by Jack L Knapp
Starvation, attacks by predators, flood, maybe even find ourselves surrounded by icefields from advancing glaciers; on Darwin’s World, the interesting times just kept coming.
Chapter 31
We continued the discussion about leaving the cabin, even did some preliminary planning of the “what if” and “then what” kind.
There was little we needed to do outside; food and firewood were close to the door and the weather was such that we went out only when driven by necessity. The deeper cold that had settled in after the last storm was dangerous; even taking care of sanitary necessities was a serious matter.
It felt strange, not having a chore that had to be done before I was finished for the day! People in the cabin opened up more about feelings and opinions and there was considerable discussion about Robert’s tribe. We became positively chatty, so unlike what life had been during the summer. We’d had little opportunity for conversation, often working apart from the others, and anyway trying to hold a conversation outdoors was dangerous. By the time we returned in the evening, there was always work to be done before we were ready for bed and we were too tired to talk. Summer and fall had been our silent seasons.
Laz and Cindy now shared what they knew of Robert’s tribe. Millie, Sandra and Lilia were looking forward to meeting the other women; as for me, I knew Robert, but that didn’t mean a lot. I needed to know more about the other people in his tribe.
Finally, the weather warmed slightly. The temperature was still below freezing, but not the killing cold of the week before. The snow showed no signs of melting, even though we’d had sunshine for the past few days.
It was time to see Robert’s tribe for myself. I took Laz along; he knew the people and could advise me while I formed my own opinions. It would also give him time to visit his extended family.
#
There was a crust of ice on the snow that made walking without snowshoes difficult, so we strapped them on for the trip. As a result, we no longer slipped as much, but the ice caused the leather cross-lacings to wear. We would need to rebuild the snowshoes when we got back to the cabin.
Still, walking was pleasant and it felt good to get outdoors. Cabin fever? Not yet, but we had all become restive while we’d been forced to stay inside. The increased conversation was a symptom, but I would begin to worry when people stopped talking to each other.
We reached Robert’s camp late that afternoon, although it was more small village than camp. No two of the habitations were alike, even though they shared features.
The houses followed two general plans, a log house and a kind made with stacked sod walls; both had steep roofs of layered plant material. The roofs were similar to downtime thatch, but differed because of the local materials that builders had used.
According to Robert, the sod houses had been built by the people from southern France, while the log variety had been built by the eastern-Europeans. This small village clearly represented a considerable investment in time and labor, but I could see why they’d decided to leave. If the melting snow flooded the surrounding area, the houses in this small valley would be underwater. Despite their greater numbers, Robert’s people were as endangered as we were.
We gathered around a campfire that evening.
“Matt, why don’t you tell us what you’re thinking.”
“All right. We have to move; the cabin is a trap waiting to be sprung. Any extended siege, by people or even by animals, will leave us with a choice of coming out and fighting or starving to death.
“We don’t have enough storage room to stock food and water enough to last more than a few days. Even if we built an additional room on for storage, we would still need to enclose the spring. We’d also need a better solution for our sanitation needs.
“The lean-to helps, but it has limited room because of the steep slant of the roof. Space where the roof meets the ground is wasted.
“And I don’t like the idea of putting a privy close to the spring that provides our drinking water. It’s bad enough taking care of our needs away from the cabin, but those are widespread instances and natural processes soon break down the small amount of waste. Using a privy, an outhouse, means that natural breakdown will be slowed and the wastes will be concentrated.
“It’s not as if we were using local groundwater from a well; a spring is the outlet for water that flows underground until it reaches the surface. That spring’s water originates in the mountains farther north, so it’s more pure than anything local, but anyway, I don’t want to take chances with our water.
“There are other considerations, too. The mine employs a collection of guards that are essentially lawless. The mine operators can bribe them with metal weapons and food, but we can’t. Sooner or later they’ll come for us again. They might catch us by surprise next time, and there will probably be more than we’ve faced so far. Even if they don’t attack, we’ll still have to guard against the possibility. That takes people away from work and the work must get done.
“Meantime, we’ve used up a lot of local resources. There are fewer game animals and plants around. Without agriculture, which we haven’t been able to attempt, we have no choice but to keep moving. We’re nomads by necessity until we find a place where we can farm and keep animals. That means ranching or herding, efficient only with domesticated livestock, so domestication also has to be developed if we’re to settle in one place.
“Even after we begin doing those things, we’ll have to continue hunting and gathering until the agriculture develops enough to supply our needs. Our ancestors did it but it took them centuries. Even with our knowledge, it won’t happen immediately.
“We’ll have to selectively breed plants and animals both. We can make the next generation better, but we can’t hurry how much time a generation takes. It’s also going to take manpower, and if people are experimenting they’re not hunting or planting.
“All this snow bothers me, too. I don’t know if it will melt this year. It’s a little warmer now, but this might still be the start of a new period of glacier expansion. Even if it’s not, when the snow melts the water has to go somewhere. The stream’s not big enough, so we’ll have flooding. We’ve got to leave before that happens.
