John and Argent by cmsix

Chapter 55

The view of Grotondo's camp showed a few women just outside the cave's mouth but they seemed to be heading off and from the looks of the group I thought that they were probably about to go gathering. No men were in sight.

I went back to the thumbnails and worked my way up the tributary that ran in the canyon that Grotondo's little stream emptied into. I glanced at the thumbs looking for something moving. The first motion I spotted turned out to be six megaceros moving down the canyon grazing as they went and I didn't see anything else of interest for nearly ten minutes.

I clicked on the next thumb that seemed to have movement and found something interesting. I had found Grotondo and his bunch. They were in a different camp and this one used huts for shelter instead of a cave. The huts were mostly built of trees, large bones, mammoth tusk and a few hides for coverings. They seemed well kept and the camp was rather larger than Grotondo's. It was well back from the small river and in a wide spot of the canyon; similar to the place we gathered hay.

I resisted the temptation to listen with the audio feed and was content to watch. Grotondo and another man who I assumed was Kartoto were sitting on a large fallen tree trunk. Other men were near and they all appeared to be eating. The scene reminded me of the one Grotondo and I had played when I ate a meal with him in his camp before we began trading. Soon enough they finished their meal and some women appeared from the huts to fetch the utensils. They brought Grotondo and Kartoto large wooden cups with some type of something to drink. They didn't bring cups to the others and as soon as the women were gone Kartoto spoke to the men and they all left he and Grotondo alone.

I assumed that they had been dismissed so that the trading could begin in earnest. I saw that there were several skin bundles near the place Grotondo was sitting and it didn't take much to figure out that they were filled with salt. I was starting to enjoy trying to determine what was going on without listening. Kartoto and Grotondo talked among themselves for a few minutes after the other men left them and then Kartoto turned his head and seemed to be yelling toward one of the huts.

A woman, probably Kartoto's mate, came out and approached them; Kartoto spoke to her for a minute and then she left. She went to a different hut, went inside for a couple of minutes then came out, going to yet another hut. She visited four huts in all and at the last one she waited until a woman came out.

They retraced Kartoto's mate's path to the next to last hut she had entered and at this hut a woman came out with a child in her arms. The child looked like it might be old enough to walk but it surely wasn't old enough to keep up with the women. The three women now made their way to the second hut where they were joined by another woman and her child; this child was even younger than the other one. The group went now to the first hut that Kartoto's mate had visited and its occupant came out to join them with two children that were even smaller. She carried one on each hip and when she was out of her hut Kartoto's mate took one of the babies to help with the carrying.

The last woman's children were obviously twins. I was sure that they probably couldn't walk at all. If this was the woman Argent had mentioned, I knew that her children were nearly two years old and they seemed smaller to me than they should have been.

Reconsidering, I realized that they didn't have to be two yet since argent had said the women's fertility had been stopped two years ago. If she was one of the last to get pregnant they could be as young as fifteen or sixteen months. Being twins, their birth weights were probably lower than the normal children and this would make them seem even younger. To me they looked like they were no more than a year old.

All the women went toward Kartoto and Grotondo then and stopped a few feet before they reached them. Kartoto's mate handed the last woman her other baby back and walked off toward the huts. The four women were lined up before Kartoto and Grotondo as if for examination. I assumed it was a repeat of the show of wares that Grotondo had given me that first time.

Grotondo seemed to look the women over more carefully than I had but after a few minutes he spoke with Kartoto and then the women were dismissed and they went back to their respective huts.

Kartoto's mate had resumed her tasks while the inspections had been going on and had gone to two large huts near the back of the camp. Younger girls were now appearing out of these huts and I could tell that they seemed a little excited about the whole thing. Kartoto's mate spoke to them and they headed up toward Kartoto and Grotondo but Kartoto's mate didn't go with them. She began visiting some of the smaller huts that were probably single-family dwellings. I assumed that the two large huts were for the unmated women.

