The Thinking Rocks (37 page)

Cano smiled
as he started to understand, "I understand, a big bird bit you and the
little wolf chased it away."

Dola started on toward
camp, "I don't want to talk about it now."

Cano followed him toward
camp, "I think I understand, it was a very big bird."

By the time they reached
camp, Cano was in the lead.  He called to Gennos and Na'pe, "Dola is
all right.  The noise that we heard was Dola fighting with a bird. He said
it was a very big bird and Whiteface helped chase it away. She probably saved
his life.  He doesn't want to talk about it so please don't ask for
details."  Cano was almost doubled over with laughter by the time he
had finished.  Although, they weren't sure of what the joke was, both
Gennos and Na'pe were smiling too.

Dola went over to the
fire and gave Na'pe the eggs and the frogs he had caught. Then he moved off by
himself and sat with the little wolf at his feet. 

He didn't know it at the
time, but this was the first time in history anyone had received a Hidden Bird
Scar, for valor in a fight.

‘It had been a good
day,’ Cano thought.  They all had the chance to relax after days poling
and paddling the dugouts. The weather was hot. But they had food and water, and
an occasional breeze helped cool them. There were tall large leafed trees which
provided relief from the sun.

Gennos had found some
river clams near where they were camped.  Na'pe showed him how to open the
clams with a small sharp stick.  They had a strong smell and were quite
small; there wasn't much in one to eat. The only real advantage that they had
was that there were many of them around.  The shells were sharp and they
had to be careful when wading to avoid being cut. Na'pe piled the empty shells
near the fire for some future use.

Gennos had returned to
the river and caught several large fish.  After cleaning them he brought
them to Na'pe who was working at the fire.  She arranged the fish on
stakes of green wood near the fire, so that they would dry out.

Na'pe had taken time to
find some roots near the riverbank that were good to eat.  She had washed
them and then slit the coarse outer skin off to reveal the tender white flesh
inside.  She chopped these into short lengths and piled them near the
fire.

Dola and the little wolf
had returned from exploring and were lying near the fire.  Dola was
cleaning the frogs he had speared and Whiteface was waiting for her share of
the hunt.  As each frog's legs were removed, the rest of the frog was
given to the wolf.  She sat to the side worrying the growing pile of frog
bodies.  She was also working on developing her wolf growls. Na'pe had
given Whiteface the turtle’s tail and a fragment of the shell.  All in
all, the little wolf was content with her pack.

Cano was sitting across
the fire from Gennos, "This has been a good day, and we needed food and
rest."

Gennos smiled back at
his brother, but didn't answer him. Instead he turned to Na'pe and said,
"Did you enjoy the day?"

Smiling back she
answered, "It was almost like being back with my clan.  I thank you
both. No, that isn't right," she paused for a moment. “I thank you
all," she said as she looked over at Dola.  "I didn't dare hope
that I could escape and return to my people." Pausing again she thought
for a moment, "You are different from my people, but when we get to my
clan, I'm sure you will like us." She hesitated again staring into the
fire, "I was sure I would never get away from Lomasi. When they captured
you, I was sure that I would be a slave forever." She sat thinking for a
little while, but no one interrupted her thoughts. Then she looked up at
Gennos, "You gave me hope, and then you gave me back my freedom.  How
can I ever thank you enough?"

Before Gennos could
answer, Cano did.  "I'm sure if you give him the chance he will think
of something."

Gennos blushed, and then
casually he flicked a hot ember of wood over at Cano.

Cano rolled away from
the ember, but the smile didn't leave his face. "You are right Na'pe, but
you gave us something also.  Friendship."  After a few moments
of thought he continued, "Lomasi is bad, but he is also gone.  Each
day we move farther away from him. He is becoming only a bad memory."

Na'pe looked
worried," I don't think he has given up.  We not only escaped from
him, but we made a fool of him.  He won't forget that or give up
easily."

A smile spread its way
around the fire as they remembered his fall into the river.

Cano looked over to his
brother, "We were lucky that day that we had Dola and his magic spear to
protect us."

