The Thinking Rocks (35 page)

Na'pe was
the first to speak, "I think he's right, the long thing could be a
dugout.  The things on top are like the head on the dead man.  The
marks below could mean water."

Cano looked to his
brother.  Gennos said, "This gets better and better.  Na'pe, I
think you and Dola are right.  This big thing could be a dugout, a big
dugout that could hold many men.  They were hunters traveling on the
river.  One was injured and died when he broke his leg."  He stopped
and looked around the group. "These marks are a story of what
happened."

Cano looked to his
brother and said, "I thought that you would be interested in the marks,
but you seem really excited by them.”

Gennos answered quickly,
"You are right, I am excited.  I don't know exactly why, but deep
down inside me, I know that this is important.  I don't know how or where
this will be used, but I know it will be used”.  He paused and then said,
"We think we know a story told by a dead man.  This means that we
could make marks and someone else could see them and understand what we did
without ever talking to us."

Dola said, "Is that
good? If we left marks that showed we went down the river in dugouts, that
might be bad.  What if Lomasi found them and understood them?  He
would know where we are going and how.  Besides that, will these marks
feed us or say where it is safe?"

Gennos replied,
"You are right.  These marks aren't going to solve our problems, but
they may help.  I'm not sure how, but I am sure that they are
important.  Different things are important in different ways.  Try to
think of it this way.  Lomasi had a spear thrower and we didn't.  He
could kill us with it.  It is better than our spears in most ways. 
The problem is that the spear thrower doesn't solve all problems.  It makes
it easier to do some things, but creates other problems.  It is more
difficult to use than a spear, and it takes more room to throw its short
spear.  You have to have extra spears to throw.  These things are
problems with a spear thrower, but it is still usually better than a
spear.  We find new ways of doing things.  We have the
Canohawk.  It is better than the hand ax. The spear thrower is better than
the spear.  But, we couldn't have the spear thrower without the spear; we
couldn't have the Canohawk without the hand ax.  We don't know what we
will have next.  One thing leads to another.  If we understand how
something works that is important, because we know more than we did
before.  We think we know a dead man's story.  How this will help us
later I'm not sure, but I do know it's important."

Gennos looked around at
the small group.  The only one that wasn't paying any attention was
Whiteface.  She was asleep near Dola. "Enough of me talking.  I
think Whiteface has the right idea.  Let us sleep. We should start when
the sun rises.

They each found a place to sleep; Gennos was the closest
one to Na'pe.  Dola caught Cano's eye and nodded his head toward Gennos
and Na'pe.  Cano nodded back and smiled.  They all slept well and had
the dugouts moving downstream as the sun started to bring first light to the
day

Pursuit

Early in the morning days later,
Lomasi and Morf floated up to the small island where the escapees had
camped.  Their raft was small and ill constructed; it was loosely tied
with vines and was barely able to hold their combined weight.  They were
constantly wet and had a difficult time keeping their weapons dry and still
control the raft.  Their feet and legs were in constant contact with the
water and Lomasi’s leg wound was infected and seeping yellow liquid.  They
hadn't eaten or slept in days and the fasting hadn't improved Lomasi's
attitude.   Lomasi ordered Morf to beach the raft. 

As he attempted to beach
the raft, Morf decided that when he got a good chance to escape he would leave
Lomasi.  He would try to return to his clan.  He had hoped that he
would return with prisoners and honor.  All that they had found so far was
death; both Lork and Hopi were gone.  There was nothing to show for all
their effort.  He could see now that Lomasi would give up anything he had
to get the prisoners back, even both of their lives. He knew if he continued to
follow him, he would be the next to die.  The chase was futile.  He would
have to be careful, he didn't want Lomasi's wrath to be directed at him. 
Escape had to be well thought out or the result would be the same as staying
with Lomasi.  Death.

As
the raft slid into the shallow water near shore, Morf was surprised to hear Lomasi
say, "We will camp here, we need food and rest.  See if you can get
any fish or frogs, anything we can eat.  I will go and see if I can find
meat for us.”  With that said he took his spear thrower and limped off
into the brush.