I was surprised since there were ten unmated women now headed toward Kartoto and Grotondo. When they arrived they lined up as the other women had but they were a little more enthusiastic about it. They seemed to be doing as Margeeta had, putting their best foot forward. I wondered then why the older women hadn't and guessed that they assumed that they would not be traded for and that their appearance was just a formality.

Grotondo took much more time this go round; there were more women to examine after all. He took so long that before he was done Kartoto's mate had already dispatched the group of girls that she had rounded up. There were twelve of them in all and they were waiting in a group away from the line up. Time passed soon enough and Grotondo said something to Kartoto and he spoke to the unmated women and they went back toward their dwellings. The girls lined up then, trying to look serious but their youthful exuberance betrayed that they thought this was something of a joke. They settled down as they noticed that Grotondo was studying them even more carefully than he had the unmated women.

Soon enough they were dismissed too. Kartoto and Grotondo began talking in earnest now and I felt that the most interesting show was probably over. Kartoto's mate came to them with two more cups of drink about an hour later but Kartoto and Grotondo continued their bargaining.

This was why I would never be good at bargaining. I couldn't put up with all the fucking around that went with it. Grotondo was going to spend at least a few more hours trying to get a lower price for the women and all the while Kartoto would be trying to get more for them. The hell of it was that Grotondo already knew that no matter how much salt he had to use for trading, he still had plenty more and Kartoto knew that he would be better off if he just sent the women off with Grotondo no matter if he got something in return or not.

I guess this was the crux of the drawn out dealing. Grotondo knew that Kartoto had no use for the women. There were many more women than men to mate them and apparently one woman each was more than plenty for the Neanderthals. Custom brought many of their problems on them in this regard. They didn't bother to teach their women to hunt. They didn't have a taboo against it or anything but they just didn't make it seem important to the women. I guessed that most of this had to do with the fact that they didn't throw their spears usually; they tried other tactics that let them get close enough to jab the spears directly into their prey.

I was tired of the trading movie already. I went back to the thumbs to check out a few other places. At Raalto's old camp, the one we had gotten so much trouble from, all the huts were still gone and I didn't have a single idea about where they were or who had taken them. Barbo's and Jara's camp was still gone too; of course I hadn't expected any of the huts to return but the site kept drawing me back because it seemed so odd that it was just gone.

Looking over Caato's former camp showed me that the four couples were still hanging in there. I felt that they were going to starve this winter. I didn't know why they were so set on staying and Georgo had told me that they didn't really give him a good reason; they just refused to consider leaving the camp. At the moment they were skinning a small bison that they must have killed this morning. It was a very small one, as it had to be for them to bring it to camp to skin and butcher.

Clicking on the view into my own cave I saw that my mates were about to announce a little feeding of the faithful. I closed the video and got up. One thing that I never wanted to be late for was lunch.

I got a head start on the others of course but my helpers came in soon after I got my first bite. Barago was quick to sing the praises of Sarboto.

"I couldn't believe it John, we had no sooner explained the cross cut saw to him than he was the master of it. With his powerful upper body and strong arms he can wear out three men on the other end and he doesn't ride the saw either. In fact if the others do ride it he doesn't care. He told me that it made the cutting go faster if they did put a little weight on it as he made his pull." Barago said.

"Well he's right about that but it makes it a lot harder on the one that is pulling with the extra drag."

"I know but it doesn't bother him at all and you wouldn't believe how much weight he can move alone. After he and a partner cut off a rotten section at the base of one of the deadfalls, he moved it out of the way himself. It was rotten and hollow most of the way through but it was nearly twenty feet long and probably thirty inches in diameter. He didn't lift it but he did push it out of the way and I'm sure that it would have taken three of our men to move it. I pushed against it later and couldn't even move it at all." Barago raved on about his new prodigy of logging.

"I guess you won't mind if he ends up staying here with us instead of going back to his camp then."

"Mind, I was thinking of begging him to stay." Barago said.

"Unless he doesn't like it here he will be staying with us."

