John and Argent by cmsix

Chapter 56

I'm sure that the trip to our camp was thrilling for all the new women and girls but it was just another horseback ride for me. I enjoyed riding but the novelty had worn off of it years ago. Riding Red was even becoming commonplace now and he was easily the best bronc I'd ever forked.

It was past our normal lunchtime when we arrived and I was thrilled when I saw several of my mates rush into the cave to get started on a meal. Gema, who had been among them, came back out for me almost at once. My other mates were helping all the women and girls get out of the wagon so I handed Red's reins to Danlo and followed Gema back into the cave.

When we were inside she pointed to the table, or tables, since there were now two. She didn't say anything, she only looked at me and I could tell she was expecting an explanation.

"I guess we know now where the spirits expect all our new members to eat their next meal." I said.

"I guess that you are correct but will they eat all their meals with us?" She asked.

"I don't think that is intended. Once they are all settled in I'm sure that the other table will leave since it won't be needed any longer."

"Oh, I should have thought of that myself. Of course they will need to eat with us now until we can get them settled into their own quarters." She said and promptly dismissed any thoughts of the extra table, returning to the kitchen to help cook.

It gave me pause though after I thought about it. Where were all the young girls going to sleep and eat? They were traded away from their mothers and even though I knew that they would have a better life here with us than at the camp they came from there was still the nagging little detail about them being separated from their mothers and fathers. I would need to ask Georgo for his thoughts about that part of the trade.

It could wait until after lunch though; everything could wait until after lunch. I went outside to tend to Red but Danlo had already left to put him up. Since I was back out among the throng I asked Xailieta if she would let all the other new women and girls know that they should eat in my cave with us until everyone had their own place to sleep and eat.

"All of these women and girls will be welcome to eat in your cave with you?" She asked, as if she couldn't believe it.

"Yes, I want to make sure that they do not go hungry until we are better organized."

"But who will cook for them all?" She asked.

"My mates will, they often cook for several people. In fact all of my main helpers and their mates eat with us at almost every meal. We have plenty of food here."

"I knew that you must have much food but it is a lot of work to cook for so many. I should go in to help them at once." She said.

"You will soon find out that you have to wait your turn for a chance to cook in my cave. I have so many mates that it is not possible for all of them to cook for every meal. Also you will find that the way we cook is completely different from what you are used to. It will take you time to learn to cook our way."

"But I know how to cook." She said almost indignantly.

"I am sure that you know how to cook but you will see that this is different. Have patience for this one meal and you will know without our having to talk so much about it. Everything will be fine and later you will find that with so many of us life is not so hard in this camp. You haven't even been inside the cave yet have you?"

"Not this cave but I have been in a cave before." She said.

"Please come with me for a moment and I will show you your new home."

We only got into the kitchen before she was done for. She stopped and couldn't decide which way to look. Finally her eyes settled on those of my mates that were actually cooking. She turned to me and I was sure that the questions were going to start.

"I know that you have more questions than I will have good answers for. I do not know how to cook very well but you will find that all my other mates will gladly show you anything that you want to know about everything here, especially if you will let them hold your babies for a while."

"My babies, where are they?" She asked, trying to panic.

"I saw Eileiea and Margeeta bring them into the cave and I'm sure that they have taken them into the bedroom."

"What is the bedroom?" She asked.

"Come, I'll show you."

She followed me and I took her into the bedroom. Eileiea and Margeeta were in there and they had put Baatiea and Beetiea in the center of the big bed. Baatiea and Beetiea were now sound asleep and Eileiea and Margeeta were sitting on the bed just watching the babies as they snoozed.

"What is that they are lying on?" Xailieta asked.

"That is the bed, it is where we all sleep; you will find that it is very comfortable."

"John, what is that thing?" Margeeta asked, pointing to the new double sized baby bed, complete with a large mobile.

"It is a bed for the babies. See how the sides are up to keep them from falling out."

"I see but where did it come from?" Eileiea asked.

"I'm sure that the spirits sent it for Baatiea and Beetiea to sleep in."

That pronouncement got me suspicious stares from the three women. I felt I had to say something.

