The Trek: Darwin's World, Book II (The Darwin's World Series 2) (24 page)

"Colin, what shape are the rest in?"

"We've got two people with minor wounds, nothing to worry about. The rest are tired and so am I. I'll give the bastards credit, once they ran into us they got to work with those spears. We were too close to use the bows effectively. If we'd run into them when we weren't expecting...well, it wouldn't have been good."

Matt nodded. "I guess they had a lot of practice. Good thing they never progressed beyond spears."

Colin nodded. "I expect the people they raided only had spears. Spears against spears, numbers, surprise...the slavers wouldn't have had a lot of trouble. Kill the ones that fought, capture the rest and tie them to that rope."

Matt nodded. "The two with flesh wounds, have they been bandaged?"

"Lilia's taking care of it."

"Lilia's here? I thought she stayed with the others."

"She caught up after you three went on ahead. I guess she didn't think you and Lee could handle it, even with Tex along to help."

Matt smiled for the first time since he'd taken the trail to the raiders' village.

"Yeah, she takes pretty good care of us."

"Same drill as before, Matt?

"Almost, Colin. I figure the first thing is to cut the slaves loose and see if they can handle a spear. Get all of them a spear and a knife from the dead raiders. Tell them we want the heads off and piled in the open space.

"We're going to burn this place when we leave. Leave a pile of heads, and if they're charred a little by the flames, so much the better. Anyone who knows what this place was can take warning."

Some of the slaves looked lost, but half a dozen went to work with a will. The pile of heads grew. Fluids leaked from severed necks and the smell was...well, not to put too fine a point on it, the village stank. Perhaps it had done so before, but punctured human bodies added to the stench.

The fire might clear some of that up. Matt made a note of which of the former captives took part in collecting heads from bodies that no longer needed them. Those might make good tribe members. As for the rest, he would decide later. At worst, they would be alive, free, and with the arms that had formerly been used to enslave them. Whether they considered Matt generous if he decided not to offer them membership in the tribe...well, hard decisions had to be made. Those who weren't an asset to the tribe would be turned away.

"Have them throw the bodies in one of the cabins. Plenty of room, but only the heads stay outside. When we burn this place, the fire will clean up the mess. I want nothing left here but a bad memory."

"I'll see to it, Matt."

Two hours later, the war party retraced their way west toward the ridge and the river.

Three of the simple racks had been built and the bodies of their comrades placed on them. Matt had offered the freed captives the opportunity to care for the bodies of their fellows, but they'd elected to lay them near the frames Colin's men had assembled. Well, the choice was theirs.

Behind them, flames crackled. Only a fading smoke trail showed where so much misery had been.

Chapter 21

"Colin, we need to feed these folks for a few days and find out what they're like. I'd like you to get with Lee and look them over. Some of them helped clean up after the village fight, but some just stood around looking lost.

"We're going to have to decide. If the people we rescued are assets, we can offer them membership in the tribe. If they're not likely to pull their weight, we can give them food and one of our emergency kits. They can have a spear and if they can use it, a bow too. We'll make what they need but I won't accept them if they won't fight when necessary. They got captured but we don't know the circumstances. If they just gave up without a fight, they're a drag on the rest of us. You understand what I'm talking about?"

"I do, Matt. I'll talk to all of them and Lee can too. We'll let you know what we think. There might be a problem though. I don't know if all of them speak English. They speak Spanish, but they'll need to understand the rest of us."

"If they're the kind of people we're looking for, we can teach them English. We don't need misunderstandings because people can't talk to each other. Anyway, you can look into that when you talk to them."

José spoke English passably, so perhaps the others would too. Problems, problems; do something to help people and another can of worms opened up!

#

The augmented tribe had managed the descent from the ridge without incident. They'd set up a temporary camp in the flat area lining the riverbanks until Lee's scouts could look for a better location. The former captives had pitched in to help. At least they weren't afraid of work!

Matt found Sal with a crew looking at the trees along the river.

