The Thinking Rocks (22 page)

Lomasi said something to
Hopi, which appeared to frighten him; he backed up a step as Lomasi
spoke.  The leader raised his hand to strike Hopi, but he paused and then
lowered his hand and stalked away without another word.  Hopi gave an
audible sigh of relief before turning to Gennos and motioning him to start
fishing.

Gennos knelt and took a
gouge from the ground.  It was a sharp piece of straight bone splinter
with a groove in the center.  Tying a rawhide line to the center of the
gouge he baited the primitive hook with deer intestine.  He checked it for
tightness, and then he cast it out into the river.  It had barely settled
in the water before there was a splash and he had a fish hooked.  He
pulled it to shore quickly, and removed the gouge.  He tossed the silver
fish up on the bank where it flopped futilely.  He quickly baited the hook
again and cast it into the water.  He lost the next two fish, but he got
three after that.  He cast some quick glances at Hopi who was sitting in
the shade watching him fish.  It was apparent that he would be fishing all
day.

Cano had been watching
what was going on at the riverbank.  He had been infuriated when his
brother was being beaten; he had tried to break his bonds, but had only
succeeded in making them tighter. He marveled at his brother's self control. He
hoped when his turn came he would be able to do as well.  He could feel
anger swelling inside of his chest. It was a strange feeling and he didn't like
it. He knew that if they were to escape they would have to follow their plan. 
He had his doubts about being able to control himself.  Knowing what you
should do is one thing he thought, but being able to do it was something else.

He noticed that Lomasi
was coming over toward him; it's my turn now he thought. Lomasi silently placed
a noose around Cano's neck.  Cano kept his eyes down and tried to appear
frightened, he found it wasn’t hard to pretend.  He was led over to the
fire where Na'pe and Dola where working.  They were making baskets out of
strips of river grass; Na'pe's fingers seemed to fly as she wove the
baskets.  Dola was working on one also, but he was slow.  Lomasi
spoke to Na'pe and pointed toward the river where the tall grass grew. 
She nodded understanding, and then motioned to Cano. After repeated motions and
words he understood that they were going to the river's marsh and collect the
grass for more baskets.

Cano was intrigued with
the idea of making the baskets from grass.  His people had only used hides
to make containers to carry things.  The baskets that Na'pe and Dola had
been making looked like they would be difficult make.  But the more he
thought about it, the easier they appeared.  Dola was working quickly to
avoid Lomasi's anger.

Na'pe kept her head
down, but motioned toward where Lomasi was standing and cutting the leaves from
a willow branch, he was making a switch. "Beware, he will hurt you.
Soon," she said in a soft voice.

She had barely uttered
the words when Lomasi came over and hit Cano across the shoulders with the
switch. It sent a shaft of pain through his body and he wanted to snatch the
switch away and beat him with it. Instead he let out a whimper and fell to his
knees.  Lomasi stepped forward and struck him repeatedly across the face
and shoulders.  Cano had to fight to control his emotions and not attack.
He fell down on his side and continued to whimper.  Dola was behind Lomasi
and was having a hard time controlling himself; he wanted to come to the aid of
Cano. He started to pick up a burning branch from the fire to strike Lomasi.
From the ground Cano saw what he was going to do and called out, "No, No,
please No!"  Lomasi thought that he was begging for mercy and struck
him again. Dola understood and dropped to the ground with his head lowered, he
sat there shaking with frustration.

Lomasi tired of beating
Cano and slowly lowered the switch.  He snarled at the three captives and
motioned toward the river.  Na'pe motioned to Cano, come.  He rose
timidly to his feet, keeping his eyes down. He moved forward with a shuffling
pace.  It was easier to talk about being a timid captive than to play the
part.  He had to keep his eyes down; if Lomasi could look into them he
would see the hate and determination he felt.

Lomasi forced the
captives toward the river and into the marsh. He carried his switch in one hand
and his throwing spears in the other. They all still had nooses around their
necks, but Lomasi didn't bother with them.  He had his spears and they all
knew it would be futile to try and escape.

