his chips and the far seer. Maybe the “far seer” just formed a better slit than squinting did? Pell wisely told no one of his thoughts .
The hunters passed the “far-seer” around and discussed the animals that they saw. They were n othing like the big herds that would be present in summer consuming the richer forage available then, but infinitely better than the empty dried fields of winter. Pell wanted to look through the “far-seer” himself, especially to settle his curiosity regarding whether it worked better than his little chips, but the hunters saw little need for the boys to survey the plain. Roley outlined a plan to encircle some antelope and trap them between the hunters. The men formed into a wide, crescent moon, skirmish line with the points forward. This plan would take tremendous coordination from the group. While the circle was large and the hunters were far apart, hunters on the part of the circle an animal broke toward were to make a great deal of noise in order to drive the animal back into the center of the circle. Once the circle closed to a point where they were within a few paces of one another, the boys were to continue making noise so that the antelope would shy toward one of the men who would spear it. “ Remember, don’t throw your spear unless the animal has already broken out of the circle!” Roley reminded the younger hunters. “Stab yes, but if you throw and you miss, someone across the circle from you may be hurt.”
“That means you especially, Pell.” Denit jeered. Many of the group snickered and Pell felt his face flush.
Roley muttered, “That means all of you ginja fools.”
Denit brightened, “Ginja fools? That’d be Pell and, maybe Boro?” He laughed again while Pell and Boro flushed with anger. However, n either of the two friends were brave enough to say anything back.
Roley stayed in the center of the line and they walked on. He would occasionally wave someone into place but led entirely with silent gestures. Pell tried to watch his own step and cringed inwardly whenever he stepped on a twig t or otherwise made some noise. An hour or so later they came on three antelope. There were more in the distance but these three were grazing away from the rest of the herd.
Roley stopped and began waving the points out around the three animals. As he had been taught Pell did not come nearer to the antelope but tried to walk around them in a circle while maintaining the same distance. The antelope seemed nervous but continued to graze while looking up repeatedly. As the circle began to close one of them made a quick dash toward the closing space but Denit, who was on the right point, dashed into the opening, yelling and waving. It skit tered nervously away and back to the center of the hunter s ’ circle. With much gesturing Roley dressed their ranks and then got them moving slowly toward the center. The animals were obviously alerted now and pranced nervously about, skittering this way and that. When the antelope got too far from center the hunters on that part of the circumference shouted and dashed about, driving them back into the center.
Then one of the antelope bolted towards the gap between Pell and Tando. Pell shouted, waved his spear and dashed toward the gap. Tando charged in from the other side of the gap but then Pell found himself skidding face first into the grasses, tripped over a stump or rock. Panicked he leapt back to his feet but the animal was already passing behind him. He dashed back into the gap that had formed between himsel f and Bonat during this fiasco. Another animal was bounding for that gap! Pell shouted and ran but realized that it was also going to escape! In a fury he cast his spear after it had crossed the circle on its way out. To Pell’s dismay his throw was so wide that it came within three paces of Bonat! Cringing inwardly he looked to the center of their circle. Yes the last antelope remained! But as Pell’s spirits surged he saw the
Heidi Hunter, Bad Boy Team