Snatched by cmsix

Chapter 30

Finally we were in bed and after my mates decided that Lanita was doing at least a passable job of pretending to be asleep, they got down to business on me. Nita claimed the right for the first ride, but I managed to do justice to all them. I had to, because they didn't intend to let me sleep until I had.

I woke with Lanita on my chest again the next morning and she was smiling at me when my eyes opened. I tickled her a little and then we got up and dressed, managing to do it without rousing the others. Lanita was trying not to giggle out loud as we left the hut.

"Oh, Daddy, they will be so surprised that they slept late and that we made our escape without waking them," Lanita said.

"Maybe, but we'll have to make sure they don't sleep much longer. Remember, they're the ones that bring breakfast."

"You're right, maybe we should go right back and wake them," she said.

"No need to worry, we were awake already, we just let you slip out," Nita said, as the three of them came out too.

"They have tricked us Daddy," Lanita squeaked.

"Doesn't matter, they can trick me as often as they like, just as long as the meals come on time."

"You do have a point there Daddy. Let's go visit Buttercup and Nosey, and all the others," she said, and so we did.

When breakfast was ready, we were ready for it. It was nice to have a real meal again instead of warming up traveling food. It was also nice to have Lanita in my lap waiting to be fed.

"What will we do first, Carl," Denac asked, as we finished.

You and Caltort and I will figure out how to make the wagons first, and then I think it will be you and I gathering material for Caltort while he makes them. I already know that he is much better at working with wood than I am," I said.

"He is better at it than anyone I've ever seen. Not only that, but he seems to like it," Denac said.

We found Caltort a few minutes later and he did seem excited about building something new. It took quite a bit of explaining and examples to get the idea into his head.

First I showed him exactly how my dolly worked, again, and then I took him to the large wheel rims that I'd been provided. It took a pencil and paper for me to finish explaining how the wheels had to be made, but with a couple of drawings and a few experimental uses of the tennon cutter, wheel borer, spoke shave, and the other tools, he thought he could get going right away.

That left Denac and I to get started but we grabbed a couple of the loners to help too. I didn't know the names of these two yet, but I did know they were the two who preferred each other's company. Hell, that was jake with me. They were also two of the largest and hardest working.

They weren't quite as large as Denac or Shaton, but they didn't miss it much. Though they weren't built like he'd been they reminded me of the Chicago Bear's defensive lineman, Refrigerator Perry. He'd always been called biscuit by his teammates, since they claimed he was only one biscuit shy of three hundred pounds. Our two gay cavemen were probably just about that, and they always seemed very clever when working with their hands, their big hands.

Since we needed dried wood, even if it was more trouble to cut, we went back to the burned section. We felled a large oak that was remarkably straight for about twenty-five feet. After it was down, we cut the trunk into two twelve-foot sections and then started sawing one down the long way for boards. This is not the easiest way to acquire lumber, but it was the easiest way available to us, at the moment.

Cutting slabs off the trunks wasn't the only sawing that had to take place either. We had to saw down the length to cut off the round edges left by the tree's curved outer surface and we also had to saw the wide cants into two or more twelve foot boards . Leaving them twenty to thirty inches wide was just an invitation for them to split.

We all worked our asses off. We'd enjoyed about all the sawing we could stand by lunchtime and I knew damned well we didn't even have enough cut for one wagon yet, not to mention that it was only roughed out.

When we went back for the noon meal we found that at least Caltort had been making progress. He had Jagbac helping him too, and they seemed to be doing well so far. They were cutting out and shaping felloes first and they had made real progress. The bad part, as far as Denac and I were concerned, was that we couldn't even use more help effectively. We had the available tools in use, and while one more man might be helpful to give breaks, it really wouldn't speed up the process any.

After lunch, Jagbac and Caltort came out where we were cutting and took a look around, mostly looking for material. Caltort figured that there would be plenty he could use that we had been forced to discard, and he was right. He and Jagbac cut off plenty from the trees we'd felled. They found just what they needed above where we'd cut out our twelve-foot sections. Jagbac also clued me in on how I could use some extra labor.

All we were cutting would need to be sanded smooth somehow, and that was going to be even more labor intensive than what we were doing now. He suggested I get someone started on it right away. Then Denac told me he could get that done, so I let him. He took off for a while and I helped with the sawing.

Denac was back with four men in about thirty minutes. They were regular members of the Calak. They grabbed up a twelve-foot plank each and headed for the river with them. Not to get them wet or anything, but for the sand they'd be using to smooth them out. Just as the last one left with his work, Chalti and Jastal came out to help with the cutting, and Denac eased me off to one side.