"That
is true," Gennos said. "But I think that Na'pe is right, Lomasi will
not give up.  We are far ahead of him, but he will follow us until he gets
to us or he dies.  He knows that he must get us before we get to Na'pe's
clan
."

"If that
is true," said Dola, "shouldn't we try to get to Na'pe's clan
quickly, shouldn't we be traveling faster?"

Cano answered, “I have
been thinking about that.  There are some things we must do.  We need
food and rest, we found that here.  Next we must learn to use the
spear-throwers. Then we must find a way to travel faster on the river."

Gennos nodded, "I
think if we stay another day here it will be safe enough. We can gather shafts
and make throwing spears.  Then we can practice with them.  If we can
learn fast enough, we will not need to fear Lomasi."

Na'pe looked worried,
"Lomasi is bad, and I will feel better when we reach my clan." 
After a moment she continued, "My father will speak with the Clan leader,
"If Lomasi is close they will find him." She smiled, "I would
not want to be Lomasi if my father catches him."

Cano nodded and then
said, "Does anyone have any ideas about how we can travel faster on the
river?"

His question was
answered by silence as they thought about the problem.  Finally it was
Dola who spoke, "I have a question. Do we need both dugouts?"

A look of understanding
flashed around the fire.

Gennos was the first to
answer, "Good idea, we can all travel in one dugout.  That way we can
share the poling and paddling.  We can move faster and still not become
tired."  He thought for a moment and then said, "That makes
another problem, what do we do with the other dugout? If Lomasi is following,
we don't want him to have it."

"We can
hide it in the woods and hope he doesn't find it," Dola said hopefully
.

"I have a better
idea," said Cano, "we hide it first and then burn it."

Gennos’s face lit
up.  "Good idea brother.  We can find a place where the river
bank is low, and then drag it into the woods and burn it." A shadow of
thought passed across his face, "The dugout is wet from the river, and it
may not burn."

"If the fire is hot
enough it will dry the wood and burn," said Cano. "We don't have to
burn the dugout all up.  It just has to be burned enough to make it not
float." Cano then added, "Lomasi may not be following, but even if he
is, he shouldn't be able to find it if we hide it well."

"I like it,"
said Na'pe.  "If we stay here another day, we can get food and
weapons ready for the rest of the trip.  I will gather and dry more
food.  If you are able to learn to use the spear-throwers we may be able
to make it the rest of the way to my clan without stopping too many
times."

Gennos asked, "Are
we that close to your clan?"

"No," she
said. "There is still a long way to go, but I keep hoping that we
are." She gave a sigh and then continued. "We must travel on this
river until it joins the next river.  When they come together the river is
much bigger.  The banks of the river are higher and there are more islands
in the river.  Some of the islands have strange trees growing; some of the
trees are very large. After we travel on that river we must go through a dark
place, I don't like that place.  After we get past it, we travel through a
strange land, there are many kinds of animals, but there are also
dangers.  After this we will come to the Mother River.  We will
travel down it to my clan. It is not near here, but each day brings us
closer."

After more discussion it
was agreed that they rest for another day and gather food and work with the
spear-throwers.

During the night there
was a light rain, but everyone slept well.  When morning arrived they
found a place were the riverbank was not steep and they were able to move the
smaller dugout into the woods.  When they found a suitable hiding place they
rolled the dugout over and attempted to pound holes in it with large rocks, but
this was futile, the hull was too thick. Dola returned to the campsite and
brought fire back.  In the mean time Gennos and Cano had gathered grass
and other tinder for the fires.  They built one fire on the bottom, and
one at the side of the dugout.  When the fires were burning and eating at
the hull, they all returned to the campsite.  Cano was the last to leave
the fires, and he carefully disguised the trail they had made moving the
dugout.  It wasn't perfect, but then maybe no one was following and it
wouldn't matter.  Then again, maybe Lomasi was following; we wouldn't want
him to find the dugout.  But then he smiled to himself; it would be nice
to see Lomasi's face when he found the pile of ashes. He looked again to where
the dugout burned; it should be gone in the morning.