"The spirits are very good to us here. We must not question their gifts and we should thank them often for them."

"You are right about that, we should never question anything the spirits do." Eileiea said.

"I can hardly believe that yesterday I was considered so unlucky by my own people that I was traded away for salt and that today the spirits are watching me so closely that they send this for my babies to sleep in." Xailieta said, her voice quivering.

"What does it tell you about how unlucky you were?" I asked.

"It tells me that my former camp and former leader do not know anything about lucky, even when they see it. Most of us thought that we were being treated as useless since we were traded away. I can tell already that it was probably the best thing that ever happened to us." She said.

"Why don't we put the babies in their new bed and see if they like it?" I asked.

Eileiea and Margeeta took one each and placed them in the bed. They didn't even wake them in the process.

I didn't know shit about the best way to place a baby for sleeping and I seemed to recall that there were arguments among people of my old life about whether to put them on their back or their stomach. It didn't make a shit to us though since I knew that we have overkill on top of overkill in the baby-monitoring department. I was willing to bet that if I sat down at Frank and asked for the babies' temperature, blood pressure and heart rate I would get it back immediately. Hell I could probably get the equivalent of a CAT scan on them in seconds without even moving them.

"Why don't we go back out toward the kitchen and let them sleep? We need to help the others find their way to the table before lunch is ready."

"What is the table?" Xailieta asked and thankfully Margeeta told her.

When we were back in the outer room of the cave I slipped away as Eileiea and Margeeta began letting Xailieta in on the workings of the cave and this camp. I saw Georgo at the table and went to sit by him.

"What do you think of the recent developments Georgo?" I asked.

"I think I was stupid for not staying near you and trying to secure one of the widows for myself. I can tell from the reaction of Raalto's, Racaato's, Barago's and your mates that it would have put me on the receiving end of much favorable attention from my mates." He said and then chuckled.

"I think you may be right and I wonder if there are more widows in other camps of those people that would like to come here?"

"If there are other widows among them I'm sure that they would love to come here if they knew about it." He said.

"I am so slow to spot a good opportunity sometimes. I should have asked Grotondo about it while I was there. Maybe I should ride back down there after lunch and talk with him about it."

"I don't think you need to do it right away but if you have nothing else planned this afternoon you might as well go. Remember that it is only three days from now until the time the spirits told me to expect the first snow." He said.

"I am glad you reminded me and I think that I will go back today, not before lunch though."

I wouldn't have to wait long for that either. I could see that my mates were nearly ready to serve it. My Neanderthal mates, including Xailieta, were circulating among the new women and girls and showing them where to sit at the first table. I saw that my normal place at the head of the table was being left vacant for me and that the seat to my right was also being left vacant. I assumed that Xailieta would be sitting there and when the new arrivals were seated I took my place and Xailieta did sit near me. I also saw that Eileiea, Margeeta, Yareela, Yaroola and Kota were spread out among the newbies and it was probably so they could help them navigate the eating utensils that would be completely new to them.

I was surprised that my mates had been able to get a meal for so many ready so quickly and I knew that they must have cooked much of it yesterday or last night. The new women and girls were surprised by the table and even more surprised when they saw that the camps leader would be eating with them. It was only one of the first surprises of many to come for them. They all ate in silence except Xailieta and I had to pry out the little bit of conversation I got from her. She made a good job of setting an example for the others though and I noticed that while she didn't seem to be she was in fact watching me like a hawk to see how it was done.

Of course my mates had made gallons of iced tea for the meal and our new members couldn't get enough of it. There was also plenty of bread and I was sure that Roweea was beaming to herself at the way everyone devoured it. It was the same for each of them, they looked at the bread speculatively not knowing what it was or how it should taste but after their first bite they ate it up at once before they tried anything else. The bread was one thing that got Xailieta to speak without a prompt from me.

"What is this John, it is delicious." She said.

"That is bread and I'm sure that Roweea made it, it is her specialty."

"I have never seen it before." She admitted.

"I'm sure that Roweea would be delighted to show you how it is made."

