The Thinking Rocks (31 page)

He needed food
and water. He decided that he would follow the ridgeline up river.  He had
been only traveling a short time when he saw movement up ahead.  He had
his short baby spears in both hands and he moved forward to see what had caused
the movement.  Soon he saw feathers on the ground.  Movement came
from a fallen tree in front of him. When the ground had shaken it must have
caused the tree to fall and trap a bird.  He tested the air and found that
it was blowing toward him from the branches. The smell was flat and had an
almost dusty taste; some type bird, he thought. As he approached the tree he
saw a turkey with a broken wing.  It was trapped beneath a tree branch
that had pinned a wing to the ground.  When it saw Cano, it renewed its
efforts to free itself, thrashing the ground with its good wing and gobbling
loudly. He wasn't fool enough to walk up to the wounded bird; he knew how
dangerous a wounded bird could be.  As he approached the bird it tried to
attack him, but the wing held it securely.  Carefully, he moved until he
was able to stab through the branches and pin the bird to the ground. As he
knelt beside the bird he felt it shudder as life left it, and he could feel the
warm blood running over the hand that held the spear.  He looked at the
blood and at the dead bird. I was hungry and now I can eat.  It was then
that a thought crossed his mind.  I am proud of this kill, he
thought.  As I was proud of the snake that I had killed.  The snake
was a lesson from the Great Spirit; this must also be a lesson.  I needed
food and I got it.  Cano sat thinking for a few moments and then put his
hands on the body of the dead turkey.  Looking down upon it he said aloud,
"I thank you for your gift and I will honor your memory."  After
a few more moments he twisted the body free after cutting the wing off with his
new cutting stone.  He looked at the black blade and was amazed at how
quickly it cut through the flesh and bone.  He sliced the bird open and
found some eggs with shells that were still soft.  He ate the eggs
greedily before attacking the flesh.  Most of the bird was gone when he
finally stopped eating.  He saved what was left for the next day; there
was no telling how long it would be before he ate again.  It was almost
dark now and he had to find a safe place to spend the night.  He moved
down the ridgeline until he found a suitable tree that he could climb and which
had a place where he could sleep.

Dola in the
mean time had spent a rather pleasant night beside the river.  As he was
leaving Gennos and Na'pe he had heard Lomasi return.  He had no desire to
be near him again.  Moving as quietly as he could he was able to travel
quite a distance before night fell.  He was able to make a soft bed from
the grass and he found a nest of duck eggs and had a good meal before going to
sleep.  Nothing bothered him that night, not even the rain.

Lomasi woke in
a vile mood.  He awoke to find the sun fighting its way into the
sky.  He quickly growled everyone into action.  Soon the dugouts were
in the river and heading upstream.

This was not a good
trip, he thought.  I lost one man and was injured myself.  And what
do I have to show for my effort?  One cripple and one woman.  I
should have stayed at the clan camp.  It would have been better to talk
about taking a trip than taking this one, he thought.

Lomasi and Morf were in
the first dugout and Gennos, Na'pe and Lork were in the following dugout. 
Lomasi had made it clear that he wanted to travel as quickly as possible, and
that he would make it unpleasant for anyone that slowed him down.

Gennos smiled to
himself, as he poled the dugout along. He had found ways to look like he was
working very hard at poling the dugout, but actually he was providing little
help.  "Accidentally" his pole would slip on the bottom of the
river; at other times he pushed too hard and the dugout had to be redirected on
to its original course.  It didn't seem that he would ever learn how to do
it correctly.  No amount of yelling by Lomasi was able to increase the
speed to an acceptable level.  He even tried beating everyone in the
dugouts, Lork included.  Still the speed didn't increase to an acceptable
level. The prisoners where well aware that each stroke they made brought them
one stroke closer to slavery.

