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When she returned to the river, light was fading, but the large gaping hole was conspicuously evident None of those reindeer are going to fall into that hole They’ll see it and run around it, she thought, feeling discouraged Well, it’s too late to do anything tonight Maybe I’ll think of so

Butof spirit or brilliant ideas It had clouded up overnight She akened by a huge splat of water on her face to a dreary dawn of diffused light She hadn’t set up the old hide as a tent the night before, since the sky had been clear when she went to bed and the hide wet and etting wetter The drop in her face was only the first offur around her and, after a search of the carrying baskets revealed she had forgotten to bring her wolverine hood, pulled an end over her head and huddled over the black wet remains of a fire

A bright flash crackled across the eastern plains—sheet lightning that illuminated the land to the horizon After a h it were a signal, the clouds above due Ayla picked up the wet tent hide and wrapped it around her

Gradually daylight brought the landscape into sharper focus, driving shadows out of crevices A gray pallor dulled the burgeoning steppes, as though the dripping nimbus cover had washed out the color Even the sky was a nondescript shade of nothing, neither blue nor gray nor white

Water began to pool as the thin layer of permeable soil above the level of the subterranean permafrost became saturated Still rather near the surface, the frozen earth beneath the topsoil was as solid as the frozen wall to the north When war weather melted the soil deeper down, the frozen level was lowered, but the pere Under certain conditions the saturated soil could turn into treacherous quicksand bogs that had been known to s a full-grown lacier, which shifted unpredictably, a sudden freeze could preserve the mammoth for millennia

The leaden sky dropped large liquid blobs into the black puddle that had once been a fireplace Ayla watched thes, and wished she were in her dry snug cave in the valley A bone-chilling cold was seeping up through her heavy leather foot coverings in spite of the grease she had srass stuffed inside The sodden quag

Shepuddles cut channels of rass, and last season’s old leaves along Why don’t I just go back, she thought, hauling the carrying baskets with her up the rise She peeked under the lids; the rain was running off the woven cattail leaves and the contents were dry It’s useless I ought to load these on Whinney and go I’ll never get a reindeer One of the hole because I want it to Maybe I can get one of the old stragglers later But their h and their hides are all scarred up

Ayla heaved a sigh, then pulled the fur wrap and the old tent hide up around her I’ve been planning and working so long, I can’t let a little rain stop et a deer; it wouldn’t be the first ti is sure—I’ll never get one if I don’t try

She climbed up on a rock formation when the runoff threatened to undercut the huh the rain to see if it was slackening There was no shelter on the flat open prairie, no large trees or overhanging cliffs Like the shaggy dripping horse beside her, Ayla stood in theout the rain She hoped the reindeer aiting, too She wasn’t ready for the, but by then she just didn’t feel like

With the usual erratic disposition of spring, the cloud cover broke about noon, and a brisk wind sent it strea off By afternoon, no trace of clouds could be seen, and the bright young colors of the seasons sparkled with fresh-washed brilliance in the full glory of the sun The ground steaive back the moisture to the atmosphere The dry wind that had driven off the clouds sucked it up greedily, as though it kneould forfeit a share to the glacier

Ayla’s determination returned, if not her confidence She shook off the heavy, waterlogged aurochs hide and draped it over high brush, hoping this time it would dry a little Her feet were da was da She couldn’t see her hole, and her heart sank With a closer look, she saw an overflowing ed with leaves, sticks, and debris where her pit had been

Setting her jaw, she returned for a water basket to bail out the hole On her way back, she had to look carefully to see the hole from a distance Then suddenly, she smiled If I have to look for it, all covered up with leaves and sticks like that,fast won’t see it either But I can’t leave the water in it—I wonder if there’s some other way …

Willoitches would be long enough to go across Why couldn’t I make a cover for the pit out of itches, and put leaves on it It wouldn’t be strong enough to hold up a deer, but fine for leaves and twigs Suddenly she laughed out loud The horse neighed in response and went to her

“Oh, Whinney! Maybe that rain wasn’t so bad after all”

Ayla bailed out the pit trap, not eventhat it was a messy, dirty job It was not as deep, but when she tried to dig it out, she found the water table was higher It just filled up with more water She noticed that the river was fuller when she looked at the h she didn’t know it, the warm rain had softened some of the subterranean frozen earth which for the land

Caht She had to range downstrea switches fro theed in the middle when she laid it over the pit, and she had to stake the edges When she had strewn it with leaves and sticks, it still seemed obvious to her She was not entirely satisfied, but she hoped it would work

Covered with ly at the river, then whistled for Whinney The deer were not as close as she thought they would be Had the plains been dry, they would have hurried to reach the river, but with so much water in puddles and temporary creeks, they had slowed Ayla felt sure the herd of young bucks would not reach their accusto

She returned to her careat relief, took off her wraps and foot coverings and waded into the river It was cold, but she was used to cold water She washed off the mud, then spread her wraps and footwear on the rock outcropping Her feet hite and wrinkled fro encased in the damp leather—even her hard calloused soles had softened—and she was glad for the sun-warave her a dry base for a fire, too

Dead lower branches of pine usually stayed dry in the hardest rain, and though dwarfed to the size of brush, the pine near the river was no exception She carried dry tinder with her, and, using a firestone and flint, she soon had a ss and sether in a tepee shape over the fire, dried out She could start and keep a fire going even in rain—so long as it wasn’t a downpour It was aat it until the fire was established in wood large enough to dry out as it burned

She sighed with satisfaction at her first sip of hot tea, after a , and they could be eaten on the h it was still damp, she had set up the hide tent near the fire where it could dry outout the stars in the west, and she hoped it would not rain again Then,

giving Whinney an affectionate pat, she crawled into her fur and wrapped it around her

It was dark Ayla lay absolutely still, ears straining to hear Whinney moved and blew softly Ayla propped herself up to look around A faint glow could be seen in the eastern sky Then she heard a sound that raised the hair on the back of her neck, and she knehat had awakened her She had not heard the roar from across the river was that of a cave lion The horse nickered nervously, and Ayla got up

“It’s all right, Whinney That lion is far away” She added wood to the fire “It must have been a cave lion I heard the last time ere here They must live near the other side of the river They’ll take a buck, too I’h their territory, and I hope they’ll be full of deer before we get there I et ready”

The glow in the eastern sky was turning rosy when the young wo baskets and tightened the cinch around Whinney She put a long spear into the holder inside each basket and fastened the forward of the carriers, between the two sharp-pointed wooden shafts sticking up in the air