“Downtime, the area west of here had mountains, caves and fertile river valleys. There was also a lot of game. The first humans to move in there lived on bison and mammoths until they’d established farms. We can too.
“Those early people were called Clovis and Folsom after the towns where we found flaked points. Those places are both in New Mexico, a part of the USA. After scientists started looking, they found evidence in other locations too. There weren’t many people there at the time, but it appears they lived well.”
The first question came from a man named Philippe. “I know little of this land. What direction should we go?”
“There are huge rivers farther east, and if the glaciers are advancing again, they won’t leave us much room to the north. The ocean, an arm of it called the Gulf, was south of here, so that leaves west.
“I think we should go south for a few days first, then turn more to the west. We’ll have to adjust our direction of travel occasionally, but my group will be traveling southwest. That keeps us away from the mine and its guards, as well as taking us to where the climate is warmer, an area that was dryer than here but not desert. The American Southwest didn’t become that dry until long after the ice age.”
“How long do we have?” A man named Anton asked this one.
“Less than a month, probably about two weeks if the weather cooperates. I originally intended to go shortly after green-up. The snow will be gone, the grass will sprout, and the animals will come back. But we can’t wait that long or we’ll run out of food.
“Something else to consider, there are big rivers west of here. We can cross a lot easier before the spring thaw. By heading southwest, we’ll soon be into the area where the bison are wintering, so we’ll find game. They can’t go too far south, too
many rivers and canyons, and then there’s the Gulf.
“We won’t be able to cross the rivers after the snow melts. Flooded rivers are incredibly difficult and dangerous, so we’d be stuck, waiting until the water went down.”
“How do you plan on transporting all our gear? And what about shelter? And predators?”
“We’ll be using sleds, they can carry a lot of weight over snow. We’ll pull three two-person sleds and that will leave one of us free to scout ahead. Knowing what’s in front can save a lot of work, and we won’t need to backtrack as far if we find a swamp or a river ahead of us. I can show you how to build your own sleds.
“As for shelter, there are several things we can do. We lived in a snow house, and if you’ve got furs and a small lamp it’s not bad at all. We’ve also built a large lean-to. There’s no reason we can’t put two lean-to’s together, facing each other, and have a shelter for eight or ten people. I imagine you have ideas too.
“As for predators, they’ll be where the game is. We need the game so we’ll have to face them. I doubt they’ll range ahead of the game herds, so until the herds come north, we should be safe enough.”
“Who will lead this trek? Do you intend to be our captain?” This came from a stocky man near the back of the group. I glanced at Robert and he mouthed “Pavel”.
I showed no sign that I’d ever heard of him.
“I took care of myself until I met the others. They now ask me what I think, but I don’t give orders. I expect to be responsible for my group of seven, but as to whether we join into one group, my people aren’t ready to accept a different person in overall charge. Robert suggested he captain the camp, I take charge during movement.
“But whatever is decided, we can probably travel together, help each other. It may be that after we get to know each other better, we might become more unified. But not yet. Instead, I suggest that my group go first and the rest of you follow. We’re experienced hunters, we’ve faced dangerous animals and survived. If we find game animals, we have a better chance of adding them to the food supply.
“You are free to hunt as you wish, of course, but these are the ideas that we’ve discussed among ourselves.
“It may be that you will decide to go your own way. If so, we will help as much as we can while you get ready to travel, but when the time seems right we’ll head out on our own.
“If the majority of you want to do what I’ve outlined, I’ll do my best to keep you alive as long as we’re together. I have a considerable amount of experience, some of it from my original timeline, some that I acquired here. But you can select your own captain, let him or her be responsible for your group and we’ll be responsible for ourselves.
I wasn’t going to demand that Robert’s group follow me. No indeed; I wasn’t running for office. You can’t lead unless people want to follow.
On the trail…well, I would take care of my own people first and hope for the best.
“I came to talk to Robert and meet the rest of you. If you decide you want our help, send someone to our camp within a week. We’ll be getting ready to move by then and we may leave anytime after that.
“If I have time, I’ll help you as much as possible. Lee will help too, he’s a good hunter and he’s familiar with weapons. I think he might teach you a few things about using your bows and spears. Some of you have them now, but we’ve had them longer.”
Most of the people were thoughtful, very few of them looking at Pavel. If anything, they were avoiding his gaze. He didn’t look happy, but then he hadn’t looked happy before.
Pavel finally spoke up. “What do you know about living in the cold? Can you predict when the snow will fall? Do you know the best way to prevent the cold from killing? My people have been doing this for centuries. The cold has often been our friend and our defense!”
I looked at him for a moment. “We’re alive. We’ve been eating bison and stag-moose. We’ve been attacked by big cats, a giant bear, a pack of dire wolves, and dangerous people. We’ve kept ourselves alive, warm, and well fed.
“We’re alive. Hunting the animals I mentioned is dangerous, but we did it and now we’re using their skins and furs to keep warm. We’ve survived cold, predators, and hunting out on the open plains. The men who attacked us are dead and we’re using their sword blades for spear points.
