“You people of Old-Bear’s tribe are very devious, aren’t you?” Planter suggested.
“Indeed they are, Planter,” Old-Bear said with a broad grin, “and that makes life much, much easier for me.”
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you, Chief Old-Bear,” Red-Beard said a bit hesitantly, after Planter had left the lodge.
“I will answer you as best I can, Chief Red-Beard.”
“Is it really necessary for a chief to speak so formally?”
“It’s a part of the pose that goes with the position, Chief Red-Beard,” Old-Bear responded in a somewhat more relaxed manner. “Formal speech makes a chief sound as if he knows what he’s doing. When you speak formally, the men of your tribe will usually do what you tell them to do. Formal speech will make you sound wiser.”
“But it’s so tedious to talk like that,” Red-Beard complained.
“Tell me about it,” Old-Bear replied sardonically. “It’s tiresome and pompous, and about half the time you’ll forget what you’re trying to tell them before you finish talking. The important thing’s that it makes you sound wise—even when you’re telling them to do something that’s foolish.” The old chief paused. “If I were you, Red-Beard, I’d sort of keep that to myself. It’s one of the secrets of the trade. If you pay close attention to the outlander chieftains, you’ll notice that they do things in more or less the same way. If you sound like you know what you’re doing, the men of your tribe will believe that you do, even when you don’t.”
“It’s all just a deception, then?” Red-Beard demanded.
“I thought I just said that,” Old-Bear replied.
“It’s not nearly as well protected as the old village was,” Sorgan Hook-Beak observed as the Seagull approached the beach at the new village site a week or so later.
“There aren’t any fire mountains nearby, though,” Longbow reminded him. “White-Braid’s tribe can stand a bit of wind and weather. It’s much better than trying to wade through melted rock.”
“That’s true, I suppose,” Sorgan conceded. “What have the people we brought here last week been doing? They haven’t even started building huts yet.”
“They’re back a short way from the beach,” Red-Beard explained. “The men are gathering sod, and the women are planting beans.”
“What do you need with sod?”
“We’re going to build our lodges with it.”
“Why not use tree limbs, like you did back in Lattash?”
“Several of the young men tried that when they first arrived,” Red-Beard said. “A wind came up one night, though, and their lodges fell down.”
“That must have been some wind,” Rabbit said.
“Longbow and I helped it just a bit,” Red-Beard admitted. “If you know where to push, it isn’t too hard to make a lodge collapse.”
“What did you do that for?” Rabbit asked curiously.
“We needed to persuade the young men that sod would be much stronger than tree limbs.” Red-Beard made a sour face. “Actually, it was just a deception. The young men think they’re digging up sod for building lodges, but all they’re really doing is opening up the dirt below the sod so that the women can plant beans and yams. We’ll need that food when winter comes, so it’s important to get the seeds into the ground.”
“Why did you have to lie to them?” Rabbit sounded a little baffled.
“Planting is women’s work. Young men feel insulted if you tell them to plant. Building lodges is men’s work, though, so when all the lodges the first ones who came here built just ‘happened’ to fall down one gusty night, Longbow and I suggested sod houses instead. Now they’re out in the meadow doing what they think is men’s work. Everybody’s happy, and the tribe will have plenty to eat when winter comes along.”
“You people have a very complicated set of rules,” Sorgan observed.
“It makes life more interesting, Sorgan,” Longbow said. “Dancing around the rules gives us something to do when the fish aren’t biting.”
4
Veltan’s little sloop came through the inlet a few days later, and Zelana’s younger brother seemed to be just a bit upset. “What are you people doing?” he shouted as he beached his sloop near the new village.
“Moving,” Red-Beard explained. “We didn’t think Lattash would be safe anymore, so we’re setting up a new village.”
“Where’s Narasan?”
“Probably on his boat out there in the bay.”
“He’s supposed to be on his way down to my Domain,” Veltan fumed.
“I think he might be waiting,” Red-Beard replied. “Something that was supposed to happen hasn’t happened yet, and I think Narasan’s going to stay here until it does.”
“What’s this all about, Red-Beard?”
“Your sister promised to give Sorgan a big pile of those yellow blocks for helping us up there in the ravine. She hasn’t done it yet, and I think Narasan wants to find out if your family keeps its promises.”
“Well, of course we do!”
“You’d better find your sister and remind her about it, then,” Red-Beard advised. “I don’t think Narasan will move until he sees Sorgan getting paid. That’s up to you, though. I’ve got enough problems of my own to keep me busy.”
“Where’s Longbow right now?” Veltan asked with a slightly worried look.
“The last time I saw him, he was showing the young men of my tribe how to cut sod. The sod blocks need to be all the same size, and the young men weren’t cutting them right.”
“What do your people need sod for?”
“It’d take much too long to explain,” Red-Beard said with a weary sigh.
“Just exactly where is this place?” Red-Beard asked Veltan as the sloop sailed out through the inlet that led into the bay of Lattash.
“Not too far from here,” Veltan replied a bit evasively.
“We’ve both seen the sort of things the members of your family can do when it’s necessary, Veltan,” Longbow said. “I think we might be just a little pressed for time, so Red-Beard and I won’t be particularly upset if you cheat.”
“We don’t really look upon it as cheating, Longbow,” Veltan replied almost apologetically. “We try to avoid waving certain capabilities in the faces of the outlanders, that’s all. It gets to be a habit, I guess. You and Red-Beard are both natives of the Land of Dhrall, though, so I don’t really need to be secretive. We’ll go around the southern end of the Isle of Thurn. Zelana’s grotto’s not too far up on the west side.” He gave the two of them a sly look. “If you think that speed’s really essential, I suppose I could call my pet. She could take us there in the blink of an eye. She’s terribly noisy, though.”