The Boy with the Bronze Axe Read online

  “Well done, Brockan! Now we must paddle against the current to get back to the tree and Kali. It will take all our strength.”

  Tenko pushed out a short distance into the stream. Together they thrust their paddles as hard as they could but they seemed to make little headway against the outward rush of the tide. Time and again Tenko had to pull in to the side and hold on to a pinnacle of rock while they got their breath. Then, all at once, the force of water seemed to slacken. The thrust of the current was not so strong against them.

  “The tide is turning!” Tenko cried with joy. “Now we shall have slack water for a short time. Paddle hard to get up the cave, Brockan.”

  It was tricky work manoeuvring the log-boat among the rocks at the turn of the tide. There were sudden whirlpools that set the boat spinning and rocks that seemed to heave themselves up in mid-channel. Foot by foot, they fought their way along. As soon as they reached the bend in the gully Tenko called out, “Hold on, Kali. We’re coming!”

  Kali heard them with thankfulness. Her hands and feet were growing numb, but she never relaxed her grip on the bronze axe. At last Tenko and Brockan appeared like grey ghosts out of the twilight. Tenko brought the boat alongside the tree as near in as he could get for the branches. He managed to wedge it between two rocks.

  “Can you get along the branches to the boat, Kali? Wait! I will come to help you. You hold the boat where it is, Brockan.”

  He climbed cat-like along the branch nearest to Kali.

  “Give me your hand, Kali.”

  “First take your axe and put it safely in the boat,” Kali said in a faint voice.

  “My axe! I had forgotten it!” Tenko exclaimed. “I was thinking of you and not of the axe, Kali.”

  Tenko’s words sent a warm feeling to Kali’s heart. “All the same, take it first,” she told him.

  He climbed back to the boat with it, and then returned and gave Kali a hand over the branches. At last she was safe in the boat. Now came the difficult business of freeing the tree again from the rocks and bringing it alongside the boat.

  “How can we fasten it to the boat?” Brockan wondered.

  “By the bow-cords and all our leather girdles,” Tenko decided at once. “We will tie them to the branches. You, Kali and Brockan, will sit in the stern of the boat and hold on to the leather thongs and tow the tree after the boat. I will do the paddling.”

  “What if the tree comes crashing on to the boat?” Kali asked.

  “I do not think that will happen. The incoming tide will hold it back and its branches will catch the rocks and prevent it moving as fast as the boat. You must be careful it does not pull you overboard.”

  Tenko secured the thongs to the tree branches and passed the ends to Kali and Brockan. Then he jerked the tree away from the wedging rocks. The rising tide helped to float it. It would have drifted up into the cave again but for the pull on the leather thongs. Kali and Brockan held on tightly. Tenko seized the paddle and plied it for all he was worth. It was hard work now against the incoming tide, but the deepening water in the gully prevented the tree from catching on the bottom. At last they reached the mouth of the gully and the open sea. All three heaved a sigh of relief. They pulled alongside the rocky ledges and while Kali and Tenko held the boat there with their hands, Brockan sped up the steplike rocks to fetch back the bow and arrows.

  Now they had to head out into the open water. It was difficult battling against the incoming waves and keeping the boat head on to them with the tree acting like an awkward tail at the end.

  “Shall we never reach the point of the rocks where we can turn in towards the Bay of Skaill?” Tenko panted, his breath cutting his chest like a knife.

  At last they were well clear of the treacherous rocks. Tenko turned the boat and rested for a minute or two and drifted with the tide. Then once more he seized his paddle and thrust hard with it. The sea and the wind helped him, but it also brought the tree fast after them. Kali and Brockan had the double task of hanging on to the thongs and constantly fending off the tree from the boat. At times it seemed as if the tree would overwhelm the boat.

  Tenko had an inspiration. “Hold on tightly, both of you! Let the tree drift alongside. Move up the boat with it but do not stand up or you might overbalance. Shuffle along as you sit. Do it very slowly now.”

  Kali and Brockan obeyed him. Little by little they edged the tree round till it was alongside. Tenko was right. Now the tree helped to tow them. Tenko thrust his paddle into the water again. “Now for Skara!” he cried in triumph.

