Chapter 86

I went back to the horses after lunch. Raalto left the unloading to others and came to join me. I spent quite a while explaining what we were doing and why and Raalto seemed to catch on quickly.

When we got the next group I caught one for him to work with also. By the end of the day all the wild horses were leading pretty well except the stallion. I hadn't even caught him for his snubbing yet. I felt he would be the most troublesome so I had just skipped him.

He was in the pen at the end of the day and so I roped him and after winding him up around a post I left him to spend the night learning he couldn't get away.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Kateata among the cooks as I came to my cave for supper. After supper I was pleased again when I saw she would be spending the night with us.

She teased me about ignoring her while I'd had so many other guests so I was quick to catch her up on the wonders of an ass fuck. It was quite a surprise for her since she hadn't heard anything about it yet and she required much restraint at first and I'm not sure her moaning and wailing was all a sham. She did see the wisdom of my ways before it was over though.

I had to make sure to be up early the next morning because I wanted to talk to Racaato before he left. I warned him again to make sure no one tried to take advantage of him and to do his best to keep the secret of the rifle from anyone at Barbo's camp.

Raalto joined us just before Racaato left and warned him to also keep an eye out for Jakado or others from Jakado's camp. Racaato told us he would be alert to anything he could learn and finally left with my original wagon pulled by two of the Clydesdales and leading Bonehead in case he needed to do any riding while he was gone.

The rest of us settled down to horse training and riding lessons for the day. After supper that night I took my mates, Kateata, Raalto, Jareena, and Reeana to the practice cave for a couple of hours of Glock lessons. Something was nagging at me and telling me they needed to get started with the sidearm.

I lay slugabed the next morning for an extra hour at least. My bed was empty except for Erieta and Failiela who were visiting since Racaato was away. I have to admit I was beginning to get a little conscience attack about Failiela. I fought it off telling myself I was going to mate her as soon as she was a woman and bolstering my rationalization with the fact her mother didn't see anything wrong with it.

After eating breakfast I sent Nadlo, Jonoco, and Danlo to work with the horses telling them to make sure Talvo and Sahto joined them. I took my mates, Erieta, and Failiela back to the practice cave for more Glock work and Raalto, Jareena, Reeana, Barago, and Britta joined us.

We worked with the pistols until lunchtime and went back to them after eating. We were still going when Danlo came sprinting in from outside.

"John, Racaato is coming back on Bonehead. He is galloping toward camp. I came to get you as soon as we saw him," Danlo told me, between breaths.

I headed outside at once, wondering what could be wrong. When I was out of my cave I could see Racaato coming. He was just passing the horse pens and didn't slow down. He pulled up and dismounted just as he reached me.

"What has happened Racaato?" I asked.

"Barbo was mauled savagely by a cave lion and is near death - his second man, Bowto, is hurt badly also and needs help for his wounds. I rushed here as soon as it happened.

Jara is taking over the camp for now and she asked for you to come if you could. I think there is a woman from Raalto's camp who is very good with wounds," Racaato blurted out, all at once.

Raalto had come outside with me, as had everyone else. Daaggo had also heard the ruckus and come to us.

"I will find Jalayla and bring her," Daaggo said, and left again.

"Jalayla is very good with the wounded," Raalto said.

"But what happened Racaato?" I asked.

"It was during my first hunt. We had agreed I would go kill the bison and then they would come to help me load them into the wagon. Barbo understood he was not to watch me kill them. Just as I had killed the second bison I noticed movement about five hundred yards to the west.

"It was a hunting pride of cave lions. They were attacking something, but it wasn't bison. Then I heard a man scream. I turned and shot one of the lions then and shortly took a shot at another. This confused them and the other three left. I shot one more as they were trotting off and then the other two ran away.

"I went toward the spot, but dared not run for fear there might be more lions. When I reached the place Barbo looked dead, but he wasn't quite. Bowto was mauled badly and bleeding. I did what I could to stop the bleeding and began calling to the others to come and help me. When they got there I fetched the wagon and we loaded Bowto and Barbo in it and returned to camp."

"Danlo catch and saddle Red, Ben, Bob, Sally, and Jane. Raalto, Racaato, Danlo, Dieta, and Jalayla can go with me and see if we can help. I hope Jalayla has already done some riding."

"She has," Raalto said.

"I think we should go quickly," I said.

"Yes, but I think one more should go with us - Jonoco or Nadlo I think. In case we need to send someone back with a message," Raalto said.

"You are right Raalto. Jonoco will come with us and we will tell Nadlo to be ready here in case they need to send us a message," I said.

We were mounted and leaving within thirty minutes. We didn't bother with food or furs. The only thing I insisted on was everyone brought their firearms. This left Jonoco and Danlo out since they hadn't had any training at all yet.