Sarum - Edward Rutherfurd [43]
It was during these conversations that Magri gradually conceived the remarkable idea which was to decide the course of the settlement’s history for many generations.
For often the old hunter would question Krona about his life on the other side of the sea. Gradually he learned about the coastal community that Krona had left, about the hundreds of other farming settlements that existed on the mainland, and as he came to realise their full extent he was deeply thoughtful.
“If there are so many farms,” he said one day, “then the time will come when other settlers cross the sea to this island. They will arrive, as you did, and they will take more of our valleys.”
“Perhaps,” Krona replied. “But the sea is dangerous. They may not come.”
“They will come. It will be so,” Magri answered calmly, and his weatherbeaten old face was sad. “There will be many of them, too strong for us; and they will destroy my people.”
For the more he observed the life of the farmers, the greater he understood their power to be. Already the young men were building new farms and clearing more land further up the valley. He saw the small herds of livestock, the flocks of sheep who were steadily taking over the higher ground, and he knew that nothing could stop them.
“You make the land itself obey you,” he reflected. “The sun god is very strong.”
“If more settlers come,” Krona said truthfully, “the hunters will have to make peace with them, and with their gods.”
The old hunter turned these matters over in his mind for many months; and finally he came to a remarkable decision which he announced to his people when they were next gathered together for a big hunt.
When they heard Magri’s proposal, the hunters were dumbfounded.
“We cannot agree to such a thing,” they protested. But he was determined and argued his case again and again, for he was certain that only in this way could he protect his people for the future.
“The sun god makes the settlers strong,” he told them. “We cannot resist them. It will be better if we do what I suggest.”
This dispute amongst the hunters, of which the settlers in the valley remained ignorant, lasted for two years; and at the end of that time the authority and arguments of the old man gained his idea a grudging acceptance.
It was a surprise to Krona one summer when he saw Magri approaching with a small deputation consisting of the limping figure of Taku and two of the older hunters, together with two girls who walked behind them. He greeted them politely and the men quietly sat on the ground in front of his farm, while the two girls stood silently a short distance away. Krona wondered what this visit could mean.
Magri began slowly.
“For over three years there has been peace between our peoples,” he said. “We have brought sacrifices to the medicine man and we have kept our promise not to hunt in the valley.”
“And we have not disturbed your hunting grounds,” Krona reminded him.
“It is true. But every year,” Magri continued, “your people clear more land and one day they will want more land than there is in the valley.”
“We have all the land we need,” Krona assured him.
“For the moment, perhaps,” Magri replied. “And for the moment we have peace. But in time your farmers will want to take more, for each year your cattle and your sheep increase in number and you cut down more trees. It must be so,” he insisted. “And already,” he warned, “our young men are getting restless. If your people want more land, they will say that it is time to drive them from the valley; they have not forgotten the killings and this time they will be well prepared. Many will die.”
“We can stop them,” Krona said. “You and I.”
Magri shook his head.
“We are growing old,” he replied. “In a few years we shall have gone; our advice will be forgotten.”
Krona was silent. He knew that what Magri said was probably