The Thinking Rocks (18 page)

Whiteface was eating
some scraps and occasionally attacking a piece of opossum hide with ferocious
growls. Finally, she tired of this and moved a short distance into the dark,
and then walked in small circles before lying down to sleep.

The Search for Dola

Back at the camp of the
Clan of the Spear, Ceola had convinced Bana that he should lead a party of
hunters to look for Dola.  He was reluctant to go looking for Dola because
he was glad he was gone.  He tried to act like he cared about the missing
little boy so that she would depend on him in the future.  He delayed
going to look for him as long as he could, but he finally ran out of excuses
and left camp with Loki.

It was not difficult for
the hunters to pick up the trail of the small boy; they could soon tell that he
was following the trail left by Cano and Gennos.

Loki spoke to Bana
"What are your plans for Dola when we find him?"

Bana answered, "I
think you mean, if we find him.  His trail is hard to follow and it may be
that he was killed by a Saber-tooth.  We will search for a day or two and
then return to the camp with the bad news."

Loki understood what
Bana was planning and silently agreed with him. It would simplify everything if
they didn't return with the boy.  If Dola did find Cano and his brother,
he would be reasonably safe.  It was where he wanted to be.  If they
tried to get Dola to return to the camp with them, he would not want to come
along, and then they would have to try to take him.  No one wanted to get
into a fight over a small boy that was more trouble then he was worth.

They had traveled about
a day from camp when Bana called for a halt near a river. "This looks like
a good place for a camp, and we can fish and rest.  After another day or
so we can return to camp with the bad news about Dola. 

The fishing was good and
they didn't return to camp until the third day with the bad news about Dola.

The
River

Cano lead his brother
and Dola through a small clearing onto the bank of a swift moving river. 
It was wide and the water was almost black in color.

As Gennos reached the
bank he said to his brother, "It looks like it's too deep to wade across,
should we cross by going up it or down it?"

Cano answered,
"Neither, I think it's time for us to build a raft.  The nice thing
about rivers is that they always go somewhere.  It should be a lot better
than hiking through these hills.  I don't know about you but I'm getting
tired of all this walking.  The idea of floating along and fishing sounds
good to me.  What do you two think of the idea?"

Gennos smiled and nodded
his head.  Dola looked around before asking, "Where do we get the
wood for the raft?  The only trees I can see are all growing, how do we
get them down to make a raft?"

Cano said, "It will
take time to do, but we have time.  We are going to take them down using
fire.  Can you start a fire without fire?"

Dola looked at him to
see if this was another trick.  He seemed serious.  "No, but
can't we use the fire that Gennos carries in the horn?"  Dola was
speaking of the fire carrier that Gennos carried between campsites.

"We have time to
show you how to start a fire by using only wood.  It is a slow way to get
fire, but once you learn the secret, you always have the ability to have
fire," Cano said.  "First we must find the right kind of wood;
they are not all the same. We must find old rotten wood to start with. 
Look for an old tree that has fallen.  If the wood is wet, it won't
burn.  Break away the wet wood and look inside for some that is dry. 
The best wood is the wood that is not heavy. The finer and lighter the wood the
better for us.  Sometimes you can use ground up grass or leaves, but
rotten wood is best." he paused for a moment before continuing. 
"I was taught that it is a difficult thing to bring the Spirit of Fire
from the wood. Sometimes the fire comes slow, sometimes faster.  I find
that if I speak to the spirit and promise a good fire and an animal to cook
over it, the spirit comes sooner."

Dola was listening
intently, but he was apprehensive.  This sounded like there was a lot to
remember.  "Do you think that I can learn how to do this?" he
asked.

Cano started to answer,
but was cut off by Gennos. "You will learn how to do this because you
must. Your life will be better, and you will have hot food to eat.  This
is serious; it can save your life.”

Cano continued, "As
I said the wood is important.  We use different kinds of the wood to bring
out the Fire Spirit.  We have a piece of wood with a hole in it that does
not go too deep. We have another piece as long as your forearm, but thinner
than your little finger.  One end will be about as wide as the tip of your
little finger.  This wide end fits into the hole in the other piece of
wood. It is very important that the sides of the wide end of the thin stick not
touch the sides of the hole.  The Fire Spirit will not come if the sides
touch.  The wood with the hole must have a notch leading to the
hole.  This allows us to feed the Fire Spirit the fine rotten wood and to
get the fire started.  The Fire Spirit will only come to us if we do all
these things correctly."

The three hunters
searched the brush near the river for the types of wood they needed. 
Gennos helped Dola choose the correct types of wood.  When they had all
they needed, Cano demonstrated how it was to be done.  Gennos knelt before
Cano and held the bottom piece of wood with both hands. Cano knelt and placed
the wide end of the thin stick in the hole, after putting a small pile of wood
dust in the notch leading to the hole.  Cano took a deep breath and then
spit on each hand before bringing the palms of his hands together with the thin
stick between them. He then rotated the stick backward and forward with his
hands.  As his hands moved down the stick to the bottom, he would quickly
move them to the top.  "This is the hard part; you have to push down
with your shoulders and arms.  The stick must not stop moving, we must
call the Spirit of Fire from the wood.  If you don't press hard and keep
the stick moving, the Spirit will not come."

Cano stopped
and looked at Dola.

Dola looked
at Cano and asked, "Why do you stop?"

Cano smiled as he handed
the thin stick to Dola, "You are to learn by doing.  The Spirit of
Fire waits for you to call."

