The shelters of stone - Jean M. Auel [116]
“How do you know I did it?”
“I remember when you thought you might be a carver, Jondalar. I think I still have a plate you once gave me with a carving like that. But where did this come from?” he said, handing the thrower back. “And I’d like to see how you use it.”
“I worked it out when I was staying with Ayla in her valley. It’s really not difficult to use, but it does take practice to gain control. I can throw farther, but Ayla is more accurate than I am,” Jondalar explained as he picked up another spear. “Do you see this small hole that I carved into the back end of this spear?”
Joharran and several other people crowded near to see the rounded indentation.
“What’s the purpose of that?” Kareja asked.
“I’ll show you. See this hooklike projection at the back of the thrower? They fit together like this,” he said, inserting the point of the hook into the hole. He adjusted the spear so that it lay flat on the thrower, with the two feathers of the fletching on either side, then he put his thumb and index finger through the leather loops, and held the spear and the thrower together in a horizontal position. Everyone was crowding around, trying to see. “Ayla, why don’t you show them, too.” Ayla went through a similar demonstration.
“She is holding it differently,” Kareja said. “She has her first two fingers through the loops, Jondalar is using his thumb and forefinger.”
“You are very perceptive, Kareja,” Marthona remarked.
“This works best for me,” Ayla explained. “Jondalar used to hold it this way, but now he prefers to hold it his way. Either way is fine. You can hold it whatever way is most comfortable for you.”
Kareja nodded, then said, “Your spears are smaller and lighter than usual, too.”
“At first we used bigger spears, but Jondalar came up with these smaller ones after a while. They are easier to handle and better for accuracy,” Ayla said.
Jondalar continued with the demonstration. “When you throw, notice how the back of the spear-thrower raises up, giving the spear an extra push?” With the spear and thrower in his right hand, he took hold of the spear with his left to show the movement in slow motion without letting the spear drop. “That’s what gives it the extra force.”
“When that spear-thrower is fully extended, it’s as though your arm is half again as long,” Brameval said. He hadn’t said much before, and it took Ayla a moment to recall that he was the leader of the Fourteenth Cave.
“Would you throw the spear again? Show us once more how it works?” Manvelar said.
Jondalar pulled back, took aim, and let fly. The spear punched through the target again. Ayla’s spear followed a heartbeat later.
Kareja looked at the woman Jondalar had brought home and smiled. She hadn’t known Ayla was so accomplished. It rather surprised her. She had assumed the quite obviously attractive woman would be more like Marona, the one he had chosen before he left, but this woman might be worth getting to know better.
“Would you like to try it, Kareja?” Ayla asked, offering her spear-thrower.
“Yes, I would,” the leader of the Eleventh Cave said, smiling broadly. She took the thrower and examined it while Ayla got another spear shaft with a detachable point. She noticed the bison carved on the bottom and wondered if Jondalar had made it, too. It was a decent carving, not exceptional, but adequate.
Wolf wandered off while Ayla and Jondalar showed people the techniques they would have to practice in order to effectively use the new hunting weapon. While some managed to make some good distance throws, it was obvious that accuracy would take more time. Ayla was standing back, watching, when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see Wolf chasing something. When she caught a glimpse of it, she took her sling out of a pouch, along with a couple of smooth, rounded stones.
She placed the stone in the pouch of leather in the middle of the sling, and when the ptarmigan in full summer plumage flew up, she was ready. She hurled it at the plump bird and saw it drop. A second ptarmigan flew