What Happened?

By

Apache

All rights reserved

Chapter 6

The Next morning, once I showed the girls how to use the big grain scoops, rakes and yard brooms, the girls were hard at it cleaning the crud out of the cave.  Fawn came out and asked me if I could bring the wagon into the cave, so they could load the crud into it.  I drove it into the cave and went right to the first pile of refuse that I saw.  I started to load it, and was immediately told to just sit and wait until they had it loaded.

Dawn told me that cleaning the cave was work for the women.  The men hunted and protected the women, as is their job.  I was not to do anything but that!

I had been told.


During the day and into the evening I hauled 21 loads of rubbish from the cave.  It was starting to smell better already.  Dawn and company went with me on the last load.  They diverted me on the way back to gather fire wood.  They loaded the trailer full.  I asked, "Why, so much wood"?

Dove told me, "We are  going to start a big fire in the cave.  It will help make it smell better".

We still camped just outside the cave that night.  The evening meal was a stew made from Smoked bear meat.  Outstanding!!

We didn't get up to much that night except cuddle.


The next day I was still a happy camper. 

The girls had kept both the camp fire and the big fire in the cave going all night.  I went into the cave that morning expecting the odour to have not changed very much.  To my surprise, it didn't smell bad at all.  There were a few spots that you could smell something, but not many. 

The ladies informed me that we were moving in, right after breakfast.  All of the gear we had for the camp was moved inside the cave.  That included the Smoker/Drier and the BBQ.  All of the clean up tools were left inside the day before. 

I got busy unpacking my container and moving the stuff inside.  The girls decided that I knew nothing about where to store the things that came from the container.  I would bring something in and explain what it was for, and the girls would store it where they wanted it.  It took almost five days to get the cave like my girls wanted it.  And in the end it was a good layout.  The tent with it's platform was just inside and to the left of the opening.  The cook fire and grate were just in front of the tent.  The smoker went just to the right of the opening and the BBQ was set up just to the left inside the opening on the wall.  All of the food was kept just behind the tent on racks made from saplings. 

The cave had running water in it.  On the far right side was a small crack in the wall.  A slow stream of water was running from the crack.  The stream then ran toward the back of the cave for about ten meters.  There was a pool of five feet by fifteen feet, and about 6 to 18 inches deep.  The water ran on for a short distance and then disappeared down a different crack in the floor.  I thought to build a privy over the final leg that the water took.


As soon as everything settled down in the cave, it was time to go gathering and hunting for the winter. 

For the next two weeks it was up at dawn eat and everyone would pile into the cart and go some place to gather vegetables, haul them back to the cave and store them.  Do it again, until you run out of light.  about every third day it was hunting.  Go out and find game.  Kill a few.  The girls would field dress the game and we would load it on the cart.  Take it to the cave for processing and storage. 

We had mounds of food stacked all over the cave. 

Now the pressing thing was to close the opening for the winter.  I had all of the tools I would need to build a closure from wood.  But I was by myself for the heavy lifting and it would take just too long to get it done. 

Then I got to looking at the container.  If some how I could move it I could slide one end of it into the cave.  We could seal it off with clay or dirt.  Then we would have an entrance chamber that would keep out almost all of the cold.  The only problem was it was too long.  If I got one end inside the cave, the other end would be about five feet from the ground.  It was just too long. 

I got on the cart and went to harvest some trees.  I was not going to be cold this winter!

I had cut four pines about 8 inches in diameter. and was pulling them up to the cave when I spotted what looked to be a very short container.    I pulled up and dropped the logs and took a look at the new container.  I opened it and found it was full of eight foot dimensional lumber.  2X4's,  2X6's,  2X8's.  and all sorts of 1 by lumber.  It was all kiln dry smooth.

 I called the girls and we made short work of getting the lumber inside.  All of the girls wanted to know what it was and what it was for.  Later.

