Chapter 140

Women started coming out of the cave then with food for us and this killed the talking. I realized while we were eating Kodontolo had not dismissed his men or mine during the trade talks and I wondered if it was his general way of doing it or if the trading had just started before he expected it. No matter, it was done now.

After the meal was finished and while the women were clearing up the dishes the widows and unmated women came out. Tulaarra and the other women had apparently prepared them for the horses and wagons already because they did not seem afraid of them. Our other women had helped bring the possessions out and they were loading them into the wagons. I was pleasantly surprised to see one of the widows had two children.

She had one young boy, who looked to be seven or eight years old, and one very young one who could not walk yet. The other widow had a young child too and it seemed maybe three or four years old.

We were loaded up and had said our goodbyes in only a few more minutes. Grotondo said he knew of one more camp nearby if I wanted to go to it. He told me the leader was an honest man, but he was not as hospitable as Kodontolo.

"Dracto will come somewhere between Chatamtato and Kodontolo. If we were going to arrive at mealtime he would not hesitate to feed us, but he would probably seem cross about it even though nothing would be said.

He will trade without doubt if he has widows or unmated women. He is one, like most of us, who feel widows are unlucky and he does not like to have unmated women underfoot during the winter either. I have known of him trading them away before winter, if he had no man to give them to, and then having to trade to get mates for boys who became men the next year," Grotondo said.

It was only a few miles up to the caves of Dracto's camp. They had three caves close together. Apparently someone had seen us coming because Dracto was the first person we saw as we came close.

At first he looked as if he were feeling a little belligerent, but when he noticed Grotondo was with us his body language changed visibly. I stopped short of him and Grotondo got down and went over to talk. The rest of us stayed in the wagons. After a few minutes Grotondo signaled for me to come to them.

Dracto might have been a little unfriendly, but it was fine in my book. We weren't hungry and Dracto didn't waste much time to do his trading. He was to the point about it and in only a few minutes he told us he would trade three widows, all with very young children, and two unmated women.

He called into the nearest cave and his mate came to him. He told her to have the widows and the unmated women come to us and he also told her to bring him something, but I didn't understand what he said.

A few minutes later the three widows and two unmated women came out and lined up more nearly like I'd seen before. Dracto's mate brought him a wooden bowl and he told me he would trade the widows and the unmated women for the bowl full of salt. It would probably hold seven or eight pounds and so I told him we had a deal.

He told the women to get their things and he handed me the bowl. I asked him if it would be all right if some of the other women with us helped the new women gather their things and he agreed.

I went to the big wagon to get the salt and when I got there I asked Tulaarra to get some of the others to help the new members and a few of them took off to do it. I opened the fifty pound container of salt I'd had loaded before we left and I filled the bowl, closed the container and went back to give it to Dracto. While walking back I noticed he and Grotondo were not even talking. When I handed him the bowl he called his mate to come and get it and she did.

The women were coming back out now and were soon loaded into the wagon. Grotondo and I said our goodbyes to Dracto and we left. It was all very matter of fact and it suited the hell out of me. When everyone was on board and settled we turned the wagons around and headed home. We would probably be able to make it back to our camp before sunset.

We retraced our way from Dracto's camp back down toward Kodontolo's. He was waiting outside when we got there so we stopped and I got down to talk to him. He wanted to know if he could send one of his men back with us now to begin learning about the horses. I thought it was a good idea and I told him so. He said he would go and fetch the man right away.

"Isn't he a mated man?" I asked, since Kodontolo had already told us he had no unmated men in his camp.

"Yes, he has a mate," he replied.

"Be sure and tell her to come also if it is allowed. He may need to stay for several days."

"I hadn't thought of it, but I will tell him to bring her with him. Do you know how much food they will need to bring?" he asked.

"They will not need to bring any food, we have plenty."

He nodded his understanding and went inside his cave. Deltonto and Keyshatata came out with their furs and other things in just a few minutes followed by Kodontolo. We made room for the two in the wagons and after saying our goodbyes to Kodontolo we were off again.

We traveled back down the tributary and when we came to the main river again we headed up it. Soon we were passing by the spot of Raalto's original camp. Grotondo and I lamented the fact we hadn't asked anyone on the trip if they knew anything about the huts.

"I know of the huts." Deltonto, who had ended up right behind us said.

"What happened to them?" Grotondo asked, at once.

"We took them down and carried them to our caves. Did you want them?" he asked.

"I didn't want them, I just wondered where they went," I said.

"I did not want them either, but they were a mystery. Some of my men passed through the camp, but could find no sign of where the huts had been moved," Grotondo said.

"It took us much extra time to hide the sign. We did not really want the huts either, but we had trouble with the last group who used them, as I know John did. After the people moved away and left the huts Kodontolo decided we would just take them down and carry them off. He didn't want us to leave any sign so no one could come asking about them," Deltonto said.