Chapter 3

As a first try, I selected an explosive cartridge for my gun and ejected it from the chamber. I didn't have very high expectations for this slap-dash rig to work, but I tied the bullet to the end of the arrow in place of the normal point. They were about the same weight, so the balance of the arrow was not messed up too much. Because of the potential danger, I shot off this bolt instead of allowing Insa to do it.

I wanted to make damned sure that the point hit something solid, so I fired it against one of the partial walls left from the destruction in the first raid. I didn't hit exactly where I was aiming because the stock was way too short for me, but I did hit the wall. Wonderful! There was a very satisfactory explosion, so I knew that I was on the right track. Everybody else was impressed, too, so I had a devoted audience as I continued my experiments.

I had a stroke of luck and the first explosive charge had not damaged the arrow too much to keep it from being used for a second experiment. Of course, the arrow was much shorter now, more in the range of what one would expect for a crossbow bolt. This time, I wrapped several loops of string around the cartridge case as I fastened it to the shaft. I let Insa shoot this time, and she came closer to the aiming point than I did. Everyone said it was because the bolt was shorter, but I knew that the real reason she came closer was she was just a better shot than me with the crossbow!

For the next experiment, I cut an arrow approximately in half and sharpened the end of the shaft to a point. I hoped to set off the primer and actually shoot the bullet as it struck the target. I expected to get the benefit of a double explosion when that happened. What a disappointment! We could not tell that anything new had happened, so that extra effort was a waste of time.

Well, there was one more possibility that I wanted to try. I pulled the slug from the cartridge and set the shell aside for a different experiment. This time, I fastened only the slug to the bolt shaft and let Insa shoot it. It worked! That meant that I could get two weapons from a single cartridge. I wanted to make some hand grenades from the loose propellent left in the cartridge after the slug was pulled.

OK, we now had the basic weapon. The time had come to get serious about making the "production" crossbows and bolts. The first job was to complete the construction of Insa's crossbow. This took three more days, since I had to provide her with a lever mechanism so that she could cock the thing. While I was doing that, the whole family, plus the Erklas, were working on making bolts. They made a few non-explosive bolts, but most were made with the explosive points. I wanted them to make as many as possible, since we would need enough to supply seven people. The loose propellent was carefully saved, along with the primers, so that I could work on the hand grenades when I had the time.

We still were without the needed bows, and it looked like the best bet was for me to trade for them. We still had a month before the weather got too cold for traveling, so I proposed to go looking for some raiders to trade with. I was not sure what I would use for a trade item, but I was sure that I could come up with something.

I met a lot of resistance to my proposed trip, but I pointed out that we had to have the bows, and we could not make them ourselves, so there was no alternative. Insa had her crossbow that she could use to defend the town if she had to, and I had my gun, so we were as safe as we could hope to be. My wives finally agreed to let me go after I spent one more night in bed with each of them.

The day before I was ready to leave, Erkla came to me with Homer trailing along behind. Erkla wanted me to take Homer with me. He felt that it was time for the boy to learn manly things from me that I could teach him much better than Erkla could. I was absolutely amazed that Erkla would humble himself so much with that admission. I really wasn't looking for a partner on the trip, but I could not refuse Erkla's request without causing the worst of hard feelings. I told Homer to be ready to travel early tomorrow morning, and to bring his atlatl and as many darts as he could carry. Both Erkla and Homer were happy as they returned home, but what else could I do?

We left at sunrise the next morning. We did not know where to find any of the barbarians, but Homer knew of some places where they had been known to keep a winter camp. Therefore, we headed for the nearest one of them. It would take us a week to reach the camp by walking, but we had no choice.

Three days on our march, we ran into a small bunch of raiders. There were seven in the gang, and I am sure that we looked like easy pickings. They came charging at us as soon as we were seen. I held up my hand as a sign of peace, and, luckily for them, they came to a screeching halt. One of them could speak enough Greek to get by, so I explained to him what we wanted. He translated to the gang, and they all laughed at such an outlandish proposal. It took months to make a bow, and it took considerable skill, too. What could I possibly offer in exchange?

Fortunately, by now I had an answer. Homer and I had discussed the problem every moment we had, and he had finally come up with an idea: aurochs. Everybody loved auroch meat, but very few were ever able to kill one. The beasts were just too large for arrows or stabbing spears to be effective. On the other hand, I could usually take one down with a single shot, and with two shots at most. This peaked the interest of the barbarian gang, because a few aurochs could carry them through the winter with food to spare. The chief was in a temporary camp only half a day's ride away. One of the men rode off to fetch him while we started walking in the proper direction.

We met the chief at about the half-way point, and a temporary camp was set up so that we could bargain in comfort. After some hard bargaining, I didn't care, but it meant a lot to the chief, I agreed to provide three aurochs for each of the eight bows that I wanted. I wanted a spare bow, just in case. All I had to do was to kill the aurochs, the barbarians would take care of the butchering, etc. The chief agreed to throw in two horses for us to ride as a goodwill gesture.

As it happened, the barbarians already knew where to find the auroch herd that was closest, so we could head that way in the morning. Meanwhile, the chief would send someone to fetch the eight bows.

Homer and I had some trouble staying on the horses, much to the amusement of the barbarians. The lack of stirrups really made a difference to us. As a goodwill gesture on my part, I explained to the chief about stirrups. He scoffed at first, but got more interested as he thought about it. I even offered to make him a set of stirrups for his saddle after I had killed the aurochs. The chief, Umgallah, decided that would be a good idea.

About mid-morning, we reached the auroch herd, and I asked Umgallah to point out which ones he wanted me to kill. He chose mostly large animals, but he did choose four younger ones because they would be more tasty. It took me about two hours to kill the specified animals, and all of the barbarians were shocked at how easily I had done it. I just told them that the trick was in knowing the right magic and having the right connections with the gods. They believed me. Homer nearly strangled trying not to laugh.

We spent three days with the barbarians while they butchered the aurochs and I made the stirrups. I also spent that time learning the barbarian language. Of course, I was not fluent in it in only three days, but I even amazed myself at how much I did learn.

As a final token of friendship, I rigged two arrows for the chief with the explosive slugs. I had him shoot one of them so that he could see what it could do, and he kept the other one as kind of a last-resort weapon. We parted as good friends. I also learned that his group was not affiliated with the bunch that had originally attacked us. It seems that members of that bunch were classed as outlaws by most of the plains nomads, and Umgallah encouraged me to kill as many of them as I could, as he put it, for the good of the whole world.