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Ayla thought for a while “But the Ninth Cave works together with the neighboring Caves On that last hunt, the hunters from the Eleventh, the Fourteenth, the Third, the Second, and a few people froether and everyone shared the food”

“That’s true, but all of our Caves don’t have to share everything,” Jondalar said “The Ninth Cave has Wood River Valley, and aniht in front of the porch, the Fourteenth has Little Valley, the Eleventh can raft to a big field right across The River, the Third has Grass Valley, and the Second and Seventh share Sweet Valley—e get back, we’ll go and visit theether ant, but we don’t have to All the Caves t

hat joined to beco area They now call it Three Rocks Valley, but it is a part of The River Valley and North River Valley”

He explained that The River took an eastward turn, cutting through the rassy floodplain It was joined on the north by a healthy tributary and its valley Two of the settleht bank of The River, the one to the west that could be reached overland from River Front and another to the north A third massive cliff with several stories òf rock shelters was to the south, across The River on the left bank It was one of the few inhabited rock shelters with a north-facing front

The western settle of the Twenty-ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, consisted of several small rock shelters in the side of a hill Jondalar told her they also maintained a more or less per racks and, in su It was at the opening of a sheltered valley of stone pines, whose pine-nut-filled cones were a source of vegetable oil so rich, it could be burned in lah it was so delicious, it was seldom used for that purpose

People from the entire community of Three Rocks, and others that were invited to help in return for a share, gathered for the pine-nut harvest That was the primary purpose for the outdoor ca spot that lent itself to fish traps and weirs It was used quite often by the coh the warmer part of the year and usually not closed down until the freeze stilled The River for the winter Though people lived in the various rock shelters of West Holding all year and the nut harvest, which was the original reason the campsite was established, was in autu of the warm season to work the fish traps, and everyone always talked about going to “summer camp” The western settlement came to be known as Summer Camp

“Their Zelandoni is a good artist,” Jondalar said “In one of the shelters, she has engraved animals on the walls, s to carry, too But we’ll be back here for the nut harvest, anyway”

Joharran returned with three youngwoman who had volunteered to walk behind the travois and lift the poles out of the water when they crossed rivers They all seemed rather pleased to have been chosen to perfor people illing, the probleet closer to the horses, and the wolf, and learninteresting to talk about at the Su

On the s, Jondalar and Ayla were able to walk side by side, leading the horses Wolf, as usual, did not follow as closely He liked to explore when he traveled, running ahead and falling behind, following his curiosity and the scents his sensitive nose detected Jondalar used the opportunity to tell Aylawith and their territory

He talked about the large tributary co down from the north, called North River, that joined The River on the right bank The northern side of the grassy floodplain was enlarged by North River’s valley as well as by the continually expanding upstrea out between the valleys of the tributary and the pri site of the co of the Twenty-ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, but referred to as South Face To reach it from Su-stones across the tributary, but now they were approaching it along The River

Ahead, on a hill overlooking the open landscape, was a triangular-shaped cliff that held three south-facing terraces arranged like steps, one over the other Though it ithin asites that made up the Three Rocks community, several auxiliary sites were much closer and now considered the of the Twenty-ninth Cave

He explained that a well-used trail traversed easily up the hillside in titchbacks to thesite of South Face The upper se valley, was used as a lookout and was usually referred to as the South Face Overlook, or simply the Overlook The lowest level was se A other food and supplies, the nuts collected at Summer Camp were kept there Some of the other abris that were part of the South Face settle Rock, Deep Bank, and Good Spring, referring to the natural spring that welled up nearby

“Even the storage area has a name,” he said “It’s called Bare Rock The old people tell the story that was told to the It’s part of the Histories It’s about a very hard winter and a cold, wet spring when they ran out of all their stored food—the lower rock storage area was Bare Rock Then the last gasp of winter howled in with a driving blizzard Everyone went hungry for a while The only thing that saved thee cache of pine nuts stored by squirrels in the lower rock shelter that a young girl happened to find It’s a how much those little nut chasers can pile up

“But even when the weather cleared enough to hunt, the deer and horses they , too,” Jondalar continued “Theti The next fall, the whole coathered ainst future hard winters and hungry springs, and started the tradition of collecting them”

The young people who had helped the rivers crowded in close so they could hear Jondalar as he talked about their closest neighbor to the north They didn’t know that much about them, either, and listened with interest