ABACUS

by Chris McGowan

  Kate immediately burst out laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked, as if she’d hurt his feelings.

  “It’s your—butt!” she blurted between howls. “The seat of your pants has a huge patch!”

  “So?”

  “Well, your pants are black and the patch is blue. You look like Bozo the Clown!” She howled again.

  “Are we discussing my clothes all morning, or are we going exploring?”

  “Lead on,” she said, wiping her eyes. “Though how do we know which way to go?”

  “We don’t. That’s why we’re going climbing.” He nodded toward a hill. “We’ll get a good view from up there.”

  After checking to see that the abacus was safe, he shoved both hands into his pockets. “Hey, what’s this?” he said. “A pencil and paper. That’ll come in handy.”

  They’d been walking for ten minutes and the hill was still a way off. Distances could be deceiving in this terrain.

  “Anyone for rabbit pie?” AP joked as a rabbit hopped away. “This place is teeming with them.”

  “I’m not hungry right now,” said Kate, “but what are we going to eat?”

  “Well?” He nodded toward another rabbit.

  “You wouldn’t.”

  “What’s the choice? We have to live off the land—there are no stores!”

  “Look,” she whispered, pointing off to the right.

  A small herd of deer was grazing in the sun, unaware of their presence. As they watched, a buck raised his antlered head and stared at them. Others followed until they were under the gaze of the entire herd. Eventually the deer returned to feeding.

  “I’ve never been so close to deer before,” said Kate. “This place is wild.”

  “The whole country was like this, before ‘development’ took over.”

  A hummingbird appeared from nowhere. After hovering for a few seconds, it shot off to a bright red flower.

  “I hope there are no snakes,” Kate groaned, remembering a camping trip out west. Their father had constantly reminded them to watch where they stepped.

  “Just remember what Dad always says,” offered AP

  “Stay alert!” they sang in unison, and burst out laughing. Nevertheless, they kept focused on where they were walking.

  Kate and AP were unaware they were being followed. Their stalker—a tall thin man—had been trailing them since their arrival. At first, they were small specks in the distance. Now he was close enough to hear their laughter. He must be especially careful. If they spotted him and ran, they’d likely get away—he was not athletic and they were young. He had to get close enough to rush at them. Locking onto his target like a predator to its prey, he was determined to catch them.

  Unlike the youngsters, he had little experience with the outdoors. Although aware of rattlesnakes, they held no significance, so he was not looking out for them.

  When the rattlesnake struck, he thought a stick had hit him on the foot. Then the most excruciating burning pain followed and he fell to the ground writhing. The snake had already slithered away. He wanted to scream but they would hear him, so he clenched his teeth in silence. Tears ran down his cheeks and his forehead glistened with sweat.

  Tearing off his boot and sock, he lay in agony, watching his foot swell like a balloon. His heart was racing and his tongue began tingling. Was he going to die? Would he ever walk again? Those kids were getting away but survival was all that mattered now.

  * * *

  AP and Kate had been traveling almost an hour and still not reached the top of the hill.

  “It’s a lot higher than I thought,” AP admitted.

  “And farther away,” Kate complained. “Let’s take a break.”

  Nothing could have prepared them for what they saw on cresting the hill and looking down on the other side.

  “What’s that?” gasped Kate.

  A large valley stretched before them, shimmering in a heat haze. And there, dancing in the distance, was a huge brown mat. It was as if a shaggy carpet had come to life, throwing dust clouds from the valley floor.

  “Buffalo,” said AP, though he knew the proper name was bison.

  “No way!” said Kate. “If that was a herd of buffalo there would be hundreds of them.”

  “Thousands,” corrected AP.

  “Buffalo are massive—I’ve seen them at the zoo—there can’t be that many!”

  “I read that fifty million buffalo roamed North America before the settlers arrived. And do you see that green line on the other side of the herd?”

  She nodded.

  “It’s trees, growing along a riverbank.”

