John and Argent by cmsix

Chapter 65

It was cold but thanks to the new clothes I hadn't been bothered by it during the night. Another big plus for them was that I didn't get too warm, no matter how many furs I slept under or how many of my mates snuggled up around me.

I felt good on waking and I was well rested; after sneaking off to water a bush I headed for the coffee pot and found that Yaroola had a mug waiting for me. I gave her a quick kiss and while I found a place to sit she went to get a plate of breakfast for me. When she came back with it I dug in.

About half way through inhaling my breakfast Deimeta came over to sit with me. She had still been rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she worked her way to my side.

"Why didn't you wake me when you got up, Daddy?" she asked.

"I wanted to make sure that you got all the rest you could. You will want to be walking with your mammoth again today and you needed to rest so you could last a while at it," I said.

This was the right thing to tell her and it got me out of not waking her without any trouble. Yaroola came over with Deimeta's little coffee mug then and handed it to her.

"Thank you mommy Yaroola, I need this badly," Deimeta said.

Yaroola and I both laughed at that but Deimeta just smiled and took a sip.

"You are very welcome Deimeta. All of us enjoy making sure that you are being taken care of. Be sure to let us know whenever you need anything," she said.

"I'm so lucky that Daddy came to get me and so happy to live with all of you now. I can hardly believe how nice it is to feel wanted and accepted," Deimeta said.

I had to look away to keep her from seeing my tears and I wondered again at how brave she must be and how she always concentrated on the good in her life now and never seemed to reflect back on the times when she was rejected and starving. It made me sorry that Nutaro was dead and couldn't be killed again. I began wondering again what kind of man could be so cruel to a child and I had to stop myself before I ruined my whole day thinking about it.

Yaroola came back to us with a plate for Deimeta and with only a little asking she agreed to let me feed her this morning. I enjoyed it immensely but knew that I would have to be careful and not stuff too much into her. She knew how much I loved this game and I was afraid that she would keep eating after she'd had enough, just because she knew it made me happy. Finally we called a truce.

"Now that we've finished breakfast, do you think we could go to see the mammoths?" Deimeta asked.

"I don't see why not, you need to check on yours and make sure that it is doing well after all that traveling yesterday."

We got up and walked to the center of camp where the mammoths had been kept last night. Danlo was there and the adult female was right by his side.

"Good morning Danlo, did you sleep well?" Deimeta asked him when we arrived.

"Yes I did Deimeta, what about you?" he asked.

"I dreamed of my mammoth last night and now I want to see it. Can you tell me if it is a boy or a girl?" she asked him.

"Yes I can, it is a female and will one day be a mother," he said.

"Good, I will be a mother some day also," she said, with unimpeachable logic.

"I'm sure you will and your mammoth will still be there with you then. I have heard that they can live a long time," he said.

"Oh I hope so, I'm becoming very attached to her," Deimeta said.

"Have you chosen a name for her yet?" I asked.

"Not yet, I keep thinking of her as baby mammoth and haven't picked a name yet. Have you named the big mother mammoth Danlo?" she asked him.

"I believe that you have just named her, I will call her Big Mother. She is the biggest mother I have ever seen," he said.

"She is isn't she? That will be a good name for her but I can't name mine little mother because she isn't a mother yet and she will not be little anymore when she becomes a mother. I will have to think of something else," she said.

Deimeta and the little mammoth were playing with each other by now and though I loved watching them there were things I needed to do. Danlo said that he would watch over them if I would have someone bring him some coffee and breakfast and I promised I would.

I told Deimeta that I had things to do and headed back to the cooking fire. I saw Shaala headed my way with Danlo's breakfast and coffee so I went to saddle Red and Jack and tie them to a wagon. Most everyone was up now and many were already through eating and were hitching the teams and reloading our things into the wagons.

Soon enough breakfast was over for all and our camp was packed up into the wagons. I mounted Red and led us toward home with Galto following and the rest falling into line. Looking back I saw that Danlo, Big Mother and the youngsters were taking the same spot as yesterday and I could see Deimeta walking along beside her baby.