The next morning, when
Cano and Dola left the camp, each was searching for spear shafts. Cano went
downriver again and Dola went upriver.  They were fortunate, before the
sun was directly overhead, they both had returned to camp with an armload of
spear shafts.  They sat around the fire scraping the bark from the shafts
as they had seen Lomasi do.  They examined the shafts for straightness by
sighting down the shaft and slowly rotating the shafts.  When they had
rejected the worst of the lot, they practiced throwing the remainder of
them.  They met with little success.  The spears were the same weight
at both ends, they tended to float on the air instead of cutting threw
it.  They knew that if they made the points heavier they would fly
better.  The problem was that this takes time and they were trying to
learn by throwing the spears repeatedly.  What they needed was a quick way
to make practice spears.

Na'pe mentioned that the
men of her clan rounded and hardened the points of their spears in a fire. Then
they packed mud around the points, and dried them by a fire.  She said
they were only good for one throw.  They tried it and it worked.

They practiced until
they were satisfied with their accuracy.  Gennos seemed to take to the
weapon naturally.  Cano was good with it, but his brother was the best of
the little group.  Dola lacked the strength, but his short-range casts
were deadly.

Near the end of daylight
they started experimenting with different spear tips.  The black spear
points that Cano had found in the cave were the best points.  The major
drawback was that they couldn't afford to lose any of them.  They worked
with other materials to expand the number of spears they could use. They found
that they could use some of the clamshells, and they could be very sharp, but
the shape of the point affected the flight of the spear.  They would have
liked to use flint, but this area of the river lacked it.  They tried
using river stones.  They found some that looked suitable and broke them
into smaller pieces in attempts at getting good points.  They tried to
knap them as they did with the flint and were able to get some usable
points.  The problem was that the size and weight of the points affected
the range and accuracy of the spear.  They also found the points need not
be large to be affective.  If they were small they flew faster and
penetrated deeper.  An animal that was hit by the spear in a vital spot
such as the heart or throat would die quickly.  They knew that in most
cases wounded animals died from bleeding to death.  A hit in an important
place, would kill sooner than a large wound in a non-vital area like the
stomach or rump.

By the end of the day
they were much better with the spear-throwers, and Na'pe had organized the food
effectively.  They spent the night quietly, but they were becoming
apprehensive about getting started again.  It rained lightly again and
left the air clear and fresh.

They launched the dugout
early the next morning and continued downriver.  Dola was in the front of
the dugout with Whiteface by his side.  Gennos and Na'pe were in the
center of the craft with the supplies piled around them.  Cano sat in the
rear of the dugout and steered. The dugout rode low in the water and moved
slower because of the added weight.  Although they stayed in their
positions, they were able to switch off guiding the craft. They made good time
in spite of the extra weight. It was a comfortable day on the river and an
enjoyable one.  They saw many animals along the river, but there was no
need to hunt or kill, they had plenty of food and water

Back up river on the
next morning, Lomasi and Morf were approaching the same campsite that Cano's
group had used.  They were water soaked and hungry.  They had been
traveling day and night on the hastily made raft.  It should have been
made with more and bigger logs.  As it was, it couldn't support their
weight and was constantly shifting and water slouched across the logs. 
Their feet and legs shriveled from being under water for such a long
time.  The water had not helped Lomasi's leg wound; it was swollen and
discolored.  He had a difficult time with it and walked with a decided
limp.  One thought kept driving him, revenge. He was going to make the
prisoners pay for his pain.

Morf on the other hand
just wanted to go home.  If he could find a way to escape from Lomasi he
would be gone in a heartbeat.  The only things that kept him at Lomasi's
side was his fear of him, and the common sense to know that if he left, Lomasi
would trail him with the same dedication that he was displaying in his search
for the escaped prisoners.  The only thing I can do is to wait and see
what happens, he thought.

The campsite looked as
good to Lomasi as it had to Cano's group.  They dragged the raft ashore
and soon discovered the campfire. Lomasi ran his fingers through the burnt
ashes checking for heat. He didn't find any.  He searched the campsite and
found the turtle's shell, but he couldn't find any food.