by Jack L Knapp
Robert nodded and turned away. Matt selected two men.
“You’re with me. Have your arrows ready. We’ll get close, and when you think you’re in range, take a shot. I’ll wait until you shoot. I’ve got more range, but I’ve also got fewer arrows. I haven’t had time to replace what I’ve already used. If you have a choice, try for yearlings. They’re easier to kill and better eating. Less dangerous too, if you don’t kill them right away.”
The two men nodded and followed Matt toward the grazing herd, all of them bent forward and moving at a trot. Glancing to his left, Matt estimated where the outlying animals would pass. A gesture to the others caused them to slow. They stopped and got ready to shoot.
Matt noticed when the old cow smelled something strange. She stopped and raised her head, sniffing the air. He realized she’d picked up the scent from Lee’s group; Matt and his two companions were still downwind from the herd.
“We need to get her mind off Lee. Time to give them something else to worry about. Ready?”
The two men nodded, tense.
“Now!” Matt stood up and drew the arrow back, anchoring it with his hand tight to his jaw. His concentration narrowed to the area he intended to place the arrow…just behind the shoulder, midway from the hump to the bottom of the ribs…
Two arrows flashed past him and he released his own arrow, watching as it struck a yearling bull. Dust and bits of hair puffed from the animal’s side and Matt heard the solid thump as the arrow hit. The young bull stumbled and fell forward to its knees. Matt immediately reached for an arrow and nocked it. The young animal wouldn’t need a second arrow, but he had time for one more shot before the herd fled…
A second arrow, longer range now, struck the only target he had, an older bull. The arrow hit, but Matt had little time to wonder how lethal the hit was.
The herd, veering away from Matt and his two companions, had moved into range of Lee’s group, and they had immediately started shooting. Now the herd had turned again and the big animals were coming toward Matt.
“Let’s go! Back to the fire!”
Turning, he ran for the barricade, now facing the wrong way.
“Build up the fire, quick!”
After that, he had no breath for anything but running. Behind him he heard the hoofbeats from the herd. Gasping, he reached the fire, now flaring up as it consumed the dry brush the fire-tender had placed on it. He turned and pulled another arrow from his quiver.
The two men who’d been with Matt were slower. Behind the last one, a big bull bison had seen the small creatures ahead.
A fast calculation and Matt moved away from the fire. He had one chance…
A fast draw, steady on the oncoming bull. Release. Reach for one final arrow, the last in his quiver. Nock and wait, judge the situation...
The bull was blowing blood from straining nostrils. The two men were nearing the fire as the old bull stumbled and paused, legs braced. The herd went past him to the north as he wearily collapsed, face down. Dust churned up by pounding hooves obscured the scene as the remaining bison passed on, now two hundred yards distant and rapidly drawing away.
Behind Matt, two terrified hunters now stood behind the fire.
Matt waited while some of the dust settled. The rest of the thin brown cloud slowly drifted downwind. Several dark lumps out on the prairie showed where bison had died. Two others waited, not yet dead but too badly wounded to flee.
Matt replaced his last arrow in the quiver and slung the bow across his shoulder. Spear in hand, he walked toward one of the wounded bison.
“No need for that, Matt. Let me.”
Robert paused briefly, pulled the bowstring back to his ear, and launched an arrow into the yearling bison’s ribs. As it collapsed, Robert drew another arrow and trotted toward the other animal.
As it happened, Lee’s group had the same idea. The remaining wounded bison fell to Lee’s arrow.
“Ask Colin to bring up the carts, Philippe. We’ll field dress these and get them back to the treeline. We can’t carry this many at once, even with the carts. We’ll need to take three and come back for the others. We’ll work as fast as we can.”
“Robert, I’ll go with the Lee’s group and take over guarding the animals while the cart people come back for a second load.”
“No need, Matt. I sent messengers off to find Lilia and the Wise Woman where they were picking plants. We’ll have the whole tribe here except for two I assigned to guard the camp. We can do the butchering here and only haul edible meat back to camp, but we’ve still got a lot of work ahead!