"Maybe we should make it a point to give him the first chance to ask one of the unmated women from his old camp to be his mate then. He will need a mate here if he stays and it seems only right that he should get the first opportunity." Barago said and normally I would have agreed.

"Sarboto does not care for women, that is why he is here. It was an embarrassment to Grotondo even though I told him it shouldn't be. Grotondo was elated that we would take him in and to tell the truth I was glad he was coming here. What you tell me only proves to me that I was right."

"You are more than right. I have not known many men like that but the ones I have known all seem to be some of the best men and hardest workers, as if they had something to prove. I'm sure that Grotondo knows how to lead his people but it seems that he is mistaken in this regard." Barago said.

Since Sarboto came inside to eat then we ended our discussion of him. He seemed a little shy about where to sit but when Barago noticed it he called him over to join us. Sarboto took a seat but he didn't talk with us during the meal, he concentrated on eating. I'm sure that his cultural training was part of it but I also thought his natural shyness contributed.

Since Barago had already raved about Sarboto's strength I couldn't help looking him over. He was noticeably more muscular in the upper body than even Brundolo and I was sure that Brundolo was physically stronger than any man in my camp even though he was still young.

When Brundolo sat down beside Sarboto and started eating I could tell already that our custom of having a little conversation during our meals had begun to rub off on him. He wasn't shy about telling us what he was learning by leading the horses upriver towing the logs.

When Racaato came in I wondered what he had been up to and so I asked him.

"I've been down near the logging but I was hunting farther back in the woods from it. It was a wasted morning as far as finding game though I did see very much sign. All the commotion from the work has probably made the forest animals move off." He said.

"What would you think about going up on the plateau with me this afternoon and trying to get a few bison?"

"I'm sure it will be more profitable than hunting in the woods where I was this morning. I thought that we had plenty of bison already though." He said.

"Well we do have for our camp but I promised Grotondo ten bison for his help in the trading and I thought we might get a couple for the people that are in Caato's old camp. The snow is not far off now and I'm afraid that they are going to have a hard time this winter."

"You are probably right about that and since we have plenty and an easy way to carry game I don't see any reason not to try and help them. If we take both of the bigger wagons we can put two or maybe three bison in the smaller wagon and five or six in the larger one. Since we aren't going to keep them ourselves we won't need to gut or skin them will we?" He asked.

"No, we won't. Let's count on going to see if we can get some after we finish eating."

I noticed that even though he remained silent, Sarboto was clearly amazed that we were talking about getting so many bison in one afternoon of hunting. I got Barago off to himself after the meal was over and told him I wanted to take Sarboto hunting with us. He agreed though he would surely miss his star lumberjack.

I called Sarboto to me then and told them that I was hoping he would stay in our camp and that Grotondo had told me that it was all right with him.

"Grotondo told me also that I could stay with your camp if I wanted to. At first I was upset since it seemed that he was sending me away. I was glad about it an hour after I got here though. I have never seen such wonderful things as you have here and I can hardly believe that I have been asked to eat at the table with this camp's leader and all his best helpers. I feel honored to be here and if you will have me I do intend to stay." He said.

"That is good Sarboto and I am glad about it too. We would like for you to go with us for the hunt this afternoon and I couldn't allow it if you were not going to stay. You will see how we hunt today and it is something that you should never tell anyone."

"I will do as you ask of course. I will be glad to go on the hunt and I will tell no one." He promised.

"Not even Grotondo?"

"As far as I am concerned you are my leader now. You have taken me in when Grotondo obviously did not want me. I owe my loyalty to you now and I will never forget it." He told me and I knew that he was deadly serious.

I asked Nadlo to stay with the logging this afternoon to make sure that nothing went wrong with the horses and Brundolo would be with him too so that he could continue his learning about them. Danlo, Jonoco, Sahto and Talvo were going to take care of the wagons for the hunt and Bigglieo would be coming also.

All of them brought their M1s but I was sure that Racaato would be able to get all the game we needed.

