THE CHOSEN ONES ( PART NINE )

"Come on you lazy good for nothings, I thought you
were hunters, what do you think this is a picnic?"
Jonah had the men digging pits to trap animals.
There was a chill in the air and Nathen and his men
were cold, tired and hungry. They had not eaten in
two days, Jonah said he would only let them eat, when they had finished digging ten pits, they had
already dug five, the pits were so deep, at least
fifteen feet down and big enough for a bear to fall
into.

This was against everything Nathen believed in,
normally they never touched bears in the summer, as
food was plentiful, but now Nathen and his men were
being forced, they had no choice.

Tired and hungry Nathen looked up at Jonah,
"we will not do anymore digging, until you give us
some food."
Jonah suddenly became extremely angry, he walked
towards Nathen, who was standing within inches of a
pit they had just dug.
"So you want feeding do you?" determined to make an
example of Nathen, to his men, Jonah grabbed Nathen, the poor man was to weak to fight back.
As Jonah grabbed him, Nathen's men could only watch
in fear. Then Jonah punched him in the stomach
and threw him into the pit they had just dug.

Nathen stood up, "you can't leave me here, a bear
will fall in and I will be eaten alive."
Jonah just laughed and pointed at Nathen's men,
"this is what will happen to any man who tries to
disobey me, so don't come begging to me, or you
will all end up in pits, I can always find others
to do digging. Now go and get branches to cover over the trap."

As the men lay the branches, they were afraid to
even look at Nathen, what could they do?
Nathen just lay there in the pit, knowing his family would be so worried about him. He thought of
Evelyne and wondered how she would manage without
him. But then he thought of Fern, he knew she was
sensible, she wouldn't let anything happen to his
family.

His thoughts then turned to Jay, if he was to die,
who would teach his son to hunt, who would show him
how to survive in the forest? Suddenly he became
angry, he tried to climb out of the pit, he shouted, "you cannot leave me here!" but it was no
good, Jonah and his men had gone.

Hopelessness set in, as he fell back into the pit,
all he could do was lay there waiting for what might come along and fall in, he hoped it wouldn't
be a bear.

To be continued ........THE CHOSEN ONES ( PART TEN ) | ABCtales