"If she will it is going to be the first thing I learn to cook here. I can see that you were telling the truth about the cooking. I have no idea how your mates can cook so much food without a fire but I want to learn." She said.

"They have a fire but it doesn't come from wood or dung. They will show it to you later."

After we'd eaten I told Raalto, Racaato, Barago, Caato and Colonto that I had forgotten to speak to Grotondo about something important this morning and that I was going to ride back to his camp and take care of it this afternoon. Then came the task of telling my mates. I called them all into the bedroom after they'd cleaned up the tables and fed the dishwashers. I had a struggle getting their attention though because Baatiea and Beetiea were awake and doing their baby best to entertain, smiling and cooing as my mates crowded around the bed and made mommy noises at them.

"I am going back to Grotondo's camp this afternoon to speak with him about something I forgot this morning." I told them all after I had their attention.

"But what more do you need to talk with him about?" Winna asked me.

"Since you all seem so pleased with Xailieta, Baatiea and Beetiea I thought I would go ask him if there are more widows near us that would like to come here where people won't think they are unlucky."

"I can't believe what a good man you are and how lucky I am that you sent for us. There are more widows and most of them are treated just as we were. They do not know of your camp of course but they will be so happy if you manage to get them sent here. Grotondo knows where many widows live if you can only persuade him to go for them." Xailieta told me.

"Good then, if their own camps think they are unlucky I will ask Grotondo to see if he can trade for them and when they are here we will try to make them feel that they are not so unlucky."

I didn't need to say anymore to my mates after that except to request that they try and help the new women and girls get settled in. They were happy to send me off in search of more women.

When I went for Red I found that Danlo didn't have anything planned for the rest of the day either. He and all the other wranglers were giving the horses some attention and trying to teach Brundolo a little more about them but he said that he would be happy to ride to Grotondo's camp with me. We saddled up and headed out.

We let Red and Jezebel slow lope for most of the way and we were back to the Neanderthal's camp in what seemed no time. When the women that were outside saw us this time most of them didn't even go into the cave, they kept on about their business and only sent one inside to inform Grotondo. He was outside waiting for us as we rode up.

"John, I have tried the knife and I can hardly believe how good it is to use, I hope you have not come back to retrieve it." He said.

"Why would I come here wanting your knife, I do not ask for gifts to be returned after I have given them. I came back to see if you would like to do more trading for me or if you knew other camps that I could go and try to trade with if you don't have time."

"I have time to trade for you John. We already have more meat than we will need for the winter thanks to you and the only thing that is happening now is that the women are trying to gather some last berries and things such as that. We have never been in such good shape for the coming winter as we are now and we have been able to do it earlier than ever before too." He said.

"I am glad of it for your sake. Do you know of any other camps that are having a bad time and that might need some extra meat for the winter?"

"Strangely no, all of our camps that I know of are doing well this year. It was a good summer and there was plenty everywhere. What would you like for me to trade for now?" He asked.

"If there are any more widows that you know about, especially in camps where their people think that they are unlucky, I would like for you to trade for them and bring them here so that they can come to my camp."

"What if they have children? Do you still want widows with children?" He wanted to know.

"Especially if they have children. We would love to have them bring their children to join us."

He considered this for a while before he spoke again.

"I know of six more widows John and it is possible that there are more since I have not been to most of these camp this summer and there have been no messengers back and forth. All of the widows I know of have children." He said.

"Will you have to travel far to trade for them?"

"Two of the camps are nearly a days walk away and I would have to travel there, visit for the night and then come back the next day." He said.

"Do you think that it would be acceptable this time for you to ride in the wagon? You could travel faster and it would be easier to bring them back like that."

"I have been thinking over that very thing since you left this morning. If we only want to trade for widows it probably will not matter to the trading since most leaders would be happy to get anything for widows with children. Do you only want widows?" He asked.

"If there are more unmated women and the leader wants to trade them I would like for them to come to my camp but if he does not want or need to trade them you need not try too hard."

"I see." He said.

"That reminds me of something else Grotondo, are there any orphans in any of the camps that need to go somewhere that has more food and is better able to feed young ones who no longer have a mother or father?"

