Land Down Under (KJDarKnight & Treasure)

He nodded "I remember that now.." he continued to follow him, watching the ground and paying attention to his surroundings "look!" He went ahead a bit and pointed "scat right?" A pile of dear poop or possibly rabbit? He wasn't sure which.
 
Badru nodded. "Good," he said in quiet approval. "We must be very quiet now. They will hear us." He started walking quietly through the woods, his eyes sharp. It took about ten minutes of creeping, but at last he spotted something. He touched Peter's back and guided him to couch down and peer through the foliage. Up ahead, there were perhaps three deer, maybe more, just barely visible through the trees. They blended almost perfectly!
 
Peter looked where he pointed. Took a moment but then he saw them! So much bigger than in the books. He smiled giving a nod to indicate he saw them, not risking talking and ruining their cover. Now what? He wondered
 
Badru stayed silent and where he was, watching. These were the first deer he had spotted though he had seen the signs, and he wanted to see how they acted. They were on alert, but not overly nervous. Good. That meant they were not used to being hunted here. That meant both that they would be easier to catch, and that there would not be many predators to prey on the humans.

After a while of watching, Badru rose slowly. The deer noticed him, and all heads came up, their ears fanning out. Then they turned and started bounding away. They had no idea they needed to fear these humans, but they were not taking chances, either.

Badru looked down at Peter. "We do not have good weapons to hunt them yet, so we lay a trap," he told Peter. "Two traps, no more. Must not make them too afraid to come here." He started walking to where the deer had been. "In my village, there was a skill prized among my people. To outrun a deer. To run until it stops and looks at you and permits death."
 
Peter watched the magnificent animals and when Badru scared them off he looked up "outrun a dear!? That has to be impossible" he looked back at the animals bounding away "did you ever do it?" He wondered
 
Badru smiled and shook his head. "When I was little, I tried and tried and tried, but I could not. My mother when she was young, before becoming a mother, she was hunter, and she would run with the deer."
 
"I bet you could now you're so tall" Peter said "that would be really cool to see" he idolized Badru a little so he could see him doing anything! "Not me though. I'm too short" he sighed and frowned
 
Badru actually chuckled and patted Peter's shoulder gently. "I am tall, but I am heavy. Much heavy! You are faster than I," he told the boy.

When they arrived at the trees, he took out a thin line and tied one end to a root, leaving the other a loose noose held just barely over the ground by small sticks. It was a primitive snare, but it would help to feed a desperate tribe.
 
"But I'm so little.." he said, not believing he could possibly be faster than Badru! He followed him though and watched how he tied the knot and set everything up, he could easily see how it would work
 
"Rabbits are smaller than you. Are you faster than a rabbit?" Badru asked, checking the trap. He stood and started walking to another spot.
 
"The rabbit is much faster. Size does not always dictate what you can do," Badru told him. He stopped by another tree out of sight of the other trap. "Can you set up this trap?"
 
Pwter nodded and took the rope, took him a few attempts but he managed to tie the knot right. Or he hoped anyway. He held it up for Badru to inspect
 
Peter nodded "yes..." but Badru's response made him worry he had done it wrong "is it right?"
 
Badru looked at it again then at Peter. He smiled and gave a nod. "Yes. It is just right. Good." He straightened and indicated for Peter to follow. "We must remember to check these often so the deer does not suffer. Let us go see if there are other animals around here."
 
He grinned, happy and proud he had gotten it right "so we should come check every day then?" He guessed "or more than that? Wouldn't that scare the animals off?"
 
"More than that, but we do not need to get close," Badru explained. "It will be easy to see from a distance. A quick look, then away. What do you see now?"
 
He nodded his understanding before looking back over the snowy landscape but nothing was catching his eye this time. He bit his lip a moment "what are we hunting next?" Maybe that would help him see what he was supposed to see
 
Badru smiled briefly. "What do you think we are hunting?" he prompted gently. They couldn't know what to hunt if they did not know what was in the forest?
 
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