We had heard wolves and now we saw them. It was best to be on guard when any predators were around. We would keep watch at night. Fire was enough to keep most animals some distance away, but not all animals. If they came too close, we would take some evasive action, but like the wolves who caught the scent of the buffalo meat we had on sleds, these seemed satisfied to keep their distance.

There was nothing we had to draw them any closer. They probably weren't sure what we were, but we were big enough that they kept their distance.

"A wolf isn't likely to be on the hunt for men on horseback. They know we are too big and too many to want to mess with us," Running Horse said. "I would like a closer look to see their size. I'm sure they would disappear if they saw us coming toward them. We'll keep going for a while. See what they do."

"Yeah, wolves are very aware creatures. They know it is best not to go after creatures our size."

"I'm glad to hear that," Turtle said. "Glad I brought my horse. I'll keep my bow handy too."

I chuckled.

Turtle was the newest member of the hunters and explorers, and while Samuel was the youngest, Turtle was most likely to make a comment, when encountering something new to him.

I suspected the wolves had found some remnants of game that was cleaned close to the tree line. It was a free meal. Perhaps they figured there was some benefit if they kept an eye on us and our camp. They howled that night, but they weren't there in the morning when we got underway. The mountains were still there.

The following day, we stopped earlier than usual. We stopped in a field between two forests. We built a firepit once Samuel and Young Antelope went off to the right to see what they could see. It was pleasant. The sky was blue. There were some clouds, and a rolling landscape that changed in the ways any prairie might change from mile to mile. As I looked ahead, the mountains loomed even larger. The peaks were like fingers reaching up into darkening clouds. There was a cool breeze coming off them. It wasn't uncomfortable but darkness was likely to come early that night.

It was fall on the surface, and it wasn't much different down here. The weather was pleasant, storm clouds gathered and disappeared just as quickly. We hadn't endured any unpleasant weather. The days were cool, and the nights were good for sleeping, but not so cold that it made us uncomfortable. I had yet to put on the extra shirt I carried, and it made a nice pillow.

It wasn't like Running Horse to spend too much time away from his people, and I started to feel like we were coming to the end of the line. He might not have known how far we would go, but even if we galloped back to where we came out of the cliff, we were out three or four days of hard riding. We'd been out for over a week.

It might be safe down here, but how safe was it in Paradise Valley? How long did we want to be gone?

As we rode behind Running Horse, making our way through the latest forest, I heard Horse raise a ruckus before he turned to the right. Dobbin turned left, and I felt Samuel's arrow whiz past my right ear. I could see nothing, until Dobbin stopped moving, and I was watching a rattle snake turning over and over again with an arrow right behind his head. Making three or four complete turns, he then stopped dead in its tracks, shook his impressive tattles one last time and died.

Running Horse rode out of the forest and jumped down, starting to examine Horse's forelocks and the front of his neck. He turned once to see how far away the snake was from his legs, but that snake wasn't going anywhere, and he went back to examining Horse to be sure he hadn't been struck.

I couldn't see anything with Horse and Dobbin both moving in different directions. Samuel, riding right behind me, saw the problem immediately. Horse saw the rattler first and reacted. When he moved out of Samuel's way, he had a clear shot at the coiled snake.

"I never saw it until Horse made the left turn. Who shot it? Right behind the head. Thank you, that could have gone terribly wrong if Horse got struck."

Samuel was off his horse holding the arrow that held the snake, and he got a close up look.

"Be careful, Samuel. A rattlesnake ain't never too dead to bite your ass," Barking Dog said. "Don't want my son bit by no rattler before he marrieds my baby girl."

I don't think Samuel was paying much attention, but the next thing I saw was him wielding his hunting knife, separating the snake from his head in one quick cut. His knife had to be sharp as a razor to cut that clean.

"I'll take the snakeskin if you don't want it, Samuel," Big Joe offered.

"Give me that head," Turtle said. "I want the head. How big is that thing?"

Joe was off his horse and took the snake out of Samuel's hands, but Sammy Boy clipped off the rattles before he let go of the snake.

"Here, Pop," Samuel said, walking toward where I stood next to Dobbin a little ways from the trees.

"You don't want the rattles?" I asked, knowing what a prize they were.

"No, I want my Pop to have them. You'll never forget the rattlesnake that was about to hit Horse."

No, I wouldn't forget. Running Horse wouldn't forget, and Horse was a lucky horse of course. He was lucky enough not to get snakebit because Samuel had reflexes like lightning. He is the only one who saw the rattler before it got itself dead.

"We'll camp near that creek up ahead. I've gone far enough for today," Running Horse said.

