by Jean Rolt
charred wood was placed on top to receive the ore.
Small amounts were added at first until they were sure it was hot enough...one young sailor blew down the reed at intervals....the heat could be felt several feet away.
After the ore had been in the pit for long enough they lifted it out carefully using large paddles and keeping well clear of the glowing coals!
They had made a hollow in the stones along the shore and the baking hot rock was put into this, with one man splashing cold water onto it. The steam and the smell were exciting....had they succeeded?
Joey poked the debris with a stick carefully and there, shining were globules of silvery tin, separated from the rock which had held it!
Carefully Joey laid the metal in a pool of water and watched it as it cooled.
Still warm it could be moulded, shaped, and used for a huge variety of purposes!
Uncle Joe arrived and glanced at it and at Joeys face.
"We did it.....we have the tin we came for!" They were all delighted....
"We will go back for more"
They did indeed have plenty of time to do that.....the great winter festival was coming and the local villagers had invited the sailors to take part in their ceremony.
After that it would be another three months before the water would float them over the great sand bar. There was plenty of time.
Fifteen
Every day after that some smelting of the raw ore took place. The fire hollow was fed and became the focus , a meeting place every day. The amount of tin was growing and several more trips were taken. The tin could be shaped when still warm but after that a stone, flat and oval was used to beat out the shape required. Small cups and bowls were fashioned but they bent easily and so the next step had to be taken.....they had to try mixing the ore with the copper they had bought en route.
Joey took a particular interest in this process.....the small things he had made had quickly got bent and he had tried several times to make a small cup , a simple shape but which soon acquired a battered look with use.
"I want to make it for my mother" he told his Uncle. "She misses me so much whilst I'm away I want to make her something she can hold when I'm not here any more"
Joe looked at the boy. He was now about nineteen, at an age where some boys would be spending time with the local girls...getting to know the ways of the world. When the younger men working on the farm asked him if he would like to go and take some food or drink with them Joey always refused with a grin....he was better alone or just with Mia he explained...he had a lot to think about!
When they were all together though and getting ready to sleep Joey was always ready with first a story and then a prayer.
The men enjoyed the stories...they were about farms mostly, but some included sailing stories of other lands and other people....the large lake near to where some of them lived held many stories, some from before Joey had been born. It was a mystery where he had heard the stories but tales kept them all mindful of their homes and families and they all knew that Joey wanted to take something home for his mother.
"Why a cup? "They asked. Mostly they had taken bangles home or small coins threaded onto chains..?Decorative metal objects rather than something as homely as a cup.
Joey tried to explain......"I will polish it" he said "Till it gleams bright and then I will fill it with wine...red wine and give it to my mother so that she will always have it. "
One of the boys started to protest that the red wine would be soon drunk but the others hushed him. Joey was sitting transfixed by the thought of the cup.
"The red wine will be my blood. Bread will be my body.....she will eat and drink in remembrance of me. It will be a comfort to her, for always."
The group of men remained silent...And then someone got up to tend the fire....the moment passed but Uncle Joe remembered. He was right. There was something very special about this boy.
The very next day, under Joe's watchful eye the two ores were placed into the by now deep hole...the temperature in the hole was immense, enough to melt the tin and the copper together... When they were brought out the two were mixed....Not evenly but the tin and copper could be seen together as they tried to beat it into bars.
It had to go back again and again before Joey was satisfied that they had mixed it properly....and that it would not look freckled once shaped!
Sixteen
He was busy doing other things most of the time....the small settlement had to be maintained, the men fed, clothed and in good spirits....this became harder as the days shortened dramatically....the hours of darkness were now greater than those of light and the effect was depressing. They had never been used to the darkness and the cold. On all of their travels they would have sailed for home long before winter set in.
One of the men, Simon who had been working at the local settlement came with a strange invitation....it was to a party he said, a great party!
Joe looked worried. "What sort of a party? "
It's something they do every year.....they have a name for it.....Satter something...."
"Saturnalia." said Joe...."I've heard of it.....the Romans have the same thing......it's pagan....we can't go".
The men looked disappointed. A good party was just what they needed right now.
"It's not the same," the man insisted. "They have no links with Rome....they've never met a Roman or know anything about them! "
Joe hesitated. He looked at his nephew.....Joey was interested....
"They don't worship any Gods at this party?" He asked...."It's not a religious ceremony?"
The man shuffled about , he wanted to go....there was a young lady there he hoped to know better in the future!
"It's not God" he said "Not a lot of Gods.....I think it's just one......I think it might be the sun....they think the suns a God!"
The men had heard this more than once. It was entirely logical to worship the great globe in the sky in the absence of any other God.
"You can't blame them, they have never heard of Jehovah! "
"Find out" said Joey slowly, "Find out if they make any sacrifices on this occasion....we need to know that.....but if not then I think we can go...."
The men tried to find out more as the weeks brought them closer to the winter solstice.
It was natural that man would want the light to start coming back, the crops to grow, the beasts to give birth...everything in life depended on the sun...and the changing seasons.
There was no sacrifice as such the man reported back. A sheep was killed but then it was roasted and shared by the village...
"A bit like the way we celebrate the Passover" said Joey..." Let's join in!
They did. The ceremony included some chanting and singing but nothing they felt uncomfortable with....it simply exhorted the sun to return soon, to bring life and growth back into the world.
Joey liked it....it was simple, unlike some complicated occasions they had observed on previous journeys and there was beauty in its simplicity.
They all felt the surge of joy as they asked God to look after them by sending his light to shine upon them..
Joey talked as they walked home, full of roast lamb and good fellowship!
"It's not so far from us...We have Jehovah. They have the sun....one God. One God, that's the important thing....one God with different names.... It doesn't matter what we call him, our great father, he still takes care of us and loves us as we keep his commandments. One God, to be thankful for and to love as we do his will..."
All the men listened quietly....how had this boy become so wise?
They had all enjoyed the party but knew deep down that it had also been a religious occasion shared with people who were described as pagans but who had souls the same as them and who worshipped one God and if it was true that there really was only one God then their God was the same God...so life was good and they fell asleep thanking their God and also the God of this place who was looking over them.
Seventeen
&n
bsp; After the great winter solstice the weather became even colder....whenever they left the shelter of the creek the wind tore at their limbs and caught in their throats. One of the men started to cough and within a week he felt hot to the touch and was clearly very weak.
They made him hot drinks flavoured with herbs found on the banks of the creek and some soup made from seeds and the root of the pungent lily plants growing in the winter sunshine. The man grew steadily weaker.
After a day when he had coughed and coughed the men watched him as he sank closer into his bedding. They feared for him.
Joey, who had been visiting his friends across the estuary came in to find all the men sitting in the cold , shaking their heads.....
"He's going" they said softly. They had seen it before, the man was taking no strength from his food or drink and had got thinner and weaker day by day.
Joey went to look at the man.
"How are you ? ". He asked gently
The man shook his head....."I shall not see my wife again Joey. You must tell her I love her and that I'm sorry."
Joey looked at him carefully...surely something could be done?
"Where will I find her?" he asked.
"We live by the lake. With our boys, two sons. They are good lads. About your age...good fishermen, they will come out with us one day I thought" he stopped to cough...
Joey watched him...." I will see them" he said, "But so will you. Hold my hand"
He held put out his hand and the man took it in his icy one. Joey sent his warmth into him, slowly and carefully. "Feel it? " he asked. "My life, take my life now along with
