The valley of horses_ a novel - Jean M. Auel [33]
“Do what?”
“Find the meaning of life. Isn’t that what you were worried about when I went to bed? Though why you’d stay up all night for that, I’ll never know. Now, if there was a woman around … Do you have one of Doni’s blessed hidden in the willows … ?”
“Do you think I’d tell you if I did?” Jondalar said, grinning. Then his smile softened. “You don’t have to make bad jokes to humor me, Little Brother. I’m going with you, all the way to the end of the river, if you want. Only, what will you do then?”
“Depends what we find there. I thought the best thing for me to do was go to bed. You’re not fit company for anyone when you get in one of those moods. I’m glad you’ve decided to come along. I’ve sort of gotten used to you, bad moods and all.”
“I told you, someone has to keep you out of trouble.”
“Me? Right now I could use a little trouble. It’d be better than sitting around waiting for that meat to dry.”
“It will only be a few days, if the weather holds. But now I’m not so sure I should tell you what I saw.” Jondalar’s eyes twinkled.
“Come on, Brother. You know you will anyway.…”
“Thonolan, there’s a sturgeon in that river so big … But there’s no point in fishing for it. You wouldn’t want to wait around for fish to dry, too.”
“How big?” Thonolan said, standing up and eagerly facing the river.
“So big, I’m not sure both of us together could haul it in.”
“No sturgeon is that big.”
“The one I saw was.”
“Show me.”
“Who do you think I am? The Great Mother? Do you think I can make a fish come and show off for you?” Thonolan looked chagrined. “I’ll show you where I saw it, though,” Jondalar said.
The two men walked to the edge of the river and stood near a fallen tree that extended partway into the water. As though to tempt them, a large shadowy shape moved silently upstream and stopped under the tree near the river bottom, undulating slightly against the current.
“That must be the grandmother of all fish!” Thonolan whispered.
“But can we land it?”
“We can try!”
“It would feed a Cave, and more. What would we do with it?”
“Weren’t you the one who said the Mother never lets anything go to waste? The hyenas and wolverines can have a share. Let’s get the spears,” Thonolan said, anxious to try the sport.
“Spears won’t do it, we need gaffs.”
“She’ll be gone if we stop to make gaffs.”
“If we don’t, we’ll never bring her in. She’d just slip off a spear—we need something with a back hook. It wouldn’t take long to make. Look, that tree over there. If we cut off limbs just below a good sturdy branch fork—we don’t have to worry about reinforcing, we’ll only use it once,” Jondalar was punctuating his description with motions in the air, “then cut the branch off short and sharpen it, we’ve got a back hook.…”
“But what good will it do if she’s gone before we get them made?” Thonolan interrupted.
“I’ve seen her there twice—it seems to be a favorite resting place. She’d probably come back.”
“But who knows how long that would take.”
“Have you anything better to do right now?”
Thonolan made a wry smile. “All right, you win. Let’s go make gaffs.”
They turned around to go back, then stopped in surprise. Several men had surrounded them and looked distinctly unfriendly.
“Where did they come from?” Thonolan said in a hoarse whisper.
“They must have seen our fire. Who knows how long they’ve been out there. I’ve been up all night watching for scavengers. They could have been waiting until we did something careless, like leaving our spears behind.”
“They don’t look too sociable; none of them has made a gesture of welcome. What do we do now?”
“Put on your biggest, friendliest smile, Little Brother, and you make the gesture.”
Thonolan tried to think self-assured and smiled what he hoped was a confident grin. He put both his hands out and started toward them “I am Thonolan of the Zelan …”
His progress was halted by a spear quivering in the ground at his feet.
“Any more good suggestions, Jondalar?”
“I think it’s their turn.”
One of the men said something in an unfamiliar language