“But the choice is yours. I’ve told you what we intend to do, so now you have to decide for yourselves.”
He looked like he wanted to argue, but I’d said all I intended to say. He could stay or go, and if he wanted to lead that was fine with me, but my group wouldn’t follow him.
Laz got a chance to visit briefly with his family and renew acquaintances, but I cut the visit short. The division in the tribe, in fact the whole Pavel situation, bothered me.
We left early the next morning. Robert could let me know what his tribe decided.
#
Getting back to the cabin was coming home. Dark and smelly as it was, it had become a familiar place, comfortable, even though we couldn’t stay. We got in late and were soon asleep.
The next morning I explained what had happened.
“We might have problems with Pavel and his group. The rest of Robert’s tribe may also decide to go their own way. I told them we didn’t intend a full merge but would travel with them as our own group. If they wanted to work with us I would welcome that, but if they choose not to, so be it.”
“I think that’s best, Matt. Let’s see how we do after we’ve been on the trail for a few days. I won’t trust them like I do the rest of you until I’ve seen how they stand up to danger. Lee and I are glad we joined the three of you, and Laz and Cindy are now part of us too. Whatever we are, family or tribe, we’ve provided for ourselves. We still can.”
Lilia was quite emphatic as she spoke. Lee was nodding. In moments, I saw that the others were also nodding, and smiling.
So we had an agreement among ourselves. It was up to Robert now.
Chapter 32
Philippe and Marc, two men from Robert’s tribe, showed up five days later. It was already late, so we got them warmed and fed before preparing places in the cabin for them to sleep. The rest of us moved our beds closer together to make room.
“You’re trek captain, Matt. Robert wanted us to ask how soon you could begin working with our people to get us ready to leave?”
“We can start tomorrow, Marc. Laz, I’d like you and Lee to go back with Marc and Philippe. I’ll follow as soon as I’ve taken care of a few things here.
“Philippe, how many of the tribe have weapons? Have they used them much? What about small children? How many are there, and how small are they? We’ll have to take their needs into account. Are there any pregnant women who might deliver within two or three months?”
They gave me the information I wanted. What Philippe didn’t know, Marc did.
It would have been nice if everyone in the tribe already had good weapons, but no; weapons were hit-or-miss and some of the ‘spears’ still had wooden points. As for having used the weapons, few had ever done that. Most of the men at least had spears, although only a few had steel blades. Some had bows and a few arrows, but they were barely trained and the bows were not powerful enough. Robert’s assessment of his tribe’s capabilities had been optimistic.
I had my heavy bow, Lee and Laz also stronger ones than they’d had before, but that was it; I couldn’t depend on Robert’s people. Lee or I would need to see what they could do, and I’d have to spent time making weapons and teaching others to make their own.
We would have to make heavier bows and give Robert’s men as much time to practice as we could. Heavier bows need heavier arrows too, so someone would have to make those. There wouldn’t be a lot of time to get them equipped and trained. The men’s lighter bows could at least be passed on to the women s.
There were no women in late pregnancy, but there were three young children. The trip would be hard on them, no question. They would have to ride on the sled
s during the day and someone would have to be responsible for them at night. Were they even eating solid food yet? Lilia could check on that.
No one mentioned what hoops Robert had jumped through before his tribe agreed to make me trek captain; neither Philippe nor Marc knew what the final vote had been.
Pavel had likely not approved. He was going to be trouble, sooner or later. He had a small group of followers, which made the problem worse.
It meant that I would be leading a loose collection of three separate groups. Whether they would cooperate with each other remained to be seen. People would get used to working together after a couple of weeks, but I was going to be a busy man for a while!
Pavel and as many of his followers as possible would work with the scout and security crew. If we kept them busy and separated from the others, they might be too tired to cause trouble at night. Maybe even give Pavel some responsibility and see how he handled it? Meantime, putting Pavel out front might just solve the problem, particularly after we began to encounter large animals.
Meanwhile, he would work with Lee or Robert, and if that wasn’t possible, we’d put him with people that Robert trusted.
I gave Lee a private briefing before he left.
“Watch out for Pavel. Put him to work if you can, but don’t take any back talk. If you have problems, get Robert involved if you have time. But you’re in charge of security, so you’re third in command. I’ll back whatever decisions you make.
“Pavel can make arrows or build sleds until we’re ready to leave. I intend to put him to doing something every day to keep him out of mischief and I’ll try to keep him separated from his little gang. Make the easterners mix with the others and work for the tribe.”
Lee nodded, understanding.
The next morning Laz and Lee loaded a small sled, then joined Marc and Philippe when they left for Robert’s village.
I salvaged as many of the remaining steel blades as I could, then attached them to the last of my spear blanks. Some of them were bent and dented, scheduled for return to wherever the mine operators had gotten them, and Robert had included them in the scrap steel he’d given me. I was able to straighten them and pound out the worst of the dents, and sharpening with the file and a stone did much to repair the remaining damage.
