The Thinking Rocks

by Butkus, C. Allan

  He looked into Gennos's eyes as he answered, "I had to come. Bana doesn't like me. He has been around Ceola a lot, but when he sees me, I can see I'm in trouble." He paused before continuing and looked at Cano, "I have argued with Ceola, I told her she should have gone along with you, Cano. She became angry and said I didn't understand, because I'm so young." He hesitated, as he looked from one brother to the other, "I know I have much to learn, but she loves you and should be at your side, but she said our place is with the clan." He stopped and tried to gather his thoughts. "Bana doesn't like me. I called him a liar and he called me a child and told me to go play with my dolls. He said I was like a little girl. Later, when he was fighting with Gennos and you, I bit him and he hit me. I couldn't stay there. He would make things hard for me. I'm still little and some day he will lead the clad. I had to leave now. This way I have a chance; I can travel and learn from friends." He looked down at the little wolf straining at the end of its restraint. Dola's face lit up as he looked at the little white face. "Besides, you need someone to take care of the wolf."

  Gennos had been listening intently. He could understand why the boy had left the clan. The problem was should they try to take him back or just continue on their way. The clan would search for the boy. If they found him, and returned him to the clan, what type of life would he have? Probably not a good life. Bana was not one to forgive and forget. If we take him along, the clan would be angry that we have taken him. However, he could help around camp, and he could take care of the wolf. He would grow and become a hunter and they could use his help. Another thing to consider was they were no longer members of the clan. They had to rely on themselves to survive. Even though he was young, he wanted to join them in their search for a home. Gennos looked over at Cano, "What are your thoughts my brother?"

  Cano had been listening, but he was thinking about Ceola. The question forced him back to the present. "What he says is true. Bana doesn't forget. He will have a hard time if he returns. There is something else to remember. The clan has lost many members in the last days. Even though he's young he will be a hunter one day. The Clan will need him. However, we could also use him, not only help with wolf, but also in the camp and to help with hunting. The clan has cast us out. We have to do what we can to live. Dola has chosen to come with us. I say he should be allowed to come. No, I said that wrong, he should be allowed to become one of us."

  Gennos nodded his head in agreement. "You are welcome to become one of us. But there is only one thing that you must promise us."

  Dola looked at him questioningly, "I will promise anything. I must be allowed to come with you."

  Gennos said with a firm look on his face, "You won't be able to bring your dollies along."

  Dola took a moment to understand, they were doing it again. They seemed to love to make jokes; it was hard to tell when they were serious and when they were trying to trick you. He decided to try to play their game. "I couldn't bring any of them with me, Bana wanted to play with them."

  Neither Cano nor Gennos understood at first, the very idea of Bana playing with dolls was laughable. Understanding slowly dawned on both of their faces at the same time. Dola had carried their joke one step further.

  Cano spoke first, "I can see that you will fit into our Clan." He looked at his brother and saw him nod his head. “Welcome, we are proud to have you join us."

  Dola was overjoyed. His smile was so wide it almost broke his face. He's squared his shoulders and said, "I know I am small now, but I will grow. I will show you that I will be a good member of our new clan."

  Cano looked at him with a smile on his face, "Take some time to pay attention to your small hairy friend and then find a place to sleep. We will be up early and head out on our journey."

  "Where are we going?" asked Dola.

  "That's an easy question," said Cano, as he looked over at Gennos. "Away--- that way," touching his chest with his right hand, palm down, and then making a sliding motion toward the direction of where the Sun would rise.

  The next morning they were up as the sun poked its head over the low mountains to the East. They had eaten little, because they had little.

  Cano led the way with Dola following close by. Their pace was being set by Gennos, although he didn't seem to know it, because of his bad leg. It was always painful for him, but he did not complain. How could he when the others were here because of him?

  Cano tried to pick a path that did not require climbing the steep ridges or passing through heavy brush. The country was covered with hills and brush, and to find a flat place was rare. They eventually found a trail made by some large animals and that made traveling easier. Even when they came to the occasional fallen tree across the trail, it was a simple matter to bypass it. He stopped frequently to explain the woods and the terrain to Dola. The real reason for these stops was to let Gennos rest.

  As they passed some strange tracks on the ground Cano stopped. "Dola, come look at these. Tell be what you can about them."

  Dola looked down and said, "There are tracks on the ground."

  "Yes, they are. What can you tell me about them?"

  "There isn't much to tell. Something passed this way."

  "As with most things in life, you are right and wrong."

  "I don't understand. How can something be right and wrong at the same time?"

  "You are right that something passed this way. However, there is more to tell from these marks. You only saw a small portion of what the tracks tell us. You can tell by the size of the tracks how big the thing was and how many feet did it have?”

  Dola examined the tracks again; "It looks like it had as many as the wolf."

  Cano nodded, "Have you ever heard of a bird with that many legs?"

  "No," answered Dola.

  "That helps us, now we know these tracks were left by an animal and not a bird," Cano said. He paused as if thinking of his next question, "Now how big is the animal?"

  "How can I tell how big an animal is by the tracks? I can see the tracks, but how can I know how big an animal is?"

