Alone (17 page)

“It’s one of the puppies!” he exclaimed as he dropped beside of Jason. Together man and dog struggled to dig beneath the barn. When the hole was large enough, Ralph gently reached into it. His finger brushed something soft and he felt a small wet nose on his palm. A second later and he felt a small tongue lick his hand. He reached around and gently pulled the puppy from the hole. The puppy struggled to stay inside but Ralph eased the dog out of the hole. The small bundle of fur was matted with dried blood and dirt and cried pitifully. Jason leaned over and sniffed the pup and then began licking it. Ralph started to rise and then stuck his hand back into the hole and pulled out another puppy.

He checked again but the hole was now empty. He thought back and it dawned on him that he hadn’t counted the dead puppies; he just assumed that they had all been killed. Gathering both of the small bundles in his arms, he crossed the yard with Jason right behind him. Together, they went inside.

As he cleaned the pups, he saw that they were both female. The dried blood that covered them had evidently come from their litter mates, their mother or the horse. Neither pup had an injury. They were cold, scared and hungry, but a warm bath, dry fluffy towel and some canned dog food took care of that. They tussled with each other and then with Jason. Both pups began yawning and they curled up beside Jason and fell asleep.

“Good boy, Jason.” Ralph said as he patted Jason head.

Jason licked his hand and then lowered his head and dropped off to sleep. Ralph continued to watch for awhile and then thoughts of his family filled his mind and he began to cry. He missed them all so much and he had no idea what had happened to them. He had been alone for along time and he yearned for someone to talk to. He ached for his wife and sons and wished with all his heart that he could be with them again. As the sobs tore thru him, he felt the warmth of Jason’s head as the dog butted his side. He looked down and gently hugged the big dog.

“I’m o.k. boy. I just wish my family were here. But I sure am glad that you have some of yours back.”

The dog laid his head in Ralph’s lap and they stayed like that into the night.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

During the next couple of months, there were several attacks on the horses and cattle. Ralph had taken to riding each of the horses daily for exercise and to gain some experience on them. Several times he had spied what in earlier times; he would have had to go to a zoo to see. He saw a couple more lions, but he figured they would move south before cold weather. Once in the distance he saw what could only be a Bengal tiger. They, he knew, were quite capable of surviving in both hot and cold weather. Several packs of wolves had moved into the area, as well as some type of antelope. Deer and wild turkey were everywhere and wild pigs and bears had always been in the area, but not in the numbers he was seeing now. Without human intervention, there was an explosion of wildlife. He knew that a balance would be achieved, but at the present, with prey so plentiful, the hunters had moved in.

One morning, he got dressed and loaded some tools into his truck. He had decided that he had to do something to protect both the livestock and him. He had added several strands of barbed wire to the existing fence over the past year, but now he felt as if they needed something a little more substantial. After reading thru several books, he felt like the best idea was to create a compound encircled by a stockade. With that in mind, he headed off to begin cutting some trees for the walls.

Jason had been as eager as ever for a ride and the two puppies were equally as excited, but three dogs in the cab of a truck were just too much. He left them in the house and went off alone. He found a grove of birch late that morning. Each tree was about a foot in diameter at the base and they grew straight and tall. Grabbing the chainsaw, he started to work. Within a couple of hours, he had several trees on the ground and ready to haul. He left his tools and returned home. Together with the three dogs, he fixed and ate a quick lunch and then hitched the flatbed to the truck. He grabbed a couple of chain hoists and some chains from the barn, loaded the dogs into the cab and headed back to the grove of trees. Arriving at the trees, the three dogs were anxious to be out of the truck. Ralph studied the area and when he could see no danger, he opened the door and the dogs spilled out of the truck. While the dogs sniffed around, he wrapped each tree with logs and then hooked the hoists to them. After quite a struggle, he had the flat bed loaded. The dogs had spent the time sniffing the area and then the pups had decided it was time for a fight. They scuffled across the ground while Jason sat and watched. As he gathered up his tools, Ralph paused to watch the pups. They had not a care in the world. As long as they were fed, they were happy. He called the dogs and headed home. At home, he checked the livestock, fed the dogs and went to sleep as the sun slipped beneath the horizon. The next day saw him trimming logs and beginning a ditch around the house and barn. With the small backhoe, the ditch work went quickly and by afternoon, he was standing the first trimmed log into the ditch. The ditch was about four feet deep and the log extended another fifteen feet above ground. He placed all the logs he had and then backfilled around them. He trimmed the trees to the same length. He decided that he was going to have a platform on the inside of the logs so he could stand and see over them.