I then got the cart and hooked it to one end of the container.  I pulled it around until I got it lined up with the entrance.  I pulled it inside until just a little was outside the opening.  I had made sure the doors on both ends could be opened from the inside.  Once it was in place the girls all crowded around me and asked what it was for.  I explained that we could seal up the crack around each side and top with mud or clay, and it would almost be air tight.  It would keep almost all of the cold out this winter.   They were all for that.  I took them all out one at a time and let them open and close the doors. 

We were all outside, when we heard voices.  I looked around and spotted a small group of people just on this side of the ford.  They had spotted me and mine and now talking among themselves.  I asked Dawn to call them to come up to the cave.  She Did, and two men broke away from what I now knew to be fourteen girls and women, two young men and the two older men who were approaching.   I walked out to greet them and Dawn went with me.   I had my M1 and a Glock with me.  We stopped about ten yards apart.  The men lay their spears on the ground and I put the M1 On the ground. 

The oldest one said, "We have come a very long distance to see if we could winter in this cave.  Our village was attacked, and all of the men were killed that were in the village.  We four men were on a hunt and were spared being killed.  The women with us now were out of the village gathering.  We came back to the village when we saw smoke from the burning lodges.  The women hid until they saw us coming back.  We gathered all of the supplies that we could and set out for here.  But now  I see that we must search farther to find a safe place for winter".

I looked at Dawn and she shrugged her shoulders and pointed at me.

I asked, "What is your name?"

He replied, "I am known as Gray Wolf".

I said, "Gray Wolf, we have the cave you were going to use.  It is very big and could hold a lot more people than it does.  If you want to move into the cave and live with us it would be OK with me.  I am the leader here, but I am the only man.  We have much food and it is easy for us to gather more.  If you move in I will be leader over all of the people in the cave, but I would want you to be my second in command, that way you could still be leader over your people".

He and the other man walked off a little ways and talked it over.  When they returned, Wolf said, "I will let my woman look over the cave.  If it is OK with her we ill move in and it will be as you say".

I asked Dawn to show them around, and she told me, that it was my place to show the new ones the cave.

Wolf and his woman came back up to me.  I said, "Follow me". 

I showed them all about getting into and out of the container.  The it was on to the cave proper.  I showed them around, even the running water.  That was the clincher.  The woman was smiling when she told that this was better that she could dream of.

So the people moved into the cave. 

Now I had some help in getting ready for winter. 

Dawn led the women to where she wanted them, and let them set up their areas.

Wolf came up to me and said, "Our women will have to go gathering and we will have to go hunting so we can have food to last the winter".

I told him that if he and his other men and boys would help him today, we all would go hunting tomorrow.  All of the women can go gathering today.


He said that he and the other men would have to go with the women, for protection.  I told wolf that my women had weapons of their own and could protect all of the others.   Of course Wolf did not believe me.  I had Dawn set up a little demonstration.  She got a large piece of fire wood and set it up against the wall of the cave.  She then went to the other side of the cave with her bow.  She aimed carefully and fired.  A steel bolt slammed into the chunk of wood and split it from one end to the other. 

Wolf was standing there looking at the wood with his mouth hanging open.  He turned to me and asked, "Is your woman magic"?

I said, "Wolf, no she is not.  She has a weapon that can kill from long distances.  It is not magic.  I will give all of the women that came with you one of these weapons, so they can protect themselves".

I had Wolf call all of his men, and told them that we had to get dirt or clay to fill in the crack around the opening to the cave.  One of the young boys said, "I know where some clay is".  I asked, "Where"?  and he said, "Down at the river where we crossed".

I pulled the cart and trailer outside and had the men get on.  As I started to move the men all bailed off.  It took me a bit of time to talk them into getting back on.  I started and they all looked like they were on a one way trip to hell.  I eased down the grade to the river and drove slowly to the ford.  I showed them how to use the shovels I brought with us.  The men were amazed that it looked so easy.  Fifteen minutes later we had more clay than we could use.