There was still a few hours of daylight, but no one was anxious to go any further today. The horses definitely needed to calm down and relax for a while. I didn't know if the rattler could have killed Horse, but he would have made him sick enough he might want to be dead.

"After I skin it, I can cook it up for our evening meal. Tastes a bit like extra spicy chicken, you ask me, but it's good eating," Big Joe said, tossing the remains of the snake in front of where he sat on Moses, and we eased our way to the creek we could see a hundred yards ahead. It was wide open now, and there would be no game. The snake would be fine, since it was all we had.

I watched Samuel watching Joe cut up the snake once he skinned it. I think it was in his eyes. They were the softest of soft blues, and I'm sure he spent a lot of time looking out for Nester while he was a boy. Those eyes didn't miss anything.

I remembered the duck. I would never forget the rattlesnake.

I remembered the look in his eyes the day he killed Nester and stared down at his corpse.

"Own that, Motherfucker," he told him.

I remember the day Lit'l Fox died. I'm sure I had the same look in my eyes as Samuel.

We now knew to look out for snakes. The wolves have kept their distance, but we hear them at night, and I'm sure they visit the spots where we camp once we are gone. It is somewhat of a comfort to know they are there, while keeping their distance.

The snake was great, and we got plenty of rest that evening. We were all refreshed the next day. We didn't change our pace, and we went about as long the next day as we did on most days. I kept looking at the mountains while Running Horse and Big Bear made the firepit.

Samuel and Young Antelope went to the north again. There was a forest a few miles north of us, and they thought the hunting would be good there. My meat pouch grew empty as I nibbled on the last of the meat.

I was about to bite into my last apple when Samuel rode up with a sled behind Tomahawk. The buck on the sled was huge. Running Horse said see what we can kill, and with so many of us eating, a deer wouldn't mean that much waste, but with a deer half again the size of the biggest deer we took on the mountain, was going to take some eating. We had taken to leaving parts of any kill for the predators in the neighborhood we were in, and that seemed reasonable. We always thanked an animal for his sacrifice and leaving a little, or in this case a lot of meat for predators wouldn't hurt us at all, even when wolves kept their distance.

We were not wasteful people, but I was hungry and I ate too much, and then I ate some more. Running Horse spent time smoking venison strips and lying them out to dry. We would leave with our food pouches full in the morning, and I made sure I had a piece of venison in my hand when I got on Dobbin, ready to ride.

The night before, Young Antelope stood up to tell the story of the deer we feasted on. It wasn't as wild a tale as the story of the killer rabbit, but he had his moments, and we laughed and chuckled before falling asleep. We were closing in on the mountains, and we had to be close to where we were going. Before long we would be on our way back with stories to tell and a village to move.

I found out something about venison too. If you kept eating venison for longer than you should, the knot apple puts in your stomach for a day or two, venison can do the same thing. I had to learn when to stop eating.

I liked Underworld. I would never own it, but I felt like I could live here.

When I thought of Underworld while I was in Paradise Valley, I worried about what might be down here. It was just me and my imagination, and I wasn't that keen on talk we might move to Underworld. I had been to a hundred places like Underworld. I didn't know them, and I wasted no time riding off when I finished my business there. I'll never know how much like Underworld any of those places were. I liked this.

Being down here, I felt no fear, and I didn't sense we were getting in over our heads. Underworld wasn't much different than being in Paradise Valley. It was a very large version of a very nice place. The mountains were clearly how far we could go on horseback. No horse was climbing those. I didn't know men could climb them. They were quite a sight to see as we closed in on them.

Sending Samuel and Young Antelope into a forest directly ahead, meant they were probably coming back with something good to eat. We wouldn't tackle the forest with dark so near. Tomorrow was soon enough.

We set up camp and built the firepit, and after an hour or so, Running Horse began building up the fire to roast today's kill. It never took more than an hour or two, and one of them would be walking out of the trees with game cleaned and ready for the firepit.

With the deer Samuel killed, we had meat for several days. If some unsuspecting rabbit came hopping along, it didn't mean we wouldn't add a bit of meat to our pouches. We wouldn't need to hunt for a while, but if something offered us an easy shot, we weren't likely to pass it up. You never knew when you would get your next shot at an easy kill.

I hadn't seen any animals I didn't recognize. Some were too far away and I couldn't be sure. Anything Samuel or Young Antelope killed was recognizable before and after it was cleaned. We knew what they all were. We knew they were bigger than anything we had seen on the surface. That gave us more to eat and the wolves ate too.

No one was complaining.

On to Chapter Twenty-Two
"Calm Before the Storm"
Back to Chapter Twenty
"Westward Ho"
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