"There are. I know of a young orphan girl but I do not know if I should go to that camp. It is far away and the leader is not honorable. He has been known to cheat other leaders that have tried to trade with him." Grotondo said.

"How did he cheat them?"

"He had his men force Jadatako to leave his trade goods and gave him nothing in return. Jadatako was very angry about it but he had gone to the camp alone and he did not resist the treatment. He will no longer trade with Nutaro now and I don't blame him. I have not traded with him since I heard of it either." He explained.

"Would you be comfortable taking me with you to trade with Nutaro?"

Grotondo looked at me as if waiting for me to say something else but I didn't. He considered for quite a while and then he actually smiled at me.

"I believe that I would be very comfortable taking you with me to trade with Nutaro. Yes I'm sure that I would enjoy traveling to Nutaro's camp for trading with you along." He said and smiled again.

"Good, maybe we can go to his camp first and then work our way to the other camps as we come back."

"That will be fine, when did you want to go? It should probably be soon because I have a feeling the snow will not be long in coming." He said.

"I would like to leave in the morning and if it is acceptable I will be here with both wagons shortly after sunrise. Nutaro might enjoy seeing that a few of my men are with us also."

"I am not sure that he will enjoy it but if your men are like you I'm sure that it will be an exciting trip. Perhaps you will come back with women that you need not trade for." Grotondo said and he was trying to smile again.

"Perhaps." I said.

We said our goodbyes and headed back home then. I knew that Danlo was dying to ask me some questions but I let Red lope most of the way. After we were back and as we cared for Red and Jezebel before turning them into the pen he finally got to quiz me.

"Did I misunderstand, or are you going so that you can kill Nutaro if he tries to steal the trade goods?" Danlo asked me.

"I am not going so that I can kill anyone; I am going to trade and if someone tries to steal from me there is a chance that they will die for it. Of course there is also a chance that I will die but I think that I have the better chance. If there is a thief that threatens violence to steal goods from honest men he deserves the rewards of his actions. If men that cheat and steal are allowed to go unpunished it will only encourage others to try the same thing. I cannot spend my time trying to right every wrong that I hear about but the fact is that we want more of the other people in our camp and we want to help the widows since their situation seems especially grim. If Nutaro forces me to kill him it will provide another widow that we can help and take care of."

Danlo didn't ask any more questions about it and I didn't volunteer any more information. I did ask him if he would like to go along and he wanted to. I was dreading telling my mates about the trip but I thought that since they seemed so happy today that it would be as good a time for it as any.

After we had eaten supper I asked Raalto, Barago, Colonto, Caato, Racaato and Natalto to come into the office with me for a talk. When we were there I explained the plan to them and told them what Grotondo had said about Nutaro and his methods. They all agreed that it was not good to have a camp's leader like that around and Raalto pointed out that we had just gone to a lot of trouble to get rid of several that were similar.

"If a camp's leader is deceitful and no good, soon none of the men in the camp are fit for anything. It is a lesson we have recently learned. I will be surprised if this Nutaro is the only one there that gives you trouble." Raalto said.

All the others agreed with him and so we spent some time deciding who would go and who would stay to watch over the camp. Raalto, Racaato and Barago had Neanderthal mates already and once again we were trying to be sure that anyone who might be called on to kill a mated man would not hesitate just to keep from gaining another mate. Fortunately Caato, Colonto and Natalto were suddenly in the market for just such a mate. I knew for a fact that Danlo was ready, willing and able to serve in this fashion also and I decided to ask Sahto and Talvo and all the other men on this side of the canyon if they wanted to participate.

We broke up our meeting and I went to visit the rest of my helpers. All of them assured me that they would be glad to go but I could tell that even though Bigglieo and Galto would not mind having another mate, they really didn't want to get one this way. Talvo had no such reservations now since he was thrilled with his earlier experience along these lines. Sahto was also more than willing to do his part since Talvo was now mated and this meant that his best friend was no longer living in the unmated men's quarters with him.