When Cano woke in the morning the rain had stopped. 
He was stiff from hanging in the tree, but he was glad he had done it.  He
had heard noises in the night and was glad that he was out of the reach of the
unknown.  He ate what remained of the turkey, and then moved off.  He
continued to follow the ridgeline until he came across a game trail that led in
the direction he wanted to follow.  The trail was wide and he was able to
make good time on it.  As he rounded a bend in the trail he saw the river
far below him.  As he paused to determine where he was, he noticed
movement on the river. As he watched, he was able to see the dugouts making
their way up river.  He was ahead of them, but a long way up in the
hills.  The river curved away from him and then swung back again. 
They would have to travel farther on the river to reach the same point up ahead
than he would have to travel on land.  He saw that the dugouts would pass
the place where they had camped before their capture, the place where Dola would
be waiting for him.  It looked as though the dugouts were having trouble
with the river current; they appeared to be moving slowly up river.  He
moved off as quickly as he could; driven by the thought that he had to find
Dola and then form a plan to get Na'pe and his brother free.  Soon he was
traveling at a trot, although he knew it was dangerous.  He didn't see
anything that could harm him.

Contact

In the early afternoon
Dola located the campsite they had used the night before they were
captured.  Now he had to find some away back across the river.  He
moved farther up the river until he found a suitable log.  As he drifted
across he smiled as he thought of the turtle on the log; he was now Dola the
turtle swimmer.  Several places were shallow enough to touch the bottom
and this made his crossing much easier.  He didn't want to be in the
middle of the river when Lomasi came by.  When he had finally reached the
campsite, he pushed the log back into the current and waded ashore.  He
stopped and scanned the brush for movement.  As he was about to turn away
he saw something low moving through the bushes.  The wind was blowing
toward him. Whatever it was in the brush, it hadn't caught his scent. 
Dola moved quietly forward with his spear ready.  He wanted to be sure that
if anything were going to be eaten today, it wouldn't be him.  He couldn't
make out a form and he didn't want to attack anything without knowing what it
was.  He stood as still as he could.  The form in the brush was close
but he still couldn't tell what it was. 
       Suddenly the dark form crashed out of the
brush straight for him.  He had thought he was ready, but he wasn't. He
jumped to the side in an effort to escape and snagged his foot on a low vine
and fell.  He tried to free himself, but his spear was entangled in the
brush and he couldn't get it up to fend off the attack. The form was on him
before he could do anything to defend himself.  He expected to feel fangs
slashing at him; but instead he felt a warm tongue on his face.  Looking
up he was dumfounded to see Whiteface.  She leaped all over him and made
happy puppy sounds. When he realized what had happened he released his spear
and grabbed her and pulled her to his chest.   She twisted away only
to jump back into his arms.  Finally he got a good grip on her and said
"Whiteface, I'm happy to see you.  I thought you were gone for
good."  She stopped jumping around, but continued to lick his face
and hands.  "I missed you, where have you been?" he asked.

 
She didn't answer
in words because she had none, but she answered in a language that was
universal, her body spoke louder than any words ever could.  She pressed
her body close to his; she was back with her pack again.

Dola rolled
her over and rubbed her stomach.  She looked very unwolf like with her
legs in the air and her tongue hanging out the side of her mouth.  They
played until they were both tired and then they lay side by side in the
grass.  His hand lay on her shoulder and she turned and gently licked his
hand.  It was as if she wanted to assure herself that he was real and
still at her side.

Later that day while
Dola and Whiteface were catching and spearing frogs along the shore, Dola was
surprised to see Whiteface stop, look inland and then start a low growl. Dola
looked intently at the brush, but couldn't see anything, He motioned for
Whiteface to follow and the wolf moved to his side.  They both slipped
into the brush like shadows. A few moments later there was a slight movement at
the edge of the clearing and then Cano stepped into view.

Dola let out a yelp and
charged from the brush with the little wolf at his side.

Cano heard the noise and
saw movement; he thrust one hand forward for protection and drew back his other
arm so that he could strike with his little spears.  When he recognized
the small forms racing toward him he lowered his weapons and smiled a greeting.

