Chapter 29:- Blood Brothers
In the morning we found we had snared a large rabbit. We gutted and skinned it and got our fire going using a fire bow. We roasted the rabbit over our fire on a green wood spit, eating the rabbit ravenously. Now, we would need to take turns watching the fire, feeding it and putting out any arrant sparks. Tommy and I went hunting and gathering. Joey made a bark cook pot so we might make a stew for supper. He found some branches nearby to use for forks in pot stirring and removing portions of meat. Another day, one of us would fashion bark plates. Tommy shot a grouse from a branch. His eyesight seemed keener than mine or maybe his attention to all around him seemed better. Joey cleaned the grouse, and a plump one it was. Instead of plucking it, Joey made a ball of mud, working it in with the feathers, and put it into the coals to roast. Several hours later, we believed it to be roasted and we removed it from the coals. When the mud ball cooled, we broke it away, the feathers came with it and we had a plucked, cooked grouse. Toward evening, Joey and I went hunting. Tommy was on fire watch. Joey and I found what we thought would be a good place to wait. We waited. I had become quite good at waiting as Joey and Tommy had taught me patience. A small doe came into view and Joey shot it cleanly through the neck with his arrow. We had meat. We field dressed it and carried it home to our camp. There was much talk long into the night. They asked me about school and told what they knew of where they were going in the spring. Several times we saw what we thought was a large black wolf skulking near our camp. This did not worry us as wolves generally are just curious and no threat. The next day we could find no wolf tracks.

Our two weeks went by rapidly. I shot a young buck with my rifle And Tommy shot one with his bow. The extra meat from the deer we shot was smoked and dried, the hides were scraped and tanned with the brains of the deer that had worn them. The hides would be very important to the Shortleg family for their trip west to distant relatives.

One night we heard a panther scream near our camp. That was followed by fierce growling and the sounds of a tremendous fight. The next day, the three of us searched the ground near where we thought we had heard the sounds. The site showed signs of a fierce scuffle. There was blood, cat fur and large cat tracks. We had expected to find wolf tracks too, but there were none. Joey suggested maybe it was a spirit wolf sent to protect us. I laughed at that. How could a spirit defeat a panther. I would greatly miss the Shortleg family when they left, even though I would be in school. It had always been good to know I could return home to my friends. I had not many of them and these were the best. Strong friendships did not often occur among children in the mountains.

Tommy and Joey were talking about Indian ways and the idea of blood brothers came up. This was a ceremony that would mix our blood so we could be brothers forever. Each of us would need to cut the palm of his hand enough to make it bleed and eventually cause a scar. Then we would clasp each other’s hands and swear eternal brotherhood to each other as the blood entered each of us. I had sneaked to grab some comfrey leaves to use as a poultice, sealing and sterilizing the cut rapidly. Now we had a stronger bond and friendship than ever before. Blood would always call to blood when a need arose. Forever, we would be all one family.