Jonoco surprised me also as he was particularly anxious to take part. Apparently Jaiya had been mentioning something about him needing another mate. The most surprising to me was that Georgo wanted to go with us. He told me that he didn't intend to get involved in any violence unless he felt he was needed to save one of us but he did want to go on the trip and he would be looking closely at any widows, especially if they had children.

With everything settled my mates and I went to bed. The babies were already asleep and even though I had a new mate I didn't get anything started since I would need to be up and gone long before sunrise.

With good participation from so many and anticipating a good outcome, maybe unadvisedly, we left two hours before sunrise the next morning. It was a hassle to get the wagons and the buckboard hitched before daylight but with the big lights that Argent had supplied we managed. We took down the loading towers from both wagons but we did bring them with us. I led the way driving my original wagon and using the night vision goggles until the sun made an appearance. We pulled into Grotondo's camp shortly after that.

Grotondo and four of his men were waiting and ready to go. He told us that the easiest way would have been over the plateau but there wasn't a suitable access for the wagons nearby so we retraced our path and when we got back to the river we turned toward Raalto's original camp. When we passed it and continued downriver it was strange to see in person that all the huts were gone.

We traveled that way for two more hours after passing Raalto's old camp and then turned up into the valley of a fairly large tributary. It was as big as the main river in fact. After another hour of travel Grotondo called for a halt and told me that we were less than a mile from Nutaro's camp. We unassed the wagons and did a little planning then.

Grotondo and I were going to go to the camp alone, carrying the two bundles of salt that he had left from the trade with Kartoto. They were about ten pounds each. Grotondo told us that there would be a small wooded area where a few men could hide and watch not far from the camp and though he still didn't know how we could kill without spears he was able to give us enough of an idea of the area for us to determine that by hiding in the woods my men would be within a rifle's shot's distance of where the trading would probably take place.

Grotondo and I walked along the river and entered the camp while Danlo, Sahto, Caato and Colonto hid in the trees to observe. I didn't take an M1 with me, instead I carried a spear of Raalto's that he had loaned me for the purpose of letting me seem fairly normal. I was dressed in my lion cub clothes again but I didn't wear my necklace since I didn't want to draw attention to myself. I did have my Glock in its web belt holster though.

It was just coming on to noon when we arrived and when we were noticed Nutaro was alerted and he came to greet us. Grotondo made the introductions and told Nutaro that he had come with me and that I wanted to trade for widows or orphans if there were any in his camp. Nutaro gave me a quizzical look but didn't comment and he told us that he did have one orphan in his camp and that there were two widows, both of them had young children.

He took us to a place similar to the one both Grotondo's and Kartoto's camp had. It was obvious that meals were often eaten there and there were some large rocks scattered around for sitting. He called some of his men too, I supposed they would eat with us and would then be dismissed.

Apparently his mate and the other women knew that he would feed us and soon they came out with hipbone plates and cups of a type of tea. The food was good and there was plenty of it. It was mostly bison and there were a few vegetable type items that were tasty but foreign to me. As I expected, after the meal Nutaro dismissed the rest of his men and it made me wonder how this part of the custom had come about. I didn't know why the men were summoned to eat before the trading and then sent away but it didn't matter to me.

Things went a little differently this time though since the men all seemed to go into the huts and none of them were visible when the trading song and dance started. I let Grotondo do the talking and didn't pay very much attention to what he was saying. I tried to keep my eyes on anything else that might be going on in camp but there was nothing to see. I also tried to appear to be paying attention to the palaver.

It was a slight strain since I wanted to just constantly watch the camp but couldn't. After a few minutes Nutaro asked me what I wanted with widows and orphans.

"There are many of us at my camp but there have been no children born lately and we have few young ones. There was a sickness and some of my men's mates died of it and we have no unmated women." I told him, lying through my teeth.

It seemed to satisfy him and I was sure that he didn't give a rat's ass what I said anyway. I sensed that he had something up his sleeve and didn't intend to give up the widows or orphans and that he wasn't planning on letting us leave with our salt either.

