61: The Second Brackish Spring

The salt-trip went out at the dawn of the third day of the second week of the second moon.

Lao Wen led. He led at his own pace, with the small wooden stick he had taken — at the morning of the second day, by the small specific careful work of an old man preparing for a four-day winter walking — from the small wooden corner-shelf, where it had been laid since some unfound winter twenty years before. The stick was perhaps the height of his shoulder. It was made of the same upper-hills pine as the small wooden table. It had a small leather wrapping at the upper grip — the leather, by the small specific old look, perhaps thirty years on the stick — and a small flat iron tip at the lower end.

The iron tip was — by the small specific reading of the smith's son at his eye on it the previous evening — old iron, of a small specific kind that Wang Er had not, in the village, seen.

*Smith's son,* Lao Wen had said at the small wooden table the previous evening when Wang Er had laid eyes on the iron, *that is the small specific iron of a small specific old militia officer's old marching-stick. The iron was — by the small specific old saying — given to me at the dusk of my small specific year at the watch. The smith at our small specific watch-camp had — by the small specific old way of a watch-camp's small accumulating work — beaten it for me. He was Old Zhang's distant cousin's distant cousin's husband. The small specific iron is — by the small specific old reading — perhaps the only piece of small specific iron at this hut. We will, in the small bog-iron work this spring and the summer, see what the smith's son's hands can do beside it.*

The smith's son had nodded.

He had carried the stick the previous evening to his own small slab at the back of the hut and had — at the long evening — looked at the small flat iron tip for perhaps a quarter hour, by the small specific accumulating reading of a smith's son whose hands had been at his father's anvil in the village for six years and who had not, in nine months on the road and three months at this hut, seen any small specific iron of his own to work with.

At the dawn of the third day, Lao Wen took the stick. Wang Er and An Ashi took the small bundles — perhaps three days' worth of millet and dried hare and the small clay pot Cao Ergou had given them, for the boiling of the brackish water at the second spring — and the four-strand horsehair cord against any small specific carrying-back. They went out the hempen flap at the second cock.

Heizi and Tie-zhu stood at the small clear ground in front of the south face.

The three set off west, by the small old herders' path that — by Lao Wen's chalk drawing on the floor of the previous evening — went up the small specific upper face of the bear-back's western terrace, around the small specific upper shoulder, and down into the small specific second valley west, where the small specific second brackish spring sat at a small specific upper edge.

The trip was — by Lao Wen's small specific reckoning at the previous evening's chalk drawing — perhaps four days. Two out, perhaps a day at the boiling, perhaps a day back.

The household, at the hut, would be three.

Heizi and Tie-zhu, in the four days, did the small specific accumulating work of two young men at a hut whose head and hands and quartermaster were at a small specific four-day winter trip.

Heizi laid the morning fires. Heizi drew the morning water. Heizi laid the noon meals — at the small specific reduced portion the household had been eating since the deer's running-out at the second week of the third moon, but now slightly larger by the small specific arithmetic the boy had laid before departure: *big brother, eat at the slightly-larger noon for the four days; the bodies of two will burn through the small specific stores at perhaps two-thirds the rate of five.* Heizi cooked. Heizi banked the fire's evening live coal under the small specific layered ash.

Tie-zhu, at the small wooden bench against the eastern wall, did the small specific accumulating work of a young carpenter's hand. He carved. He carved on a small new piece of pine he had — at the morning of the third moon's last week — taken from the lower edge. The piece was perhaps the size of a man's two fists set together. The lame boy had said, at the small slab two days ago when he had begun to carve it: *big brother. I will not — by the small specific accumulating reading at this piece — say what I am making. I will, by the small specific reading at the dusk of the fourth day, show.*

Heizi had nodded.

The lame boy carved.

Heizi, at the long afternoons of the four-day-quiet, sat at the small wooden table with Lao Wen's small bound book open before him and laid, by the small specific accumulating reading, the small specific characters of the second chapter of the *Analects*. The reading went slower without Lao Wen's small specific quiet correction at certain phrases. Heizi laid the small specific careful guesses of the radical method at the unfamiliar characters; he wrote each guess on a small folded scrap of pine bark; he set the scrap at the slab for Lao Wen, at the return, to see.

By the dusk of the third day, he had — by the small specific reading he could test by guessing forward and revising back — read perhaps two-thirds of the second chapter.

The dusk of the fourth day came.

The three were not back at the hut by the dusk of the fourth day.

Heizi, at the small fire of the dusk, looked at the lame boy.

"Lame brother."

"Yes, big brother."

"They are not back."

"By the small specific reading at the dusk — they are not."

"What — what is the small specific reading."

The lame boy thought.

He said in the small low voice: *big brother. The four-day trip is — by Lao Wen's small specific saying at the previous evening's chalk drawing — at the small specific reading of his own pace plus the small specific work at the second spring. The small specific work at the second spring may, by the small specific way of an old man's careful boiling, take longer than the small specific work the smith's son and the big brother did at the first spring at the fourth moon. The trip may be five days. We will not — at this dusk — worry. We will, at the dusk of the sixth day, worry.*

Heizi nodded.

He filed it.

He listened, on his watch, to the shape of the silence at the hut.

The shape on this night was — by the small specific reading at the watch — the shape of a small old hut whose head and hands and quartermaster were not, on this night, in it. The shape had — by the small specific reading at the back of his neck — the small specific intermittent presence of a young head's accumulating worry.