When we had pulled the wagons out onto the plateau we saw that we had a slight dilemma. The bison were no more than a mile off and that wasn't the problem. There was a very large rhino, alone, grazing between the bison and us. We decided to see if we could just pass by him unnoticed. Rhino's were strange since sometimes they ignored almost everything and at other times they would become angry with even the slightest movement and whatever was causing it.

This was one of those angry times. The rhino noticed our movement and turned toward us. I wasn't all that familiar with them but Racaato was and he assured me that the rhino would be over to fuck with us soon. I told him to drop the rhino and that we would load him into the big wagon. He did it and got a clean kill with one shot but he suggested that we put the rhino into the smaller wagon and send it back to camp. Others in camp could clean and butcher it and the wagon could come back right away to get some of the bison.

That is what we did and while Jonoco and Talvo went back to camp with the rhino's carcass we moved closer to the bison for our main hunt. The wind was in our faces and the bison noticed us but I think they assumed that it was only some horses grazing or moving. We moved to within three hundred yards of them and then Racaato took a prone position on a small rise while I watched for predators.

I was scanning the periphery of the massive bison herd when Racaato began firing. I glanced to see which animals he was taking and noticed that they were mostly younger bulls. This was a good time of the year to be hunting the bison since they were fattened up considerably from their summer grazing and after the first heavy snows they would be on their decline for the winter months. Racaato took seven of the young bulls and quit. He came back to the wagon and climbed aboard.

Bigglieo drove us to the nearest of the kills and we used the tower to pull it into the wagon and then moved on to the next. Jonoco was back with the smaller wagon, my original one, before we had finished loading the five kills into the big wagon. We were able to get five bison into the big wagon but without the amazing strength of Sarboto the last one would have been a real challenge for us. There was no problem with getting the two animals into the other wagon and we could have probably managed to load another one if we'd taken one more but we hadn't. Two bison would probably be the limit for the eight residents of Caato's former camp to handle at one time anyway. We didn't tarry on the plateau.

Bigglieo went with Jonoco and Talvo to take the two bison to Caato's old camp for the new occupants. Danlo, Racaato, Sarboto, Sahto and I stopped at my cave for a few minutes before heading to Grotondo's camp. I went into my office to check the video while my mates fixed us some tea for a short break. Ice tea had been a welcome addition to their talents and one of these days I was going to have to give Frank a personal thank you for all the little things he had taught my mates to do for me.

Grotondo and his men weren't at the other camp any longer and I was a little surprised to see that the two Neanderthal leaders had apparently been able to close a deal after all. I checked the thumbs back toward Grotondo's camp and found the travelers nearly to the turnoff leading back into their cul-de-sac. I took a tally of the women in the group and saw that he had indeed traded for a lot of women. He had all four of the widows, all ten of the unmated women and more surprising he had all twelve of the young girls that weren't women yet but hopefully would be women soon. Hell, he even had three girls that seemed maybe a year younger and whom I doubted would be women by next year. No matter, it was what I told him I wanted and he had come through in a big way. I also noted that his men were carrying two of the salt bundles back with them.

I shut it off and went back out into my cave. Everyone was drinking their iced tea and Jaada was there with a big glass of it for me. The tea hadn't been much of a hit with others in my camp at first and it had taken me a few days to understand why. Since I was an oddball about it and preferred unsweetened tea that is what Frank taught my mates to make. After I decided that the others would probably like good old southern style sweet tea I asked Frank to tell them how to make it that way also.

Frank provided plenty of sugar and he taught them to sweeten the tea with it before it was allowed to cool so it could be served over ice. With this change the tea's popularity soared and most of my people looked upon it as a special treat whenever it was made. Just like good old boys they would drink it by the gallon if they could get my mates to make it. I still got the unsweetened variety for myself but I was the only one in camp that liked it that way.

I noticed Sarboto with his tea and of course it was a novelty for him. I walked over to him and asked how he liked it and he couldn't do anything but smile and say that it was one more wonderful thing about my camp.