He asked to see the salt then but Grotondo wanted to see the women first and Nutaro agreed. He called to his mate, Tulaarra, and had her send the widows and the orphan to us. It took her a few minutes to gather them but soon they came and did an approximation of the same line up I'd seen before. The orphan was a young girl, probably only about six years old and it was obvious at once that she was neither being cared for nor fed properly. She probably wouldn't live through the winter unless it was a very mild one.

The women and their babies looked healthy enough. The babies looked to be about three years old and after the mothers were in place they put them down and they could stand on their own. I looked them over carefully even though I would trade for them no matter what shape they were in. It was clear that the young girl didn't understand what was going on but she did stand patiently during the inspection.

While this was happening I noticed that the men that had eaten with us had come back out of the huts one at a time. I could tell that they were trying not to attract attention but they were all carrying their spears and none of them seemed to be heading off to go hunting or anything of the sort. They were working their way around us and into a rough circle. The whole scene was so transparent that it would have been laughable if it hadn't been deadly serious.

Nutaro dismissed the young one and the widows then and he even put on a sham of trying to make a deal with Grotondo. Grotondo asked me if the women and the child would be acceptable and I told him that they would. When if finally came to it and Grotondo offered half of one of the bags of salt for the three and the two babies, Nutaro acted indignant and claimed that Grotondo was trying to cheat him. He ranted for a minute or two and then made the fatal mistake of saying he should kill us both and take all the salt to make up for the insult.

Of course I didn't know then who was paying attention behind us but someone knew that I didn't like to have my life threatened. An M1 spoke up and Nutaro went over backwards with a big bloody rose spreading out of his chest. His men were shocked at first but then they approached us with their spears raised. I stood up to get a word in.

"I do not allow men who threaten to kill me to live and tell about it. Do any of the rest of you want to die now?"

Almost always there are one or two idiots in any group that will discount what they see and try to continue with a plan even though they know that there isn't a chance of pulling it off. There was only one in this group but it was only a few men. He found out what Nutaro had felt as he took three strides toward me and raised his spear. He wasn't within thirty feet of me but intent was good enough for my men. Another M1 shot sounded and another asshole was knocked to the ground. He was able to gasp for breath a time or two before blood came streaming out of his mouth.

"The rest of you will die the same way if you don't throw down your spears at once." I told them.

Apparently two dead men within only a few seconds were enough to convince the others that something was dreadfully wrong with their plan and they let their spears hit the ground. I signaled for my men to come out of the trees then and come to us. After they showed themselves I told Nutaro's men to stand together in a bunch and be quiet and then asked Grotondo to call Nutaro's widow to us.

He did and by the time my men were with me Tulaarra had joined us also. I turned to face my men.

"Which one of you shot Nutaro?" I asked.

"I did." Danlo admitted.

"Tulaarra this is your new mate, his name is Danlo; Danlo this is Tulaarra." I made the introductions and then thought of a question I wanted to ask her.

"Tulaarra do you have any children?"

"Yes, I have had a son for four summers." She said but she didn't sound very enthusiastic about any of the proceedings.

"What about that one, did he have a mate?" I asked, pointing to the other dead one.

"Yes, Weeahta was Cardollo's mate but she does not have a child." She told me.

"Who is the big winner this time?" I asked my men and Sahto came forward to take his medicine like a man.

"Tulaarra would you go and tell Weeahta that she has a new mate that she should come to meet?" I asked her and she seemed to notice for the first time that I was making a request instead of giving orders.

"I will go and bring her here." She told me.

After she left I turned to the men and asked who would take over as the leader here now. They seemed to have grown some new backbone while I had been occupied elsewhere and none of them would speak. I didn't press the issue and waited for Tulaarra to return with Weeahta. When they came to us I introduced Weeahta to Sahto and vice versa.

"Tulaarra, would you tell me if any of these men are mated?"

"They all have mates." She said.

"Do any of their mates have children?"

"Only Condondo's mate has a child." She said and pointed to the biggest of them.

I turned to my men again and asked them if one of them wanted to kill Condondo and gain a mate with a child. This caused a little commotion among the men and Condondo broke his silence.

"Will you just kill us for our mates after you have caused us to throw down our spears?" He asked.

