The First Jumper (first draft version)

The First Jumper 38: The Chief

Looking at Little Bear, Tiger announced, “We start across the plain at sunrise.  Everyone prepare to go as fast as we can manage.”  Then he clapped his hands together.

It was the Chief’s way of punctuating a decision or order.  He looked around again, and as no one appeared ready to dispute his place as Chief, he sat down.

Little Bear heaved a sigh of relief.  He knew Tiger was still furious with him, and he did not think he was going to get forgiveness ever, or at least not any time soon, but it seemed Tiger was not going to try to make a display of Little Bear at the same time he became Chief.

 

In the morning, they geared up for the plain, and prepared to run.  They were critically short on spears, but they had enough cooked meat to carry for two days, and they ate as much meat as they could hold.  The temperature was bearable.

The plain was covered with ice and snow, but there were places where the ice and snow had been pushed aside as animals had scraped for browse, and green grass grew.  In other places, animals had died, and there had been no scavengers to pick them clean.  Most of what the tribe ate during that trip was scavenged from animals which had succumbed to the weather, and never thawed.

The river, far to their left, was still clogged with ice, and they did not think the winter storms were over, but they wanted to feel the sun on their skin.

As they started across the large plain, the tribe began taking off their skins and furs, and tying them around their waists, to feel the sun on their skins as much as possible.

It was still quite chilly, but the feeling of the sun energized them all.

The only way they could run was if the little ones were carried, so they were.

The tribe actually made good time, despite running on full stomachs.  That slowed them down, but they still covered twenty miles of the plain by the time they stopped for a break, mid-day.  After a short rest, they started running again, a bit faster than before, and continued through the middle of the afternoon.

There was almost no shelter on the vast plain, so they stopped when they came to a large pile of debris left by floodwaters.  They built their fire in the lee of the pile, and ate the rest of the meat.

They continued in this fashion for the next seven days, covering long distances.  The weather continued to improve, but the land had become barren of animal life.

As more of the land was exposed from under the snow, grass was beginning to grow back, and the tribe members frequently munched on grass as they ran, or rose hips, or whatever other browse they might find.  

Meat was very frequent, but it became progressively harder to find meat that was not spoiled, as most of the meat had thawed by the time they found a carcass.

One evening, Raccoon asked Little Bear to join him in a conference with Tiger.  “We need to talk,” he said.  

Tiger glared at Little Bear.  “Why does he need to be here?”

Raccoon folded his arms.  “You are Chief, Tiger.  No one is disputing that, but you need to start acting like it!  Little Bear is here because when I am gone, he will be your Medicine Man, and you will need him more than your father ever needed me.  He has already saved the lives of the entire tribe more than once.  We need him here, because whether you realize it or not, you cannot keep this tribe alive without him.”

He stared at Tiger, until Tiger flushed, and said, “Okay, Medicine Man!  You have a point.”  He looked over at Little Bear.  “Don’t expect me to forgive you.”

“Don’t worry,” said Little Bear.

“Enough!” snapped Raccoon.  “I want to talk to the two of you.”  

He led them away from earshot of the others, before resuming.  “Have you noticed that we have not seen another living thing, down here?  No rabbits, no bison--not even any mammoths or mastodon.  I haven’t even seen a vulture.”

“I noticed,” said Little Bear.

Raccoon and Little Bear waited until Tiger huffed his breath out, and said, “I see it, too, of course, but what do we do about it?  Is it some magic?”

Raccoon was about to answer, but Little Bear said, “Not magic, this time.”

“What, then?” said Raccoon, curious.

“Remember how cold it was, and for how long?  I think anything living on this entire plain was killed off by that.  We are only seeing the bodies of creatures that couldn’t make it south fast enough.”

“Other tribes?” said Tiger.

Little Bear frowned.  “I don’t know,” he said.

“I’m pretty sure I do know,” said Raccoon.  “They will have moved south as winter was coming, as fast as they could, and they would have moved all the way across the plain.  By that time, when the winter got really bad, they would not have been stuck, and could move even farther south.  I think they will nearly all have lived to get out of the weather.”

“So, when we get across the plain,” said Tiger, “We should expect to see other tribes.”

“Before then, I think,” said Little Bear.  “I’m guessing that they will start expanding north as soon as the plains start thawing enough to have game on them.  They are thawing, now, but there is no game up here to graze, yet.  Once we start seeing game, we should expect to see hunters.”

“We’d better watch out, when we do,” said Tiger.  “If they have been crowded in with other tribes, they will be very aggressive toward others.”

“Very good, Tiger,” said Raccoon.  “You are thinking as a Chief should think.  What do you think we should do when we see them?”

Tiger frowned.  “First of all, before we see them, we should start practicing with our throwing sticks.  We need to get good with those, if they are to give us an advantage when we meet another tribe.  We haven’t practiced since before the long dark, except for when Little Bear and I hunted rabbits.

“Starting tomorrow morning, each man able to use a spear will practice with throwing sticks, moving forward.  I will throw my spear first from the front, and every other man will try to throw his spear as close to mine as he can.  We will keep that up, all day.  We won’t move as fast, but it is already much warmer than it was, and I want to be ready.

“Second, as long as we have enough warriors, if we see a small tribe, I want to raid them for their women.  If we see a big tribe, I want to try to avoid them, if we can.”

Raccoon said, “Tiger, you are the Chief, but--”

“That’s right, Medicine Man!  You both would do well to remember it.”

“We will, Chief, but think about this:  With your mother staying with Ox last night, there is no man without a woman.  We have no real need to attack another tribe, and doing so could get warriors killed, which we cannot afford.”

Tiger listened, but then nodded, and said, “I understand.  I have spoken.”

That ended the conversation, as Tiger turned and stalked back to the fire.

“He will make a very good Chief, some day,” said Raccoon.

“I know,” said Little Bear.  “I just hope he doesn’t kill me before he does.”

“He needs you too much,” said Raccoon.  “He won’t.”

Little Bear wished his father sounded more sincere, when he said that.

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