  Soon Kate and AP were walking across a wide-open plain, with stark badlands in the distance.

  “It’s so hot and dry down here,” said Kate. “That grass looks as parched as my throat feels.”

  “I know what you mean,” rasped AP. “All I can taste is dust.”

  “This is serious. Are you sure there’s a river over there?”

  “Positive. You saw it too.”

  “I saw something green, that’s all. I’m still not convinced we were seeing buffalo either.” Kate scanned the skyline as they walked. “You can’t even make out that brown swirly thing anymore.”

  “That’s because we’re down much lower so the horizon’s closer. But you can see the dust cloud, and I bet thousands of hooves are throwing that up.”

  According to AP, they’d been walking in the valley for under an hour. Kate disagreed.

  “Two hours at least. And—”

  Without warning Kate stopped dead, body rigid, eyes fixed, mouth agape. Finally, she uttered, “Hundreds of buffalo—coming straight for us. What are we going to do?”

  “Stay still,” stammered AP. “Try not to scare them.”

  Kate, petrified with fear, wondered how she could possibly frighten the enormous beasts heading their way. If the herd took fright and stampeded, their hooves would trample them to death. But there was nowhere to hide so they had to stay where they were. Seeing the look of terror on his sister’s face steadied AP.

  “It’ll be alright,” he said, trying to convince himself too.

  Some of the buffalo brushed against them as they walked by—AP and Kate could smell their musty odor. Terrified, Kate stared at their sharp horns, imagining the damage they could inflict.

  The buffalo, for their part, seemed uninterested in humans. Apart from a few grunts and some stares, most walked past staring dolefully ahead with huge brown eyes, like commuters on a train. Kate and AP, realizing nothing terrible was going to happen, began to relax.

  Aside from their sheer size, their unusual shape impressed Kate most. Their massive shoulders—as high as she was tall—overshadowed the rest of their bodies, even the huge low-slung heads. Remarkably, their tongues were black, as if they’d been chewing licorice.

  “Wow!” exclaimed Kate, when the last of the stragglers had passed. “That was unbelievable.”

  For once, AP was speechless.

  * * *

  Kate peered at the sun. “I figure it’s late afternoon—we’ve got about five hours before dark.”

  “We’ve got to do a lot in that time.”

  “And finding water is the first thing.” Kate slumped down to the dusty ground. “I’ve never been so thirsty in my life.”

  “Me neither. Let’s take a rest. Then we’ll find that river.”

  They sat in silence, each thinking the same thing—if they didn’t get something to drink, they would die. After several long minutes, AP stood up and scanned the horizon.

  “That’s more like it. Now the dust has settled we can see again.”

  Kate, still sitting, squinted up at him. From the grin on his face she knew he’d found what he was looking for.

  “Trees,” he announced triumphantly. “Look for yourself.”

  “Okay, Smarty-pants,” she agreed. “So there are trees over there. The big question is, will there be any water?”

  “Guarante
ed.”

  “How can you say that?”

  “When the pioneers crossed the Great Plains they were always looking for one tree—the cottonwood.”

  “So?”

  “So those trees are cottonwoods. And cottonwoods are usually found beside water.”

  “Usually!” she blurted. “What happened to your guarantee?”

  “Just look at the way they’re lined up. They have to be growing along a riverbank.”

  “I hope you’re right AP. Otherwise we’re in trouble.”

  “I know,” he said grimly.

  All the time the trees were a long way off they could travel in hope of spotting a river. But as they drew closer, they dreaded seeing nothing but dust. Neither one spoke. Kate’s heart began to race. Then she saw it. Letting out a great whoop, she started running. AP was right behind her.

  * * *

  “That feels so good,” said Kate, closing her eyes in ecstasy. She was sitting with her back against a steep riverbank, long dress hoisted up to her knees. She had used her bonnet as a facecloth and water was still trickling down her neck. AP, crouched like a dog at the river’s edge, had his face in the water. All she could see was his backside and the enormous blue patch on his pants.

