, so I roped him right away and urged Jingo to back until our captive fell forward. Jingo already knew enough to keep the rope from going slack again unless I signaled him.

Juko dismounted with his spear and promptly dispatched my victim while Jingo was still backing up and dragging him. He gave the guy two deep vicious jabs in the gut, took his spear, and then released my loop when I asked him to.

The others were more than nervous now and looked like they were ready to bolt. At another time with more reasonable people I might cut them some slack, but if they'd come this far just to kill a young man and steal his family and friends they were going to die here and now.

"Which one should I get next Juko?" I asked, and when he pointed to one I started for him.

At least the guy was smart enough to take off running. I was glad because it made things even less dangerous for me. The outcome was the same though even if he did struggle more and then start begging as Juko approached. It didn't help him a bit and in seconds he was bleeding out from his guts too.

While Juko was releasing my loop again the remaining four took off, no doubt thinking I couldn't get them all. They were right of course since I couldn't. The trouble for them was my mates could get them and they did. By the time they were being dragged back all but the youngest of the boys who'd come with Juko had their spears at the ready and did the deeds.

I figured it was a wise move on Juko's part. He sure as hell didn't need six mates right now, and I thought two might be a load for him. What the hell? Someone had to take them on.

The hard part was over, but the harder part came next. We would have to take a trip to the camp these men had come from and retrieve the mates. I was practically sure it would require killing all males there, or at least all mature males. Anyway it had to be done, but it was damned sure an inconvenient time for it.

We took time for Juko and the others to strip anything they wanted from the bodies and then we left them where they lay. Some of them weren't even dead yet, but the abdominal wounds would take care of it soon enough. We left them moaning, groaning, and contemplating the pitfalls of hunting other men to kill.

I was surprised myself when we got back since Zakkon and Mendal had taken over the combine and hay mowing chores. I waved and smiled at them as we headed back to the cave. The people up here would be mostly without protection for a while, except for the dogs and wolves, but I was sure they could let us know in plenty of time if they needed us. Besides, there were several men with spears with them.

After we'd hobbled our mounts we went into the cave and my mates started on some lunch. We did have things to talk over though. From the way Juko explained things I thought the camp we needed to visit was within thirty miles or so. If we kept a good pace we could make it there in one day if we had to and I thought the sooner we went the better off we'd be.

There wasn't a specific need to rush off right now though. If we didn't leave for a week we'd be back sooner than the attackers would have been. Of course all my mates, except Rose, wanted to go with me. Rose knew someone had to stay home to keep things running smoothly here.

She convinced Catla to stay with her too and in the end only Shayta, Keeta, and Nanita were going along with me, Juko, Salto, Boltot, Hawknon, and Tillit. Most of the women who'd traveled with them were going too. They felt they had a right to see the end the other men came to and I actually agreed with them.

The planning started right away and it didn't take long. Rose and Catla would be packing things for us and the women of Juko's bunch would make sure they had food and supplies to use traveling.

Juko and the rest of his males followed me outside. We needed to go down to the first horse pasture and catch a few more mounts and travois horses for the trip. I was also going to teach them all to use a Marlin. Rose said we had plenty now and I wanted them armed when we arrived so I wouldn't have to do any more rope tricks to keep from acquiring more mates.