Dola took the stick and
soon was spinning it almost as fast as Cano had.  Soon he had sweat on his
forehead, but he kept at it. A small wisp of smoke came from the bottom of the
spinning stick.  Gennos nudged some wood dust into the notch and toward
the base of the spinning stick, more smoke and then a red glow appeared. Gennos
blew gently toward the glow and it grew bigger. Softly he added more dust.
Suddenly, there was a small flame, and he added small strands of grass and
leaves.  "Move the fire starting wood away; we must now feed the Spirit
more grass and twigs."

They soon had a small
fire going and the heat from it felt good. The feeling of heat and pride burned
strong in Dola's breast.  He had created FIRE.

Across the fire, the
brothers smiled at each other.

Later, the brothers were
able to spear some fish and a few frogs.  They cooked them over Dola's
fire.

Dola was able to catch a
large frog alive, and they all had a good laugh as whiteface tried to catch it.

The next morning they
were all up at daybreak.  They showed Dola how to chip the bark away from
the base of the selected trees.  Next, they started low fires around the
base of the trees.  Cano told Dola to keep the fire hot and low on the
tree, not to look up into the branches because the Spirit would think that was
where it was to go. "We only want to cause the tree to burn down, not burn
up," said Cano. When the fire would start to climb, they would put the
fire out with dirt or wet skins.

 The work was slow
even after the trees were down.  After determining the length they wanted,
the top end of the tree had to be burned off.

Dola was given the job
of looking for vines to tie the tree trunks together.  He was well
protected by the small wolf that was his constant companion.  No frog was
safe if she was untied.

After a considerable
amount of time, they were able to drag logs to a shallow place in the river
where the current was almost non existent.  The logs were than lashed
together. They found some poles to guide the raft.  Dola had tied some
vines together so that they would be able to tie the raft up at night.

They gathered their
belongings together and left their campsite early the next morning.  The
sun was just starting to warm and there were small birds in the trees
singing.  A soft breeze came up and helped the raft on its way down the
black river.  Gennos sat on the front of the raft and watched for rocks
and other dangers.  Dola sat near the edge of the raft with Whiteface next
to him.  Cano stood at the rear and tried to use a pole to guide the raft.

The raft traveled down
the river at a leisurely pace, the current was strong, but the water was
smooth.  There were high bluffs on one side of the river and the other
side was covered by low brush.

The days on the river
blended into one another.  The weather was clear and they saw a variety of
animal and bird life.  Their passage was pleasant and uneventful until one
night when the raft was tied to a tree on the riverbank.  They had eaten
the fish that they had cooked over a small fire on shore.  As night started
to fall they returned to the raft for sleep. It was a beautiful night, the sky
was full of stars and there were few clouds.  The moon was full and
bright, and it cast soft shadows.  A soft moistness rose from the river,
but it was not unpleasant. The night birds could be heard in the trees and the
cry of nighthawks could be heard over the river.  The tiny band of
travelers lay on their backs looking at the sky and speaking when the mood
struck them.

After a long period of
silence Dola spoke.  "Gennos, I have a question."

"That's good to
hear, questions are like seeds, they may grow into something important. Besides
that, they lead to knowledge, something my brother could use more of."

Cano didn't answer; he
just threw a piece of fish he had been eating at his brother.

Gennos ducked, and
continued speaking as though nothing had happened.  "What is your
question?"

Dola hesitated before
speaking. "Days ago when we found the tracks of the opossum you did
something I don't understand.  I feel silly asking you about it, but it
has been bothering me. You took some dirt from the tracks and spit on it, made
a mud of it and then made a mark on your face by your eye.  Why did you do
that?  Is it some kind of magic mark to help you understand the animal you
track? I'm sure you had a reason for doing it, but I can't understand it."

Gennos looked serious as
he answered.  "It had nothing to do with identifying the
tracks.  It was a test to see if you would accept what I did and said
without question. Would you believe what I tell you or would you want to know
why a thing is so. You are right to question what you don't understand. 
The answers should fit the question.  This is how we learn.  You are
young, but you are never too young to learn.  There are things that you
will not understand until you are older and have more experience.  Don't
worry about being young and having trouble understanding things like this; you
can't do anything about it.  Someday you will have a family; they will
depend on you to stay alive.  You have to know what you are
doing."  He paused for a moment before continuing, "There will
be times when Cano or I will tell you to do something that you will question,
but do it. Your life or ours may depend on it.  You can question later,
but your life may depend on your actions. Remember, question us later, but do
as you are told first."  He paused again, "Making the mark above
my eye was a way of saying this is a trick, are you smart enough to see it's a
trick?"

Dola was about to answer
when he was startled by a growl from Whiteface.  Dola looked in the
direction that Whiteface was looking.  At first he wasn't sure if he saw
something or not.  Something might be moving along the vine that held the
raft to the tree on the riverbank. He stared and was finally able identify
it.  It was a snake. A big one and it was crawling out to the raft. He
scrabbled to his feet and pointed.  "Snake, Snake!" he hollered.

Cano and Gennos came to
their feet with weapons in hand. Whiteface raced to the end of his rawhide
strip barking and then stopped to confront the snake, with a deep growl. 
The snake dropped onto the raft.

Unfortunately, all of
these sudden movements caused the raft to start rocking.  Gennos was the
closest to the snake and as he attempted to gain a better position, he lost his
balance and fell into the river backward.  Cano saw his brother hit the
water and thought that leaving the raft was a good idea; he hit the water
seconds later.  Dola hesitated only a heartbeat before following them. 
As the waters calmed and their sputtering ended, they all stood in the shallow
water staring at the raft and wondering where the snake was.