The
hunting and fishing yielded only a frog and some clams from the river, Lomasi
returned empty handed.  The food didn't matter; they were both so tired
that after they had eaten they collapsed in exhaustion.  They slept
through the day and awoke that night.  Lomasi scraped the pus from his leg
and wrapped the wound with leaves and rawhide. They went back to sleep after
eating the last of the food they had been able to gather.

In the morning Lomasi had Morf make a fire and
then gather shafts to make more spears for their throwers.  Lomasi was
able to find some shells and after breaking them into points, he used mud and
long strands of grass to hold the points in place.  He then placed them
near the fire to harden the mud.  They each practiced throwing some of the
spears until they were comfortable with the range and accuracy.  The
points were only good for one throw, so they kept the best of the lot for
future use.  In the process of retrieving the spears Morf was able to kill
several frogs, which they ate before pushing off down stream

.

The next few days were
an enjoyable experience for Cano's small group of refugees.  The weather
was clear and hot, they had rain only one day.  The landscape slowly
changed as they moved down the river, the mountains gave way to rolling hills
and then to flat lands and then to marsh.  The river had some rapids
initially, but they soon gave way to deeper water.  There was a fairly
strong current and it wasn't difficult to navigate the river.  They saw
many animals along the banks of the river in the early mornings, but later in
the day there were fewer.  The animals didn't seem to be afraid of them as
they floated by, but they would flee if a quick movement were made, or if the
dugouts got too close. Deer were the most numerous, but there seemed to be more
than one kind of deer. There were some that were huge; they would feed the tiny
band for many days if they had been able to bring one down. These had great
racks of antlers; they were so big that a man couldn't reach from one side to
the other.  Their coloring was also different than the smaller deer; they
had a patch of light colored hair on their behind, whereas the little deer only
had a white tail. Other food was readily available and the small group was
eating well on fish, eggs and frogs.

They hadn't had the
chance to make more spears for the spear throwers and were reluctant to use the
only spears they had for a possible kill.  They would have to learn how to
use them before they could rely on them.

As they floated around a
bend in the river, Cano noticed movement.  He signaled for quiet, and then
remained motionless with his paddle trailing in the water.  As they
drifted closer he saw that it was a saber-tooth cat eating a large deer. It was
one of the deer with the white behind.  Instinctively the dugouts steered
away from that shore. As they passed, the big cat rose and watched them as they
drifted by. Although the cat didn't open its mouth, a deep rumbling could be
felt, more than it could be heard. The message was clear, stay away.

The cat was a fearful
sight; blood dripped from its fangs and the hair on its muzzle and chest was
matted with it.  Although it stood still, it appeared to be ready to dash
across the water and attack the dugouts.  Its short tail twitched from
side to side.  The muscles in its shoulders rippled and then the big cat
shifted its position on the muddy bank.  Its eyes moved from dugout to
dugout.

In the lead dugout Dola
was terrified.  He looked down to see what Whiteface was doing. The small
wolf was as low as she could get and still be able to see.  Her gaze was
locked on the big cat, her teeth were bared, but no sound escaped from
her.  Some instinct told her to remain silent.

The confrontation was
over as silently as it had begun. When the last dugout with Gennos and Na'pe
had floated by, the big cat returned to its feast.

They were all relieved
when the river flowed around a bend and the cat was out of sight.  They
floated along in silence until Cano said, "I know where there is a dead
deer; anyone want to go back and ask if we can have some?"

No one replied, they
were all sure that the cat didn't want to share.

Later, as the sun was
still high, Cano suggested that they camp early and search for food.  They
were all tired and hungry and welcomed the rest.  The shores were marshy
and only held occasional bunches of trees.  After beaching the dugouts,
they started to set up camp.  Na'pe gathered wood and started a fire,
Gennos stayed close and fished in the river.  Cano fashioned an old style
spear from a small sapling, the shaft was about the same size as his thumb and
was as tall as he was. Next, he tied one of the little black spearheads to it
to form the point. The spear felt good and he felt good too. He hefted the
weapon and felt for its balance point. This was a good weapon and it had its
uses. Next, he fashioned a long handled Canohawk using his new black cutting
stone.  When he had finished, he carefully tucked it into the carrying
strap around his waist and then retrieved his spear and moved off in search of
game.

