Chapter 153

It was cold, but thanks to the new clothes I hadn't been bothered by it during the night. Another big plus for them was that I didn't get too warm, no matter how many furs I slept under or how many of my mates snuggled up around me.

I felt good on waking and was well rested. After sneaking off to water a bush I headed for the coffee pot and found Yaroola had a mug waiting for me. I gave her a quick kiss and while I found a place to sit she went to get a plate of breakfast for me. When she came back with it I dug in.

About half way through inhaling my breakfast Deimeta came over to sit with me. She had still been rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she worked her way to my side.

"Why didn't you wake me when you got up, Daddy?" she asked.

"I wanted to make sure you got all the rest you could. You will want to be walking with your mammoth again today and you needed to rest so you could last a while at it," I said.

This was the right thing to tell her and it got me out of not waking her without any trouble. Yaroola came over with Deimeta's little coffee mug then and handed it to her.

"Thank you, mommy Yaroola, I need this badly," Deimeta said.

Yaroola and I both laughed over her coffee addiction proclamation, but Deimeta just smiled and took a sip.

"You are very welcome Deimeta. All of us enjoy making sure you are being taken care of. Be sure to let us know whenever you need anything," she said.

"I'm so lucky Daddy came to get me and so happy to live with all of you now. I can hardly believe how nice it is to feel wanted and accepted," Deimeta said.

I had to look away to keep her from seeing my tears and I wondered again at how brave she must be and how she always concentrated on the good in her life now and never seemed to reflect back on the times when she was rejected and starving.

It made me sorry Nutaro was dead and couldn't be killed again. I began wondering again what kind of man could be so cruel to a child and I had to stop myself before I ruined my whole day thinking about it.

Yaroola came back to us with a plate for Deimeta and with only a little asking she agreed to let me feed her this morning. I enjoyed it immensely, but knew I would have to be careful and not stuff too much into her. She knew how much I loved this game and I was afraid she would keep eating after she'd had enough, just because she knew it made me happy. Finally we called a truce.

"Now we've finished breakfast, do you think we could go to see the mammoths?" Deimeta asked.

"I don't see why not. You need to check on yours and make sure it is doing well after all the traveling yesterday."

We got up and walked to the center of camp where the mammoths had been kept last night. Danlo was there and the adult female was right by his side.

"Good morning Danlo, did you sleep well?" Deimeta asked, when we arrived.

"Yes I did Deimeta, what about you?" he asked.

"I dreamed of my mammoth last night and now I want to see it. Can you tell me if it is a boy or a girl?" she asked him.

"Yes I can, it is a female and will one day be a mother," he said.

"Good, I will be a mother some day also," she said, with unimpeachable logic.

"I'm sure you will and your mammoth will still be there with you then. I have heard they can live a long time," he said.

"Oh I hope so, I'm becoming very attached to her," Deimeta said.

"Have you chosen a name for her yet?" I asked.

"Not yet, I keep thinking of her as baby mammoth and haven't picked a name yet. Have you named the big mother mammoth, Danlo?" she asked.

"I believe you have just named her. I will call her Big Mother. She is the biggest mother I have ever seen," he said.

"She is isn't she? It will be a good name for her, but I can't name mine little mother because she isn't a mother yet, and she will not be little anymore when she becomes a mother. I will have to think of something else," she said.

Deimeta and the little mammoth were playing with each other by now and though I loved watching them there were things I needed to do. Danlo said he would watch over them if I would have someone bring him some coffee and breakfast and I promised I would.

I told Deimeta I had things to do and headed back to the cooking fire. I saw Shaala headed my way with Danlo's breakfast and coffee so I went to saddle Red and Jack and tie them to a wagon. Most everyone was up now and many were already through eating and were hitching the teams and reloading our things into the wagons.

Soon enough breakfast was over for all and our camp was packed up into the wagons. I mounted Red and led us toward home with Galto following and the rest falling into line. Looking back I saw Danlo, Big Mother, and the youngsters were taking the same spot as yesterday and I could see Deimeta walking along beside her baby.

After a couple of hours I halted the train and went back to check on Deimeta. She didn't protest this time when I asked her to ride for a while. Danlo told me he thought the mammoths were holding up well and so I went back to the head of the line and we moved out again.

We took a real break around noon and even though we had sandwiches again we stayed put for about an hour. We had made good progress and even with the rest stop we would be home more than an hour before sunset.

Just before it was time to get moving I went to check on Deimeta. She was asleep in the wagon box, lying on a pile of sleeping furs. I left her at it and got the show on the road, well, on the path anyway.

We came into camp a little more than an hour before sunset and I was glad to be back. Those who hadn't gone on the trip were amazed to see the living mammoths walking down the canyon and to the horse cave. Danlo didn't have much trouble getting Big Mother to go through the gate and enter the cave and the young ones followed right on her heels. The horses which were in there were a little apprehensive at first but soon all the animals settled down.