The Trek: Darwin's World, Book II (The Darwin's World Series 2) by Jack L Knapp Read Free Book Online

Everybody’s lost weight.”
    Lee nodded and went off to see about his own workers.
    #
    The tribe moved out, straggling more now. Fewer people now shared the heavy travois-loads, communal items plus their own possessions.
    Behind them, a mound of furs and personal belongings marked where the three remaining from Pavel’s original group had left what they couldn’t carry.
    If Pavel returned, he’d find their things beside the drag marks. The two travois that had been used by Nikolai and Vlad had also been left beside the mound of rolled-and-tied sleeping furs.
    The tribe stopped briefly when the sun was directly overhead. They were still engaged in eating a meager lunch when the lead scout returned.
    “Lee, there’s a stream up ahead. I’d say it’s a mile and a half, maybe two miles from here. Ground’s pretty good; no bogs, and the stream bottom is sandy in most places. No quicksand. There are a few rocks in the stream, but they won’t be a problem when we’re ready to ford it.
    “There are trees along the banks and a large grove of bigger trees where the stream bends to the west. We can set up under the trees and easily build shelters. There are plenty of willows there, some of them large. Cattails too, maybe five hundred yards downstream, and I saw swirls in the water so there are fish in the river. We can set up fish-traps. There are also several springs that feed into the stream and I saw a lot of animal tracks too.”
    “What about firewood, Michel?”
    “Plenty. There are dead limbs and a couple of trees that blew down during the winter. We can cut those up if they’re dry enough, but we won’t run out of firewood for at least a week or two and there are more fallen branches, just not as close. We might have to carry them five or six hundred yards at most.”
    “OK, Michel. I’ll talk to Robert. Why don’t you collect the two flankers and head for that bend? Collect some of that firewood and lay out a campsite. Pick sites for temporary shelters and look for a central place where we can put the kitchen. If the ground’s not too hard, scoop out a fire-pit for the cooks. Find a place to set up a sanitation area too, someplace back from the water. Maybe set up a willow screen for privacy. If we’re going to be camped there for a week or two, we don’t want people just crapping where the urge strikes them.”
    Michel nodded. “We’ll take a shovel and an axe along. I know what to do.”
    “The rest of us will get moving as soon as the tribe’s finished lunch,” replied Lee. “We’ve been moving slow, maybe too slow. People are tired. We haven’t had enough food. Everyone’s hungry, and lately it’s been mostly meat. They need different things. But we’ll get to the grove as soon as we can, and whatever your guys can do before we arrive will help a lot.”
    #
    The first early trekkers arrived by mid-afternoon. The tired people put their loads down and slowly began setting up camp. Robert had remained behind to help bring in the laggards.
    Michel and his small party continued working, directing people to campsites, collecting willows to weave into shelters, digging and banking around the firepit.
    Colin left the family campsite chores to his wife. He looked appreciatively at the stack of wood Michel had gathered and began building a cooking fire. Pots and food soon appeared, brought by those who’d carried them as part of their travois load.
    Assisted by Sal, Colin shortly had a snack of jerky and bread ready for the travelers.
    The main meal would consist of stew. The major ingredient was meat from the stag-moose; dried vegetables made up the rest.
    Callie, Colin’s daughter, began gathering needles from a pine tree she found in the grove.
    Colin heated water in the smaller pot. As Callie brought in the pine needles, he added them to the bubbling water. The needles would be dumped after the liquid was poured off into gourds. A judicious spoonful of honey made the tea, useful in preventing