Chapter 8

As the trip progressed, Sarah was amazed at the stamina of these people. It took four more days to get to the site the chief wanted for a campsite. There had only been two watering spots from the last main camp until this one. The people had few problems. Two of the days, hunters were sent out to catch whatever they could before the trek. They always returned with something. John offered to find more animals but his help was turned down. These people had much pride.

The day after they made a new main camp, the hunters were sent out. The young boy that was with the hunters came back mid-afternoon. He reported the hunt so successful that they requested John's magic wagon to help bring back the animals.

John headed in the direction the boy said and was soon at the site of the hunt. The group of hunters was standing guard over four buffalo calves and a cow. They had field dressed all the animals. With the help of the winch they were able to get the cow and three of the calves on the trailer.

No one was hurt on this trip. All of the hunters were happy. When they got back to camp, the women were even happier.

Two days later the hunters brought back three calves. The next day they had a slow drenching rain. The following day the prairie bloomed. All the ladies went gathering. They found many useful herbs. Over the last week the ladies noticed John had been looking at rocks in the stream. He had collected some.

That evening John asked all of his ladies into the camper. "Ladies I found some interesting pieces of rock in the stream over the last few days. Looking around, I think they were washed downstream."

He held up several small pieces of Merlinite with black veins in them. He also showed them a bowl with a bunch of gold colored flakes in them. "I would like us to head upstream a ways to see if we can find where this stuff comes from."

"John, would we be leaving our tribe permanently?" asked Twin Bird.

"No, just for a little while. Maybe a week or two."

"What are those stones and powder? They don't look important to me," said Little Doe.

"John, you told me you knew how to do goldsmith and lapidary work. Why don't you make something for the shaman?" asked Sarah. "Tell him it will bring strong medicine. Set one of those pieces of Merlinite, and use leather as a necklace. Since electricity works here in the trailer, you could set up the saw and grinders for cutting and polishing the rock. Then you could use the torches you showed me to do the gold work."

"Sarah you never told me you knew anything about lapidary work. Most people don't even know it means cutting and polishing rocks. Where did you learn about it?"

"My father used to take our family out rock collecting. You would not believe what you can find down in Texas, New Mexico and Nevada."

"Does that mean you know how to pan for gold?"

"Yep, you bet it does. It can be a lot of fun."

"Ok, I think your suggestion is a good one. Tomorrow I will dig out the equipment I need to make the charm you suggested for the shaman. While I am doing that, you and the girls can go to the creek and see if you can find more Merlinite, and pan for gold. It never ceases to amaze me how well our skills compliment each other."

The next day John dug out his equipment and started work. Several hours later he had a nicely polished oval of stone set in a gold wire cage. Twin Bird, who loved working with leather, cut an almost perfectly even thong of leather. This strip she thinned until it could go through the two wire loops to hold the charm in place.