Chapter 72

Georgo looked surprised, so I told him some of the things Raalto and I had talked about. He was grinning again when he realized Baahaya would be staying when Raalto and the others left.

"Are you sure it will be acceptable to the women of your camp? It is technically their right to make the decision," Georgo asked.

"They are welcome to demand all the meat now if they want to. I will let them know they can find me in John's cave drinking coffee while they are dealing with ten dead bison though. If they can't tell already John is an honorable man and the leader of a good and growing camp, I can. I am not worried about him delivering the bison you are trading for Baahaya.

"I will not be made to suffer the kind of drudgery ten dead bison will turn out to be, and especially only because of women's whims. We needn't worry though - I know the women and they will not ask for the bison now," Raalto said.

Shelalliea came in then and told me Barbo, Jara, and their camp were approaching. We all went out to greet them.

As I welcomed them I could tell Barbo was a little surprised to see the size of the greeting party. I saw it wasn't lost on Jara either. When they learned all the camps except Raalto's were joining mine they were even more surprised.

Barbo and Jara came back to my cave with me while the others were being led to the big cave to set up sleeping places. Raalto went with them to find his mates.

When we got to the cave I saw most of my mates were working in the kitchen, getting a meal together. I know Barbo and Jara saw them too, but they didn't appear to notice. Whatever type of smokescreen Argent was putting up appeared to still be working well.

When we sat at the table, Ladeliea and Erieta brought us all some coffee and the acquired taste explanation was on again. I let Georgo do the honors this time. Racaato came in from the practice cave about then and I'm sure he saw me giving Erieta's ass a little squeeze as she gave me a coffee mug. I was prepared to look sheepish when he surprised me by smiling and giving me a wink.

He took a seat too and Erieta brought him a mug of coffee. I told Barbo and Jara I intended to send Racaato to kill the bison I owed their camp. Barbo seemed pleased, but I could see Jara wasn't so pleased, I didn't understand why.

We talked for a while and later we all ate the meal my mates had prepared. When we were finished, Racaato and I went back into the practice cave. He showed me some of the targets he'd fired and I could see from those he pointed out as fired on from the longest distance he was getting good groups.

Racaato was firing from the prone position and using the bipod rest which was attached to the rifle. I was glad he'd chosen to practice from the position he'd most likely be using for taking bison.

I had him fire ten rounds at a target all the way out to the three hundred yard mark. I watched closely while he fired and after we'd examined the target I made a few suggestions about his firing position and about taking time to let his heart rate settle and also about squeezing the trigger more gently.

I sent out another target and he fired ten more rounds. When we brought it back I saw, except for one obvious flyer, he was getting a three-inch group at three hundred yards. That was nearly as good as the rifle was capable of. I pronounced him ready to hunt. He smiled at my praise and I could tell he was proud of doing a good job.

I'd already asked Frank to prepare a video about safety for him and after he'd put away his equipment I took him to the desk and had Frank start the video lesson. I was about to tell Racaato how to start and stop Frank and how to ask him to repeat when the video started with those very explanations. I left him to it and went outside.

Due to the large turn out we had decided we needed one more day to get everything ready. Everyone, but the couples who were to be mated, liked the idea and even they saw the extra day would be required. Bigglieo came to me and asked about digging some more or less permanent ground ovens, or cooking pits as he called them.

We decided on the best places for three cooking pits and when I went into my cave and came back with six shovels, three round point and three square point, Bigglieo was happy with his new equipment. I left him and his volunteers to dig the pits and went back into my cave.

I asked Racaato to let me have a few minutes with Frank and he agreed. I saw him head over toward the coffee pot and smiled to myself as I sat down.

When I sent a message Argent replied.

"Do you have the new horses ready?" I asked.

"Yes. We have selected twelve Clydesdales, ten mares and two of the best stallions we could acquire. We also have three very good Quarter Horse mares, a Quarter Horse stallion, and a Thoroughbred stallion," Argent told me.

"Don't you think the Thoroughbred will be a little too fragile for this day and age?" I asked.

"We had a researcher do a rather thorough investigation and he seems to think this particular stallion will do a good job for you.

"He is an own son of Secretariat. He was actually a little too heavily built to race. His conformation is very similar to a high bred Quarter Horse, but he is taller at sixteen and a half hands," Argent said.

"If he is an own son of Secretariat isn't he a little long in the tooth?" I asked.

"In terms of actual age all the horses we have gathered are very old. You must remember though you were a little old for this sort of thing when we contacted you. All of these horses have been put back to a physical age of around three years.

"They do retain their mental faculties though, such as they are. They are all well trained, but the thoroughbred may require some additional work. He has been ridden and trained a little, but most of his experience is at stud," Argent said.