Darwin's World: An Epic of Survival (The Darwin's World Series Book 1) by Jack L Knapp

Author:Jack L Knapp [Knapp, Jack L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jack L Knapp
Published: 2014-04-30T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

"The bear attack means we can't leave, at least not before spring. We'd have had to travel light, move fast, and even after we found a good location, we'd have had to build a shelter and collect supplies before winter. It would have been tough, even with all of us healthy. Now, Lee will have to regain his strength after his arm heals. We've got to spend the winter here.

"It's going to get cold. Winters are probably harsh; the Futurist told me he was transplanting me to an Earth at the end of the ice age, the Pleistocene.

“We've got a problem. We’re going to need massive amounts of wood and we’re also going to have to store a lot of food, enough to last for at least four months. That means harvest everything we can gather. We’ll eat what we need and dry the excess. We've also got to preserve meat, which means we'll need more salt.

"Animals are scarce. The last trip was successful, but only because we hunted a long way from here. The hunt was successful, then we had to leave almost half the carcass behind.

“Someone has to stay with Lee. After he’s able to take better care of himself we can all hunt, but not yet. So three of us will go on the next hunt.

“After that, I've got to cut firewood. It's going to be nearly impossible. The small axe isn’t suited for that, the handle’s too short, the blade’s too light. It’s better than nothing but it’s meant for gathering limbs, not cutting trees. There’s already a nick in the blade too, from chopping through bone. The Futurists got too creative; the best axe would have been a heavy single-bitted axe with a long handle, something twice the weight of the one they gave me. It should also have been soft steel with a harder edge, not the pattern-welded steel they used. I’m guessing that no one there has used an axe for centuries. They knew that the best knives and swords are made of pattern-welded steel, wootz or Damascus as some call it, and thought the axe should be made from that too.

“Maybe the Futurist made a trade-off; the camp axe he gave me is handy for carrying and doing light tasks but not for chopping trees. A saw would have been better.”

"Matt, what is a saw?"

"It's a blade for cutting things. It's like the swords we captured, but it has sharp projections called teeth along the edge. It cuts by sliding back and forth through wood. Even a small one would be helpful..."

Lee interrupted, “Would you be interested in a large saw? I saw things such as you've described and an axe that is larger than the one you have. They are hanging in an open shed at the mine. Maybe the miners use them.”

I muttered something under my breath.

“I'll have to steal those, but not right now; I need to finish my bow first. But that should only take another day

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