  "Try to look at it this way. Could a mammoth have made these tracks?"

  "No, a mammoth's track would be much larger."

  "Is this track bigger or smaller than your own track?"

  "It’s smaller, a lot smaller."

  Cano said, "Good, you are doing great. Now look at the ground around the track, check to see if it's hard or soft."

  "Soft, it's easy to mark."

  "Good, now look at the track, how deep is it?"

  "Not too deep."

  "Is it as deep as your track would be if you stepped there?"

  "No it's not."

  "That tells us that the animal is lighter than you." Cano paused for a moment, "Take out your wolf and let her walk across the ground by the track."

  Dola opened his pack and extracted the squirming puppy. When he put it on the ground the wolf looked around and then walked across the ground sniffing, and then squatted down and left its spoor on the ground.

  Cano said, "Now compare the tracks of the wolf with the tracks we found. What can you tell?"

  "The tracks on the ground are bigger and deeper than those of white face."

  "That's right. So what do we know?"

  "The animal that left the tracks is bigger and heavier than white face, but smaller and lighter than I am."

  "Good, but there's still more to learn from these tracks. Look at the tracks of the wolf and the other tracks. Do you see any difference?"

  "The shape is different and they aren't as clear as those of the wolf." Dola said as he studied the tracks.

  "Why do you think that is?"

  "The shape being different means it wasn't a wolf that left them." He looked up toward Cano and got the approval he was looking for. "I don't know why these aren't as clear is the wolf's."

  "It's because the track of the unknown animal are older. When an animal leaves a track it is sharp because the foot pushes the dirt away. As time goes by the dirt
or mud fills the track again. From the way the track looks, I would say it was from yesterday."

  "You are right Cano, I can tell more from the tracks than I thought. I know the animal was smaller than I am and not as heavy. It was bigger than white face. It came this way yesterday."

  Cano smiled at Dola and then said to Gennos, "What more can you tell us about tracks, brother?"

  Gennos knelt down by the tracks and looked at them carefully. He touched them and then smelled his fingertips, before moving on his hands and knees down the trail of small tracks. He picked up the dirt from one of the tracks, smelled it carefully, then spit into the dirt and stirred it with a finger until he had a small puddle of mud in the palm of his hand. Next, he tasted the mud and then made a mark on his forehead over his right eye. He then stopped and picked up a small object, a feather. He settled back at his heels and said, "The animal has different marks for its front feet and for its rear feet. This animal is a hunter, which has sharp claws, and eats birds--- water birds. It probably has sharp teeth. It has a tail without hair. It has a footprint that looks like our own handprint, but smaller and has claws on the end. It probably has its eyes on the front of its head and not on the side of its head. It would be good to eat." He sat back with a self-satisfied look on his face. "It's probably about this big," he held his hands apart a short distance, "and is gray in color."

  Dola was dumbfounded, "You could tell all those things from the tracks? How can you be so sure?"

  Gennos replied, "You have to have experience and look at what there is to see. First, I studied the tracks, and then smelled them. I could see an animal left the tracks with as many feet as the wolf. Some animals leave their scent from their feet, and you can smell it. This one did not smell. The feather I found was from a duck. To kill this type of bird it would have to have sharp teeth. Next, I noticed a small line that went over the track. It was like something was dragged along the ground after the animal."

  Dola interrupted, "How could you be sure it was dragged along behind and not something that was being carried in its mouth, that dragged along the ground?"

  "Good question," Gennos said, "look at the tracks here." He pointed to a small mark, "See this mark? You can see the mark moves over the mark of the footprint. If it was carried in front, the footprint would be over the drag mark not underneath it."

  Dola nodded, "I see and I also see the different footprints and the claw marks. But how can you tell it has its eyes on the front of its head and not on the sides?"

  Gennos replied, "Animals that have their eyes on the front of their head, like we do, are hunters. Animals that have their eyes on the sides of their heads are the hunted. This may be so that they can see danger sooner, I'm not sure, but I think that is true."

  "All right, I can understand all that, but how can you tell its color and that it doesn't have hair on its tail, just by looking at the tracks?"

  Gennos looked very serious, "There are things that a hunter knows. I know the animal that made these tracks. I have hunted and killed them before. I recognized that tracks. Another way I could tell," he paused before continuing, "was that I saw it looking at us from that hollow tree." Gennos smiled slightly as he pointed to a nearby tree.

  Dola looked startled and then noticed the smile on Gennos and Cano's face.

  "You tricked me."

  Cano was trying hard to keep from laughing aloud as he poked Dola's small shoulder. "Yes we did, but still you did good and you are learning." He looked over toward the tree where the opossum was hiding. "It's time for us to get some food."

  When they got to the tree, they found that the opossum had crawled up the hollow center of the tree. They could not get to it.

  Cano asked Dola "How do you think we can get it out of the tree?"

  Dola thought for a moment before answering, "We could pound on the tree and hope it will come out."

  Gennos looked at him and said, "We could do that, but he might not come out. We need a way to make it come out. It can have no choice. Remember, if we don't get it, we don't eat today."