  “Hey, Bozo, have you had enough yet?”

  AP stood up, dripping water and smiling. “Did water ever taste that good?”

  “Never!” Then a thought struck her. “What if it’s unsafe to drink?”

  “No problem—pollution hasn’t been invented yet!”

  “Any idea what river this is? It’s huge.”

  “Maybe the Powder. That’s one of the large rivers around here. They all flow north, into the Yellowstone. Here, I’ll show you.” Picking up a stick, he drew a line in the gravel. “The Yellowstone River runs east to west.” Drawing four vertical lines beneath it, he pointed to the one on the right. “The one in the east is the Powder River.”

  Kate pretended to be listening.

  “The Bighorn is in the west, and its side branch is the Little Bighorn.”

  “The Little Bighorn!” yelled Kate. “That’s where the battle took place.”

  AP nodded.

  “But you said we’d be nowhere near the battleground.”

  “And we’re not. If this is the Powder River, we’re a hundred miles to the east.”

  “Sounds close to me.”

  “That’s because you’re thinking in modern times, with cars and highways. A trip like that would take days on horseback.

  “I’m starving,” he said, changing the subject.

  “Me too.” Kate’s stomach rumbled, perfectly on cue. “What are we going to eat?”

  “Suppose I catch a rabbit?”

  “How do you plan to do that, oh brave hunter?”

  “I could build a trap,” he said hopefully.

  “What’s Plan B?”

  “Okay, check this out,” he said, clambering up the bank. Cottonwood trees lined the river on both side and a tangle of plants grew in the shade. Their greens contrasted with the browns beyond. AP pointed to an ankle-high plant that spread everywhere and was dotted with small red berries.

  “Here, try these,” he said, picking a handful and popping some in his mouth.

  “You can’t eat those!” she shrieked. “They could be poisonous.”

  “Don’t you recognize them?” He held out his hand. “They’re wild strawberries.”

  After picking strawberries, they set to work building a shelter for the night—when the sun set in a couple of hours it would get cold. All they did was lay branches against a fallen tree, filling the gaps with twigs and piling on dried grass and leaves for insulation. They topped this off with more branches, to hold it all in place. By leaving both ends open, they each had their own entrance.

  AP used armfuls of leaves to build his mattress, but Kate, who seldom felt the cold, was less fussy with hers.

  Before crawling into bed, AP spent a few minutes scanning the night sky. Kate, already comfortable, was dozing off.

  “Did you notice the moon?” he called out.

  “No,” she said, yawning.

  “It’s really neat—the thinnest crescent. And it’s on the left side. Does that mean it’s going to get thicker or thinner?”

  Kate groaned. “Left means less so it’s going to get thinner! Now let me sleep.”

  AP scribbled a note on his piece of paper.

  Chapter 13: Talking Cloud

  You fidgeted all night,” Kate complained the next morning. “I hardly slept.”

  “Sorry. I was dreaming about buffalo eating ice cream. Probably all those strawberries we ate.”

  “And guess what’s for breakfast?”

  “I’ll pass,” said AP.

  “You have to eat.”

  “Not right now. We’ll find something later—there must be plenty of fish in the river.”

  “So, what’s the plan?” asked Kate. “Hang out here for a while?”

  “Better to keep moving. If we follow the river downstream, we’ll reach the Yellowstone. There’ll be steamboats—lots of people—we can find out what’s happening.”

  “Sounds good to me,” said Kate. “Let’s go.”

  In contrast to the parched terrain of the previous afternoon, they were now traveling along a lush green corridor beside the river, which was on their right. The water was deep in parts, but there were many places where they could have waded across.

  AP nodded toward the sandstone hills, banded like a layer cake, on their left. “How far away are those badlands?”

  “At least a mile,” guessed Kate. “They look so desolate. I’d rather have this.” As she gazed around something caught her eye, down by the river.

  “See over there,” she said, pointing. “A huge dog. What’s that doing out here?”