  The folk of Skara were on the sand dunes watching them come in. Stempsi had been anxious when her family had not returned by midday and had gone in search of them. Korwen told her he had seen them heading out to sea. When the sun began to sink Birno and the stoneworkers returned. The whole settlement became uneasy and gathered on the dunes and scanned the horizon to the north-west.

  At last they saw the small specks of the tree and log-boat against the setting sun. They grew larger. Now they could distinguish the three figures in the boat.

  “They are all there!” Stempsi cried with relief.

  “What is that thing they are bringing with the boat?” Birno asked, puzzled.

  Lokar knew. “It is a tree!” he cried gladly. “The boy from the sea is bringing a tree to us.”

  The boat headed for the shore and the folk of Skara ran down the beach to meet it. As soon as the log-boat grounded, Tenko and the children leaped ashore. With the help of the villagers they hauled the tree up the beach. Lokar went to meet them.

  “I have brought you a tree, Lokar!” Tenko cried. “It has drifted to our shores from some far land. Out of it we can make another boat and hafts for your axes and many other things. I give it to you, Lokar, for the people of Skara, because I am one of you now. The boat we shall make from it shall be for all the people of Skara to use.”

  Lokar put a hand on his head. “You have done well, Tenko.”

  “I could not have done it alone,” Tenko said quickly. “Kali and Brockan helped me.”

  “Kali and Brockan, the tribe owes you thanks too. As for you, Tenko, you have proved yourself a true son of Skara.”

  A shout of acclamation rose from the crowd.

  6. The Day of the Whale

  The next day the men of Skara stripped the branches from the tree. They worked with their flint knives, hacking away, while Tenko’s bronze axe flashed in the sun. They took the branches to Lokar’s hut, where they would be safe until they could be shaped for use.

  “How are we going to make a boat of this big trunk, Tenko?” Birno asked. “It is going to take us many a moon to hollow it out with our knives.”

  “There is a quicker way than that,” Tenko told him. “First, it is true, you must do a little hollowing out with your knives. But afterwards we use fire.”

  “Fire?” Birno asked.

  “Yes, when we have hollowed out a shallow groove, then we will bring peats from the fire and set them in the hollow and leave them to burn.”

  “But will they not burn away the whole tree?” Lemba asked anxiously.

  “No. We must watch it till it has burned deeply enough. We will have bowls of sea water at hand to throw upon the fire and put it out when the hollow is deep enough for men to sit in.”

  They chipped away with their flint knives, working through all the hours of daylight. In three days Tenko thought the hollow was deep enough. On their bone shovels they carried smouldering peats and packed them loosely in the hollow carved in the tree and left them to burn away. Day and night a man in turn watched to make sure the fire did not go out nor yet burn too fast. Tenko constantly inspected it.

  “It is ready now,” he pronounced at last when almost the whole centre of the trunk had been burned away, leaving a thick shell of wood all round it. They dowsed the fire till only a mess of steaming charcoal was left in the hollow.

  “As soon as it is cool enough, you must get to work with your knives again,” Tenko said.

/>   It was much easier to chip away the burned wood in the hollow. With flint knives and adzes made of stone the men cleaned and deepened the centre of the craft.

  “It will drive more easily over the waves if you shape the ends to a point,” Tenko directed. Once more the men worked on the boat until Tenko declared it was ready for the water. Then they shaped paddles out of some of the thicker branches. Tenko took the supple thick twigs which would easily bend to make bows. Others he shaped into arrows.

  At last came the launching of the boat. The men pushed it into the sea and watched anxiously while Tenko tried it out. He made a wide circle round the bay and came back to the anxious group on the beach.

  “It is good,” he said with satisfaction. “The Skara boat goes well. I should like Birno to be the first to try it.”

  Birno eagerly climbed in and took the paddle. Tenko gave the boat a push into deeper water. At first Birno wobbled slightly till he learned to adjust his balance.

  “Take care, Birno! Remember the boat is rounded and can easily turn over in the water,” Tenko shouted to him.