They worked until the
sun was starting to set and then they were forced to carry the bundles of grass
back to the camp. It was hot work and they only had the water from the river to
drink.  They had not had any food to eat since they were captured. 
Finally they had gathered enough suitable grass to satisfy Lomasi and he
signaled that they were to return to camp.

When they were about
halfway back to the camp, they came to a stand of trees that had branches
hanging over the path.  Na'pe was in the lead and was followed by Dola,
and finally by Cano who has in front of Lomasi. The captives passed under the
branches without incident, but as Lomasi approached, a large black and green
snake dropped out of one of the trees directly into his path. It landed in a
squirming mass that quickly coiled and raised its flat triangular shaped head
toward Lomasi.  Its lifeless black eyes bored holes in him as it flicked
its tongue in his direction. Lomasi shrieked in fear and jumped back before
tripping over a rotten log and falling to the ground.  Unfortunately for
him there was a nest of smaller snakes in the rotten log and they tried to
slither to safety.  In their haste to escape they crawled all over him, he
kicked and tried to push them away, he screamed at them.   Lomasi was
fortunate in that the nest did not hold poisoned snakes, but he lost control of
his bladder and wet himself. By the time he regained his feet, the snake that
had dropped out of the tree was gone. All there was to testify to the event was
the rustle of the leaves as the rest of the snakes made their escape.

The captives heard his
exclamations as he fell and they saw the snakes crawling over him.  They
were surprised and didn't move.  Na'pe was the first to recover; she
looked to Cano and motioned with her hand toward the deep brush ahead, "Go?" 
Cano quickly thought about their chances of escaping now, he rejected the idea
because they had no plan and Lomasi would easily be able to hunt them
down.  They would be better off if they played the part of subdued
captives. He looked at her and shook his head no; then he spoke in a low voice,
"Not yet."  She seemed on the verge of bolting off alone, but
then she nodded and stood still with her head down.

Lomasi was in a rage;
but he was also mortified that the captives had seen him exhibit such
fear.  He had an answer for any occasion where he appeared to have lost
face or status.  The answer was pain.  He attacked Cano with his
switch and beat him to the ground. Cano had to fight his instincts to not
return the attack, he knew that if he showed even the spark of resistance the
beating would be continued or even extended to the others in this small
group.  As each blow fell it deepened his resolve to make Lomasi pay in
the future for the pain.  Relief came from an unexpected quarter. 
Na'pe came forward and grabbed the switch.  Lomasi spun on her and raised
the switch to strike her, but before he could swing, she said something to him.
He stopped in mid-swing, hesitated then snarled a reply and then kicked at Cano
and motioned him to rise.

Cano crawled to his knees
and then stood with his head and eyes downcast. Lomasi motioned them to move on
up the path toward camp.  He followed behind at a slower pace and kept
scanning the trees and brushes.  He was looking for what he hoped he
wouldn't find.  The rest of the trek back to the camp was uneventful.

When Cano had a chance
to speak with Na'pe, he asked her what she had said to Lomasi to stop the
beating. She spoke quickly for fear of Lomasi hearing, "Say, you no good
dead".

As they approached the
campsite Cano noticed that his brother was still fishing.

Gennos saw the small
group returning with the bundles of grass.  Hopi yelled at him and he
returned to his fishing.  If it wasn't so hot and if he wasn't so hungry
this might have been enjoyable.  He baited the gouge and cast it back into
the river.

 The bait was
slowly settling in the water when it disappeared in an explosion of energy. A
huge brown and yellow fish with a long pointed nose sliced away with the bait
in the corner of its mouth.  The water behind it boiled with the fish’s
energy as it surged toward the center of the river.  This was an Alligator
Gar, a fish that looked like an alligator without legs.  It had a vicious
long bill shaped mouth that was lined with large yellowed teeth. The gar was
twice the size of Gennos.

