Free In Darkest Depths by David Thompson Page B

and built the steeple, you flayed me hour by hour. But as soon as Winona says we need to act, you are all for it.”
    â€œI did not change my mind because of Winona,” Blue Water Woman said. “I changed it because I saw the water devil try to kill you.”
    Deeply touched but refusing to show it, Shakespeare coughed and asked, “Aren’t you forgetting the bad medicine?”
    â€œIf there is no creature, there is no bad medicine.”
    Nate studied his wife, “I am happy you have come over to our way of thinking. But why did you invite everyone here?”
    â€œI have been wondering the same thing,” Zach said. “You could have told us all this tomorrow.”
    â€œTrue,” Winona acknowledged. “If that was all there is to it. But when I called this the King Valley Water Devil Society, I was not joking. This valley is our home. We have chosen to spend our lives here. We must make it as safe as we can.”
    â€œMy exact sentiments,” Shakespeare said.
    â€œAfter what we saw,” Winona said, “it is clear the two of you can use help.”
    Shakespeare took immediate exception. “I wouldn’t say that. We need to plan better, is all.”
    â€œAgain, I agree.”
    â€œKeep this up and I will think I am drunk. Which is some feat, given that I have not tasted liquor in a month.”
    â€œI was not finished,” Winona said. “This should not be on your shoulders alone.”
    â€œHostiles, bears, and monsters are man’s work.”

    Blue Water Woman snorted.
    â€œAll of us have a stake,” Winona went on. “We must plan together and work together to rid the lake of the water beast.”
    â€œI suppose you have worked out exactly how we should go about it?” Shakespeare said, with a trace of mockery.
    â€œBlue Water Woman and I have come up with an idea that should work, yes.”
    â€œI am all ears.”
    â€œThe easiest way to catch an animal is to set a trap for it. All you need is the right bait.”
    â€œAnd what sort of bait do you reckon will bring that thing up out of the depths?” Shakespeare asked.
    Both Winona and Blue Water Woman looked at him and grinned.

The Armada
    There were as many ways to make canoes as there were tribes to make them. Some did as the Nansusequa liked to do and hollowed out logs. Some built frames and covered them with hide. Others preferred bark. Nate King had even heard of a tribe that used planks and sealed the gaps between the planks with pitch.
    Some tribes were partial to large canoes, other tribes only used small ones, and then there were those that relied on both. Some liked the sides of their canoes to be high to ward off enemy arrows and lances. Others constructed canoes that sat low in the water so it was easier to fish.
    Even the shapes of the canoes varied. Certain tribes liked the ends to come to points. Others preferred rounded ends. Still others chose square ends.
    All this came up in the days that followed the meeting. Winona and Blue Water Woman insisted more canoes be made. As Winona summed up their sentiments, “If the water devil had capsized your dugout, we would have had no way of reaching you in time to help.”
    It was decided they needed at least four craft besides the one they had. Nate was put in charge ofbuilding what Shakespeare took to calling their armada. The Nansusequa offered to hollow out more logs, but Nate and Shakespeare tactfully suggested that smaller, lighter craft might be better. After their experience with the dugout, they would be damned, as Shakespeare put it, if they “ever used one of those floating death traps again. The only thing it has to commend it is that it can be chopped up and used for firewood.”
    That left them the choice of hide canoes or bark canoes. Birch bark was highly touted, but the valley did not have many birch trees. Ash was a good substitute, but it would take hours to reach the nearest