  Soon Birno got the knack of handling it and brought the Skara boat triumphantly round the bay. Lemba did well too. Salik had his turn too, but he did not venture so far and soon brought the boat back again.

  “I think I am made for a herdsman and not a fisherman,” he said. “All the time my stomach was turning over inside me.”

  Tresko sneered at him. “You are soon scared, Salik. I will take my turn with the boat now.”

  Birno looked questioningly at Tenko, but Tenko nodded. He gave Birno a grin.

  Tresko seated himself in the boat and seized the paddle.

  “Watch me!” he cried.

  He moved into the bay at a good speed and seemed to be doing quite well. Tenko, however, stepped into his own boat and said to Birno, “Take the other paddle, Birno. We will go after Tresko. I doubt if he can really handle the boat.”

  Tenko’s boat with two men in it moved faster than the Skara boat. They began to make up on Tresko. Tresko turned his head and saw them rapidly approaching. He decided to show them he could easily keep ahead of them. That was his undoing! He failed to steer towards the oncoming waves, but turned beam on to them. It seemed as if a playful wave was waiting. It rolled the log-boat over and Tresko fell into the water with a shriek. When Tenko and Birno caught up with him, Tresko was hanging on to the capsised boat.

  Tenko brought his own boat alongside. Tresko grasped it with the grip of one half drowning.

  “Do not hang on to the side, Tresko! You might overturn us too. Work your way towards the stern of the boat,” Tenko told him.

  Tresko paid no heed.

  “Come on, now! Do you want me to bring my paddle down on your hands?” Birno cried. “If you upset us we shall be so busy saving ourselves that we shall have no time for you.”

  Reluctantly Tresko shifted his grip a hand at a time till he had worked his way to the stern.

  “Pull me into the boat!” he cried.

  “No! You must hang on and be pulled through the water,” Tenko told him. “Birno, can you manage the boat alone?”

  “Why? What are you going to do?” Birno asked in alarm.

  “Swim after the other boat! Already it is drifting away. We are not going to lose it after all our trouble in making it. I must take my paddle in case I cannot recover Tresko’s. Steady the boat while I jump!”

  Tenko stood up and leaped lightly into the water. Pushing the paddle before him, he swam after the other craft.

  “Are you not making for the shore?” Tresko asked Birno. “It is very cold in the water.”

  “Kick your legs if you are cold,” Birno told him in a contemptuous voice. “I will wait to make sure Tenko is safe.”

  Tenko reached the Skara boat. He held his paddle between his knees so that he had both hands free. Then, reaching under the craft, he gripped the boat and gave a heave to it. It turned over and began to ride the waves right side up. Tenko took hold of his paddle again and swam after the boat. He flung the paddle aboard and then pulled himself into the craft by the stern. He picked up the paddle and turned the Skara boat towards the shore.

  “It’s all right, Birno! Let’s go!” he called.

  Birno started paddling too. Both boats moved towards the shore with Tresko trailing like some strange fish behind the bigger craft. Willing hands pulled their boats ashore when they reached shallow water. Tenko leaped out and went to aid Tresko up the beach. Tresko looked half-drowned, frightened and utterly miserable. All his conceit had vanished. It would be a long time before he would venture out in the craft again. Korwen came towards him.

  “Look after him, Korwen. He’ll feel sick,” Tenko advised him. He turned to Birno. “I could not find the paddle. It had floated away.”

  “Then we must make another.” Birno sounded vexed. “We will make it a rule that if any man loses a paddle, he must carve another.”

  “Yes, but the wood will not last for ever. The shoulder blades of an ox are not nearly so easy to use,” Tenko reminded him.

  The men of Skara learned to use their new boat, all except Tresko, who had had enough of it. Birno and Brockan proved specially skilful at handling it. Besides making arrows out of the spare wood, Tenko made a long spear out of a straight branch and wedged a sharp flint arrowhead at the top of it. This was useful for fishing for flatfish in the shallow water and for poking crabs out of their holes. The fish made a welcome change to their main diet of beef, mutton and limpets.