Working over the next month, he continued to cut and move logs and the stockade slowly took shape. When he had about half of the wall finished, he took a break and drove to a nearby town. There he visited the local lumber store and loaded their entire stock of two by twelve’s, two by tens, two by eights, two by sixes and two by fours. A lot of the lumber had warped sitting out in the weather and he had to dig to find boards that he could use. He then loaded nails, lag screws, saws, axes, hand tools and anything else that might prove useful. With the flatbed overloaded, he slowly made his way back home, arriving as night was falling. The next morning saw him working on completing the walls.

He left two large openings for gates at either side of the enclosed space. He fashioned two huge gates and hung them from a pair of giant hinges he had found. When the walls were completed, he built a catwalk around the inside and secured an aluminum ladder to it. From that height, he could see for miles. He strengthened the barb wire fence around the pasture and added several more strands of wire. As an added precaution, he added a couple of rows of barbed wire about mid way up the walls. On these strands, he hung empty food cans. If anything tried to climb the wall, it would have to make its way thru the barb wire and would rattle the cans while doing so. At night, he brought all the animals inside and felt relatively safe. He stopped losing animals, though he could hear things outside and saw several sets of tracks. He never heard the cans rattle. During his rides, he found several other dogs and brought them home with him. Jason stayed with him on his trips and the other dogs stayed to protect the livestock. The time blended together and one day Ralph realized that he no longer knew what the date was. He could check his watch, but he had stopped wearing it a long time ago. He no longer was dictated by time and it had ceased to control his life.

He harvested his garden, gathered and stored wood for the winter. His pantry was full of dried and smoked venison and pork. The days became shorter and then winter was upon them. That winter was a hard one and seemed to Ralph to last a long time. The dogs took a corner of the barn for their own and they all slept there. All except Jason. He continued to sleep in the house.

Early one morning about mid winter, Ralph decided that he needed fresh meat. With game as plentiful as it was, he only hunted when he needed to fill his larder. He gathered his rifle and dressed in his warmest clothes. It had snowed the night before and there were about six inches of fresh powder on the ground. The sky was brilliant blue with only a scattering of clouds. He ate a light breakfast and packed a lunch.

“You want to do some hunting, Jason?’ he asked as he headed for the door.

Jason was by his side in an instant and together they stepped out into the brisk morning air. A light breeze was blowing and the wind bit against Ralph’s face. He walked out of the stockade and closed the door behind him. He propped the door closed and headed into the trees. Jason and Ralph walked a couple of miles and sat down to take a short break. Ralph’s typical method of hunting was to walk the area looking for game. If he spied fresh tracks, he would follow them. Once the hunt began, Jason remained at Ralph’s side and did not stray away.

“Let’s see if we can find anything boy.” Ralph said as he stood. Looking down, he headed deeper into the woods. After about an hour, the pair came across the fresh tracks of several deer. Ralph glanced around and discovered he was in an area that was unfamiliar to him. He wasn’t worried because he could always use the compass to find his way back. He followed the tracks to a small stream and stopped there for lunch. The temperature was slightly higher than it had been and he could no longer feel the breeze. The sky he could see in patches was becoming more cloud covered.

“We had better get a move on.” He said as he tossed a piece of fried chicken to Jason.

