Snatched by cmsix

Chapter 28

After a little time talking about the thaka herd and how to handle it, Denac and I decided to go on and start our hunt. We could go back out the way we had this morning and camp well away from here. We might find another small herd or at least we would surely find a few to shoot. After all, we were already set up with food, our bedding, and the cashda were ready. We kissed our mates and Lanita and mounted up.

We practically followed yesterday's trail out again, and when we came to the spot where we'd found our herd we kept going. I noticed that the forest seemed a little thicker for a while, but occasionally we'd come to a large clearing, usually fifty acres or so, and a couple looked to be nearly a hundred. We stopped and made a camp about an hour before sunset.

We were by a small stream at the edge of one of the clearings. After watering the cashda, we hobbled them and then removed all the tack and harness, except the halters. We dug into our traveling rations, ate what passed for supper, and unrolled our bedding and went to sleep.

It must have been several hours later that I woke, with both moons nearly directly overhead. Buster was snorting and I could see well enough to tell that all of them were looking off in the same direction.

I stood up, trying to see what was bothering them, but even in the moonlight I couldn't. Nothing to do but lie back down and wait for whatever would happen. Nothing did, and I went back to sleep after the horses lost interest in whatever it was.

Denac and I woke just at sunrise the next morning. We both watered a tree and started on our traveling breakfasts before he noticed that we had some extra cashda and pointed it out to me.

"Well I'll be damned. That must have been what caused them to wake me up last night," I said.

"But what are they?" he asked.

"We called them Shetland ponies where I came from. They are like cashda, only smaller. They seem to like the company they're in though and I hope they follow us home," I said.

"Can't we drive them home like we did the thaka?" he asked.

"Maybe, but probably not, besides it would be too much bother and we really do need to get some more thaka," I said.

"There is that, since it's what we came to do in the first place," he said.

We saddled Buster and Red and put the leads onto Gertrude and Matilda before we removed the hobbles, then we mounted. I sat still for a few minutes, mostly to see what the ponies would do. They just stood around as if they were supposed to or something.

They had backed off as soon as Denac and I started moving around, but they had probably been here for hours before we woke, so we weren't a surprise to them. After hanging around us while we were sleeping they probably figured we were harmless.

Just as I was thinking about moving off I caught a scent of thaka. I could tell that there weren't nearly as many as the day before, but it was faint and I knew it was out on the edge of my normal scent range. I told Denac about them and we headed out. Sure enough the Shetlands came with us, trailing Gertrude and Matilda, all nine of them.

I was right about the thaka being at the limit of my scent, they were probably three quarters of a mile from us, and by the time we were within sight I could tell that there were three males, and four females with no young. We were still probably four hundred yards from them when we stopped and I dismounted to fire.

After finding a handy stout limb about the right height, I settled in to use it as a rest, acquired my first target, and started firing. The first two I took didn't even have time to realize they were in danger. The others knew something was wrong, but they didn't seem to be able to connect the loud noise and us with their predicament. I managed to get them all.

Our cashda had already heard the M1 so they weren't agitated. The ponies hadn't heard it before, but when the bigger cashda didn't cut up, they decided they wouldn't either, I guess. Anyway, when I mounted and we headed to the kills they came right along, and they hung around grazing with our stock while Denac and I built two travois and loaded the thaka onto them.

"This sure beats gutting one and cutting it up where you kill it," Denac said.

"Yes it does, and the women will be a lot happier about it too. Just think, all we had to do was ride out, spend the night, get up and shoot seven thaka, cut their throats to bleed them, and put them on the travois.

"The women will be proud of us for it and more than happy to do the rest. We barely had to do more than take a nice ride for the fun of it," I said.

He laughed at me about it, but dammit, I was right. This was the way to hunt. Go out and do the manly deed and then bring the work back to the women. Hell, they even preferred it that way, and damned if the ponies didn't follow us all the way back.

When we reached the gate to the canyon I got down, opened it wide, remounted, and then Denac and I walked the whole parade on in, ponies and all. One of the donkeys spotted the Shetlands and brayed like hell. When the Shetlands heard it they forgot about us and rushed up to greet the donkey.

Jortah was surprised, but he came trotting over to see what was going on.

"They're called Shetland ponies, Jortah, they found us and then followed us home," I said.

"Should we treat them like the other cashda and donkeys?" he asked.

I noticed then that he had about twenty of the adult quarter horses in the capture pen, and that two guys were petting and scratching on one of the mares in the chute. Damn, he was doing a good job, or they were.

