He took the food with a grateful smile. “Anything that fills the empty places will be perfect. It would be nice to have some snow to melt for wash water today, too.”
That was a need she could take care of now. As he started into his meal, she took the pot outside, cleaned the inside with snow, then refilled it and returned to the cave. As she placed the container near the fire for the snow to melt, she kept her tone casual. “I’ve been contemplating how to get fresh meat, and I thought it might be best to set snares. Have you any experience there?”
He studied her as he chewed a bite. “Some when I was a boy, but not since then. Do you have string to use?”
She’d not gotten that far in her thinking. “I can cut strips of leather. Would that work?”
His brows dipped in thought. “The trick is to make it blend into its surroundings, so you’d have to set the snare in an area with brown branches or grass.”
She glanced toward the cave opening, though she couldn’t see around the curve in the stone. “I think it will snow today. The ground will likely have a fresh coating of white by the time I set the snares.” A new thought slipped in. “What of Leonard’s bow? If I could find it, maybe we could use the string from that.”
His expression lifted. “If you can find the bow and an arrow or two, I could sit at the cave opening and hunt from there. Surely if I wait long enough, prey will come by.”
New hope tried to burgeon within her. “You’re competent with a bow and arrow?” He’d carried a gun and knife, so she didn’t want to assume.
His nose scrunched. “I have plenty of time to practice, if you wouldn’t mind retrieving the arrow for me each time.”
She blew out a breath. She’d seen how many months—even years—it took to develop accuracy with a bow, but perhaps Levi could do well enough to bring down an animal or two.
Either way, if she could find the bow and any arrows, they would be of benefit. “I’ll see if I can locate them.”
A few minutes later, she crept down the mountain toward where Leonard fell. She’d avoided this path, not only because it was steeper and harder to travel, but also because the memories still brought the sting of tears.
Yet she had to relive those moments in order to remember what might have happened to the bow and arrows. Leonard had kept the arrow notched in the string all the way until the moment he stumbled. As he rolled down the hill, it seemed the bow had become entangled in his arms. He must have dropped the arrow before that.
She found the area where he tripped easily enough, butas she worked her way down the slope, her heart quickened. The ground grew steep so quickly that her feet threatened to slip down the incline. She dropped to a sitting position, then crept farther down.
At last, she saw one end of the bow poking out from behind a rock on her left. She scooted that way and grasped the wood.Thank you, Lord.
As she extracted the piece from where it lay caught under a stone, it looked like the wood part of the bow was mostly intact. Closer inspection revealed that part of the notch on one end had cracked, allowing the string to slip free. She or Levi should be able to repair that, at least to make it usable for now.
Finding arrows proved trickier. She scoured the slope in both directions, even moving up above the trail in case one had been thrown that direction. Finally, she traipsed down to the base of the mountain and around to the platform that had been Leonard’s final demise. Almost Levi’s, too.
She hated this area, had stayed far away from it once she’d gotten Levi up the mountain. But she had to face the place. Just this once.
With a prayer for strength, she steeled herself against what she might see, then rounded the base of the rockslide. Much of the snow had melted, and Leonard’s blood had seeped into the ground, though she could still see staining. She focused on searching for the arrow, or even a straight stick that could be whittled into a decent projectile.
Nothing presented itself, so she attempted to climb up onto the platform. The ledge was too high, so she painstakingly hauled over several rocks until she could climb up enough to hoist herself the rest of the way.
At last, she stood on the platform and stared around thearea. Leonard’s blood still darkened the stone where he’d lain. She avoided that spot as she focused her attention on finding arrows.
There. Near the base of the cliff lay a perfectly preserved arrow. It sat tucked behind a rock, which must be why the men from the village hadn’t seen it and brought it back with Leonard’s body.
She carried it with both hands, a treasure she would safeguard on her climb back up the mountain.
After leaving the platform, she carried the bow and arrow to the copse of trees. Maybe she could find a straight pine branch that could be whittled into a second arrow. That might give Levi a task to keep busy as the snow fell.
She finally located one that might work, and as she was cutting the piece from the tree, the first flakes began to fall. On her way back up the mountain, an icy wind crept beneath the edges of her coat, numbing her face and making her nose run. How wonderful it would be to sit tucked inside a warm apartment with a fire blazing and a steaming bowl of hearty soup.
At least they had the cave for protection. She could add enough wood to the fire for a roaring blaze and heat water for a soothing tea. She might not be experienced at hunting for meat, but she could find bark or leaves to make tea almost anywhere.
Levi still sat upright when she entered the cave.
“Look what I found.” She held up the bow in one hand and the arrow and stick in the other, though the dying fire cast such a dim light he wouldn’t see them well.
He reached out, and she handed the weapons over, then moved to add more logs to the fire.
“Well done. The bow should be easy to repair.”