Dola raced up and said,
"You made it, you're alive," he was breathless, but couldn't stop
talking.  "Look what I found, its Whiteface, we have been catching
frogs.  Do you want any?  How did you get away?  Are you okay?
Do you have a plan on how to save Gennos and Na'pe?  I saw them yesterday,
they were still tied up.  I let them see me.  They know we're going
to save them."

"Slow down,"
Cano said.  "Let us move over to where the trees are thicker, and
then we can talk and not be afraid of being seen.” He paused as he scanned the
river for movement, “I don't want Lomasi to come up the river and find us
again."  They were soon hidden by the trees and resumed talking. Cano
briefly told Dola what had happened to him since they had left each other. He
didn't go into all the details of his escape, but he mentioned escaping from
the cave and finding the short spears.  Dola told of his trek to the river
and then of seeing Lomasi and Morf return to camp. 

"They didn't see
me, but your brother and Na'pe did," he repeated.

As they were talking
whiteface came to alert.  She looked toward the river and growled deep in
her throat.

 Cano motioned for
Dola to slide lower in the brush as he did himself.  As he scanned the
river he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Dola spoke softly,
"What is it Whiteface?  Is there danger?"  The little wolf
stood as if she were made of stone.  The growl continued to rumble deep in
her throat.

Cano strained his ears,
but couldn't hear anything.  He was beginning to think the wolf had heard
something other than a threat to them, but then he heard a thumping noise and
then a voice.  It sounded as though someone had struck a hollow log. 
Then there was a splashing noise. A few moments after that there was movement
on the river and a dugout came into view.  Lomasi and Morf were in the
dugout and were looking downstream.  Lork's angry voice could be heard
scolding someone.

The three figures on the
shore were motionless as the first dugout floated past.  Suddenly Lomasi
turned and stopped paddling; some instinct caused him to scan the brush where
the three figures hid.  He scrutinized the area, but nothing seemed out of
the ordinary.  He turned and resumed his paddling upstream.

Cano and Dola had been
holding their breath and as the first dugout passed out of sight they resumed
breathing. Dola said, "That was close, I wonder why he looked this
way?"  Cano shook his head, "I'm not sure, but I am sure glad he
looked away." He paused a moment listening, then motioned for him to be
silent.

The second dugout came
slowly into view.  It seemed to be having a difficult time keeping up with
the first dugout.  Lork yelled something and then struck Gennos with his
pole.  This caused him to groan in pain and almost loose his pole into the
river.  The dugout turned sidewise in the river and started floating back
downstream.  Lork was screaming and Gennos was acting as though the blow
had hurt him and that he couldn't seem to be any help getting the dugout headed
back up stream.

Cano and Dola lay
silently in the brush as the dugout struggled upstream.  It had drifted
closer to shore than Lork wanted and he was yelling at Gennos to push toward
the center of the river. He struck Gennos again; this blow caused him to twist
around and look to the back of the dugout where Lork sat.

Cano saw that Lork was
looking at Gennos and appeared to be going to hit him again.  Cano knew
his brother and how his temper could snap.  He could only take so much
punishment before he burst into action.  He was nearing that point. 
Lork was facing upstream and Gennos was facing the shore where they were
hiding.  Cano took a chance and stood, and then he waved to his brother,
and then ducked down quickly.

Gennos was fighting to
control his temper; he wanted to ram his pole into Lork's face.  As he
looked at him a movement on shore caught his attention. He looked past Lork and
saw his brother wave to him, before dropping out of sight.  He dropped his
eyes and turned away from Lork.  He resumed poling the dugout, but his
heart was pounding.  Cano lived!  He had told Na'pe that everything
would work out, but deep in his heart he wasn't sure.  Dola was all right,
but he was still a boy.  Now things had changed, Cano lived and the rescue
would come soon.  He would have to let Na'pe know that he had seen Cano.