Back up the hill.  The men road with me and looked like returning heroes when we got to the entrance.  I explained what I wanted done and then Wolf and I got out of the way.  An hour later they had the sides and top packed with clay. 

I told Wolf that we had to do the inside also.  He told his men and they took off for the clay pit.  Wolf and I got on the cart and set a slower pace.

Wolf told that his men liked to use the new tools. It made the work go so much faster.

When we got there the clay flew into the trailer.  The men were eye balling the clay, and when they thought they had enough they put the tools on the trailer and then got on the cart for the ride home.

I pulled right inside.  The men started packing clay as they had on the outside.  They were done just a little before lunch time.  My girls had been giving cooking lessons while we were out packing clay.  The women would not let the men eat until they had cleaned the mud off of themselves.  One of the young boys had got more on himself that was used to seal up the cave.  He complained a lot about washing, but he was clean when he finally got to eat.

After the meal, I told Dawn that I was taking Wolf hunting with me, and if we got any game, we would load it on the trailer and bring it home for the girls to process.

I called Wolf to me and let him know that I was going to show him a new way to hunt.  He was all for it and wanted to bring all of the men with us.  I told him for now the new way was for him only.  He grinned from ear to ear.

We loaded on to the cart and headed out.  Across the river and looking for a herd of buffalo.  I spotted a small herd about three or four miles away and headed for it.  I stopped about 500 yards out.  I told Wolf to put his fingers in his ears, because what I was going to do was going to make a very loud noise.  It was hard for him to understand, but he did it.  I put the M1 up and braced it on the top of the windshield.  Bang!  Bang!  Bang!  I saw three buffalo drop right where they stood. 

I eased on up towards the herd and they walked off, leaving the three I had shot.  Wolf looked at me and said the only thing he could.  "How"?

But now was not the time to explain ballistics to him, it was time for loading and hauling.  I slowly drove up to the fallen bison.  I got the winch line from the back of the cart and ran it out to the first Bison.  I got the line around him and pulled him to the front of the trailer.  And so it went.  By the last one Wolf was right there to help.  The man was smart.  If he saw something done, then he would try to do it. 

We drove back to the cave and unloaded the bison.  The ladies of the group, then took over.  The smoker and BBQ were brought out and fired up.  Dawn asked me if I had any of the things that I had used the other day.  I showed her where they were stored and in just a short time we had three tenderloins cooking away.  It was going to be another good food night!

After the meal, in which every man, woman, and child in our little group, ate until they were full.  I was going to try to make sure that all of the people in my little group ate three square meals a day. 

Over the next few weeks, right up until the snow started, I planed on having every person either gathering fruits and vegetables or hunting.  I didn't want a single person to lose any weight between now and spring.  That meant that we had to have a huge reserve of food ready to go.

We knew that winter was on its way.  It was getting colder day by day.  The whole group worked from sun up till sun down.  Then they did things by fire light in the cave. 

Wolf and his group had been with us for almost a month, when he came to me one day and said, "It is none of my business in what you do to your women, but I don't like anyone who would hurt a woman.  From the sound of things, you must hurt them badly every night.  We will be leaving so soon as possible next spring.  If you continue to hurt your women, I will be forced to hit you with my fist".

I started laughing.  Then I said, "Wolf, I do not hurt any of my women.  They cry out from the pleasure I give them.  But do not ask me, have one of your ladies ask any one of my girls what they cry out about".

Over the next week, the cave became a very noisy place, but inspiring, at night.  The funny part of it was, if one of the men would try to help the women, they would get chased off and told to rest.  All of the men were walking around with big smiles on their faces.  Hell, so was I!

It went along just fine in the cave for the next five weeks.  That morning I opened the doors to go outside and found almost a foot of dry power snow on the ground, and the temperature somewhere close to zero deg. F.  That's cold!

Over the next five weeks, the snow kept getting deeper.  We tried to keep the small flat area in front of the cave clear.

