The Trek: Darwin's World, Book II (The Darwin's World Series 2) (37 page)

“I want to get moving. It’s already late summer and we don’t know when the first snow will arrive. Get the carts done, use enough people to help Piotr make bows and arrows, and if there’s time Lee can start training the new people to use them. Maybe they can help with the daily hunts. With more carts, we can haul everything we’ve got and probably more stuff too, extra wheels and pottery. We might find more things along the way, so having the transport ready will be good. We can spread the things we’ve already got over more carts and lighten everyone’s load. We’ll be able to move faster.

“We can change course a little more southward as soon as we’re past the ridges; the land is flat farther west. We’ll be in the mountains soon, and as soon as we are I want to find a place we can stay. The mountains will have canyons and there will probably be undercut cliffs we can use. The Cliff Dwellers did that for centuries; we can do it too, and do it better.”

“Having a couple of engineers, former engineers anyway, will be a real help.”

“We could have done it, Matt. Most of us transplants know how to do things the ancients only discovered by trial and error. We’ve got the accumulated knowledge of centuries, just from having lived in an advanced culture. We understand about communications and transportation, about food storage methods and good sanitation, we know so many things that we’re using already. Experience will only add more knowledge.”

“We’ll be doing things in a few years that took centuries to learn, Colin, things like conservation of resources, about taking the older animals from a herd instead of the young ones, about breeding plants and animals.
Everyone
knows something we can use. Tex is founding ranching as an industry, even if he doesn’t yet know it. The first group we rescued knows about metals, and as soon as we find ore for them to work, they’ll start producing steel. It took centuries to develop that industry downtime.”

Colin nodded. “I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you’re right. In a century, two at the most, we’ll have highways and cars, maybe telephones and computers. Just knowing it’s possible is half the battle. The resources are here and we’ll be a long time using them up. Maybe we can skip some of the worst mistakes, this time through.”

“Maybe. Or maybe we’ll make new mistakes. For that matter, maybe we can find out things the downtime people never discovered. I probably won’t do it, but my grandchildren might. And this time, the sloths and mammoths will still be around. Dire wolves too, even the giant bears. There’s a place for all of them in an ecosystem. The futurist talked about humans losing their will to live. Maybe having a little danger around, enough but not too much, is the key to keeping a civilization alive.

“We need to pass as much of our knowledge along to the next generation as we can, Colin. That’s why I intend to push papermaking, once we have homes and food enough for winter. Winter is a good time to teach the young ones.”

“Keeps ‘em out of mischief too, Matt. That kid Bear is already a handful!”

#

Dreaded jobs don’t get easier for waiting. Tex made the rounds, apologizing to people and working to fit back into the tribe. But he tired of this after tendering his apologies and went back to his corral. The horses seemed glad to see him, or perhaps it was the hay he fed them.

The hay had been collected and stacked by his two assistants. Cutting the dried grasses was time-consuming, but it was necessary for horses kept in corrals.

One benefit to hand-cutting hay as they’d done was that the grasses retained their seeds, making a richer mixture than downtime grass hay would have provided. The horses looked forward now to their twice-daily feedings.

Tex spotted hoof tracks around the outside of the corral.

“Have you been riding outside the corral?” Both men assured him they’d done no more than move the corral in the same fashion Tex had done.

“That stallion’s back, then. Let’s leave the old corral in place after I move the horses to the new graze. We’ll open one side so he can get in and catch him up. We can use one of my reatas, tie it to the side of the corral and when he’s in, pull the reata tight to close off the opening.”

The two men, José and Ernesto, nodded understanding. They rarely spoke other than between themselves or with some of the others who’d been rescued from the slave raiders. Perhaps they were uncomfortable speaking English, or it might be that they simply preferred Spanish. Tex, rarely talkative himself, was satisfied with the arrangement.

The three worked on through the day, catching and leading the mares. The mare they were training to be a draft animal, using the collar and harness Tex devised, had progressed well; Tex left her alone except when he needed to drag the timbers into place for a new corral.

The three caught the stallion late that afternoon when he came sniffing after his mares. Tex repaired the hackamore and swung aboard for the first ride since he’d been captured. The two quivers Matt had used were still there, but the arrows had been lost somewhere. Tex removed the quivers and stacked them with the other equipment and spent a few minutes getting the stallion settled.