"We needed you to show us how to do this Carl, but I have a handle on it. I think you should get back to what you're best at now, training cashda and people to ride them. If we run into something we can't handle we know where to find you," he said.

"You're sure? I'll admit I'd much rather work with the cashda, but I don't want to put the hard work off on someone else just because I don't like it so much," I said.

"Carl, there are men sitting around camp wishing they had something to get busy on. Go teach a few of them how to drive the thaka," Denac said, and I decided I just might.

While walking back to the campsite I realized that men weren't the only ones I needed to introduce to cowboy ways. Katia, Shaeta, and Nita needed to learn too. It wasn't only because Katia and Shaeta were by far the best riders besides me either.

We didn't have enough Clydesdales for all the men to have one, and there were few men that didn't seem to be too large for the quarterhorses. There were about four of the younger boys who were old enough to learn to drive cattle and still small enough to ride quarterhorses, but that was it.

We needed about twenty or so more Clydesdales, especially since the wagons would need two each to pull them. This didn't even consider the fact that quarterhorses were much better for driving cattle.

The Clydesdales were acceptable for moving cattle, but they didn't pay attention to what the thaka were doing. The rider had to furnish all the know-how when using a Clydesdale. With the quarterhorses it didn't take much training to have your mount start helping you without much direction.

It wasn't that the Clydesdales were stupid about the thaka; it was more like they weren't really interested in them. They did well enough, but their hearts weren't in it, and they weren't even nearly as nimble on their feet.

Strangely the donkeys appeared to enjoy driving the thaka also. They were too small for any but the youngest children to ride, and though we'd given them some training, they weren't really interested in carrying a rider, they would, but they didn't like it much. What they would do was help with the herding on their own, without a rider.

I didn't understand why, but they seemed to enjoy it. I'd even seen Nosey at it, and he wasn't a bit ashamed to run up and bite a thaka on the ass if it didn't go where he intended for it to. I nearly fell off Red from laughing the first time I saw him do it.

It seemed that we'd need to find some more Clydesdales if we could, or else many of the men would have to walk to the new place, or ride in the wagons along with our freight.

But right now I needed to turn my mates and a few other women into drovers. I found the girls with a few other women, still working on saddle and tack construction, and asked them to take a break for a powwow.

"I hate to put more work on you women, but I don't see how to keep from it," I said, to get the ball rolling.

"What do you need for us to do?" Nita asked.

"I need to teach you how to herd the thaka."

"I thought that the men would do most of that," Matita said.

"It would be better if they could, but as it turns out they would be at a disadvantage."

"Why?" Shaeta asked.

"The quarterhorses are just better at working with cattle," I said.

"What are quarterhorses, and what are cattle?" Katia asked.

"Quarterhorse is what we called the cashda that aren't the largest. Cattle is what we called beast similar to the thaka," I said.

"Oh. I had wondered that there wasn't a different name for the different cashda. It's obvious that they are not the same. So quarterhorse is what you call the smaller ones. What did you call the big ones?" Shaeta asked.

"Clydesdales, they were normally used to pull things and carry loads, even though they can be ridden too. Most people where I was from were smaller. In fact I was a rather large man there," I said, explaining.

"I have noticed that what you call quarterhorses seem to be straining to carry the larger men," Matita said.

"Yes, they can do it, but they will be too tired before a day of it is over. They are not very good for pulling a load either. Their shoulders don't fit the harness well," I said.

"I don't see that there is anything we can do about it. We will just have to learn to drive the cattle. I hadn't thought about it, but I should have. Counting on my fingers should have told me that there aren't enough of the larger cashda, the Clydesdales, as you call them," Nita said.

"I'm glad you understand. I feel bad about putting this on you too, but I don't see another way," I said.

"I see another way," Shaeta said, "but not completely. Won't it be very helpful if we find some more of the Clydesdales?

"It won't make them any better at driving the thaka, but as you said they can do an acceptable job. If we had enough so all the men had one to ride, they could help with the thaka, even if the Clydesdales aren't the best for the job.

"I don't mind learning to drive the thaka, in fact, it sounds like fun to me, and the cashda will be doing most of the work. I do think that we should try to find some more of the Clydesdales though," Katia said.

"I think we should explain this to Caloe before we decide on anything. Maybe she will figure out a better way," Shaeta said.

"That is an excellent suggestion my mate. I'm afraid I was about to overstep my authority," I said, and grinned, and then they gave me a good laughing at.

We needn't have worried though. Caloe had caught sight of our little get together and she came up about then. I explained the whole thing again, and since they'd had a few minutes to think about it, the women shared some of their views too.

