I made my way back along the stream and decided to try to spear some more fish that were in the shallow parts of the stream, I knew that it wasn't an immediate concern that I had found the other camp and saw no reason to interrupt Sergeant Kace's lesson prematurely.
It took me a little bit to get used to throwing the spear and start getting the fish so after about a half-hour I had managed to get 3 big fish about a foot long and a few small ones. This would be good enough to feed the group for lunch. I figured we needed more than just fish went and looked for some berries and found some not too far away which was good luck but I was quickly running this area out of food and would have to go further away to get food the next time I went out.
I brought the feast back to the camp after I had gutted and cleaned the fish. and as soon as I entered everyone looked up at me with big smiles seeing the fish and berries.
The group took a break from the lesson as Kace nodded at everyone to take the food from me to start cooking the fish and to clean off the stems of the berries that I hadn't managed to get yet.
We got the fire going and we all sat down at the fire and before Kace could start up his lesson as we waited for the food I told everyone about the other camp that was down the river a ways.
Hazel was the first to ask "did you get a look at how many of them there were in the group?" she asked.
"No I didn't want to be discovered while I was scouting but I will go take a look later, I figured I would head back and advise you all before I go out to scout the forest in a different area to get a true measure of the land in our immediate vicinity," I responded before asking Kace what we should do about the group he just told me that he wasn't allowed to interfere with any decisions we made as long as it didn't kill anyone. All he was allowed to do was teach the basics nothing more.
I suggested we get a gate for our little compound to which everyone agreed so I volunteered to do this while Kace continued his lesson. Richard had given me the hatchet after we had decided what to do so I could cut down the trees for a gate.
Once again I was alone outside the camp but I stayed close and started to find appropriately thick trees about 4 inches across and about 6 ft tall for the gate. I took off all branches and sharpened the ends of the logs so that the sharp point was up when we would eventually get the gate made later that day.
After the prep work was done for the gate I brought all the logs to the camp before heading out and looking for some thin trees a few inches wide and about 10 ft tall so that we could sharpen the tips and lean them sharp point out from the inside of our walls for a bit more added security, I didn't want to get jumped by another group and the best way to do this was to prepare for the worst.
I might have been going overboard but after the last week of hell we had been through I didn't think for one second that if we were discovered that we wouldn't be attacked for any food we may have.
Everyone was giving me a strange look except Sergeant Kace who was smiling and nodded in approval when I looked at him during one of my trips with the long sand sharp saplings. I explained my reasoning and everyone joined in stripping bard to make a rough binding for the new trees while Kace and I worked on the gate after I asked him for some tips on the best way to bind a small section of the gate.
We went for the line a bunch of logs up and add a few trees going horizontal to keep them all together. the gate was heavy but that didn't matter, if the gate was hard for us to move, then it would be hard for an outsider, which we wanted.
Feeling like the camp had come a long ways I figured we needed more food but Sergeant Kace blocked my path when I was about to head out, "You have done the most work around camp, this is a group exercise and if you keep doing everything for your group they wont learn anything, let someone else take responsibility for supper and if nothing is brought back I still have a pack of rations for each of you, so why don't you just take it easy for now and let the others pull some weight?" Sergeant Kace said before pointing me towards a log near the centre of camp to sit at.
"Very well sir." was all I said before I grabbed a few small sticks to whittle away at while I listened to Kace teach the others about the best ways to fish and where to find them on days like today in hopes that someone could get some fish for supper as I wasn't getting it this time.
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