"How's it going, Sal?"

"Matt, I don't think these trees will work. They're not very big and most of them are twisted. I'm guessing this area floods every spring and the trees have taken a beating. The ones across the river look much bigger. That bank opens out more than a hundred yards and the trees at the far side appear to be better than what's available here. We've only got about forty yards width here, barely enough to camp in anyway.

"Have you thought about moving across the river and camping there?"

"I hadn't, no. We've got to cross eventually, so I don't suppose it matters if we cross before we set up a long-term camp.

“I've got some ideas, but I wondered what you thought about how we were to get the tribe across?"

"Matt, I'd rather cross by ferry. We’d have to build it, but we can do that. The trees are big enough to float our carts, and shape isn’t all that important. We might have to make a separate trip for each cart, but we can do it. It will just take time, probably at least a day. We'll need more rope, but if someone can make the ropes my crew can build you a ferry in a day, two at the most."

"OK, Sal. Here's what I've got in mind for the ferry. One thing, it needs a keel along the middle. If you can't find a big tree, use smaller ones and make several keel boards we can lash between two of the logs."

"We can do that. But why put a keel on a ferry? I was thinking of something like a big raft."

"We don't know how deep that water is or what kind of bottom the river has. Mud would make for tough poling, pushing the raft across. Instead, we'll build a reaction ferry. That’s why it needs a keel.

"We can build it if you know what it's supposed to look like."

"I'm thinking of two layers of logs, one with the logs pointed straight ahead and a cross-layer over that for a deck. The ferry's got to be big enough for a few polemen to work, plus carry at least one cart.

“We might be able to load the carts so that the pole-ends on each face the other cart, that way we can carry two carts each trip. We could unload the carts, stack the cargo underneath or something. We can decide after the ferry is built. But that means it has to be at least twenty feet long, probably twenty-five so that the polemen can move around the ends.

“The current will carry the ferry over, but when it’s almost across we'll need polemen to push it the last few feet. After that, we can tie a rope to a tree and pull the ferry to the bank. Build a fence around the ferry sides, too, a railing. We'll be carrying women and kids over, and some of them might not be able to swim if they fell in."

Sal nodded his understanding and Matt went on his way.

Colin and Lee were talking to the rescued captives so Matt left them to it and passed on. Lilia was helping Margrette and her daughter Callie at the kitchen area. Matt motioned to her and she left the others and joined him.

"Lilia, I'm going to need rope, a lot of it, and the main one has to be strong and perhaps two hundred yards long. Can you organize that?"

"I'll need help from some of the men later, but yes, I can do it. We'll make smaller strands, plait them together or twist them, whichever works best. The long one is going to be too heavy for the women to handle."

Matt nodded. "You'll get the help. We can use some of the former captives. I haven't decided whether they should be part of the tribe or if we should just give them arms and food and turn them loose."

"You don't plan to keep them with us?"

"I don't know yet. We can't have deadweight, so they've got to be useful, we don't have enough resources as it is. More mouths to feed, it means we’ll need more of everything. The raiders took everything the captives had; all they've got now are some ragged skin breechclouts. Have you talked to the women?"

"Just for a short time, Matt. They had it rough. The slavers passed them around. At least one might be pregnant."

Matt shook his head. "We'll have to wait to decide about that one, maybe wait a month or two before we decide on the other women too. I won't turn a pregnant woman out, and we’ll need her to care for the child later so we’ll just have to teach her how to fight if it comes to that. If we're going to build a civilization that keeps us alive long-term, we need women, all we can get. Men too, but men can't bear children.

"See what you can find out and keep me advised, but the first task is to get the rope made."

"I'll take care of it, Matt. As for teaching her to fight, we’ve got a number of women who are quite accomplished. I don’t think it will be a problem. Most women will fight to protect their child anyway, so we’ll just need to arm them and teach what they need to know."