  Shading his eyes against the glare, AP stared long and hard.

  “That’s no dog,” he said finally, “it’s a grizzly bear.”

  As they watched, the grizzly plunged into the water and came up with a large trout wriggling in its mouth.

  Soon they discovered that the river was teeming with fishes—there were turtles too.

  A blue heron swooped low across the water. “I can’t believe it,” Kate marveled. “It’s like we’re in some exotic land. We never saw this much wildlife on that camping trip with Mum and Dad.”

  “Goes to show how people have changed things,” said AP thoughtfully.

  Both walked on in silence, captivated by the unspoiled beauty.

  Later that day, AP became aware of an unfamiliar sound. “Do you hear that?” he asked.

  “What?”

  “Like the rumbling of thunder.”

  They stood still, listening.

  “Okay,” said Kate, “I hear it now. Sort of a drumming, in the distance, and it’s getting louder. You can almost feel it through the ground. Is it an earthquake?”

  “No,” said AP, “it’s coming from over there.” He pointed away from the river. “Let’s check it out.”

  Before going far they both saw what was making the noise—buffalo! Hundreds of them, charging across the plain toward the river.

  “Quick!” AP shouted, grabbing her arm. “Run for the trees!”

  They threw themselves behind the nearest tree, wishing it was bigger. Peering around it, they saw the stampede was heading straight for them. The sound of pounding hooves and snapping branches was unbelievable. AP looked around nervously. He wondered if their tree would withstand the onslaught.

  AP watched in grim fascination as the lead buffalo closed the gap. Soon it was so close he could see the terror in its eyes. Then, at the last moment, it swerved away and the rest followed.

  Kate gasped. “That was so close. I thought we’d be killed.”

  “Me too. I wonder what spooked—”

  The next instant they saw the cause of the stampede—Sioux horsemen were chasing the herd.

  “What do we do?” shrieked Kate. “Those warriors will attack us!
”

  “Keep calm,” said AP, sounding more composed than he felt. “They’re too busy hunting to bother with us. And they can’t see through solid wood.” He banged the trunk to emphasize his point. “Besides, maybe they’re friendly.

  “Look at those guys go!” cried AP. “How do they stay on their horses like that?”

  Kate peeked cautiously.

  “They’re riding without saddles,” said AP, “using their knees to guide their horses. That leaves both hands free to fire their bows.”

  The riders seemed to flow with the motion of the horses. Bare to the waist, their pigtails streamed out behind them.

  “See that?” yelled AP. “A buffalo tried to butt that guy’s horse and he just swerved away—the horns barely missed him.”

  As he spoke, the hunter swung his horse back again. Then, with horse and buffalo charging neck and neck, he pulled back the bowstring and fired. The arrow streaked across the narrow gap, burying itself into the buffalo’s chest. In a flash, the hunter drew a second arrow

  from the quiver and shot again. The buffalo kept running, but was slowing down. A third arrow followed and the buffalo crashed to the ground, dead.

  “Wow,” exclaimed AP. “That was awesome.”

  “That was horrible,” rebuked Kate. “The poor buffalo. How could anyone kill an animal like that?”

  “They’re hunting for food, Kate. Without buffalo the people would starve.”

  “They should find other things to eat.”

  “Like wild strawberries?”

  Kate had more important things on her mind to bother replying. “We ought to plan our escape route while they’re still busy,” she said

  “Good idea,” agreed AP. “If we can make it down to the riverbed, we’ll be out of sight.”

  “That’s just what I was thinking.”

  “The tricky part is getting there without being spotted,” said AP. “We’ll have to crawl on our stomachs. Ready?”

  Using their elbows and knees, they wriggled through the grass like lizards. Kate, more athletic than her brother, was well in front. Minutes later they arrived at the river and slithered down the bank.

  “Do you think they saw us?” asked Kate anxiously.

  “There’s only one way to find out. Stay here while I peek over the top.”

  AP returned looking grim-faced.