After a couple of hours I halted the train and went back to check on Deimeta. She didn't protest this time when I asked her to ride for a while. Danlo told me that he thought the mammoths were holding up well and so I went back to the head of the line and we moved out again.

We took a real break around noon and even though we had sandwiches again we stayed put for about an hour. We had made good progress and even with the rest stop we would be home more than an hour before sunset. Just before it was time to get moving I went to check on Deimeta. She was asleep in the wagon box, lying on a pile of sleeping furs. I left her at it and got the show on the road, well on the path anyway.

We came into camp a little more than an hour before sunset and I was glad to be back. Those that hadn't gone on the trip were amazed to see the living mammoths walking down the canyon and to the horse cave. Danlo didn't have much trouble getting Big Mother to go through the gate and enter the cave and the young ones followed right on her heels. The horses that were in there were a little apprehensive at first but soon all the animals settled down.

When the wagons stopped, near the new entrance that was the closest to the new frozen cave, the work was on. All the mammoth meat had to be carried in and put away. As the wagons were emptied they were moved away and put back into the horse cave and then the teams were unhitched. We decided to wait until tomorrow to give all the wagons a good cleaning.

After everything was unloaded I went back to my cave and was glad to see that supper was ready; all I needed to do was wash up a little, sit down and eat. There was a lot of excitement still apparent during the meal and even more when I announced, about half way through it, that we would have a big celebration two days later.

My mates and my helper's mates could hardly finish eating fast enough. They were anxious to begin planning. They tried to drag me into the fray but all they got out of me was the location, which they already knew, and a promise to furnish plenty of bruga.

After eating I went into the bedroom, shucked my clothes and headed for the shower. For the first time in a long time I was alone for the whole thing. I knew that my mates were still planning for the feast and I didn't mind, since I was pretty tired. After I finished I dried off and went back to the bedroom. Baatiea and Beetiea were both asleep in their crib and I decided to crawl into my bed and see if I could help them sleeping.

I woke in the middle of a bed full of women the next morning. There was no telling how late they'd been up talking and planning for the party to come but it must have been very late. I was easily able to get out of bed, dress and leave for the kitchen without waking any of them.

I made the first pot of coffee myself and sat at the table while waiting for it to brew. When it was done I got a mug and headed for my office; sitting at my desk I sent a message to the aliens and Argent answered me right away.

"The mammoth hunt was wonderful. I had misgivings when I heard you telling Raalto and Racaato that you were going to try capturing some of them but it seems to have gone perfectly," Argent said.

"It was much easier than I thought it would be and to tell the truth I didn't really expect to be able to handle the mature female. Our success there was surprising to me."

"To us also. Big Mother, as Danlo has named her, seems to be cooperative now though. Do you think she will continue to be so?" he asked.

"I think she will do well as long as Danlo is patient with her. It seems to me that she has somehow bonded with Danlo. I don't know if anyone else would be able to handle her."

"It is usually that way with elephants but of course there is no data about mammoths. As far as we can tell these are the first mammoths that anyone has attempted to tame," Argent said.

"I think that they can be very useful if things go well and even if they don't turn out to be useful they are fun to have around. I can't wait to see the reaction next time we have a visitor or two."

"We believe you are right and we look forward to watching your efforts. Have you given any more thought to the sawmill?" he asked.

"If your engineers have it planned I think it is time I looked over what they have in mind. I'm hoping that it can be simple enough for these people to use."

"We have paid particular attention to automating most of the complicated task. I will call the head designer for the project to discuss it with you," he said and then left for a few minutes. When he returned he introduced the engineer, who gave me a rundown on my new equipment.

They had done a great job. The only thing I wanted to add was something to check the saw logs for imbedded rocks. I wasn't worried about nails of course but over the years it would have been easy for small rocks to be imbedded in the tree's bark and after that the tree would just grow around them. Even a small rock would dull a saw blade, requiring us to stop, change the blade, and then later we would have to sharpen it before using it again.

The engineer told me that they hadn't considered this at all but that they could scan the logs from their ship and simply remove anything that had been imbedded. I couldn't think of a thing wrong with that method and so we agreed that the sawmill should be installed and that I would show it to the others when I was ready. Our conference broke up then and I was about to go surfing through the video feeds when there was a knock at the door.