"You have thrown down your spears but you have not realized that we are in control yet. I asked you a question and no one answered me. If any of you want to live, your best chance for it is to cooperate now. You intended to rob Grotondo and I and probably kill us instead of honestly trading as we came to do. Why should we treat you any better?"

"Dunto will be our leader now." He said.

"Which of you is Dunto?"

"Dunto is not here, Nutaro sent him and the rest of the men hunting."

"Very well, we will wait for Dunto then. You may gather your spears and go." I dismissed them.

I sent Danlo and Sahto back to bring the wagons and the others but they hadn't gone ten paces before we spotted the wagons heading toward us. Apparently, after the gunshots Georgo had decided that they might be needed so he had flicked the reins across the Morgan's asses and the others had followed him. When they drew near I signaled for them to drive on up into camp.

"Tulaarra, what is the name of the orphan girl that we saw?" I asked her as I sat down to wait.

"She is Deimeta." She said.

"Would you mind going to get her and bringing her back here."

"No, I will be happy to." She said and left, returning in just a few minutes with the child.

"Deimeta my name is John. I am the leader of my own camp and I would like for you to come and live with us and be my daughter. Would you do that?" I asked her.

"Do you have enough food for me, I am always hungry." She asked, looking right into my eyes.

I'd always thought of myself as a pretty tough guy but the way she looked at me nearly broke my heart. Then I was mad all over and wanted to get up and go through the camp killing every man I found. I managed to get hold of myself and answer her though.

"We have more food than we need at my camp and I promise that if you come with me you will never be hungry again." I said.

"I will come with you then if Nutaro will let me." She said.

"Nutaro has no say in the matter Deimeta, only you and I must agree."

"I will agree then. My mother and father are gone and the others say that they will not be coming back. I will go with you and hope that you have enough food." She said.

I was about to ask someone to bring her something to eat out of the food my mates had sent with us but Georgo was ahead of me. He brought her a thick slice of Roweea's bread with a small piece of bison meat and a cup of the sweetened tea. She took it and thanked him before she sat down on the ground and began to eat it but at a very deliberate pace. I was heartsick again when I realized that her prolonged hunger was causing her to have to eat very slowly.

Most of my men were grumbling now about what she must have been through here. It was obvious that there was plenty of food in the camp since none of the others we had seen looked hungry. I couldn't help asking Tulaarra about it.

"You have done us all a kindness by killing Nutaro. He was a cruel man even if he was my mate. He would not let us feed Deimeta and she is only alive now because Dunto made sure that she always had at least something to eat. He hated Nutaro but he never challenged him directly." She said.

Deimeta couldn't even finish the little bit that Georgo had brought her and when she had eaten what she could for now I asked him to take her to lie down on some of the furs in the back of the buckboard. He left with her and we waited for Dunto to return from his hunting trip.

Condondo came back to talk to me then and asked if they could take Nutaro and Cardollo off and bury them. I told him that we would be dragging Nutaro and Cardollo off with us behind our wagons when we left and that we would probably leave them somewhere for the scavengers to eat.

"But how can you dishonor the dead like that?" He asked.

"Easy; and if you don't get out of my sight we will be dragging you off along with them. I am not feeling very kindly toward your bunch of sneak thief child starvers now and I would not mind killing you all."

He got the hint then and left, fairly quickly I might add. I hadn't been just trying to scare him; I was still upset about Deimeta's condition. We could easily feed and care for every woman and child in this camp and I hadn't yet decided not to take on the job.

After another hour I saw some men coming down river, toward the camp, carrying what I assumed was game they had killed. They must have cut it up into manageable pieces already since there was no recognizable carcass. One of the men that had been among our ersatz attackers this morning rushed to them and I'm sure he was explaining what a bunch of murderers we were. I didn't give a shit, we would be through murdering when I said we were through and I hadn't said it yet. All the arriving men except one headed into the camp with the meat. That one handed off his bundle to the tattletale and headed toward us.

"I am Dunto, and Ducalto has told me that you have killed Nutaro and Cardollo." He said.

"I am John and we have killed them. We have not decided whether to kill the rest of the men in this camp or not. What do you have to say for yourself?"