“I think we’ll use the fire to cook some meat while we’re working. It’s going to take several hours to dress out this many animals, because some of us are going to have to guard the rest. Chunks of liver and heart should cook fast, people will be glad to get the fresh meat, and maybe predators will keep their distance.”
Matt nodded wearily and went off to see if he could recover any of his arrows.
Chapter 9
Killing the bison was the easy part.
Lilia set up a secondary camp in the trees that lined the stream. With Laz’s help, she cut green saplings and two women used the wood to construct drying racks. A number of fires were soon readied; the coals would be ready when the meat arrived.
Piotr remained with Matt and Marc stayed with Lee farther north, providing security for the tribe while they worked. The rest quickly field-dressed the carcasses where they lay, working in teams of two. They left the offal in place but saved the hearts, lungs, and livers. Colin collected those and packed them back to camp. He immediately started a stew using the livers and hearts, then sliced the lungs into strips for people to toast and eat as snacks.
The smell of blood would attract the notice of any predators within a mile of the killing ground. Bows and spears wouldn’t deter an attack, so Matt and Lee fashioned torches to keep the animals away.
#
Robert assembled crews, two to a cart, for hauling meat to Lilia’s temporary camp.
The butchering teams worked on the most-distant animals first. After skinning the field-dressed carcasses, they quartered them for ease of transport. When the carts arrived the two helped load the meat and skin, then moved to another carcass.
The carts proved less durable than Robert had hoped. The wheels had been ‘greased’ with beeswax, but even so the screech of crude wheels turning on axles shaped by knife and axe was enough to wake the dead.
The first wheel broke while making its third trip. Robert helped the crew unload and backpack the meat to Lilia’s drying camp, the two crewmen went back to Riverbend Camp and brought up a replacement wheel, and the cart was soon repaired.
#
The bison had fallen within a roughly-oval area that was perhaps a quarter-mile long. The first predator, a huge saber-toothed cat, arrived shortly. He slunk up to a pile of intestines and began feeding as soon as the cart moved away. Others soon arrived and found their own piles of offal.
The area soon hosted a second saber-tooth, a pride of three lions, and a bear. Matt watched, but couldn’t tell the bear’s species from his distant viewpoint. There were no cubs, so this one was probably male.
Despite the guards, now equipped with lighted torches as well as bows, spears were never more than a few inches from nervous hands as the tribespeople worked.
#
The early scavengers often dragged the offal away to feed at leisure. As a result, the tidy piles of guts the tribesmen had left were soon strewn across an area a mile long and half-a-mile wide.
A number of fights broke out among the predators, but usually a series of thunderous growls sufficed to warn off the thieves. Not always; a few well-fed ones decided it was safer to leave rather than fight over what was left.
Coyotes managed to get their share, away from where the larger animals were feeding. Condors, vultures and ravens flew in and joined the impromptu feast. A fox and two bobcats sniffed at the scraps but soon left, uneasy at being
close to so many larger predators.
Matt and Lee moved the defensive line as people finished working on the more-distant kills and moved to carcasses located closer to the trees.
Lilia had built the drying racks in a large circle, with the fires outside the circle to keep the predators at bay. If that wasn’t sufficient discouragement, Laz and the women had their weapons.
Exhausted crews parked their carts near the drying racks and were soon asleep inside the ring of fires. Lilia’s crew kept working and soon had the last of the meat sliced into strips, some of it cooking directly over the fires to be ready when people woke up, some of it drying in the smoke. Tired women lay down and slept when they could go no further.
Still, someone had to remain alert. Lee and Matt, still paired with Marc and Piotr, circled the loaded drying racks and added wood when the fires got low. The stack of ready firewood got smaller. Lee and Marc took a cart and loaded it with dried wood, dumping it near the center of the small camp. Then they too slept.