I went to open it and found Kateata was bringing me another mug of coffee. She also told me that breakfast was ready. I gave her a kiss, took the mug of coffee and then followed her back to the table.

Things were settling into a normal scheme rapidly and all my leaders and their mates were at the table when I got there. As soon as I was seated the serving was on. I didn't see Deimeta and when Taaheita brought my plate I asked about her.

"She was still sleeping when we left the bedroom and we didn't wake her. I think she might have overdone it a little yesterday," she said.

Maybe that was it but I was as worried as an old mother hen now. I ate my breakfast, not talking to anyone, except to give short answers if they asked me something. When I finished I left for my office at once.

Sitting at my desk I sent a message to the aliens and got an immediate reply. I asked the operator to have someone check to make sure that Deimeta was in good health and he said that it would be done at once. I was settling in to worry and expecting a long wait when I got a message back in less then three minutes.

"We have thoroughly scanned her and she is still in perfect health. We did notice that she showed signs of fatigue from yesterday and last night," he said.

"But she slept most of the day yesterday."

"We reviewed her actions on video and while it is true that she slept for most of the trip back she did not go to sleep for the night until very late. We surmise that she was simply not sleepy after the rest during the day and we know that she did not go to bed until the last of your mates did. Apparently she was excited about the upcoming celebration, as we all are," he said.

That was a relief. I didn't mind that she stayed up late because there was no real need for her to get up until she was good and ready. I probably wouldn't have worried at all if I'd known that she stayed up so late. I thanked the operator for his help and he assured me that he'd been glad to do it.

After signing off I began checking out the other camps I knew about with the video feeds. They all seemed to have normal activity and most of them were engaged in what looked like last minute preparations for the winter. In most of them at least a few men were headed out to do some hunting and I was sure that they were taking a last shot at bringing in some fresh meat. If they weren't ready for winter by now no amount of last minute hunting was going to get them ready.

The four couples at Caato's old camp were all outside and were up to the same thing. The women were already working over two small megaceros, which had probably been killed yesterday, and all the men were headed out of camp, going upriver.

I recalled a thought I'd had earlier and deciding to act on it I killed the video and went back out into my cave, looking for Georgo.

I got a surprise as I looked toward the cave's entrance. Dotallto was coming inside. He had been gone for quite a while and I went to him at once.

"Welcome back Dotallto, how was your visiting?"

"It was very good. With the buckboard I was able to travel far and I visited some camps that I had not been to in several years. I will add that there was much curiosity about the horses and the buckboard. They were worth much more than the irritation of answering the same questions in every camp though," he said.

"I'm sure that they were. There have been many changes here since you left for traveling."

"I have seen some of them already. I now know what those that saw my horses and buckboard must have felt like. Can you imagine my surprise when I came to the horse cave and discovered a full grown mammoth and many young ones in it?" he asked.

"I'm betting that it rid you of the boredom of the trail."

"You are right, never have I come so fully alert in so short a time. I'm glad that Danlo was there to explain things to me. He even let me approach Big Mother and touch her. Never, even in my dreams, did I think I would touch a living mammoth," he said.

"I'm sure that many things that you never dreamed of have come to pass since you came here."

"That is correct and it seems that this type of thing will continue to happen as long as I stay here," he said.

"I hope so but I hope that they will all be good things. Have you seen Georgo since you returned?"

"No, I have only seen Danlo and now you. I was going to look for Georgo," he said.

"I was too but I think that I'll let you find him and have the first chance to talk to him. I will go and see Danlo and marvel at the mammoths for a while."

Dotallto left and headed for his quarters and I'm sure he intended to check for Georgo as he went. I saw Dalia and asked her if Deimeta had gotten up and eaten yet.

"Yes, she is up and has eaten and has run off to the horse cave which she now calls the mammoth cave," Dalia told me, laughing.

I asked for and got another mug of coffee and then I headed for the mammoth cave myself. I found Danlo working with Big Mother and Deimeta was playing with her new friend.

"Daddy, I have named her Darta. Do you like the name?" Deimeta asked me as soon as she saw me enter.

