OCR Text |
Show He had seen his mother do this many times. He ate dried berries and nuts from time to time, to satisfy his hunger. When the sun hid behind the tops of the mountains, Nuiji stopped and began preparing for the coming night. He feared the dark and longed for the safety of his family's kiva. He filled his yucca basket half full of water from a nearby stream. Removing the ball of bark from his pouch, he unrolled it and placed it carefully under some dried leaves and twigs he had gathered. The guarded sparks jumped into flames as he blew softly on them. He placed three, smooth stones he had carried from the water's edge into the fire to heat. A handful of grain was put to soak in the water basket. As the stones heated, he carried dead leaves and pine needles to sleep on and rolled another ball of bark to store his precious fire. With sticks he removed one of the hot stones and dropped it into the soaking grain. The water hissed and bubbled in the basket and the grain began to swell with the heat. Soon another hot stone was dropped in and finally the third. In a short time, Nuiji was feasting on the cooked grain. Before darkness settled in, he had scrubbed his basket clean in the stream, and gathered more wood for warmth through the cold night. His eyelids grew heavy as he watched the flames dance and thought of home. Twice during the night the cold aroused him from sleep and he added fresh wood to the fire. He came awake with a start. The fire had gone out. He dug down in the ashes and found a few hot coals. One of these he tucked between the layers of his bark ball. Taking two pieces of dried meat from the pouch, he began chewing on one as he rolled up his fur mat. The first warm rays of the sun touched his back as he climbed out of the canyon and continued south. |