Chapter 183

My eyes adjusted quickly to the low level of light inside and I saw dozens of necks twist around so the eyes could see me. Most of the faces showed shock at finding me inside.

"John, is that you John?" Grotondo asked.

"Yes it's me. We have come to bring Brundolo and the horses I promised you. We also have many loads of hay to feed the horses."

"I'm surprised you would travel here during the winter, but I'm glad you have. We sent a messenger toward your camp earlier this morning, but he turned around and came back when the weather turned bad," he told me.

"I'm sure it must be important for you to send him off even in good weather, but before you tell me what it is about I think we should let the rest of my people come inside and we need to put the sleighs, wagons and livestock in the other cave you mentioned before."

"Of course, I'm not thinking properly. How many men should I bring to help unload?" he asked.

"Just come and show us where to put them now, we can worry about unloading later."

"Good, I'll show you the cave," he said -- stopping at his furs to get a large bison skin robe.

When we got outside Grotondo was stunned at seeing Big Mother. He couldn't move for several seconds.

"She is impressive isn't she?"

"The horses were impressive, John, the mammoth is unbelievable. We should go to the other cave now, but you will have to tell me the whole story once we are back from there," he said.

"I will be glad to, but I think my mates and all the others except for the drivers should go ahead and go into your cave now."

"Of course. I see Eileiea is with you and it is wonderful, the messenger was to ask you if we could bring her a patient. Kradno slipped on the ice and broke his leg and we were hoping Eileiea could help him," Grotondo said.

"I'm sure she will be attending him before we get back from dealing with the sleighs and wagons."

My mates and all the others got down and headed into the cave then. I waited for Grotondo to climb up beside Danlo before I did. He directed us down about two hundred yards and then showed us the entrance to his new horse cave. They had covered the entrance here also and inside there was an arrangement with hand made ropes and post to pull the skins back and hold them so we could drive the wagons inside. Once it was done I left the unhitching to Danlo and the other drivers and Grotondo and I headed back to the other cave.

Eileiea was indeed working over Kradno when we got back. I watched for a while and was amazed that he was able to keep from crying out during his treatment. She was pulling against his right foot while three men were holding him still. It must have been terribly painful but he didn't complain. I had to turn away and go somewhere else since I couldn't bear to watch.

I went back toward Grotondo's fire and he invited me to sit. His mate was making a hot tea and soon Grotondo and I were sipping while he reminded me I had a lot to tell him concerning mammoths.

The tale of the mammoth hunt and of capturing Big Mother and the young mammoths kept Grotondo spellbound. He was even more surprised when I told him it had been Deimeta who discovered how to teach the mammoths to follow our directions.

"Deimeta, the young orphan you saved from Nutaro's camp?" he asked.

"The very same. She has been a wonderful help since she came to us."

"It is hard to believe such a young child could do so much," he said.

"I have found often children can do things because they don't know they cannot be done."

"I don't understand John," he said.

"Deimeta didn't know the mammoth would not listen to her so she just went ahead and trained it. She would not have tried if she had been older and already afraid of the mammoth."

"I think I see now. Since Danlo was older and had already worked with the horses he expected the mammoths to behave as the horses did," he said.

"Exactly. Deimeta didn't know how to train a horse or a mammoth either. She treated Darta as a playmate and Darta was happy to do as Deimeta wanted. If not for that we might still be wondering how to deal with the mammoths."

"I can understand since if I hadn't seen you with the horses I would have never considered them as anything except a good meal," he said.

Eileiea came to us then to tell us about Kradno. She said it had been a clean break and relatively easy to set.

"Will it heal properly now?" Grotondo asked.

"Probably not. Kradno will want to show what a strong man he is and will try to get up and walk on it, it will cause it to grow back wrong and when it does he will never be able to walk and run as he once did," she said.

"Didn't you set it correctly?" Grotondo asked.

"If I hadn't I would still be back there pulling against it. He was already asking someone to make him a crutch before I left and though it will probably hurt terribly, I'm sure he will be trying to walk on it by tomorrow or the next day," she told us.

"He does not need to be walking and working. There is nothing for him to even do until next spring. How long should he stay off it?" Grotondo asked.

"If he will stay off it and keep it straight it will be nearly well in four weeks. After that he should use crutches for another four weeks, still keeping most of his weight off it. When he is through with the crutches it will still take time for it to be as strong as it was, but by spring he should be able to walk and run as he always did but only if he stays off it while it is still broken," Eileiea said.

"He will stay off it. I will be back soon," Grotondo said, and left heading that way.

He must have found someone working on a crutch when he got to Kradno's bed. We could hear him warning everyone in the cave not to dare try it again and he let Kradno know he was to stay flat on his back until further notice.

"You were one of our fastest runners and hunters Kradno and I can't let you ruin your leg showing us all how strong you are. If you try to get up before I tell you to I will have the others tie you down and the next one who tries to give you a crutch will be carrying you on his back until I say he can put you down."

Grotondo came back to us then with a disgusted look on his face.

"I don't understand how grown men can be such children. It was just as you told me it would be Eileiea. He already had a crutch when I got back there and two others were trying to help him stand," he said.

"Would you like to know if he tries to stand again before you say he can my mate?" Gratata, Grotondo's mate asked him.