Finally, he couldn’t take not knowing anymore and poked his nose above the rocks.
Godat-ta had moved to the tree and was once again scratching his side against the bark and driving the wasta-ta crazy.
As quietly as possible, they dropped back down the outer edge of the bowl and hurried back to their camp. By then, the mud had hardened to a paste and was cracking and itching their skin.
As they walked, the itching got worse and worse. Finally, it felt like it was permanently attaching itself to their skin.
They ran through camp and Alex said, “We’ll be back!”
Harta-ak jumped to his feet and stared in the direction they had come, wondering if something was chasing them. Monda-ak woofed, thinking this was some new game, and chased after them.
When they reached the stream, Alex and Senta-eh plopped down into the deepest pool they could find. The stream was shallow, or Alex would have dove in head first. Instead, he sat, leaned back, and scratched the hardened mud off himself.
Senta-eh did the same, but doffed all her clothes.
Alex did his best not to stare as the mud came off, but couldn’t stop himself from glancing her way time and again.
Finally, she looked down at her nakedness, partially covered in mud and red streaks where she had scratched it off and said, “What?” The Winten-ah did not have the same ideas about nudity and bodily functions that good Lutheran boys born in small towns in Oregon in the twentieth century did.
Alex blanched at being caught staring, said, “Nothing!” a little louder than he intended, and turned his back on her.
Both of them sat in the stream for long minutes, letting the moving water sooth and calm their irritated skin.
Senta-eh was the first to give up the comfort of the water. She stood casually and walked to the edge of the stream, naked. She sat on the bank, threw her head back and let the sun dry her. After a time, she stood, dressed, and said, “I’m going back.”
When Alex didn’t answer, she said, “Do you have a plan yet?”
Alex kept his back turned to her and said simply, “Yes.”
Chapter SevenAlex vs. Godat-ta
They spent the next few days preparing to execute Alex’s plan.
Versa-eh and Harta-ak spent most of the time twisting vines into rope. Harta-ak had spent his life on ships, and so tying knots and creating rope was second nature to him. Versa-eh was proving adept at learning whatever new skills were put in front of her.
Alex and Senta-eh, meanwhile, returned to the spot above the opening again and again, arranging things. There were rocks and boulders of all sizes scattered along the lip of the caldera, and between them they were able to lift and move all but the very largest.
The biggest stone of all sat just a few feet back from the lip of the opening to the bowl. It was what had inspired Alex’s idea. After he had the rocks arrayed just the way he wanted them, he went in search of a long piece of wood to act as a lever. A few hundred strides from their camp, Alex saw the tallest tree he had seen since Tonton-ah—where the entire village was built in giant trees.
It was a sugar pine. The same kind of tree that Alex had climbed six years earlier, when he was trying to prove that he could be a useful member of the Winten-ah. This specimen wasn’t as tall as the one Alex had climbed that day, but it was plenty big enough.
Alex climbed up several branches until he found one long enough for what he needed. He stood on the branch below and hacked at it with his two-sided axe.
Eventually, he got the limb on the ground, hoisted it on his shoulder and returned to camp. Once there, he set to stripping it of smaller branches and peeling the bark off it. When he was done, he had a twelve-foot long pole slightly pointed at one end and thicker on the other.
Alex ran his hand along it, feeling the strength and vitality of the pole.
The next day, he showed Harta-ak, Senta-eh, and Versa-eh how to make a lasso out of the long rope they had made, and they all practiced throwing the loop over rocks and stumps. Alex was sure he would be the best for the job of lassoing, but Versa-eh once again proved him wrong. She was awkward in her first few throws, then something clicked for her and she immediately became more accurate than any of the others.
After five days of preparation, during which they managed to avoid drawing the attention of godat-ta, Alex declared them ready.
Sitting around the campfire that morning, Alex went over the plan with everyone again and again.
Finally, Harta-ak looked at Senta-eh and said, “Is he always like this before he performs his miracles?”
“Unfortunately.”
“If it works, it works,” Versa-eh said. But then she laid a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “But we all know where we are supposed to be and what we are supposed to do. Now you have to just let us do it.”
Alex smiled, chagrined. “You are right. Let’s go.” He, Senta-eh, and Monda-ak returned to the spot on the lip of the caldera where they looked down on the opening. Versa-eh positioned herself on the top of the lip on the other side.
Harta-ak mounted his horse. Even looking at him from a distance, Alex could see that he was battling nerves. He had the most dangerous job of any of them.
When everything was in place, Alex peered over the edge of the cliff and saw godat-ta was in his normal place, sleeping in the shade of the wasta-ta tree.
Alex pointed at Senta-eh, and she
