Chapter 143

This got me thinking about the small group in Caato's old camp. They were the most vulnerable and even though we had sent them the bison a few days ago I was still worried about their chances to make it through the winter.

Raalto and a few of the others started coming in as I finished this mug of coffee and Danlo's mates came in to help Georgo's with breakfast for everyone else. I supposed my mates had done this planning last night. I considered staying while the others had breakfast, but decided to go to my office and spend some time with the video feeds. I made my excuses and left.

When I was seated the first place I checked was Caato's old camp. The huts which were in use all had smoke coming out of their vent holes in the tops, but snow was piling up quickly against their outside walls. None of the remaining residents were outside and I couldn't see any footprints which showed they had been out this morning.

I took a look at Grotondo's camp next and nothing was stirring outside. I decided to check on all the camps we'd just visited and it was the same at each one - nothing was moving outside. It was only an accident I checked all the views covering our path.

About halfway between Dunto's camp and ours, off to the side of the trail by the river, a small tent had been erected. I didn't think it was even big enough to build a fire inside unless it was just a very small one. At any rate there was no smoke coming from the top of the tent and there were no footprints anywhere outside.

The snow was undisturbed and if it continued coming down like it was now, the entire tent would be covered within a few hours. That wasn't so dangerous in and of itself, since the snow would actually serve as insulation and tend to keep heat from escaping. Even though this would help it would not be enough if the only heat inside was that of a single body. I had no idea who was in the tent, but I knew they were in trouble.

I got up and went to my office door, opening it and looking out. I saw Georgo and when I got his attention I signaled for him to join me. When he was with me and the door was shut I brought the video back up and showed him what I'd found.

"Whoever is in the tent will be dead before the snowing stops. They might stay warm enough to live today without a fire, but I'm sure they are already too cold to go out and search for fuel to burn and if deep cold comes tonight as it usually does with snow, they will be frozen before morning," Georgo said.

"I'm sure you are right Georgo and I'm wondering who is out traveling alone, especially in this weather."

"It is probably a messenger and he might have started yesterday or even earlier," he said.

That could make sense, but it didn't really matter who it was. Georgo and I were the only ones who knew about it and I was the only one who could do anything to save whoever it was. I thought about it and decided I would make a try.

"I am going to go and see if I can help him. I can ride one of the big horses and bring him back here on a travois if nothing else."

"It will be very dangerous John, what if something happens to strand you out there. You can die from the cold just as that person can," he said.

I was betting I couldn't - or at least I wouldn't. I was sure Argent wasn't going to allow any such thing to happen to me. This little adventure would be dangerous though and more dangerous if I went alone. I decided to ask for a volunteer to go with me. I was pretty sure I would get a lot of them and I was hoping to get my pick.

I shutdown the video and Georgo and I went back into my cave. All of my main helpers were seated around the table, but appeared to be finished eating and I'm sure they would be trying to get the move from the other side of the canyon underway any moment now.

"Do not ask how I know, but there is a lone traveler stranded out in this storm in a small tent. They are about halfway between here and Dunto's camp. I am going to take a horse to see if I can help them. I'm afraid if they stay out in the small tent tonight they will freeze to death before the snow stops."

There was still a little mumbling and no doubt some of it was wondering how I knew this, no one voiced it very loudly though. All of them told me they would like to go with me as I'd expected. I chose Danlo, of course, since he was the most familiar with the horses."

"We will take the biggest horses Danlo and one travois, if he is alive when we get there we can load him and his things onto the travois and come right back."

"If you say so we will do it, but I suggest we hitch two of the big horses to Georgo's buckboard. Two of them can pull the buckboard as if it weren't there and they can both share the load. Only one can pull the travois at a time. The buckboard would also provide shelter for us if something unfortunate happened," he said.

Danlo's suggestion was better than my plan had been and I wondered why I hadn't thought of it. It was probably from the way I remembered wheeled vehicles acting in the snow. These wagons were different though. Their locomotion wasn't delivered by the wheels, of course, so if the tires slipped it didn't make much difference. The aliens had also used my original wagon as a model to determine the proportions for the buckboards and the big wagon so the tires had ended up big and wide and would probably do fine.

"I think you're right Danlo, we'll take the buckboard."

My mates had come in during the discussion and I guess they had learned by now arguing with me about such things wouldn't help. Instead they put down what they were carrying and packed some food for us. It was too bad that I'd never asked Argent for a big coffee thermos. What the hell, I could probably delay long enough for him to come up with one or more.

Danlo wanted to wait until all the horses could be moved into their cave before hitching the buckboard anyway so I told him to go ahead and that we would leave as soon as he finished. I went back into the office, sat at my computer and typed in a requisition. The operator wasn't Argent but he told me they would have it to me in a few minutes.

I went back to the video for a while and couldn't tell anything else about the situation. When I gave up looking and wondering I shut down the view and as I got up out of my chair I saw three one gallon thermoses had been placed on my desk. I took them out to the kitchen with me and since Taaheita was closest to the coffee maker I asked her to fill them with hot water while she was making more coffee and then pour out the water and fill them with coffee as she got it made.