Chapter 6

It is surpassing strange how much understanding might be given between two men without a single word in common, only by expressions of the face, gestures, and fraught looks. It was enough of a foundation to build on, and I soon learned the trading language of gesture, which was held in common with most of the tribes which had intercourse and exchange, and with those who interacted with them, and so forth. My bride's name was Do rah meh, and she indicated that it meant the swift swooping flight of a small bird. I tested this meaning by indicating the same bird at rest, and getting a negative response. I was intrigued to note that a side to side nod of the head meant 'no' to these diverse people no less than to my own. I suppose a snarl or a raised tail meant the same to a wolf on this side of the world as to a wolf-hound on the other side, so perhaps I should not have been so amazed.

As the summer waned, I was persuaded to winter over among my wife's people, and commence my journey the following spring. I was given to understand how woefully unprepared I was for my trek, by having shown to me the equipage it would be preferable to posses for such an undertaking. I had to agree, and I would need to obtain hides and skins, and trade for spear points and arrows. Once I mastered the use of my boy's bow, I would need to become adroit in the mastery of a hunting bow, and in the skills of tracking and stalking which these peoples trained for from their childhood. Dora was surprised that I had the two deerskins, indicating some ability to provide, while showing little to no skill in the activities of the hunter. Her brother, Ko da co, who I had wrestled with, earning me the chance to sit in conference with the Alderman, took me under his wing, and taught me to walk quietly and unheeded by the beasties of the wood, and how best to hold the bow and loose the arrow, and cast the spear, for accuracy's sake. I worked diligently, and showed him my rigging of large game snares, which he in turn warned the other hunters and all else who wandered from camp so I wouldn't mistakenly snare a tribesman while hoping for a deer.

My traps were quite effective, and I even caught a black bear, a boar I was glad to note, to not leave any orphans behind. I targeted deer trails, and tried to set my snares where the deer would be leaping, so smaller creatures would not waste my effort. Dora took over the processing of the bounty I returned with my sledge, making me leather pantaloons to the knee, and tall soft boots to the knee from the other direction in a manner the village was unaccustomed to, but which suited me quite well. I preferred the freedom of motion the arrangement provided, allowing me to move my legs without any binding the long leather trouser usual to the men in colder weather gave.

As the season turned, the village packed up like gypsies, and headed back west to the mild climes of the coastal valleys. We used the river highway, and my boat was pressed into use for cargo, leaving more freeboard to the carved log boats the village used. I had to re caulk my craft with pine sap, and a sticky job it was. I heated the seams with a close held torch, melting the ooze into the gaps, and pounding in scraps of my rags and horsetail fuzz. There were no horses, but that is the name I had learned in England, and I knew no better one.