“José, time to take that mare out of the corral. Ernesto, help him get comfortable and when he’s ready, open the side of the corral so he can join me outside. We’ll ride around for an hour or so, then he can turn his horse in with the others and you can ride a different one outside for a while. The two of you should be ready for a longer ride in a day or two; I’ll decide after I see how the afternoon goes.”

The two nodded, and soon Tex and José trotted their horses up the long ridge west of the river. Tex had his quiver of arrows and cased bow tied to the strap around the stallion’s barrel, one on each side. He carried his spear slung across his back. José carried his spear in the same fashion as Tex, but had not taken the time to attach the bow and quiver.

Tex was in no hurry. Every hour on horseback was an hour of training for horse and rider. He kept the pace to a walk, returning an hour later. The stallion seemed anxious, so Tex squeezed with his knees and the horse stretched into an extended canter. A glance over his shoulder showed José hanging on as his mare kept pace, even if he wasn’t riding with Tex’s easy grace. Where Tex sat upright and moved loosely with the stallion, José gripped the handful of mane just forward of the mare’s withers. His left hand held the rein, but at least he wasn’t trying to hold the horse back.

He would soon learn. Practice for a day or two, get used to riding several different horses to pick up the individual mannerisms they displayed, both would soon be riders. If they were more passengers than riders at the moment, they needed only experience.

With luck, the tribe’s youngsters would grow up riding. The increased mobility would change the tribe’s lifestyle significantly, as would animal power hitched to a variety of implements.

#

Lee and Marc watched Piotr and his helpers work.

“Got a minute, Piotr?”

“Sure, Lee.” Piotr laid aside the obsidian core he was breaking into long blanks and walked to where the two were standing.

“Thanks for taking over security while we were trailing those raiders.”

“No problem. I was glad to do something besides make arrow and spear points. I’m spending too much time in camp. If you’ve got a place for me, I’d like to go on the next hunt.”

“We can use you. You know Matt wants to get moving, so I thought we could go on a scout west of here, maybe stay out a couple of days. Matt wants to start working more to the south. He says there are mountains ahead. How would you feel about taking someone with you and scouting south for a day?”

“I’d like that. How many parties are you sending out?”

“I’m going, and Marc will go with me. I think Matt’s going too, although he didn’t say so. He’s not doing much in camp, just waiting for Sal’s crew to finish making new carts. He wants every adult to have a cart to pull, although I’m wondering how the carts will do when we get moving. The wheels will take a beating as soon as we reach the mountains. There will be rocks, and there’s no way we can avoid all of them. I guess if the carts start breaking we’ll be back pulling travois. That worked, but it was hard work and it will slow us down. Laz will probably go too, maybe with Matt unless I leave him here to guard the camp.”

“I could take one of the people who’s working with me, Lee.”

“Better not. We need the weapons. All those new people need bows and we’ll need extra arrows for everyone. Matt will want the weapon-building to keep going.”

“I’ll be ready tomorrow. Take a day to hunt, then go exploring?”

Lee nodded, then walked away to find Matt.

Piotr resumed work on the obsidian core. He glanced in satisfaction at the items he’d already flaked this morning, an axe head that needed only a haft, half a dozen scrapers to replace broken or lost tools, two spearheads, and a dozen arrowheads.

The spearheads would be given to some of the new people. They would find shafts and make new spears for themselves, replacing the ones taken from dead raiders. Piotr’s spear-points were of much higher quality than what they’d taken from fallen raiders, and in any case people needed the ability to make weapons for themselves.

Piotr would use his new arrowheads himself. A second quiver of arrows could be hauled on the cart when he joined tomorrow’s hunt.

#

Matt leaned against one of the downed trees that formed the makeshift fence, watching Tex use a handful of grass to rub down the sweaty stallion. José and Ernesto had completed currying their own mounts and now were cutting more of the dried grass hay.

“We’ve been lucky, Matt.”

“How so, Tex?”