Then one fine day Honey came to me with something I had not seen in a while.  It was a lap top computer, and it was beeping.

She handed it to me and stood there waiting for an explanation.  I opened the laptop and the screen lit up and a message was displayed.  It said, "On top of the plateau that your cave is under, there is a small group of people.  They had a fire that destroyed most of their food and all but a small hut that they are in.  Would you consider going out and try to save them?  The laptop will guide you to the location.  Use your cart and trailer". 

I told Honey to tell Dawn what was going on.  I went and got Wolf, and asked him if he would go with me.  He looked a little worried but said he would help in any way that he could.  I took him back to the back of the cave to where we had stored the cart and trailer. 

I took one look and knew that someone or thing was giving us a big hand up.  The cart was now equipped with crawler type tracks and the trailer had broad skis on each wheel.  The cart was now enclosed with a tent like covering.  The trailer had the same kind of covering, but it was folded down into the trailer body.  The trailer looked to be about six of seven feet longer than it was. 

We had just got into the cart when Dawn came running up, along with Wolf's wife.  They had a big bag of food. 

They said, "We are going with you"!  They didn't leave any room to wiggle on this one.

We pulled the cart up next to my abode, and got the warmest clothing we had on. 

I had Wolf tell one of his men to open and close the doors, because once we got going we didn't want to stop.

Once we got outside and on our way the computer started to beep.  I stopped and opened it.  It said, "Put computer in clips on dash board".  I did and left it open.  I saw a map of the area.  And a small bright red dot that was moving, labelled CART.   There was a blue line that stretched on down the river, and then up on the plateau, across the plateau to a big red X.  I assumed that this was the village. 

Once we got going in the right direction, I put the petal to the metal, and drove just as fast as the cart would go.  Dawn and Wolf's wife were hanging on for dear life.  The seven miles to the ramp up to the top seemed to fly by.  Now we just had twenty more miles to go to the village.  It took just a little over an hour to get to the village.  We found a small hut with sixteen people in it.  Two men, two boys, six women, and five younger girls, and a babe in arms. 

Dawn and Wolf's wife took over.  They went into the hut and got everything ready to move.  It still took almost an hour to get everyone and there things into the trailer.  But finally we were ready.  I started and then had to stop.  All of the adults had jumped off.  The kids were fine with the movement.  It took three more tries but we got moving.  I kept it slow for a bit and then started to open it up.  I just followed my tracks back to the ramp.  Less than two hours from the time we started back, we were home. 

I pulled up to the doors and they opened.  Someone had been watching for our return.  I pulled into the cave and stopped about in the centre.  The women took over.  they got everyone out of the trailer and settled in a spot to set up house keeping.  The leader of this group of people came up to me and said, "My name is Red Fox, and I am the leader of this small tribe".

I said, "My name is Andy, and I am the overall leader of this whole group of people.  If you wish to join us, you will still be the leader of your people, but I will lead the leaders.  You will become my best man".

Fox smiled so big I thought his throat had been cut.  Then he said, "You have much magic and power.  I would like to stay with you if you will let us".

I replied, "It is not magic or power, but you can stay as long as you would like.  We have plenty of food for this many people to last until it is time to hunt and gather again".

Fox asked, "You are a small group of people, how did you gather and kill all that you have over the summer"?

I said, Fox, we use the cart and trailer (pointing to each one) to help us gather.  Six women can fill the trailer in a little over an hour.  Then it is easy to carry it back to the cave.  I can kill animals very easily.  Then we have a device to pull the dead ones onto the trailer.  That way the women can skin and cut up the animal in the safety of the cave.

He looked at me in such a way that I knew that he was thinking, "Ya, and my Grate Aunt Sandy sold tickets at Yankee stadium".

That night it was more of the same.  Moans and groans from the women, sounds of satisfaction from the men.  I moaned and groaned a few times myself.

Always at the back of my mind was the question, What Happened?