"Might as well when you get to them. It won't hurt anything," I said.

Meanwhile, we had a small snafu. The dead thaka were on this side of the river and the women who'd rather skin and cut them up themselves were on the other. Jortah said he'd hold the lead for Gertrude and Matilda while we went back to camp for further instructions.

Denac and I took off then, I'm sure he was hoping, like I was, that someone would feed us after the details were straightened out. We'd missed lunch after all.

I found Caloe right away when we hit camp, and dismounted to give her the news. She gave me some of her own then.

"You need to have some of your workers help us then. We can skin and cut up the thaka, but we need some help processing the hides.

"The other men that went hunting yesterday brought back five more thaka, and they've gone hunting again today. I'm glad that everyone has done so well, but the work is backing up on us," she said.

"That's no problem. I'm sure they'd all be glad to help if you'd like for them too. In fact, I'm not above it myself," I said, grinning.

"That will work well. If you can get the skins scraped and stretched we can handle everything else. You didn't happen to bring the ones you killed back without gutting them did you?" she asked.

"Of course, but we can do that too if you'd like," I said.

"No, that isn't what I was getting at. I was hoping you hadn't done it yet. I do have something I want you to do though.

"While your helpers are working on the skins, I want you and Denac to start giving all the men lessons on using a cashda to pull a travois. Every one of the other thakas came back minus some of the best parts," she said.

"We'll be happy to do it, but where do you want to take care of the thaka I brought? I'm not sure we can get them across the river very easily," I said.

"I'll let Katia gather a group to go take care of them over there. Can you bring them down near the river?" she asked.

"Of course."

"Good, do that please, and I'll send Katia and some others over to deal with them.

I mounted again and Denac and I went back across the river.

"I'll have to say that things seem to be working out well for us, and I'm pretty sure you are the cause of it," Denac said.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, I probably should say that things have been going better than I could ever have imagined since you knocked me out. I'd have you do it again, but I don't think I could stand it if life got much better," he said, and laughed.

"Well, you should consider this too. In a few days we're going to have to teach Zakat and Matatu how to ride the cashda. We can always hope that at least one of them falls off. Just think how hard it will be to keep from laughing at them," I said, and he went ahead and got his laughing over with just from the thought of it.

When we took the travois leads and headed for the river, Jortah told us he could send four men to help right away, and damned if they didn't come running and catch us before we got there.

Katia, Shaeta, and Nita came down a few minutes later with several other women, including Shata, and they brought six thaka skins with them. When they made it across Shata took over.

After all the thaka were off the travois, she sent two of the guys off to cut saplings for stretching frames and everyone else started cutting and skinning. Denac and I were summarily dismissed and sent to eat.

"Jekaycey is fixing you two some lunch," Shata told us.

We tried pulling the travois across the river, now that they were unloaded, and it worked well enough. It would have been a bother if they'd had skins covering them, but we'd just used small cross members when we built them and they were no problem.

Lanita and Nosey found us while we were hobbling our mounts and travois cashda so they could graze while we ate.

"Daddy, I heard that you and uncle Denac brought back seven thaka," she said. She was clearly excited and she had made Denac's day with the same breath.

"Yes we did, but that's not all we brought back," I said.

"I knew it, I just knew that was why you wanted them," Denac said, laughing.

"Of course it was," I said.

"Of course what was?" Lanita asked.

"You and Nosey will get to see as soon as uncle Denac and I finish our late lunch. Do you want some?"

"No, aunt Jekaycey fed me at lunch and she packed me full," Lanita said.

"Good, that means more for me."

"Well... Maybe I will try a few of the best bites," she said, grinning, but when time came she didn't.

Jekaycey brought Denac and I a bowl of lunch then and sat with us while we ate.

"I can never remember this Calak having so much meat come in at one time," she said, "and we don't really even need it so much right now."

"No, but we need the leather and the meat comes with it," I said.

"I know, but it just seems that it's easier now," she said.

"Yes, but in a few years it will be even easier when all we have to do it go pick one from the herd to slaughter," I said.

"Yes, I've been thinking about that too. We won't even have to dry so much for winter," she said.

"No, but we should probably cull them thoroughly as soon as it is cold enough to freeze the meat. We will have to find them enough food for the winter, and that isn't easy," I said.

"That's right. I hadn't thought of that, but we will have to find something for them to eat," Denac said.

"But what can we feed them," Jekaycey said.

"Hay."

"What is hay?" Denac asked.