#

Matt walked down to the river and looked at the brown water flowing slowly past. He wondered whether this was an early version of one of the rivers he'd known about downtime. Could this be the Brazos, perhaps? Or at least what would become the Brazos a few thousand years hence.

He walked slowly upstream, moving away from the river when he came to an obstacle, returning to the water’s edge when he'd passed. About a mile upstream he found what he’d hoped for, a bend in the river. He kept going. One more thing would be needed to make the bend suitable for what he had in mind.

And there it was, the last item he needed. Turning, he retraced his steps and was soon back at the camp.

He found Sal and his crew studying the trees to see which ones would be suitable for building the ferry.

"Don't cut anything here, Sal. Bring your helpers and I'll show you the place I found."

Each man picked up a bow and quiver from where he'd laid the weapons while working. Matt looked on approvingly as they slung the quivers and removed an arrow, nocking it ready on the bowstring. The little party soon set off upstream.

"This bend will help. We attach the rope to this tree here, it's big enough, I think. The other end of the rope will be tied to the raft, the ferry. We'll use a separate rope, a kind of bridle, and tie it from the front of the ferry to the back. The long rope will have a loop that we can slide along the bridle-rope. We want to be able to make it like the letter 'Y', but so we can shorten the front part when we cross the river, shorten the back part when we want to come back. That's where the keel comes in. The water pushes against the keel, and since it's not square to the current the ferry will be pushed across the river. Do you see what I have in mind?"

"I think so. The flowing water is deflected and the ferry reacts by being pushed away. The rope, the long one that is, keeps it from drifting downstream so the ferry is pushed across the river by the current."

"That's it. This is called a reaction ferry, and it will save us a lot of work in the long run. That wide area on the other side, that's where we'll land. I'm going to put Lee and a couple of others over there first for security. They can just push the ferry off from the bank and it will come back to this side."

"Matt, this is going to take a couple of days at least. Can we move the temporary camp here while we're working?"

"I don't see why not. You won't need to waste time going back and forth. I'll talk to Colin about it."

"You do that. We'll stay here and dig a latrine over by those trees, dig a firepit for the kitchen crew too."

Matt nodded and headed back to find Colin.

#

The move was finished by midafternoon. Margrette and Callie soon had the evening meal cooking over the new campfire.

Matt found Lee and Tex near their campsite.

"Lee, we need meat. I'd like to hunt, but I'm needed here to oversee building the ferry. We saw tracks and droppings on the way here. There are more pigs around, and the larger droppings were left by elk, maybe a stag-moose. After we get across, we'll take a real hunting party out and see if we can find some of those bison, what Tex calls buffalo. We need the meat. Anyway, feel like going hunting tomorrow?"

"Matt, what say I take one of them fellers of yours and go huntin'? Never crossed the river, not that I remember, but I've hunted all through here. Shouldn't take long. Stag-moose, you said? Big rascal, dappled hide like, got more antlers than anything else I've ever seen?"

"I don't know what you've seen, Tex, but that's a pretty good description, big palm-like antlers with long spikes coming off. They're dangerous, really dangerous. I saw one kill a lioness. She charged, he caught her with those spikes and tossed her. Then he finished her off with his front hooves."

"That's the critter. Never saw one kill a lion, though. You saw this?"

"I did. And while he was celebrating, I put an arrow in him. We ate him. Tasted a lot like elk, like really lean beef from downtime."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. How about I take two men? One of the carts, maybe? We'll need it to bring back the meat."

"Sure, Tex; pick a cart, take Piotr and Marc. I think they'd like to hunt."

"I'll do that. We'll leave first thing in the morning."

Lee posted his sentries and announced who would relieve them during the night. Laz, now his deputy, would oversee the changes. Soon the camp grew quiet and people slept.

#

Tex, Piotr, and Marc were gone by the time Matt woke up.

Lilia was at the campfire when he went there for breakfast. Sal and his crew were eating and talking together, off to one side. They soon finished and moved away to find the tools they'd need for constructing the ferry.