In the end Caloe decided that I should train about a dozen women to work with the thaka from cashdaback and after I had them started, I should take off with my mates and see if I could find more of the Clydesdales. Hell, it sounded like a plan to me, but I added that I thought Denac and Jekaycey should come with us, and Caloe agreed that would probably be best.

Thankfully she had decided days ago that we didn't need any more thaka for hides right now. Even though the saddles and other tack were using up quite a bit of it, they were using tanned leather mostly and not so much rawhide.

They'd had more leather than rawhide when we started the hunts, so things were working out well so far. The offshoot was that the produce of the hunting had been tended to now and there were enough women to cook and work around camp and some of them could take time off to learn to be cowgirls.

Saddle production had also progressed much faster than I'd have thought it would. Twenty had been finished already. They didn't have cotton or any type of string really, so the front girths had to be made of plaited leather, but it hadn't been a problem. Cotton twine would have been better, but the leather did an acceptable job. It would just need more care after each use than cotton would have.

We chose up sides and headed for the ranch. We had developed a somewhat awkward system for the horses by now. It was awkward in that we kept all the horses across the river, but at least we'd put up a couple of large huts to keep the tack in. When we got over there, I noticed that the guys were putting up another hut, and no doubt the ever-increasing tack production was making it necessary.

Jortah and Jonalton came to greet us, and in a few minutes I'd explained what we were up too. Jortah had a couple of guys start gathering horses for us while we let Jonalton help us find acceptable saddles and bridles for everyone.

I was surprised when the first saddle he came out of a hut with was Lanita's, the one that had come special delivery with our first bunch. I looked around and spied her, she laughed and admitted she'd been keeping out of my sight.

"Jeffry and I want to do our part Daddy, see, even Nosey is here to help," she said.

"When we had our mounts saddled, we split into two groups. Lanita, Jekaycey, my mates, and I mounted up for our first try with the thaka while Jonalton took the others for some general riding practice. No doubt he was glad to, since Janita was among them.

The thaka weren't exactly what you could call trail broke yet, but they were about as close as you could get them without taking them for a trip out of the canyon. The guys had pretty much practiced them to death lately. That didn't bother me one bit. I wasn't looking to see how good my mates could do with wild cattle, I just wanted to give them some practice, and a few pointers.

As I'd expected, Shaeta and Katia caught on quickly and Nita wasn't far behind. Lanita turned out to be the star of the show though, or her team did. Nosey was right there with Lanita and Jeffry and any thaka that went afoul of their wishes was dealt with promptly and none too gently. It didn't take Nosey thirty seconds to teach Jeffry that a good bite could do wonders.

I think Lanita was having a hard time holding on for laughing at their antics. She, Nosey, and Jeffry weren't satisfied with just moving the thaka in the direction indicated, they went busily about making sure the group they were tending to stayed bunched tightly.

The biggest surprise was the other donkeys. Once they caught onto what we were doing they joined right in, as if they were sheepdogs or something. They didn't work as hard at it as Nosey and Jeffry did, but they did keep things going. I was pretty sure we weren't going to have a bit of trouble moving our thaka when the time came.

We knocked off for the day about an hour before sunset.

On the way back to camp Shaeta, Katia, and I praised Lanita and Nosey for their hard work, while Nita scolded us, saying we were going to make her head to big for her to carry. Nosey let her know what he thought about it with a lusty hee haw.

At supper Denac told me that Caltort and Jagbac had commandeered the first two loggers, the gay men, to help them with the wagon project. It seemed that Caltort had also noticed how well they worked with their hands. It was fine with me. He did give me an uneasy feeling just before the food came though.

"They would like to talk to you after supper," he said.

"Who, Caltort and Jagbac?" I asked, wondering why they'd use Denac as a go between.

"No, the two loners that worked with them," he said.

That got me wondering what in the hell was coming up. I had no objection to talking with them, but just couldn't figure out what they wanted. I'd find out more about it later, no doubt.

Sure enough I did find out more about it, and it made me uncomfortable for a while. They introduced themselves to me by name. Bruca and Charlon were their names and of course I told them mine, though I'm sure they'd already heard it.

"We have noticed that even the healing women come to you for advice sometimes and we'd like for you to help us if you know of a way," Charlon said.

"I'd be glad to help you if I can. Do you have a sickness?" I asked.

"We don't know if it is a sickness or even if it can be cured," Bruca said.

"We don't know why we like each other's company over the company of women. We don't know why it happened and we don't understand it. Is it a sickness," Charlon asked.