He let it.

He sat the watch through.

The three came back at the noon of the fifth day.

They came up over the lip of the grove with the small bundles slightly heavier than they had gone out with, by the small specific weight of perhaps a small palm of grey salt at the bottom of each bundle. Lao Wen — by the small specific reading at his small steady walking pace — had taken the small specific accumulating work of an old man at a winter trip well. Wang Er and An Ashi — by the small specific reading at the small wider open of the brothers' eyes at the homecoming — had taken the small specific watching of an old militia officer at a small four-day winter walking work very deeply.

The boy, at the noon, said to Heizi at the small clear ground: *big brother. We will, in the next moons, learn. The grandfather walks — at the small specific careful pace — the country in a way I have not seen any other man walk. He stops at the small specific intervals. He reads the small specific track at every two-pace setting. He listens at the small specific edges of the small old herders' paths in a way the smith's son and I had not been doing. We will — by the small specific reading at the next moons — be different walkers by the spring than we are at this noon.*

Heizi nodded.

He filed it.

The boil of the second spring — by the small specific reading at the small wooden table at the noon meal — had given perhaps six weeks of grey salt at small portion for the household of five. The second spring was — by the small specific reading of Lao Wen at the small wooden table — at the small specific accumulating drying of an upper-hills brackish source over the past five years; the small portion was less than the first spring had given. By the next year, the boy said at the small slab at his arithmetic, the second spring might be giving only four weeks. By the year after, three. The small specific accumulating *drying* of the upper-hills' small old salt sources was — by the small specific reading of an old scholar at a small wooden table — perhaps the small specific reading of the country's small accumulating turn that the cloth map had been laying for them at the noon of the third moon.

The boy, at the small slab, filed it.

That afternoon, the lame boy — at the dusk of the fifth day — set out, on the small wooden table, the small piece of pine he had been carving for the past four days.

It was a small carved horse.

It was the third of the carved horses of his small specific quiet keeping. The first was buried with Ah Si under perhaps four hands of earth at the third row of the burying ground at the hamlet of two wells. The second was the small carved horse with the charcoal eye and the small dark ribbon Heizi had carried in his inner pocket on the eight-day jade trip and had — by the small specific decision of the lame brother — brought back to the lame brother's hand at the dusk of the noon of the homecoming at the lean-to.

This third was a slightly larger one. It had — by the small specific reading at the laying — the small careful even strokes of a young carpenter's hand at his slightly larger third try at the same small subject. The eye was — at the small specific reading of the same charcoal-and-knife-tip method as the second — at the small same charcoal-black dot. The small dark ribbon, woven again from a small thin strand of the lame boy's bandage cloth, was wound around the small wooden body in the small same careful way.

The lame boy looked at it for a long beat.

He laid it at the small wooden table.

He said, in the small low voice: *grandfather. This is — by the small specific decision at the past four days — the small specific carved horse for your small low altar. Beside the three names. As a small specific gift, by the small specific way of a young apprentice to an old master, against the small specific reading of the unfound years.*

Lao Wen looked at the small carved horse.

The old eyes, by the small specific reading at the corner of the wet bright eyes, took it in for a long beat.

He stood up — slowly — and went, by the small specific careful pace of the past four days, to the small low altar at the back of the hut.

He laid the small carved horse beside the small wooden tablet with the three names.

He bowed, very slightly, at the small altar.

He said: *thank you, lame brother.*

The lame boy nodded.

He said no more.

That evening, at the small fire, Lao Wen — by the small specific reading at his face — laid one hand once on the small wooden table beside the small bound *Daxue* and looked at the four young men in turn.

He said in the small low voice: *lads. The household has, by the small specific reading at the noon today, six weeks of grey salt. By the small specific reading at the spring, we will eat through to the first wild greens. By the small specific reading at the next moons, we will be at the small specific accumulating work of the household's first spring at this hut.*

He paused.

"And lads."

"Yes, grandfather."

"By the small specific reading at the small carved horse on my altar — by the small specific way of the country's small old running — the household has, at this dusk, become — by the small specific old apprentice-master tradition — the household of an old scholar's small specific four young apprentices."

He paused.

"That is — by the small specific reading — the small specific naming I am giving at this dusk."

He bowed his head, very slightly, at the small wooden stool.

The brothers, at the small fire, were quiet for a long beat.

Tie-zhu, at the small low pad, said in the small low voice: *yes, grandfather.*

The smith's son nodded.

The boy nodded.

Heizi, at his place at the small wooden table, bowed once at the small specific way of a young apprentice.

He said in the small low voice: *yes, master.*

Lao Wen looked at him.

He nodded.

He said: *yes, lad.*

That night, Heizi at his watch listened to the shape of the silence at the hut.

The shape was — by the small specific reading at this watch — the shape of a small old hut at the grove of twelve pines at the dusk of the fifth day of the second week of the second moon of the new year, whose old scholar had — at the small wooden table at the small evening — named the household as his small specific four young apprentices.

He filed it.

In the small lighter catalog of moments, beside the small specific noon of the cloth map and the small specific morning of the slates and the small specific homecoming with the salt, he set: *the small specific evening at the small wooden table when Lao Wen laid the small carved horse on his altar and named the four as his apprentices.*

The lighter catalog stood — at this evening — at perhaps eighteen items.

The dark catalog stood at five names.

He sat his watch through.