He stood and dusted the snow from his pants. Jason sat devouring the chicken. Ralph dipped some of the clear cold water from the stream and drank. Together they headed deeper into the woods. Above the tree tops, the wind had picked up considerably and the horizon was covered with dark heavy clouds.

“Easy Jason.” Ralph whispered. He peered thru the scope at the four deer in the valley below. He picked out one female in the group and gently squeezed the trigger. Jason jumped at the sound and the boom echoed across the land. The deer staggered and then all four turned and ran into the trees. Ralph continued to scan the area thru the scope and after a few seconds, he lowered the rifle.

“Let’s go see if we can get her.” He said as he stood. Jason bounded down the slope and began sniffing the area. When Ralph arrived, Jason was smelling a small puddle of blood. Looking in the direction the deer had run, Ralph could make out other spots of blood along their path.

“Let’s get her, Jason.” Following the blood trail, the two headed away.

After 10 more minutes, they came across the deer. Somehow, she had made it into a laurel thicket and died. Ralph tugged the carcass from the branches and began to field dress it. When he finished, he pulled the rope he carried from his pack. He quickly tied the rope to the deer and fashioned a rough harness. He slipped his arms into the harness and slung the rifle across his back. Grunting, he began the task of dragging the deer home.

With his head bent forward, Ralph lost all track of time. He followed the trail he had made as he retraced his steps. He occasionally verified his direction with the compass. After working for an hour, he stopped to rest. Shrugging out of the harness, he straightened and stretched. When he looked at the sky, he was shocked. Dark massive clouds covered the sky. Now that he was not working, he could feel the temperature had dropped considerably.

“I don’t like the look of those clouds.” He said to Jason. “Let’s get back home.”

Even though he hated too, Ralph abandoned the deer carcass where it lay. He read the compass and headed straight for home. Within 10 minutes, the first snowflakes were falling. In 30 minutes, the snow was driving across the land. Ralph realized that he was in trouble. He gave up on thoughts of getting home and began to look for someplace to shelter from the store. He found a large tree that had recently fallen. It had pulled its roots from the ground and left a large hole where the roots had been.

“It’s not the best, but it will have to do.”

Ralph began dragging branches to the hole. He laid them across the hole and when he had placed several, he began to cover them with pine branches which he pulled from nearby trees. Once the hole was covered, Ralph shrugged out of his pack and pushed it into the hole. He followed this with several arm s full of pine branches. He then searched for any dead wood he could find. The snow was falling so heavily now that he was afraid to wander far from the hole. He piled the dead wood beside the hole and when he had all that he could find, he crawled into the hole with Jason. The pine branches blocked out the light and it was almost pitch black inside. Ralph moved the branches near the tree roots and piled them on top of each other. He sat on this pile to get his body off of the cold ground.

He gathered a small pile of the dead wood and pulled his emergency kit from his pack. He had made several of these and tried to keep one with him at all times. In the kit he had several birthday cake candles and a box of waterproof matches, some tissue paper and a steel and flint. He had a collapsible cup and a handful of hard candies. A bottle with aspirin and several bandages completed the kit. He propped one of the candles up and made a small pile of branches above it. All of the wood was damp, but the candle would burn long enough to dry the wood before it caught fire. He lit the candle and within a short time, he had a small fire. The flickering light filled the hole and Ralph and Jason stared into the flames. The hole was large enough for Ralph to curl on his side, but he could not lie straight. He had an emergency blanket in his pack and he spread this upon the branches. He lay on the blanket and wrapped it around hi. Jason curled up beside him. With such a limited supply of wood, Ralph was afraid to build the fire up much. He didn’t want to run out of wood, so he kept the fire small. It didn’t warm the hole much, but it did allow Ralph to warm his hands and face.

“Sorry I got us into this mess.” Ralph said to Jason. “If I had paid better attention to the weather, we wouldn’t be here now.”

Jason looked over at him and sniffed as if to say “Hey no big deal.”