  Cano came to Dola's rescue, "We will make a small fire at the base of the tree and burn green leaves, and smoke will go up inside the hollow and will force the opossum to come out. When he finds that he cannot breathe, he will come out."

  Three of them soon had a small fire going and the smoke filled the interior of the tree. The hunters waited in a small semi circle around the entrance hole at the base of the tree. Soon, there was a scraping noise from the tree and a large gray colored animal looking like a large rat staggered out of the smoke. It saw the hunters and hissed at them, something was dripping from its toothy mouth. Cano called to Dola, "get it, hit behind its head". Cano jumped forward and the opossum turned toward him. Dola sprang forward and landed a blow with Gennos's Canohawk. The opossum died instantly. Dola stood quietly looking at the small still form. "It's dead, I killed it." He looked up uncertainly, first at Cano, then at Gennos. "This is the first time I've killed; I thought that I would feel good about it. But I don't. I feel bad. It was alive and I took its life."

  Gennos moved forward and put his hand on Dola's shoulder. "I know how you feel; every hunter knows what it feels like to kill. We don't kill to make us feel good. We kill to live." He paused for a moment and then he continued, "You had a job to do, and you did it." He moved over to the opossum and placed his hand on the still form. "We thank you for your life, and we thank Dola for feeding us on this day."

  They put the fire out, gathered their weapons, and resumed their journey. Dola carried his first Kill. Cano led the way as usual. He knew that they would have to find water tonight so that they could fill their water skins. As they stopped at the top small rise, he could see something shining through the trees. It looked like it might be a small stream.

  Just before the sun was starting to set, they came to the stream that Cano had seen earlier. They built a small fire, cleaned, and roasted the opossum over the fire. While they waited, they ate nuts that Gennos had found along the way. The three sat quietly munching nuts and waiting for the food to cook. There was a slight breeze and it seemed to be a good day to be alive.

  Whiteface was eating some scraps and occasionally attacking a piece of opossum hide with ferocious growls. Finally, she tired of this and moved a short distance into the dark, and then walked in small circles before lying down to sleep.

  The Search for Dola

  Back at the camp of the Clan of the Spear, Ceola had convinced Bana that he should lead a party of hunters to look for Dola. He was reluctant to go looking for Dola because he was glad he was gone. He tried to act like he cared about the missing little boy so that she would depend on him in the future. He delayed going to look for him as long as he could, but he finally ran out of excuses and left camp with Loki.

  It was not difficult for the hunters to pick up the trail of the small boy; they could soon tell that he was following the trail left by Cano and Gennos.

  Loki spoke to Bana "What are your plans for Dola when we find him?"

  Bana answered, "I think you mean, if we find him. His trail is hard to follow and it may be that he was killed by a Saber-tooth. We will search for a day or two and then return to the camp with the bad news."

  Loki understood what Bana was planning and silently agreed with him. It would simplify everything if they didn't return with the boy. If Dola did find Cano and his brother, he would be reasonably safe. It was where he wanted to be. If they tried to get Dola to return to the camp with them, he would not want to come along, and then they would have to try to take him. No one wanted to get into a fight over a small boy that was more trouble then he was worth.

  They had traveled about a day from camp when Bana called for a halt near a river. "This looks like a good place for a camp, and we can fish and rest. After another day or so we can return to camp with the bad news about Dola.

  The fishing was good and they didn't return to camp until the third day with the bad news about Dola.

  The Ri
ver

  Cano lead his brother and Dola through a small clearing onto the bank of a swift moving river. It was wide and the water was almost black in color.

  As Gennos reached the bank he said to his brother, "It looks like it's too deep to wade across, should we cross by going up it or down it?"

  Cano answered, "Neither, I think it's time for us to build a raft. The nice thing about rivers is that they always go somewhere. It should be a lot better than hiking through these hills. I don't know about you but I'm getting tired of all this walking. The idea of floating along and fishing sounds good to me. What do you two think of the idea?"

  Gennos smiled and nodded his head. Dola looked around before asking, "Where do we get the wood for the raft? The only trees I can see are all growing, how do we get them down to make a raft?"

  Cano said, "It will take time to do, but we have time. We are going to take them down using fire. Can you start a fire without fire?"

  Dola looked at him to see if this was another trick. He seemed serious. "No, but can't we use the fire that Gennos carries in the horn?" Dola was speaking of the fire carrier that Gennos carried between campsites.

  "We have time to show you how to start a fire by using only wood. It is a slow way to get fire, but once you learn the secret, you always have the ability to have fire," Cano said. "First we must find the right kind of wood; they are not all the same. We must find old rotten wood to start with. Look for an old tree that has fallen. If the wood is wet, it won't burn. Break away the wet wood and look inside for some that is dry. The best wood is the wood that is not heavy. The finer and lighter the wood the better for us. Sometimes you can use ground up grass or leaves, but rotten wood is best." he paused for a moment before continuing. "I was taught that it is a difficult thing to bring the Spirit of Fire from the wood. Sometimes the fire comes slow, sometimes faster. I find that if I speak to the spirit and promise a good fire and an animal to cook over it, the spirit comes sooner."