Chapter 9

Kodaco found some signs he had been told to look for, and lead us on a side journey of a week's travel, but was well worth it. The destination was a series of hot springs, in a creek bottom, protected by treaty and custom that no warfare or raiding happened on the trails or in the pools. It was a sacred healing place for many tribes, and much visiting of otherwise hostile groups was permitted in this neutral ground. It felt heavenly to relax in the slightly sulfureous waters, cooled by judicious inflow from the chilly creek, and I truly relaxed for the first time since leaving the Sandwich Isles. We learned much about the trail ahead, and of the dangers and obstacles that lay athwart it.

After four days, I became anxious to continue, and we headed out, me pulling the loaded sledge and Kodaco scouting carefully to make sure there was not any ambush waiting outside the protected zone. By traveling his scouted path on a moonlit night, we avoided any conflict, and soon were coming into the high elevations where the Mountain pass was to be found. We had to climb some trees to wait out a bear, I hauling up the sledge by a rope while Dora kept the bear distracted with her shouting and throwing of branches. It took the bear a full day to grow weary and wander away, and we left the area as quickly as we could.

There was still snow in the pass, and we dressed in our warm clothing, as it was chilly so high up this early in the spring. We made a cave in the snow for the three nights we were hiking above the snow line, and it was cozy and warm with the tiny fire made from wood we dragged along on the sledge. The snow made the sledge no effort at all to pull, and I knew I would miss the ease of movement when we again got on the rocks, dirt and duff again. I showed Dora on a short down slope how fun it could be sliding down a hill, but she was more terrified than thrilled, and refused to toboggan henceforth. I ween she had the right of it, it would be disastrous if an injury were to occur.

It took three additional weeks to descend to the foot of the Mountains, and the land was yet rugged and folded, if not mountainous. Another several weeks, scouting carefully to avoid encountering hostile men, at times swaying aside, or holding up for a few days, and we debouched upon a vast sea of grasses, stretching as far as the eye could see, unmarred by tree or hill. There were hills and valleys, but they were so gradual that it wasn't until the horizon closed in or stretched further that one could remark upon it.

We encountered vast herds of shaggy black cows, massive and wild, followed by large packs of wolves and trailing 'spirit bears'. The wolves were occupied with their own pursuits, and we were careful to sink down in the grasses and keep still to avoid attracting the notice of the bears. Once when the wind was wrong, and a monster bear showed interest in us, Dora surprised both Kodaco and I and lead us in a charge against the shaggy herd, who turned and thundered off, right at the bear, who suddenly had other business on his mind than our small group. The last we saw of that bear he was running for his life followed by some thousands of shaggy black cows. We both praised Dora for her quick wit and bravery.

The grass was almost as easy to pull the sledge across as had been the snow, but we left a distinctive trail, which we tried to break up by passing in front of the path of various herds of the shaggy cows. We took a young straggler, a heifer with a broken leg, and processed it as quickly as we might, leaving much behind in our haste to decamp before the wolves arrived, drawn by the scent of spilled blood. That night we built a fire with the dried dung of the cows, since there was no other fuel to be had, and cooked the meat to remove the scent of fresh kill, making us a target for all the roaming predators. Cooked meat smells wonderful to us, but the scent of fire and its products makes the wild of God's creatures nervous and wary. It didn't seem to bother the russet dog, who had not abandoned us on our trek across the Mountains, he came closer and nearer to our camp and fire, seeing that we didn't offer him any harsh words or blows.

The more we ignored him, the more he settled in as one of us.