This was a shock to him and he didn't know what to say at first. Finally he found his voice.

"I can understand why you killed Nutaro and probably Cardollo too but why would you want to kill the rest of us?" He asked.

"Because there is a small child, with us now, that was surely starving to death in this camp that had more than enough food for everyone else."

"I know very well how Nutaro made us treat Deimeta but he was our leader." He said.

"Well you see what profit there was in it for him. I would sooner kill all the men here and take the women and children to my own camp than leave them here for more of the type of treatment she received."

"It is our business what we do in this camp." He said defiantly.

"If I kill all the men here it will be my business and your business will be to provide food for the hyenas."

"How will you kill us, you do not even have your spear. It is on the ground there." He said pointing to it.

"That is also my business but I will show you if you want. Why don't you ask Nutaro or Cardollo how they were killed without spears."

I guess that the tattletale had already given him a rundown on how the other two had been killed because he lost some of his color then and changed his tune a little.

"What must I do to satisfy you that we will do as you demand?" He said.

"You need only tell me that you will and then when I leave you only have to keep your word. I will know if you do not but I will trust you to do as you say."

He was confused again by this and it was as if he couldn't believe he was having this conversation. I guess he decided to see if I meant it.

"I will tell you then that no one in this camp will be starved as long as I am the leader." He said.

"Good, do you have time to talk with Grotondo and me about trading?"

This shift in direction knocked him off his track again but he did agree to talk about trading with us.

We returned to the place where we had talked with Nutaro and sat down. Dunto seemed a little uneasy to be sitting so near the bodies of Nutaro and Cardollo. He seemed to shake it off after a minute though. Grotondo told him that we had already seen the two widows and the orphan and that all we needed to do now was agree on a bargain.

"Is that the trade that you wanted to make? You offered so much salt for Jatala, Buweeta and Deimeta and this made Nutaro angry?" He asked.

"For them and their children." I said.

"It is more than a fair offer and I'm sure that Grotondo knows it. Nutaro must have thought he could steal the salt and give you nothing for it." He told us.

"I am sure that is what he thought until he was lying on the ground with a hole in his chest and his blood flowing out."

"I will be glad to accept your offer and to give you my thanks for ridding us of Nutaro into the bargain. I do not like to be told how to take care of my people but you have not asked me to do anything that I would not do anyway. Now that I know how you were treated I am not surprised at your anger. I have no doubt that it is you and not Ducalto that is telling me the truth of it." He told us.

"Then we have a bargain?" I asked.

"Yes we have a bargain and I hope that we can get past this misunderstanding as time goes on. Would you mind if I have Tulaarra tell the other widows to go with you? I will need some time now to show Ducalto the consequences of lying to his leader." Dunto said.

"That will be fine with us. We will be leaving when they are ready."

That was the end of the ordeal and I was glad to be finished. Grotondo and I returned to the wagons and I went to Georgo's buckboard. He was watching over Deimeta as she slept. I looked over into the box and her eyes opened as I did.

"Is it you John?" She asked as she woke.

"Yes Deimeta, it is me. Are you hungry again, can you eat more now?" I asked her.

"I think I can, is there any more of the tea. I liked it especially." She said rather timidly.

"I'm sure there is more tea and I will get you some now."

I didn't need to though. Georgo had a cup of tea waiting for her and when she sat up he handed it over. He also had another piece of Roweea's bread ready. We both watched her as she ate it and at one point she paused after swallowing.

"Aren't you going to eat John, you and Georgo? I don't want to make you go hungry, are you sure that you have enough?" She asked.

"We have plenty Deimeta and from now on I want you to tell me as soon as you think you can eat again. I promised you that you would not have to go hungry again and I meant it."

"Thank you John, it is nice to have someone to care for me again." She told me and then almost broke my heart again when she smiled.

It was nearing sunset by the time we left and I thought that we would have to make camp somewhere but Grotondo said that we could reach the next camp he intended to visit in less than an hour since we could travel so fast in the wagons. We headed for it. The sun had gone down before we reached it but most of the people were still outside, they had a large fire going and seemed to be having some sort of celebration.