"It is very good John but it is nothing compared to what I saw this morning. I still do not understand how the rhino and the bison were killed but it was like magic. Now I know why you did not mind going up on the plateau near my former camp alone to kill the aurochs." He said.

We drank our tea and headed for the wagons. My mates wanted to know if they should come too and I asked them to wait until tomorrow and go when we went to pick up the other new arrivals. They wanted to ask a few hundred more questions I'm sure but I put them off by telling them that we needed to get the bison to Grotondo and get headed back quickly so that we wouldn't be out too long in the dark. This got them to let us go without more talk.

Danlo, Sarboto, Racaato, Raalto, Sahto and I piled into the wagon and headed that way. We'd brought one of the big lights with us and the night vision goggles. I decided that I should get Argent to send me another couple of pairs of the goggles the next time I thought of it.

The trip in the big wagon wasn't as quick as the one that Danlo had made in Georgo's buckboard but we did at least arrive before sunset. Grotondo was flummoxed with the bison delivery and he wanted to take me into the cave to inspect the women he had procured for me. I begged off explaining that I could see them in the morning when we came to pick them up and that we needed to head back as soon as possible. He had thought we would stay the night in his camp but I assured him we could travel safely enough at night in the wagon. We unloaded the bison and left it to them. I knew that there would be some big fires outside tonight for light so that they could see what they were doing as the took care of their meat.

By the time we got home we were a little tired. I hadn't done much of anything during the morning but had been busy since eating my lunch. My mates had some food ready for us when we got back but the table seemed deserted since everyone but those that had gone to Grotondo's camp had already eaten.

After we finished eating everyone went to their own quarters and my mates took me into the bathroom, put me in one of the smaller tubs and pampered me for nearly an hour; helping me relax and making sure that I didn't have to do anything while they washed me and then dried me and put me to bed. They even let me go right to sleep telling me that I would surely need my strength tomorrow to bring all the new women back and to choose one of those with children for a new mate.

"How do you know that he was able to obtain the women with children?"

"We know that you wouldn't have mentioned it and brought our hopes up if it weren't going to come about." Jaada told me.

"You are right Jaada, I would still be out looking if Grotondo hadn't delivered. I would feel bad if I disappointed any of my mates." I told her.

Hell it was easy to be magnanimous when I knew that the deed was done already.

I felt great when I woke the next morning. Margeeta had her ass pushed back to my dick and I looked over my shoulder to see that Yareela's titties were the ones pressing into my back. When I stirred they did and we all got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. I introduced them to the benefits of a shower and showed them how to rub their soapy breasts over me to make sure I got clean. Then I demonstrated the proper way for a man to wash his women with soapy hands and lots of teasing.

When we were dressed we went out to the kitchen and I sat at the table. Geera was naked and had a coffee mug in hand as I took a seat. She set it down, sat on my lap and began some serious kissing.

"I am hoping that you were telling the truth and that I will soon be carrying a baby for you John." She said when she let up on the kiss.

"I was telling the truth; I don't know when it will get started but I do know that it will be on the way before this time next year. You will see, it won't be long before you are rushing to the bathroom in the mornings with an upset stomach."

"I wouldn't mind it but Gema never upset my stomach in the mornings. I knew early that she was coming though, my breasts got very sensitive and for some reason it made me anxious to be taken often." She said.

"Then I am hoping it starts soon also." I told her as I petted her pussy and tweaked her clit.

I took a sip of my coffee and then turned back to kissing her and began playing with her titties, checking to make sure that they hadn't begun to be extra sensitive already. The nipples hardened at once whether she was pregnant or not. When her hips began squirming in my lap I put my hand in her bush and pressed a finger up into her, starting a deliberate finger fucking with a few clit teases thrown in. Geera tried to complain that everyone could see us but I knew that it was just for style points. I had her hips bucking and her mouth moaning as I whispered in her ear that I didn't care who saw me playing with my women.

