Chapter 137

Grotondo was riding on the seat with me in the lead wagon and he tried not to be amazed by the viciously bright spotlight. He couldn't help himself though and he asked me about it.

"It was a gift from the spirits and it has come in very handy," I said, but offered no further explanation.

I switched the light off when he told me we were approaching Jadatako's camp. We stopped well before we entered the glow of the fire and Grotondo got off and went to find Jadatako. He was back with him in a few minutes and this leader was as amazed by the horses and wagons as anyone else had been. He tried to ignore them as he spoke to me though.

"I am Jadatako, the leader of this camp," he said, holding his palms forward.

"I am John and I am the leader of my own camp far up the river," I replied.

"You are all welcome here. Grotondo has told me of your difficulties with Nutaro and how you dealt with him. It makes you doubly welcome," he said.

"When a man says he is going to kill me I believe him and try to kill him first. In this case one of my helpers killed him and another of them killed Cardollo. It was a good thing for them, as they both wanted a mate of your people. One of them even got a new mate who already had a child."

This put just a little damper on Jadatako's enthusiasm - it didn't last long though. He said Grotondo had told him we wanted to stay the night and trade in the morning and he was all for it. He invited us to join his camp in the feast they were having. They were celebrating the coming of the winter and also the last mating of the year in his camp.

I knew they did not usually have much of a celebration over matings and he volunteered this information as if I didn't. He had assigned his oldest daughter, the last unmated woman in the camp, to his best young hunter today.

The hunter was the last unmated man in camp and both he and the woman had expected to be mated before the winter came. Jajaboto, the young hunter, had been pleased when he found out today was the day and he went hunting to celebrate. By some stroke of luck he was able to kill two bison and now the whole camp was celebrating and a large portion of one of the bison was cooking.

Jadatako asked us to bring our furs and come with him then, saying he would show us to a place in the cave where we could sleep tonight. I went to the buckboard to get Deimeta, her furs and mine. She was sitting up and looking out wide-eyed at the fire and the crowd around it.

"Are they having a feast, John?" she asked, expectantly.

"Yes they are Deimeta."

"I hope they will let me join it," she said.

"You are the daughter of a large camp's leader now Deimeta, they will let you do whatever you like or we will leave and go to our own camp.

"In my camp I have twenty-two mates. It is more mates than you have fingers and toes, and when we get there they will all want to meet you and take care of you. You won't know how happy they will be I have found you until you get there, but I can tell you they will be very happy."

"It sounds so wonderful, John, thank you," she said.

"Thank you Deimeta, for agreeing to be my daughter."

I picked up our furs with one arm and Deimeta with the other and since everyone else was ready, Jadatako led us into the cave. There was a large open area near the front and he told us we could spread our furs there. I set Deimeta down and began. Tulaarra had already finished spreading she and Danlo's furs and she asked if I would like for her to finish with mine.

"I can do this easily enough, but would you mind trying to help Deimeta clean up a little?"

"I will be glad to help her, she is a very polite child and I could never understand why Nutaro was so cruel to her," she said.

"I think Danlo has put an end to all that."

"Yes, it seems he has, but it is almost too good to be true. Why don't you come with me, Deimeta and we will wash before the feast begins," she said.

I had hoped Tulaarra would at least wash Deimeta's face and hands and straighten out her hair a little. I was surprised when she took Deimeta to where she had put her things and rummaged around in them for a minute. She came up with what looked like a small rabbit fur and a much bigger deerskin.

The rabbit fur had been tanned with the hair still on, but the deerskin hadn't. She also had found a little skin bundle with no telling what inside and to my surprise she brought out a tunic and some trousers that must have belonged to her son. She took Deimeta's hand and led her to Sahto's new mate, spoke to her for a moment, and then she and Deimeta went outside.

I guessed she had asked Weeahta to watch over her son while she was gone to take care of Deimeta. She needn't have worried about Malooto though, he was right beside Danlo and they were talking. It didn't look like they would get far from each other anytime soon. It looked like fun to me and so I went over and sat down by them. Danlo and I talked to and played with Malooto for nearly an hour until Tulaarra and Deimeta came back in.

The change in Deimeta was dramatic. Tulaarra had obviously given her a complete bath. She had also washed and somehow combed Deimeta's long dark hair. Deimeta shined like a new penny and since her face was clean now her big brown eyes seemed to sparkle. It was easy to see Deimeta felt much better for the ordeal.

She even had on clean clothes and they were a pretty good fit. She and Malooto were about the same size anyway, except he was heavier. No doubt this was a result of Deimeta's ordeal at Nutaro's direction. When they got to us I stood up, thanking Tulaarra, and then picking Deimeta up in my arms.

"Who is this pretty girl you have found Tulaarra?"

"It is me, John, Deimeta. Don't you know me?" Deimeta said.

I held my head back and looked her over as if I wasn't sure.

"Why it is, Deimeta, I didn't realize you were so pretty before," I told her, and the smile she gave me made my efforts worthwhile.

I shifted her to sit in the crook of my left arm and as she put her little arms around my neck I thanked Tulaarra again and turned to go outside. Walking over near the roasting fire we could see a big haunch of bison being cooked, suspended on a spit and being turned occasionally. There were several watertight baskets filled with some vegetable dish or the other and several wooden bowls with tea brewing in them.