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Show 27 Fires were hard to start, and he would be glad to settle in a home so they could keep a fire going. He thought of Hanai and Cheauka, and wished he could talk to them. Loneliness swept over him, but he let it blow on past like the wind. ^=- He told his mother about the abandoned village, and the boy carrying water, as he worked. Chua scraped a place clear for the fire, and then he broke dry sagebrush, pine needles and small sticks into a pile and topped it with some larger pieces of wood. Chua placed one stick on the ground and put the other one on top of it and spun it back and forth between his hands. He knew it would take a long time to heat the sticks enough to make a spark, and his belly was hungry. Fire was a blessing from the univor-se, but it took patience. He kept thinking of the smell tM cakes cooking. His belly rumbled. Ahote twisted and turned in the back of the cave, but continued to sleep. The name 'Ahote' meant restless one. It fits him, thought Chua. Chua continued rubbing the sticks. They were getting hot now. A tiny trail of smoke appeared. Chua turned the top stick faster. He almost had fire. He blew on the smoke. His belly growled again. More smoke came from the sticks and finally a small flame. The dry pine needles and sagebrush caught quickly. The fire heated the entrance to the cave on the already scorching day, but Chua was too hungry to care. The corn-cake smell was in his head. He placed a couple of flat rocks in the fire as it burned to coals. When the rocks were heated, his mother placed the commeal on them to cook. |