Gennos was caught by
surprise; he had never seen a fish like this before.  He didn't know what
it was, but he was going to catch it.  He reached down and wrapped the
line around his hands so that he would have a good grip.  He didn't realize
at this point who had caught who.  The fish dragged him into the
river.  He fought to maintain his footing but the sand was too
slippery.  He was up to his hips in the water and losing ground
rapidly.  Suddenly, he started to choke.  He looked toward shore and
saw Hopi pulling on the noose to keep him from escaping into the river. 
Gennos tried to call for him to stop, but he couldn't speak.  He was being
pulled apart. He knew he had little choice in what to do.  He tightened
his neck muscles and lunged toward the center of the river. The lunge caused
Hopi to slip, and then he sprawled into the river with a huge splash.

The gar at this point
decided that it couldn't get away by running. It turned in a graceful arch and
launched itself at the shore and its attacker.  It was near the surface
and it broke the water in a silver spray as it raced back.  It had learned
early in its life that the most practical way to survive was to attack. 
There was a splashing near shore and this was to be its target.  The fish
put all of its energy into the charge at its attacker.  The gar came
through the water with unbelievable speed, the black water boiled as the gar
surged toward its tormenter.

Gennos stood still
trying to catch his breath as Hopi splashed near shore.  The line had gone
slack; he thought the fish had gotten away.  The thought vanished quickly
when the fish flashed past his legs, and sent a spray of water up into his
face.

The fish struck Hopi
like lightning.  It took off two of his fingers before it buried its teeth
on his right thigh.

Hopi's scream of agony
startled those in and around camp, and echoed off the trees. Lomasi heard it as
he approached the camp and surged past his captives.  He rushed forward
fitting one of his spears to the thrower.  He rushed to the river.

The gar had its teeth
buried deep in flesh, it understood killing.  It was the way it
survived.  It gripped the meat with the double row of teeth and shook it's
head as a dog would, then it started to spin in the water. It quickly tore a large
chunk of meat from the body of its attacker. It didn't know what body parts it
was destroying, nor that it had ripped apart the large artery in its prey's
leg.  It succeeded in its attack and headed for the center of the river
still clutching its gruesome prize.

Gennos tried to untangle
the fishing line as he scrambled through the bloody cauldron surrounding Hopi's
screaming form.  When he was on dry ground, he found he still was
entangled with the line.  He barely had time to brace himself before the fish
reached the end of the line.  Water sang from the rawhide line as it took
up the slack and rose from the water.  Gennos jerked with all of his might
to stop the killer fish's dash for freedom.  The Green killer drove its
mighty tail in an effort to free itself from the pain in its mouth. 
Gennos felt his feet slipping again as he was being pulled back to the rivers
edge.  It was at this point the gouge broke free and released the
fish.  The gar dived toward the river's bottom and then with mighty sweeps
of its tail it curved up and leaped out of the water.  Its jump carried it
well clear of the surface where it seemed to hang suspended as it shook its
head, before crashing down with a tremendous splash.

Gennos had felt the line
go slack and knew the fish was gone.  Hopi was struggling for shore and
was screaming in pain.  Without thinking Gennos rushed to his side and
helped him out of the river.

It was at this point
that Lomasi arrived.  Before Gennos could say anything, Lomasi hit him
across the face with his spear.  He fell away from the blow.  He
realized that it must look as though he had attacked Hopi.  He lay on the
ground without attempting to rise.

Hopi was withering in pain
on the bank of the river where Gennos had dragged him.  He was babbling to
Lomasi about what had happened.  He alternated between holding his blood
gushing wound and pointing toward the river.  When he noticed that two
fingers where gone, it brought on a new batch of frenzied babbling and
pointing.  Lomasi seemed to ask a question to which Hopi shook his head
and pointed toward Gennos.  Lomasi spoke sharply to Hopi.  He
attempted to stand, but could not.  The leader motioned Gennos to help him
stand.  Then he helped him over to the fire.  Their path was marked
by a bloody trail.