After I got her off she left for the bathroom and I started in on my coffee for real. I knew from experience that there were lots of worse ways to start the day and if my life got much better I was going to start calling Argent and company 'the spirits' for real.

Breakfast was on soon after that and we had nearly a full house from the start. Everyone that knew we were off to fetch more women was excited about it and the excitement seemed to carry over to the others even if they didn't know what it was all about. I noticed this morning that Daaggo and Sarboto were sitting next to each other and I wondered if they were getting along or if they just happened to end up in proximity. Time would tell me.

Danlo and his crew had the teams hitched to the wagons and the horses saddled not long after breakfast. My mates were wearing their chain mail again and I had expected it. I was a little worried that we would be tight for room on the way back so I'd had all the horses that were accustomed to carrying riders saddled and before we set off I had Danlo get Georgo's buckboard ready to go too. I even tracked down Georgo and asked him to drive it for us. We didn't really need him but I thought that he should at least show up in their camp and make a short visit with Grotondo.

Soon enough we were headed that way and with empty wagons it was a quick trip. Only a few women were outside when we arrived and as usual they all went back into the cave as soon as they saw us coming. Grotondo was out to greet us before we stopped.

"I am glad to see you John but how did you know that I had already done the trading for you?"

"You told me last night when I brought the bison, have you forgotten the five bison already?" I asked him.

"I don't know how I could have forgotten since it was late into the night before we were through with them. Maybe I should have stayed longer in my furs." He said.

"Well we had a good chance to get them and I didn't think you would mind having the meat while it was still fresh."

"We didn't mind and we are very grateful; you may feel free to send us bison at any time day or night. In fact feel free to send us anything at anytime." He said.

"I would like to ask you something while I have it on my mind. Do you know of anything that might have happened to the huts at the large camp on down the valley of the big river that the river your stream flows into joins? All the huts are gone from it and I wonder what happened to them. It is fine that they are gone since all those from that camp joined my camp and we did not need the huts but I wonder what happened to them. It would have been a lot of work to take them all down."

"I knew that they were gone because three of my men traveled through that area lately and they told me of it. We do not know who took them though and my men could find no sign showing them which way the huts were taken. That was very strange to us since whoever did it would have needed many trips to remove the materials after the huts were taken down. They all said that they searched carefully but could find no sign anywhere." He said.

"That is strange but I'm sure that we will find out what happened someday and it will not help to worry about it now. I was hoping that you knew something about the huts though."

"Is Sarboto working out well in your camp John?" He asked me, changing the subject.

"Yes he is. He has been very helpful already. He even helped us load the bison that we brought you last night."

"That is good, do you thing that he will want to stay with you?" He asked.

"He has told me that he will stay with us and I'm sure that he intends to do it."

"That is good also. I guess that we should go and tell the women that you have come for them. I have already explained to them that they will be going to join a large camp where there are many men who need mates." He said.

"Let us go and I will greet them then."

We walked into his cave, just Grotondo and I. It was slightly strange since all the women and girls were standing around in a group in the rear most portion of the cave but they looked as if they were ready to go now. I decided that they were only waiting to be told where to go. I was about to go to them with Grotondo when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned around; it was Raalto and Racaato was with him, they had followed me into the cave.

"We want to make sure that it is all right if we accompany you John." Raalto said.

"Of course it is and I should be ashamed of myself for not calling you to."

"Our mates were very specific in their instructions to us this morning." Racaato said.

"Mine let me know exactly what they had in mind for my conduct this morning also." I told them and we all laughed.

Grotondo seemed a little surprised and he looked at me with a question on his face.

"Has something gone wrong John?" He finally asked.

"Everything is fine, I'm sure that in a few minutes these two men will be thanking you as much or more than I will be. You have not only traded for some exciting times for us, you have given the three of us a chance for much more peace and harmony in our furs." I told him.

