Chapter 2

John gave up on the rubber in WhooWhee. He kept back only thirty or forty pounds, and traded off the rest for silver tea sets in imitation of Tuk. He intended to trade most at the gathering, and to give some to the family. He hoped the young boys and girls had grown into adults with their own daughters and sons by now, and that the family was growing in numbers and stature. Having a sudden thought, John also bought the wool from twenty sheep, choosing brown black and dun colors mostly.

John played with an idea he had, and constructed axles and oversized wheels for the palanquin. The wheels were eight feet tall, bound in brass and reached above the top of the conveyance by as much as the held it off the ground. Not having steel for springs, he used some of his rubber to form shock absorbers between the axle and the palanquin, which should more accurately be called a carriage now that it had wheels.

He allowed tired children, nursing mothers or pregnant, and anyone with blisters on their feet to use it for part of the day only. No one was allowed to ride all the time, except infants. Anyone who rode had to attend the babies, and the nursing mothers of course rode when it was their child's meal time. The horses were also used to carry the disabled.

The carriage was drawn by a team of two horses, and they were changed out at noon, pulling the contraption for only half days. It was really light work, easier than carrying a rider, but none of the horses ever said anything or let on. John used the duty as a rest for the horses, letting them recoup their strength.

For every mile the caravan progressed, it seemed the younger children moved three, and most of it running. Factor in the fact that their legs were short so they had to take two and a half to three steps to every adult stride, and they were effectively traveling six times as far as the grown-ups in a day. Is it any wonder they fell asleep so well at bedtime, or sometimes got cranky? The amazing thing was that they got up the next day and did it all over again. The caravan children were fast, and very strong.

John gathered those who wanted to play, which was most of them, and had them play 'nomads'. He made each one a little pack, and wooden weapons staff and singlestick, and had them walk as quietly and softly as they could, trying to not raise dust in single file. The packs he filled with supplies from the food stores, the weight adjusted to their capability, and increased as their strength improved, gradually increasing their hardiness.

He took them in advance of the caravan, 'scouting', (While Tuk actually made certain they were not surprised.) And had them try to read tracks and find clues. He taught them to hide in the minor vagaries of terrain, and how to build a fire with flint and steel.

He gave each one an eating knife of their very own, and they were all so proud of themselves! They grew and thrived with this 'play', and expended no more energy in the end than they would have circling the caravan three times for every length forward it moved, as they had been doing anyway.

All the adults noted this structured activity with approval, and some who had knowledge offered their own 'classes' to groups of children who were interested. The drovers held classes in packing camels, and tying knots. The knot tying class turned into net making, and the participants each made their own net bag suitable for carrying game or garner.

Zithrusa gave some pointers on slinging, and provided a 'child's bow' in the tradition of her family, to make a measurable goal for the children to prove themselves against and provide something to attain. None of the children under 14 could draw it, but they all tried repeatedly.

The few 'children' over 14 still not considered adults, began to take the adult world more seriously, and to try harder to act with responsibility, especially when John told them he was going to bring them in on a shares scheme if they proved themselves before the end of the trek.

Tuk taught meditation and focus, having the children sit still beside the trail waiting for the caravan to catch up, and to not fidget or squirm, giggle or nudge, sigh or scratch. The only reward they could gain from sitting quietly for increasingly long periods of time was a single quiet word of approval from Tuk.

Still, many of the children volunteered for this horrible and torturous activity again and again, just to have Tuk nod and grunt at them, or in rare cases smile and tell them 'well done'. Of course, after such a period of self-enforced inactivity, they were twice as noisy and wild, running harder and further in their random excited dashing to and fro.

After the ends of the staves and sticks had been padded regulation style, Zithrusa held small classes of only four or six children at a time, carefully matched by size and skill, and taught the family's style of stick and staff suitable for a gathering's games.

She also set up a wrestling ring, and tied left hands together explaining the rules, which were simple, put your opponent outside the ring touching the ground with some part of their body, and no blows or gouging. Hair pulling and pinches were allowed, as long as no hair was pulled out or fingernails used to make marks, 'gripping pinches' only. When female wrestlers fought in the family, the dreaded 'titty twister' was a recognized move which had standard counters. (It was unwise to let your right hand be caught by the wrist, for instance.)

The children proudly displayed their lumps and bruises, and Zithrusa was careful to evenly match them so a winner one day would lose the next day, as losing seemed to be a better teacher than winning.