Piotr and Matt, nearly exhausted, remained awake. Matt knew that he too might fall asleep if he stopped moving, so he continued walking around the fires. Piotr never complained. He worked quietly, patrolling with Matt, tending the fires, cutting more wood to have it ready when needed.
He’d make a fine addition to Matt’s group. The two paused periodically to munch on fresh sections of lung, roasted over the fires. Food substituted for sleep.
#
Lee woke up about four hours later and shook Marc awake. They took over for Piotr and Matt, then the two took their turn among the sleepers.
Six hours later, they woke and walked off to the woods for a necessary visit. Returning, Matt spoke to Lilia, now up and turning strips of meat where they continued drying in the smoke.
“I’m for the stream. It’s only a couple of hundred yards away and I need a fast dip to wash off some of the stink.”
“I would join you but I can’t take the time just yet. We’ll wash off later, after everyone’s up. I suspect your dip will be a quick one. That water is cold! I had water gourds brought up and the small pot is boiling, so I can make tea when you two get back.”
Matt nodded and set off with Piotr. The sun was just rising off to the east, so there was enough light to see as the two approached the stream.
A small herd of deer, perhaps half a dozen, were drinking at the water’s edge and spooked as the two approached the stream. Matt nodded to Piotr and they watched for a moment, leaving the deer in peace. The tribe had all the meat they could use, at least for now. Still, it was a good sign. The animals were back. The tribe’s hungry time was over.
Matt and Piotr took turns bathing and soon headed back to Lilia’s camp for breakfast. The tea Lilia had mentioned was…interesting. Not tasty, but no doubt healthy.
At least it was hot. It could have used more honey. About a half-gallon of the stuff! Even Lilia had a failure now and then.
Matt and Piotr drank their tea and went off to relieve Lee and Marc.
“Matt, I still think a scouting trip is a good idea. I’m going to take Marc and head west as soon as people have recovered from yesterday. What do you think?”
“Good idea, Lee. How long do you expect to be gone?”
“I’m planning on a week. We’ll start out a little south of west and try to hold that course for two days. After that, head north for a day. Plan on returning east and when we strike the stream, follow it downstream to the Riverbend Camp.”
“You’ll be crossing the plains for much of the trip, Lee. Think you’ll have a problem?”
“I hope not. If it looks too dangerous, we’ll change direction or quit and come back. If there are obstacles we can’t cross, rivers or canyons or whatever, we’ll come back and let you know. You might want to take the tribe in a different direction if that happens. We’re well past the mine, so I don’t think that’s a concern now. All we’ve got to worry about is what’s ahead of us. We could go more south or north if that looks best.”
“Maybe, Lee. I might scout our back trail while you’re exploring ahead of us. Pavel’s back there somewhere and I want to be sure he’s really gone for good. He might be waiting around to raid us for all we know. He won’t know that the last of his followers have been adopted into Robert’s group and mine.
“Piotr’s a good man…I’m glad he stayed instead of following Pavel. He pitches in and does his share of the work and more.”
“I agree. We might need to work on his weapons skills, maybe make him a heavier bow and a better spear when there’s time. He’s a good worker and he did his share during the hunt, but we don’t know yet if he’s a warrior.”
“Right. I’ll take him with me and maybe I can get an idea of his woods skill. We’ll just be gone a day or two at the most. I need to replenish my arrows before we do that, though. Take me a day, maybe. I’ll be ready to go by the time you leave.”
“Two people gone back to the east, two of us off to the west, Matt. Does that leave enough security for Riverbend Camp and the drying camp?”
“I think so. Lilia’s here and she’s got Sandra and Millie to help. Nothing’s going to approach the fires, so that should be enough security. I’ll talk to Robert before we leave, but most of the people back at Riverbend are armed and they’ve had time to learn how to use their weapons. Laz is there too, and he’ll have Philippe to help him. I think I’ll leave Laz in charge, and he can see Robert for more help if he needs it. Piotr and I will only be gone a day or two. It should be OK.”
One of the women who’d been tending the drying fires was waiting when Matt went back.
“Matt, can I talk to you?”