“None of the people we’ve fought so far had bows. But you can bet they’ll have them by next year. You’re using sinew for strings and reinforcements, but there’s wild flax around, some other long-fiber plants too. Somebody will figure how to make strings from flax or something else. It’s the same thing with horses.

“I ain’t the only one that can ride. Somebody will see us. Soon as they do, they’ll start looking for horses themselves. Either that, or give up raidin’ north of the seaway. They won’t have a chance, afoot and armed with spears. Soon as people know they’re around, just send a few patrols south and start lookin’ for the boats. Time the raiders get back, the boats’ll be burned and there’ll be people waitin’ in the weeds to plink ‘em full of arrows.

“You watch, by next year people will be huntin’ buffalo from horseback. Raidin’ too. You’re going to have to get your tribe mounted and they’re gonna need to shoot arrows from horseback.”

Matt nodded gloomily. “I guess you’re right. How long before the horses you’ve got are ready to be swapped?”

“If you can loan a few people to cut hay and learn about horses, Ernie and Joe can spend more time ridin’ and breakin’ horses. I’m already doin’ that.”

“Ernie and Joe, hmmm?”

“Don’t take as long to say. They’ll get used to it. Soon as I get ‘em used to callin’ me Tex instead of Señor Tex.”

The two shared a grin. “Well, don’t make ‘em mad. If they want Ernesto and José, we can call ‘em that.”

“You’re startin’ to talk right, Matt. You can almost speak Texan.”

Matt shook his head. “It’s catchin’, but maybe we can teach you to talk English instead. Anyway, we don’t have a lot of manpower to spare. I’ll see what I can do to get you some help. You’re going to teach, right?”

“Shore. Can’t have people around that can’t handle the hosses. You send ‘em, I’ll school ‘em.”

“Just don’t do it with your fists, Tex. If you insist on fighting, look me up first.”

“I can do that. You plannin’ on ridin’ too?”

“I hadn’t intended to, but I guess I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“Nope. Soon as you’re ridin’, Laz and Lee too, I’ll take Ernie and Joe west of here and we’ll catch more horses. I figure to start a stud farm or maybe a horse ranch, whichever. We can use wild stuff for ridin’, but we’re gonna need better stock. I figure to use this stallion for breeding, but I’ll upgrade as soon as I can catch better stuff. Start the first crop of foals off right, and you’ll have better mounts within five years or so. Give me ten years and I’ll have horses for huntin’, horses for pullin’ wagons, Hell, even plowin’ if that’s what you want. You’ll need good wagons, big ones, if you plan to bring stuff back to this town you’re gonna build. You’ll need timber, buildin’ stone, maybe ore if you’re gonna be making your own steel. Coal too, if there’s any around. You plannin’ on using coal, or charcoal?”

“I’ll use coal if we can find it. We might be able to develop better electrical generating without depending on coal as long as people did downtime, but we need the concentrated fuel just to get started. First we have to make the tools to make the tools.”

“Yeah. I expect there’ll be people that know how to do things. Be nice to have a real doctor and maybe somebody that knows more about medicine.”

“You’re right. Elizabeth does a lot, but she could do with more and better bandages, medicine, everything. The good part is that she’s well matched to what we’ve got. Her medical supplies are what she’s made and she knows how they can be used. Most of us are generalists, we can do a lot of different things. We haven’t had the luxury of developing specialists yet. I guess that will happen in a few generations.”

“Likely, Matt. Too much to learn about some things. If you don’t spend all your time workin’ on what you do, you’ll never be as good as the feller that does. Just like rodeoin’, the one that does nothin’ but rope steers is bound to be better at it than the one that ropes and rides rough stock too. Gonna mean changes, though. Right now, everybody can turn to and do whatever needs doin’. I reckon we’ll lose something when people start doin’ only one kind of work.”

“You mentioned starting a horse ranch, Tex. You have a place in mind?”

“I’m gonna look around, but that seaway is plumb interestin’. There was a feller that claimed some land in downtime Texas near the Gulf, and he built a ranch that was probably still goin’ a long time after I got picked up by that futurist. Me callin’ him Saint Peter worked just as well, far as I’m concerned. But anyway, there was plenty of grass along the Gulf downtime. Good water too. The country just north of the seaway has better grass than what’s around here. More rain down there, I expect.