This only confused Grotondo further but I could tell that he chalked it up as another of our strange customs and then ignored it. He led us to the women then. The widows were at the front of the crowd, they were older after all and the others probably looked to them for guidance. I was betting that they felt that the camp they were going to would need to have many men who needed mates if they were going to be assigned to one. They probably doubted that they would be.

Grotondo didn't feel the need to introduce us since they were all only women in his view. He merely led us to the group and waved an arm at them as if to say 'Here they are'. I knew what I needed to do and I walked up to the mother who had a babe in each arm.

"I am John and I am the leader of the camp you will be joining."

"I am Xailieta and these are my children Baatiea and Beetiea." She said.

"I want to ask you if you will join me as one of my mates?"

She was clearly shocked by my question and didn't know how to respond.

"If you are the leader and want me as a mate you need not ask me, you only need to tell me." She finally said.

"That is not our way. No woman among our people is forced to take a mate that she doesn't want. If you do not want to be my mate you do not have to be." I explained and tried to speak loudly enough that all the others in their group could hear me.

I realized now, when I spoke up loudly, that Grotondo had taken us to the very back of his cave to meet the women for a good reason of his own. He had probably expected that something like this might happen and I'm sure he wanted to keep the chances that other women of his camp would hear it to a minimum. Meanwhile Xailieta seemed to be mulling my statement over.

"Did you say you wanted me to be one of your mates?" She asked.

"Yes I have some mates all ready."

"How many mates do you have?" She asked and it made me a little nervous since I could tell that she didn't seem like she would be rushed into a decision if she had a choice.

"I have twenty one mates now and if you join us it will be twenty two." I said and many of the other women and girls made slight gasps but Xailieta didn't seem to be shocked.

"So, it is my choice whether or not I want to be mated to the leader of a camp who already has twenty one mates. It is obvious that you are not having trouble feeding them because I can see that you have not missed any meals lately. You were able to convince Grotondo to go to Kartoto's camp and trade for all of us and though he hasn't said much about you that we could hear, the little we did hear was praise for your skills as a hunter and also as a fair man. The women here have been more forthcoming and have told us that you killed a man for bothering one of Margeeta's daughters after you had traded for her and I now have the choice of whether or not I will accept you as my mate." She said.

"That is about the extent of it." I replied though the story she had heard wasn't exactly how things had happened.

"You are also a very handsome man but if you were the ugliest man I had ever seen I would be overjoyed to be your mate. My former mate was a good man and a good hunter and he was kind to me. He was also very brave, he was too brave and he let a rhino kill him and left me with two babies to care for by myself. I know that you surely must be a very brave man and I just hope that you are not too brave. I hope I can make you happy that you took me as one of your mates." She said.

"Xailieta you have already made me very happy by agreeing to be one of my mates. Let us stand aside for a moment because I believe that these two of my main helpers also want to talk to someone." I said.

We stepped aside and just as we did Barago came to us, nearly running.

"Barago, have you decided to come in and try to also make an early match for yourself?" I asked him.

"Britta has decided that I need not leave this cave unless I have found a woman to join us as another mate for me." He said, grinning.

"What has her in the mood for help?"

"You know very well that she wants another woman with her since she is sure that she will be having a baby. I see that Raalto and Racaato were smarter than me and got in here first but I am hoping that the widow who doesn't have a child with her will consent to mate with me. She has already been mated before and surely with so many children in that camp she will know something about babies, Britta has never had a baby before." Barago said.

I turned to Xailieta and asked her if there was a chance that the other widow knew about babies.

"There is more than a chance. Karlieta has a child but Kartoto made her keep that fact to herself during the trading. One of the girls that came with us, Dartieta, is her daughter. She has not become a woman yet and probably won't by next year. Dartieta is the youngest one that came with us. I think that it is shameful that Kartoto tricked Grotondo like that but I am glad that Karlieta and Dartieta have not been separated yet." She said.

"If she will consent to join Britta as another one of my mates she will never be separated from her daughter until she becomes a woman and when she is a woman I will take her as a mate also if she will have me. Britta will be pleased if I can convince Karlieta to bring her daughter and join us." Barago said, seeming like he would be pretty damned happy about it himself.