"I think it is a fine name, now we can only hope that Darta likes her name."

"Of course she will like it, soon she may even know it is hers," she said.

I went to Danlo then and asked how he was getting along with Big Mother.

"We are doing well together. I am surprised that she seems to be much smarter than the horses. I have been teaching her to follow when I lead her but there is almost nothing to teach. When she sees that I want her to come with me she walks right beside me and when I stop she does too. She will even stay behind as I walk off when I signal that I want her to," he said.

"That is good news, I wonder if she will let you ride on her neck some day?"

"I'm sure she will and I am anxious to try it but not for a few days. I want to make sure that she knows I mean her no harm. I believe she will be very helpful to us and she seems to want to help," he said.

"Have you discovered which of the young ones is hers?"

"I believe Darta is her offspring but it is hard to tell. She seems to realize that the others have only her now and she lets them all nurse. She doesn't let any of them nurse very much but seems rather to try and ration her milk. I don't think that it will be a big problem though because all of them seemed happy to eat the hay that we have. I only hope that we will have enough to last the winter for them and the horses now," he said.

"I'm sure that we will have enough but it is a nice day and not too cold so why don't we let the mammoths and the horses loose in the blind canyons so that they can graze today?"

"I intend to do just that but I wanted to give Deimeta some time with Darta before I did," he said.

"Are you going to stay here for a while?"

"Yes."

"I think that Deimeta would be happy to spend time outside with Darta; I will stay here with you and we can keep watch."

He agreed and we opened the gate and began urging the mammoths and the horses to cross the canyon and the river and enter the gate to the blind canyons. It only took a few minutes. The horses were quick to head toward the back gate and on into the canyons but Big Mother and the youngsters explored more slowly. Deimeta and Darta didn't want to do much exploring and were content with each other's company.

Jack seemed no worse for the ordeal he'd had now and he and Red spent a few minutes disagreeing about who would be the head man. Red got his point across after a while but he didn't pursue the matter and left Jack in peace after he had bested him. Luckily neither had done the other any real damage.

Danlo and I talked about the mammoths, wagons, horses and other things until nearly noon. I kept an eye on Deimeta and she was content to spend the entire morning with Darta. I saw that she had even begun to teach Darta to follow her, just as Danlo had taught Big Mother. Frankly I was amazed at this. Finally I called her and told her it was time to go and see if we could find food.

"Very well Daddy. I am getting hungry and I'm sure that Darta would like some of the nice grass here. She probably won't eat unless I leave her alone," she said.

We headed toward my cave but when we were near I sent Danlo and Deimeta inside and told them that there was something I wanted to look at across the river. They went on and I crossed the bridge and headed for the cave where the sawmill was to be erected.

When I entered I saw that it was already in place. Looking it over told me that it should be easy to operate. It was larger than I had anticipated and I saw that it could easily handle logs up to thirty inches in diameter and twenty-four feet long. Its carriage was large and heavily built. I saw that it was not operated by a piston and steam but that there was a large lead screw on either side and that behind the carriage there was a big electric motor to furnish the power for them.

The band saw had its own motor and there was a conveyer for the slabs that led to a gang saw, which would cut them into different widths. The green chain led off to some type of sorting mechanism. I would have to ask about it. It was obvious that it could easily send sawed boards off to different places where they would be stacked but I could see no means to operate the sorter. I'm sure that there was something I just wasn't noticing.

I left after a few minutes and had my feet under my table and a plate before me in only a few more. I was sitting beside Georgo and Dotallto was on his other side. Poor Dotallto could barely eat for people asking about his travels and he didn't have time to ask any questions about the goings on here while he had been gone. His tales were interesting though because he had traveled farther this time than he ever had before and he had news from people that only a few here even knew of.

As the meal was winding down I was thinking of the people at Caato's old camp and trying to decide if I should go visit them. I knew that I should go at least once and try again to get them to join us. I couldn't feature them living the winter through there by themselves, even though we had furnished them with extra meat. I also knew that I would probably check on them every day during the winter and if something bad happened I would find myself in a wagon or buckboard, trying to fight my way through deep snow to come to their rescue. I was going to go see them for my own good if nothing else.