Chapter 4

The sun was just making its appearance as I got out of the wagon this morning. Dragging on some clothes and heading out for a convenient bush was my first order of the day. The thirty ought six wasn't left behind, but there was no gimme prey in sight as I pissed on a handy tree. Back in the cave and mending the fire led to my coffee pot perking. The first cup of coffee on this earth was on its way.

Capturing and training a few wolf cubs was still on my mind, but finishing the wall and door to close my cave took priority. I needed to be able to secure my new home during my absences, especially since there was fresh meat inside now. The fresh meat had surely attracted my tentative visitors during the night and it would only get worse.

The wall building was slow going since my supply of nails was small. Nails were heavy and my request for them hadn't been a generous one. In fact those I'd brought weren't suitable for nailing the small trimmed tree trunks to the new wall's framing. Also they would just get loose when the wood shrunk as it dried. Using wire to lash the wall together would let me come back later and tighten it more easily.

Wall building was strenuous work but not mentally taxing. It left me time to consider my next building project. My perusal of the map let me know the opening about three hundred yards from my cave led into a fairly large blind canyon. The mouth of the canyon was only about two hundred yards wide but it gave access to nearly two hundred enclosed acres.

There were a few trees growing in it and most of the ground cover was different kinds of grasses. Horses often ventured into it to graze. There was a small stream flowing out of it now. The map told me it had water flowing year round except for the times during winter when it was frozen.

I intended to close off the canyon's opening as soon as there were some horses in it. It would take a strong fence, but once the canyon could be closed, building a capture pen to take possession of a couple for training would be much easier. It would take a lot of time, but time was plentiful for me now.

It came to me even with the wall in place sneak thieves would probably try to dig under it, so I retrieved one of the two solar powered electric fence chargers the Aliens had provided. There'd been plenty of these commercially available, but having experience with them had taught me those units often failed after a couple of months. The Alien's work would surely be better. It took only a few minutes to put a small electric fence wire at the bottom of the wall. I doubted any varmint would make a second try at digging under it.

The wall was finished by mid afternoon. Taking the binoculars and my thirty-ought-six I headed up into the canyon for a little exploration. Entering it showed all but a few spots were visible from the opening. Near the back wall there were fourteen grown horses, six yearlings, and nine foals. This would be plenty for me to catch a couple or three for use so I turned right back around and headed for my tools.

The remainder of the day and most of the next was spent felling and trimming trees for post and rails. The next day I intended to start on the fence but checking the small canyon first let me see the horses had left during the night. Well shit. There was no help for it now though. I'd just have to wait for some to come back. There was no need to build a fence after the horses were gone.

Back in my cave I dressed for exploring, and headed out looking for wolf cubs. The third spot on my mental list proved to have a den with pups. Observing from some high ground nearly five hundred yards away showed me there were five pups outside playing among themselves. They looked to be between eight and twelve weeks old.

My approach sent them scurrying into their den to hide. Assembling my large alien made tender trap about thirty yards from the den and baiting it with some of the deer meat was next. I tied the meat securely to the trap and backed off. In about an hour the pups came back out, drawn by the smell of the meat. Soon three were in the trap fighting over the meat. Springing the trap by its remote control gave me possession of the pups. The others beat a retreat back into the den on my next approach.

The three trapped pups set up a howling fuss about their situation and soon two adult females and one male made an appearance. I didn't want to kill the adults since I knew it would mean the other cubs would starve. The cubs in the trap were leaving with me though even if all the rest had to die.

The adults gathered around the trap trying to find a way to release the pups, but of course there wasn't a way they could. Putting the thirty ought six over my shoulder by its sling and taking out the Glock I moved toward the trap with confidence.

Soon the adults were approaching me snarling and growling. When they were within fifty feet a couple of rounds from the Glock into the dirt near them scared them off. The loud noise and the stinging dirt kicked up convinced them to leave. They wanted to protect the cubs but instinctively they knew getting killed protecting them was not an efficient means of survival.

The trap had wheels on one end. All I had to do was take hold of the other end and leave, trailing the trap benind me. Keeping a close watch for a return of the adults showed me one of the females had come back out of hiding and started toward me. A round from the Glock sent her back. Hopefully they wouldn't follow my scent trail to the cave later.

Entering the cave with the trap pointed up a dilemma of my own making. I hadn't prepared a suitable pen for the pups. It would only be needed for a few days but it would be necessary for a while at least. It was nearing sunset so they would have to spend the first night in the trap. The deer's hide went in with them to sleep and chew on. Some of the deer meat went in for their supper and a pan of water finished their accommodations.

It was time for my own supper and after eating and a minor clean up my wagon found a place for me to sleep. Wanting any uninvited visitors to find out about electricity caused me to leave the alarm deactivated. Some of the wolves must have trailed me because the electric fence got a workout. Three of them found it before sleep claimed me and six more loud yelps woke me during the night. Every yelp in the night woke me and caused me to smile to myself.

Sleeping past sunrise the next morning left me feeling refreshed when I finally woke and got out of the wagon. I felt good even though there had been plenty of wake ups during the night. After dressing I opened the door, went out to shake hands with shorty and then returned to my cave to make a fire and fix a little breakfast.

Later, putting on some gloves, closing the door, and turning on the big light inside let me get the pups out of their cage one at a time to feed them from my hand and then spend about thirty minutes each just calming and stroking them. After putting them in the cage again I got to work building a pen for them out of smaller trees. When the pen was done it was about twelve feet by twenty feet and thirty inches high.

I put their deer hide bed and water pan in the pen then they got to move in. They spent nearly an hour looking all around it for a way out and then seemed to lose interest. They all found the water pan and after about another hour tussling with each other they lay down on the deer hide for a nap.

Around noon I went to the mouth of the canyon with the thirty ought six and my binoculars checking to see if any of the horses had returned. They hadn't, so after a light lunch I spent the rest of the afternoon getting more small timber for fence post and rails. Knocking off a little before sunset let me spend another hour and a half hand feeding the cubs and letting them get accustomed to me handling them.

Closing up tonight I set the alarm again hoping to cut down on the yelps in the night. After a little supper it was me and my wagon for a while. Sleep was slow in coming and I spent some time thinking about what it was going to take to make a life here worth living.

The first few days had been occupied with things which needed doing right away. There were still a few similar projects to get started, but my own company was beginning to get old. Well it was better than a coffin. Conditions would be better for meeting the locals in another week or two. Right now preparations for my long-term survival had to come first.

I knew if it came down to it the cubs and the horses weren't necessary for survival, but I also knew they would make things much easier. The native people here had been getting along for thousands of years without domesticating any animals, but having the benefit of later knowledge let me know I'd be al lot better off and could get along much easier with them and I was determined to have some. I finally drifted off and surprisingly wasn't disturbed all night.

Sunrise had me out of the wagon, dressed, and warming some breakfast. After eating I fed and handled the cubs for about an hour then dressed and walked off into the canyon looking for horses again. Still none around.