"Can you help him out with that Xailieta?" I asked her.

"He will not need any help; none of us are stupid. We had no mates and were considered unlucky where we came from. Now we have been traded away and find that we are going to a camp where we will have a say about who we mate. The first man that comes looking for a mate is the leader of the camp and he asks the unluckiest woman of all to be his mate. The others that are with him are obviously very high-ranking men in his camp. If Karlieta is stupid enough to turn this man down I will go over there and slap her until she changes her mind but there will not be a chance of that." She told us.

She must have been right because while we were talking Raalto and then Racaato had secured the other two women with children. Barago went to see if he could claim the last widow and he barely got it out of his mouth before Karlieta agreed. As they turned to go he said something else to her and it must have been about her daughter because she called into the crowd and Dartieta came forward to join them.

I asked Xailieta if she would try to get the other women and girls to come out with us now. She said that if she were going to be one of the leaders mates she would tell them to come out if I wanted her to.

"It would suit me better if you asked them; I do not like to order people around unless it is necessary."

"I can already see that you are an even better man than I thought you could be." She said and then faced the other women and told them that we were going to leave for our new camp now.

They picked up their things and came with us. When we got outside and they saw all the horses, wagons and the buckboard they were frightened at first.

My mates were smiling their widest when they noticed I had a woman holding two babies beside me. They rushed over to us then and swarmed around Xailieta and her little ones, begging to hold the babies. I could see that Xailieta was touched.

Dalia, Delia, Geera, Shelalliea, Dieta, Gema and all my Neanderthal mates saw that they were needed elsewhere and gave up the baby pursuit to go among the other women and girls to try and calm them down and explain about the horses to them. They did a good job of it and within an hour things were settled down and we had everyone ready to head back.

Before I mounted I went to the big wagon and retrieved the drop point hunter, its sheath and the web belt that I had put there before we left. This was the gift that I had promised Grotondo and I took it to him.

He didn't recognize it for what it was at first but before I could explain he decided that it must be a knife and blurted it out.

"It must be a knife but I have never seen one like this before, how is it made?" He asked.

"I myself do not know how it is made Grotondo. I only know that it is much better than a flint knife in most ways. It is not as sharp as a flint knife is when it is first knapped but when this knife becomes dull it can be sharpened much more easily and it will stay sharp through much more use. It will not break either; I don't think that you, or anyone, can break it even if you try. You could damage it if you pounded it with a stone but you could not break it."

"But why would I pound it with a stone John?" He asked and I realized that I could have left that part out.

"I'm not saying that you would or should pound it with a stone, I am just saying that even if you did you would not break it."

"I am very pleased with this gift, in fact I am pleased with all the gifts that you have given us and I will not pound the knife with a stone." Grotondo said.

"If you feel the need to pound it with a stone go ahead. If you damage it I will replace it. I must tell you though that neither the knife nor any of the other things I brought here are gifts. They are payment to you for the help you have given my camp and me. What you did has been very valuable to us and I feel that I am still in your debt and I don't see how I can ever repay your kindness."

"It doesn't seem to me that I have done you such a service John. You have given me many things and more salt than any of us have ever seen. Salt is very valuable and it is the very best thing for trading. With the salt that you have traded to me my camp is the wealthiest one that I know of even though many other camps are larger." He said.

"Still I know that what you have done for me and my camp is even more valuable to us and I don't think that it has harmed your camp either. It works out well for both of us to have this working relationship and I will do my best to see that we do not have arguments. If I do something that causes you distress please do not hesitate to tell me about it and if you need help do not be shy about asking for help. If it is something me or my camp can do we will do it."

We told each other how great we thought the other was for about five more minutes and for four of them I was already tired of politicking. Some things had to be done sometimes though and I had to just do it. When I finally mounted Red and we headed back to our camp I was sure that I had and honest ally that I could count on.