"It is grass that you have cut down, let dry, and then tied into bundles for storing. It takes a lot of it, but it isn't too much work. It is work, but not too much, and the children can help with it, since the bundles are very light," I said.

"I think it might be fun to make bundles of food for Nosey," Lanita said.

"Good, keep remembering that," I said.

"Oh Daddy, Nosey doesn't eat that much, does he?" she asked.

"You might find it hard to believe, but even nosey probably eats around forty or fifty pounds per week," I said.

"Oh my, that is a lot of grass to pull up," Lanita said.

"Yes it is, but we won't have to pull it up. I'll make some tools to cut it, and they can do a good job. You'll see later; we still have plenty of time.

Since Caloe had already told us what she wanted out of us next, Denac and I found Caltort and Jagbac to start with the cashda leading lessons. It isn't so complicated to teach someone to lead a cashda but it is important to go over the whole process of interacting with them. One lesson wouldn't be enough; it would take several.

Jastal and Chalti came over before we'd gotten very far along and I started over with them. Before long Denac was watching leading practice while I continued with the spoken lessons.

After I'd run down a little it was time to take Chalti and Jastal over for something to lead themselves. Lanita agreed that she wanted to go see her surprise so I mounted and Jastal handed her up to me. Nosey, who seemed too smart for a donkey, walked along with the two of them, no doubt intending to catch a raft ride.

Lanita was thrilled when she saw the ponies, but she waited for Nosey to arrive before she went to greet them. He wasn't long coming though and soon it seemed that he and Lanita had picked out a pal among the Shetlands. All of them seemed to get along together, but there was one who just happened to be a perfect size for Lanita to ride, it seemed to be their favorite.

After I dismounted, Chalti, Jastal, and I walked over to talk with Jonalton and I managed to delegate their training to him. After all, what good is a manager if he can't train his replacement? Meanwhile I now had time to visit with Nosey, Lanita, and Jeffry, Lanita's new pony.

Jeffry and Nosey were busily grazing together now and Lanita was between them, petting first one and then the other. Lanita was the only one that paid me any attention when I came over.

"See how well they get along Daddy. I'm very lucky to have you to bring me nice presents," she said, grinning.

"Well, I didn't exactly bring Jeffry and his friends. They found us while Denac and I were sleeping last night, and when we woke they were all just grazing with Buster, Red, Gertrude, and Matilda."

"But how did they get back here?" she asked.

"They followed us when we went hunting and then they followed us back here. When I opened the gate so Denac and I could ride in and bring Gertrude and Matilda and their travois in, Jeffry and his friends came on in too. It was almost like they knew you'd be over here in a while to pet them."

"Oh Daddy, they didn't know that," she said, laughing.

"They might have. As soon as they saw the donkeys they all ran together for a talk and the donkeys might have told them about you."

"Daddy, you're so silly sometimes, but I really like it," she said, still laughing and giggling.

"When do you want to learn to ride Jeffry?"

"Are you sure he is big enough for me to ride?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. He won't get any bigger; he's fully-grown now. You won't be able to keep riding him after you've grown some, but you can probably use him for a few years. After that he can retire and hang around with Nosey, or maybe some smaller child will want to ride him then."

"Ok, if you're sure, I will wait a couple of days until he is more familiar with us and then I will learn to ride him. It looks like I'm going to have to learn first, before Jekaycey or any of my mommies will try it," she said, and she was probably right.

"Why don't we go over and find your halter, headstall, and bosal to make sure that they fit Jeffry," I asked.

"That is a good idea. I'll need to teach him to follow when I want to lead him. It doesn't seem like he wants to be as much of a pet as Nosey does," Lanita said.

I mounted Red and was able to swing Lanita up behind me then. When we headed for the gate, both Nosey and Jeffry followed us. I was surprised and I think that Lanita was too, a little at least. The big surprise was at the river though. Lanita, Red, and I went off into the water and crossed, but Nosey led Jeffry over to stand by the grounded raft. Apparently he was waiting for someone to cross and intended for he and Jeffry to catch a ride. Jeffry looked like that was fine with him.

One of the guys who were working on the skins saw them and came over to oblige. When he got onto the raft Nosey followed right away, and then Jeffry came along after a little coaxing. They were across the river, feet dry, in minutes and they came on to follow us while the worker took the raft back across.

Back at camp, many of the rest of the women were working on the bunch of thaka that the other hunters had come back with, there were six more. I saw that the skins were being rolled up as soon as they were removed and figured my guys would have more work to do with them. Caltort had even been called back from his pottery wheel chores and was busily assembling more racks for drying the meat.

