Posted As Missing

Chapter Twenty-Four

"I think God did," Rachel said, "I think He likes us."

"I think She does too. I have no experience at all with butchering, but I'm willing to have a go at it," he said. He looked at both of them in turn, and added, "Have either of you any experience with —?"

"Edom would always shoot a big buck in the autumn," Rachel interrupted. "I'd do the butchering. Quite similar to the goats I had done when I was growing up; we had a small herd of them for milk, cheese and meat."

She looked down at the twisted carcass. "The best cuts on a buck are the tenderloins, a pair of them inside straddling the spine near the back of the cavity. They're the muscles which provide the love thrust to the pelvis. In bucks they don't get used often, so they're very tender." She laughed. "Yours are likely very tough, David."

"Did you hear the soldiers above, what they said?" he asked.

"We heard the voices. Some of the words were clear, but the echoes and the waterfall made it hard to understand much of it, except the last one," Maria answered. "The deep yelling voice saying something about the major said it's out of bounds. Back to camp."

"I heard most of it quite clearly," he said, "I missed a few of the words, but it seems the stag they had shot had caught its antlers in a tree. There was talk that they shouldn't be here, it's where Herzog fell. Finally, the loud one, probably the corporal, shouting about out of bounds and back to camp."

"That all makes sense," Maria said, adding with a big grin, "I love the idea we're out of bounds."

"What can I do to make it easier for the butchering, Mama?"

Rachel looked around for a few moments, then said, "If we can hang it up over there near the waterfall it would be the easiest for me. Lots of cold running water to wash away the guts, to wash the carcass and to cool it."

David walked over to the face beside the cascade and studied the rock. "There's a nice crack here. I can jam a rope knot in it and hang it here. How's this spot?"

"That looks close to perfect. We can put Herzog's knife to work."

"Head up or head down?"

"I prefer head up, that's what I'm used to."

By the time they had finished the short back-and-forth, Maria had brought over two rolls of sisal line and a length of hemp. "Which do you prefer?" she asked holding them out to David.

"The thicker piece of hemp will be better. I can make a good, thick jam knot in it, a tight figure-of-eight."

He took the line, quickly turned the knot in its end and fed it into a widening in the crack a little above eye level. With a small twig, he poked the knot in deeper, then ran his hand along the line a foot or so and pulled lightly, working the knot down into the narrowing. He moved his hands another yard along the line, sat on the slab and yanked it with increasing force.

Next, he bowlined a noose and put his foot in it, stood and bounced lightly, then stepped out of it, saying, "That should hold."

Rachel and Maria had started dragging the carcass across the slab, and he assisted them with the final short distance. "What a grand team we are," he said. "No yelling, no bossing, we're simply acting in harmony."

David unbent the bowline, turned a figure-of-eight noose into the line near the upper end, took a bight near the middle of the line around the antlers, then threaded the line's end through the eye and pulled down on it to load the system. "Mama and I will take the weight, Maria, you take the line and pull the slack out of it as we lift."