“Sure. You’re Marja, right? You used to camp with Pavel?”
“Yes. Robert took us in. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’ve been working with Lilia or Colin since Pavel left and I would rather camp with you if that’s acceptable.”
Matt looked curiously at her.
“Did you have problems with someone in Robert’s group?”
“No, but I was more comfortable when Piotr was around. And since I‘m working with Lilia anyway, I thought it would be better to camp with you. If that’s all right.”
“I don’t see any problem, Marja. Let me talk to Lilia and Robert first, but I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. For now, you’re already here working with Lilia and we’ll get the question of who you’re camping with resolved before we head west.”
Marja nodded and went back to work.
#
Matt found Lilia later and brought up the subject.
“Marja wants to camp with us. I don’t have a problem with it, but I wanted your OK before I talk to Robert. What do you think?”
“Matt, I don’t see any problem. If Robert says OK, she can move as soon as we get back to Riverbend Camp.”
“I’ll talk to Robert, then. I’m going to take Piotr and head over there now. Lee can stay here, but I need to make new arrows and my tools and supplies are in camp. I could send Laz and Philippe to help Lee if you need them.”
“We’ve got enough people here, Matt. I’ve got Sandra and Millie too, and we haven’t had problems with predators sniffing around. I expect to be done here in a day anyway, two at the most, as the meat dries. It’ll be a lot easier to transport after it’s dry, not as heavy and it won’t take up as much space. We’ve been sleeping on the fresh skins. They’re pretty smelly, but better than the ground. I’ll take a few back to camp and we can try tanning them at Riverbend. I don’t know if we’ll have enough time…you can’t hurry the tanning process…so if Robert wants to head west before it’s done, we’ll just have to leave the skins. It will depend on how many carts he has.”
“Spare parts too, Lilia. Wheels haven’t lasted very long. Axles are going to wear out fast too.”
“Rawhide will be useful, Matt. We can reinforce the axles with splints held on by rawhide laces. We didn’t get a lot of fat from the bison, it’s too early in the year for them to be putting
on fat. I’ll talk to Colin and if he thinks we can spare it, we might try wrapping the axle spindles with fresh hide. There’s a little bit of remaining fat that might help.”
Matt nodded. He found Piotr at a fire, broiling a piece of fresh meat. Selecting a piece for himself, Matt joined him. As the meat cooked, Matt brought up Marja’s name.
“Marja wants to join us, Piotr. What do you think?”
“Good idea, Matt. She’s got friends in Robert’s camp, but there are a couple of women she avoids. I think she’ll be better with us. I’ll see she gets settled in.”
“All right, Piotr. We’ll eat and head for Riverbend Camp. I’m going to be working on arrows. How are you fixed for weapons?”
“My spear’s good. I would like to have one of the steel pointed ones, but there aren’t any extras. The obsidian point I’m using works well enough. I could use a bow with a heavier draw too, but that’s it. I didn’t have a good blank when I made the one I’m using now.”
“I’ll take at look at what’s left in camp. There might be a better blank for a bow. You can make your own if I get you the wood?”
“I can. My tools aren’t very good, but if you don’t mind me using yours, I could work faster.”
“Not a problem. My tools are available to anyone in my camp, and Robert’s got his own. Just be careful with them, OK?
Piotr nodded. A few minutes later the two left Lilia’s drying camp.
#
Two days later, Lee and Marc packed dried meat for a week and headed west-southwest. Matt and Piotr went northeast an hour later.
Piotr carried his new bow and a quiver filled with arrows. The bow was about the same draw weight as Lee’s, both of them only slightly less powerful than the one carried by Matt.
Marja had arrived back at Riverbend and, with Robert’s ready assent, moved her bedding near to where Lilia had hers. The women were working on improving their temporary shelters as Matt and Piotr headed out.
“If we see Pavel, Piotr, I plan to pin him to the nearest tree. Same with Gregor and Vlad. You know they tried to kill me, don’t you? Lilia too.”