  One day Birno was in the smaller Skara boat while Brockan and Kali were with Tenko in the larger boat. As they pulled across the Bay of Skaill, Brockan suddenly pointed with his finger into the water below them. The tide was nearly full. A great shoal of whitebait like a silver cloud was moving in a solid mass towards the shore.

  “What is happening?” Brockan cried.

  The children rested their paddles and Birno pulled alongside them. The whitebait did not seem to notice the splash of his paddle or the shadow of his boat above them. The great wedge of fish drove on frantically.

  “There is something strange going on in the water,” Tenko said.

  “Look what is coming after them!” Kali cried.

  It seemed as if the oncoming waves were made of silver. The sea was a seething mass of shining herring.

  “Are they chasing the whitebait?” Kali asked.

  The herring moved in a jostling, heaving mass, forced on by some panic. They drove on towards the land.

  “Some enemy must be chasing them!” Tenko cried. “They are trying to get away from something that is pursuing them. What is it?” He stared out to sea. Beyond the herring shoals, moving lazily into the Bay of Skaill, was a low dark shape, curving slightly against the horizon. “Look! Look over there!” Tenko pointed.

  “What is it?” asked Kali, frightened.

  “It is a great fish, greater than any I have ever seen,” Birno said.

  Tenko’s face was alight with excitement. “It is a whale!” he cried. “It chases the herring shoals.”

  “A whale? Lokar once told us about a whale.” Birno began to get excited too. “Long ago there was one came ashore in Orkney, long before our time, near one of the other tribes. It could not get back into the sea and it died on the beach. The great fish had red flesh like beef. The folk of the island had plenty of meat from it. The fish had great bones too, so big that folk used them in building their houses. If only this whale would come ashore in the Bay of Skaill, we could use it!”

  “Then we will drive the great fish ashore,” Tenko decided.

  “Tenko! It is so big that with one flip of its tail it could turn our boats over and smash them to pieces,” Birno told him.

  The whale was swimming in much closer.

  “If we could frighten it into a panic, like the other fish, then it might come right into the bay. The tide is near the turn. It might get left behind on the beach,” Tenko said.

  “If we frighten it, it is more likely to t
urn and make off into deep water again,” Birno pointed out.

  “Then we must get in behind it, so that we are between it and the deep sea,” Tenko cried.

  “That might be dangerous,” Birno said.

  “There might be time to take Kali and Brockan back to the shore first …” Tenko began.

  “I don’t want to go back!” Brockan declared, his blood afire at the thought of the adventure.

  Kali stiffened. “I will not go back either. I’ll go with you, Tenko.”

  “You are sure, Kali? You are not afraid?”

  “I am sure.” Kali’s lips set in a determined line.

  “Are you willing, Birno?” Tenko asked.

  “Yes, I will follow you, Tenko.”

  “Then pull as fast and as hard as you can to the south to get round the whale.”

  They pulled south till they were well clear of the shoals of fleeing herring and then came about again and turned north. The whale was still chasing the herring to the shore, gulping down mouthfuls of them. He was unaware of the danger coming to him from the sea.

  “We will wait till the tide is turning,” Tenko decided. So much depended on choosing the right moment to close in on the whale. If he struck too soon the whale might get away to the open sea again. The whale was still intent on the herring. The silver fish jostled and fought to get further inshore from him.

  “It is slack water now. We will close in till we are within arrow-shot of the whale,” Tenko directed them. “Do not splash with your paddles. We must do nothing to frighten him till we are ready.”

  Dipping their paddles gently into the water they went after the whale. He still moved inshore, but the water was getting shallower under him. They drew closer.

  “Good! He is moving towards the reef. If we can force him just over the rocks … Steady the boat for me!”

  Kali and Brockan put out steadying paddles. Tenko fitted a sharp barbed arrow of bone to his bow. Birno watched him and did the same with a flint-topped arrow.

  “When I rise, you do the same, Birno. Steady your boat and then let fly when I say ‘Now!’” Tenko directed. “Brockan, will you and Kali be ready with your bows and arrows as soon as I have shot mine?”