"No. It is not a sickness, I do know that. I don't know why it's the way you are, but I do know that it isn't a sickness and it isn't even new to me. I have seen such things many time," I said, and I could tell that was a shocker for them.

"But we have never heard of it before," Bruca said.

"How many people have you told about your situation?" I asked.

"No one, but you. I'm sure everybody knows it though," Bruca said.

"Let me tell you something about people, all people. When a person or a few people are doing something that they consider different, or maybe even wrong, they usually feel that it is obvious to others. Often it isn't that obvious, and almost as often it isn't wrong, even though some others might think it was wrong."

"I don't understand what you are telling us," Charlon said.

"The first thing I'm telling you is that your feelings for each other aren't wrong, and that you did nothing wrong to cause them. The second thing I'm telling you is that they are nobody's business but yours. The third thing I'm telling you is that you are overly sensitive about them because they are different and you know they are different.

"I am much more different than you two are. That doesn't mean I'm wrong, does it? I didn't ask to come here, but I'm here now and must do the best I can. You didn't ask to have the difference you do, but you have it and you must do the best you can. If it bothers someone else it is their problem, not yours.

"What usually is done when two men can't get along, or when one man wants to cause trouble with another man?" I asked.

"If it becomes too troublesome the men fight each other," Charlon said.

"Exactly, and you both seem large enough to take care of yourselves," I said.

"Neither of us wants to fight. We do not like it," Bruca said.

"Do you think I like to fight? I don't. It was very hard on me to fight Denac. I knew that I'd have to hurt him, and I didn't want to. You weren't here to see it, but I'm sure you've heard about it since you came here. If you haven't I will tell of it."

"We heard, of course we did. In fact Denac himself told us about it," Charlon said.

"What did he tell you?" I asked.

"The first thing he told us was that he was wrong and then he said that the fight and the injury were the best thing that had ever happened to him," Bruca said.

"He is wrong about that, but not exactly wrong. I believe if he thought about it more closely he would know that the best thing was that he earned a friend, no matter how he went about it.

"You two have earned me as a friend, with your hard work. I'm sure that neither of you bothered the women that you were holding captive, and I would bet much that you didn't even harm a single one in their Calak.

"You were in bad company and didn't know what else to do about it, so you went along. I'm guessing now, but I believe you hated most of it."

"I did, I hated it. At first Kaglao made it sound exciting, but when we attacked the small Calak and killed the men, and boy children, I couldn't do my part. It made me sick inside, for days," Charlon said.

"I also. It was like I'd killed my own father, though I killed no one," Bruca said.

"Good. I'm glad you felt that way and even though you only went along, you deserved to feel bad. It was a terrible thing you were involved in.

"But you've felt bad, and you regret your actions. Now, forget it as much as you can. It is done and it is over. You have to go on.

"I would advise you to stop trying to hide your feelings for each other without making a spectacle of them either. You are different, but you are not wrong. Some of the others might be uncomfortable about your feelings for each other. It will be easier for them if you don't make a point of them. They will also come to grips with it more easily if you aren't obviously hiding the way you feel.

"That doesn't mean you are wrong or that you are hiding anything. It means you are trying to save them discomfort. There is no sense to pointing out their failures to them."

"But what are their failures," Bruca said.

"If they begrudge you being different, they lack the ability to understand that everyone is different. No two people are the same. Everyone in this, or any Calak is different from anyone else. I'll bet that even the two of you don't like exactly the same things. Every person is different in some way. It is foolish to point it out for hurtfulness.

"If someone pesters you about your difference, let it go if you can but fight them if you can't let it go. If you let it go and it still becomes a problem then it is likely that I will notice it and talk to them, by hand."

"Maybe, but Zakat will be well enough to do the Calak's fighting sooner or later, and he might not see it that way," Charlon said.

"That does not matter. I cannot tolerate that kind of abuse by one man in this Calak for another. Those are the kinds of things that make me angry.

"We have a large Calak, and more time when we don't have to work as hard. That gives time for many to have nothing they need to do. If someone uses that time to cause trouble, I will find something they need to be doing, even if it has to be fighting me."

"But you aren't the leader, and those things are his job," Bruca said.

"I am not the leader because I chose not to be the leader. I won my fight with Zakat, but let him remain the leader because I knew that he was doing a good job. I do not lord that over him, but I will still do what seems right to me, until someone shows me that they can best me. If they do, and I can't live with their leadership, my mates and I will leave."

That gave them pause and it also provided a good place to end our talk. They seemed like they had plenty to think about already, so we broke up and I found my mates and Lanita and we went into our hut for the night.