A smokehouse. It seemed to pop into my head that we needed a smokehouse, and we needed it pretty damned quickly at that.

"Denac, will you ride back over and bring the cashda training to a halt. I need all the guys that aren't helping with the skins over here for some light work."

"I'll be glad to. What are we going to do?" he asked.

"We're going to build a smoke house."

"What is a smokehouse?" he asked.

"Bring the men and you'll see."

He left and I went to my stash to collect the saws, axes, and hatchets that I had. By the time the guys were back I was ready.

I'd forgotten to tell Denac that we'd need Gertrude and Matilda, but he'd had a couple of the guys bring them anyway and I was glad about it. We took off toward the burned off section and found a good stand of post oaks near it. It was felling and limb stripping after that. Within thirty minutes Gertrude was on her way skidding eight of them back to camp and we were working on a load for Matilda. I asked the one leading Gertrude away to warn Caloe that we would be late for supper.

We worked until nearly sunset and we still weren't done. We had enough small logs for a good start but not enough to finish. The others hadn't waited supper on us, but they had saved plenty to feed us. Caloe came over while Denac and I were eating and asked what I had started in such a rush.

"A smokehouse," I said.

"What is it for?" she asked.

"It is a little like a hut to cure meat in. I will build a strong building and we will hang the sections of meat from the roof, then we can build a smoky fire inside. The meat will cure with much less work and the hut will keep out sneaky animals," I said.

"If it works that will be much better than scattering all the meat out on racks and building many fires," she said.

"I think so, and I know it works, I'd just forgotten about it," I said.

Everyone was pretty tired by the time it was dark. Even Lanita seemed to be tuckered out. We were asleep nearly as soon as we lay down.

We were up with the sun the next morning though, and it was back to work as soon as breakfast was over. The women still had thaka to deal with, but Caloe had asked that the hunters take a day or two off, so they came with Denac, the loners, and I. We had plenty of logs for the smoke house before lunch.

Lunch today was a lot more meaty than usual. Of course their main method of cooking meat was either in a big stew or roasted over an open fire. I'd clue them in to using an oven as soon as I got time but for today it was roasted meat mostly, and that was fine with me.

With all the extra help we were done with the smokehouse before dark, even after taking a break for supper. With so much meat to deal with, I'd made it twenty by twenty, or as close to that as I could guess. I noticed that many of the men were very curious about the notched log construction, and they also seemed to approve of the shed roof method.

I'd said we were finished, but we hadn't actually put on the roof yet. Tomorrow would be the day I taught them how to cut wood shingles. Right now though, it was time for sleeping again, and once again I was more than ready.

After breakfast the next morning we were right back in the burned section. We needed something to cut wooden shingles out of and the standing dead trees would have to do. I picked out two of the larger ones and with the big crosscut saw we had them down within an hour.

With the trees down I had the men start on one end cutting off sections of the trunks, eighteen inches each. I took the first one that came off, and while some of the men kept cutting, I used a couple of wedges to quarter the first one and then took the froe I'd been gifted with and a hammer and started splitting off shingle candidates.

I'll admit that I didn't do so well at first, but a little practice had me producing acceptable shingles. I let Caltort have the next turn and he spoiled most of the fun. Now that he knew what we were trying for it didn't take him long to get right into the swing of things. He was doing much better than I'd ever hope to in no time. In fact, he did so well that I turned the training over to him, taking a couple of guys with me to see about putting the shingles we had so far to good use.

Lunch was right on time today, but none of us that were working on the smokehouse tarried after we'd eaten. We had the roof in place within an hour after eating and then we were busy hanging the meat inside it.

It didn't take long for me to decide I'd miscalculated. We had to take off from hanging meat and put up some post inside because we were hanging more weight than I'd designed for. The rafters were sagging in the middle.

Curing the problem wasn't a big job though, and we actually got to take nearly two hours off before suppertime. It had been a lot of work but the smokehouse would be well worth it. I'd also noticed that by working alongside them, most of the Calak's men had come around to thinking that the loners in our midst were hard workers, if nothing else.

I knew something was up the next morning as soon as I woke. Apparently Lanita knew it too, and she even knew what it was. She told me as soon as I opened my eyes and looked into hers.

"Can you feel it Daddy? Breezus has found a pair during the night. I wonder who it is?" she asked, and then giggled. That woke the rest of my girls and soon they were giggling and wondering too.

We dressed and went outside, but it only took minutes to discover who was going to be mated. It was more than shocking for the two of them though; it shocked everyone in the Calak, and all the loners, to their bones.