Moving quietly, he
headed downstream.  As he proceeded through the tall grass along the bank
of the river, he thought about the spear-thrower.  We must learn to use
it.  We will need many short spears and then we can practice with them. 
The spear-thrower was a superior weapon in many ways to the spear.  It
would change the way they hunted.  They could kill at a greater distance,
and they would be safer from attack by the dangerous animals. They could have
more food.  We will be able to protect the clan better. Then a dark
thought raised its ugly head.  People like Lomasi have the spear-thrower
already, and how do they use it? Against people of other clans.  With all
the ways there are for us to die, why must our own kind also kill us? 
It's hard enough to stay alive as it is, without fearing our own kind, he
thought.  The fault isn't with the weapon; it's only a tool, like the hand
ax.  It would be foolish to blame a rock for our problems, but if it were
used to kill one of us, some would say that the rock, and not the person that
struck with the rock killed them.  The rock could be used to help us live
or to take life.

A movement from up ahead
in the tall grass interrupted his thoughts.  He saw something strange and
he wasn't sure what it was.  It looked like a pile of sharp rocks with an
ugly looking snake crawling out of it. Cano stopped moving and watched. 
It also stopped moving, and he saw that it wasn't a snake at all.  It
looked like a short fat gator.  Then he realized that it wasn't a gator at
all, but a large turtle. What looked like rocks was actually the shell of the
turtle, and the snake was its head.  The head was huge; it was at least as
big as my upper leg, Cano thought.  It had a pointed bony-looking mouth;
it had its eyes on the side of its head. A hunter, Cano thought. It was the
strangest turtle that he had ever seen. It was the size of a small boulder, and
its shell was brownish and sharp looking. It looked mean and fast. The shell
was as long as Cano's legs and it was as high as his knees. Its feet were wide
and had long claws, and it had a heavy looking tail.  The turtle looked as
though it would be able to move very quickly in the water.

After the first
movement, it had remained still.  It looked as though it was sunning
itself.  Its neck was stretched out and its eyes were closed. The neck
stretched out more than half the length of the shell.  Its mouth was
open.  Cano had a sudden thought, it wasn't sunning itself, and it was
hiding in plain sight.  It looked like something other than what it was.
This was a dangerous creature.

Cano's thoughts flew
back to the day he had pretended to be a bush on the mammoth hunt.  It
seemed so long ago, almost in another life.  He thought of Ceola and how
she had held him when she found out he wasn't dead. But this was not the time
to be thinking of her, he had other things to do now.

As Cano stood silently
watching the turtle he saw a flicker of movement and then a long legged bird landed
near the turtle.  He saw the eyes of the turtle open, and ever so slowly
the head retracted in the shell until only the nose and eyes were visible. The
mouth stayed open. Other than this, the turtle hadn't moved.

The bird
looked into the shallow water where it stood. It moved its head quickly and
struck into the water.  It retrieved a small fish and swallowed it
headfirst.  The bird took a few short steps and then paused and struck
again.  It didn't retrieve a fish this time.  It moved forward again and
was close to the turtle.

The turtle
struck with the speed of a snake. It caught the bird's neck just below the
head, and then jerked its head back into its shell. Cano was close enough so
that he could hear the bones in the birds neck crack. It tried to squawk but
the effort was futile.  It flapped its wings and clawed with its feet, but
to no avail. The turtle was too large for it to break free. It was dead before
it realized that it was in harms way.  The body thrashed, splashing water
and mud onto the turtle, until finally it became still.  The turtle
remained motionless for a few more moments before turning and dragging the
lifeless body to drier ground.  Soon it was tearing the bird to pieces and
swallowing chunks of bloody meat.