62: The Bog-Iron Spring

The first thaw came in earnest at the second week of the third moon of the new year.

The wind, by the small specific reading of the lame brother at the dusks of the past two weeks, had shifted at last to the small steady south. The small specific accumulating drip at the lower edges of the brush had — by the noon of the seventh day of the third moon — become a small steady running of melt-water along the small old herder's path. The small spring at the back of the rock face — the small thin trickle that had, through the deep cold of the second moon, run only at the small noon hour of the warmest days — by the second week was running again at the steady pace of an upper-hills spring.

The first wild greens — the small bitter mustards Heizi remembered from the village's lower fields, the small sharp tops of wild garlic — came up at the lower edges of the grove by the third week.

The household ate them.

The household, by the small specific reading at the small slab at An Ashi's morning arithmetic of the third week, had — by the small specific accumulating thaw — passed the small specific edge of the spring's small short-arrival. The small jar of grey salt from the second brackish spring had held. The small specific deer that the lame brother had reported at the third week of the second moon had been taken — by Heizi's bow at the second blind, with the small specific careful work of a hunter at his second deer — at the dusk of the third day of the third moon. The carcass had given another two and a half weeks of meat. The wild greens were coming up. The household, at the third week of the third moon, was — by the small honest measure — alive.

Lao Wen, at the small wooden table at the morning fire of the first day of the fourth moon, said in the small low voice: *lads. Tomorrow.*

"Yes, master."

"The smith's son and I will, at the second cock, walk down to the small specific bog-ore deposit at the lower edge of the bear-back's western face. The small specific deposit is — by the small specific reading of an old officer who has been at this country for nineteen winters — at a small specific flat place perhaps half a *li* below the lip of the small flat hollow at the foot of the path, in the small specific fold where the watercourse turns at its first westward bend. The small specific bog there has, by the small specific reading at the past springs, the small specific yellow-orange flush at the surface that is the small specific reading of the small accumulating iron in the bog. We will, at the morning, go down. We will look. We will gather a small first portion."

"Yes, master."

"And the lame brother."

"Yes, master."

"You will, in the next four days, lay out the small specific design of a small forge at the small clear ground beside the rock face. The small specific design is — by the small specific reading I have made for forty years — the design of a small upper-hills hunter's forge: a small flat hearth of stones perhaps the size of a man's palm-spread, set on the small flat ground at perhaps three hand's-depths below the level surface; a small clay-lined cup at the center for the bog-ore; a small bellows of two hempen-cloth bags worked by hand against a small clay nozzle; a small specific hardwood stump at one side for the small anvil. The small specific working temperature of the small forge will not — by the small specific reading — be the small specific working temperature of a village smithy. It will, by the small specific reading at the upper hills, be enough for the small specific work of bog-iron at its first smelting. The small specific finished pieces will be, by the small specific reading, small — knife-blades, small specific hook-pieces, small spear-tips. We will not, by the small specific reading at this small forge, be making swords."

"Yes, master."

"And the boy."

"Yes, master."

"By the small specific arithmetic at the small slab, we will need — for the small forge — perhaps six bags of charcoal at the bog-iron's first smelting. The grandfather has, by the small specific accumulating reading of the past nineteen years, kept a small specific supply of the small charcoal at the small lean-to at the back of the hut. There are — by the small specific reading — perhaps eight bags. We will need six. The remaining two will be the small specific reserve. The boy will, in the next four days, count the bags carefully."

"Yes, master."

That afternoon, the lame brother went out to the small clear ground beside the rock face — by the small specific careful walking pace of his foot, which had — by the small specific reading at the salve and the past two months at the small low pad — by the third moon recovered to perhaps the small specific working pace of his fourteenth year — and laid out, by the small specific scratch of a small thin stick on the small thin layer of the late-spring earth, the small specific design of the forge.

He laid it slowly.

He laid it by the small specific accumulating reading of the past nine months of his small specific carpenter's hand.

By the dusk, the design was at the small clear ground.

It was perhaps three paces across, with the small specific shape Lao Wen had described: a small flat hearth at the center, a small clay-lined cup at its middle, two small specific marks at the sides for the small bellows-bags, a small specific small mark at one edge for the small anvil-stump.

The lame brother stood at the edge, with the small thin stick in his hand.

He looked at it for a long beat.

He said in the small low voice to Heizi who had come out at the dusk to look: *big brother. By the small specific reading, the design is at the small reading of an old officer's saying. The small specific work — by the small specific reading at the next four days — is for the smith's son to lay the small flat stones, and for the boy to count and bring up the charcoal, and for the big brother to bring the small clay from the western edge of the hollow. The lame brother — by the small specific reading — will, at the small specific working of the bellows-bags, sew them at his small bench in the next two days from the small folded length of hempen cloth grandfather has kept at the small wooden chest."

He paused.

"By the small specific reading at the dusk of the fifth day, the small forge will be — by the small specific way the four of us have been at the small specific arrangement — built."

Heizi nodded.

He filed it.

The small forge was built by the dusk of the fifth day.

Wang Er and Lao Wen, at the morning of the second, third, and fourth days, brought up small specific samples of the bog-ore from the small specific flat place half a *li* below the lip. The bog-ore was — by the small specific reading at the small clear ground when they laid it on a small flat stone — a small specific yellow-orange clayey mass with the small specific small specks of the iron at its inside. By the small specific reading of an old officer at his eye on it, it was — by the small specific accumulating reading — perhaps fifteen percent iron at the smelting.

Heizi, at the same three days, brought small specific portions of the small specific clay from the western edge of the small flat hollow at the foot of the path. He carried it up, in the small bundle on his back, perhaps three small bundles. He laid them at the small clear ground beside the small specific design.

The boy counted the small bags of charcoal at the small lean-to. There were seven, not eight; one had — by the small specific reading at the small lean-to's small accumulating dampness over the past five years — gone to a small specific damp-rotted state and was no longer good for the small specific firing.

The lame brother sewed the bellows-bags at his small bench.

By the dusk of the fifth day, the small forge was built.

It stood — by the small specific reading at the small clear ground — perhaps three paces across, with the small flat hearth of small flat stones, the small clay-lined cup at the center, the two small bellows-bags at the sides connected by a small clay nozzle to the cup, and the small specific small hardwood stump from the lower edge as the small anvil at one side.

It was — by the small specific reading at the dusk — a small specific small upper-hills hunter's forge.

Wang Er stood at the edge, looking at it.

He did not, at the dusk, say anything.

Lao Wen, beside him, said in the small low voice: *smith's son. Tomorrow.*

"Yes, master."

"The first firing."

"Yes, master."

The first firing went on at the morning of the sixth day. Wang Er, at the small bellows-bags, worked them at the small specific careful pace Lao Wen had taught him at the small wooden table the previous evening — slow, even, at the small specific accumulating reading of the small specific working temperature against the small specific charcoal-bed at the small clay-lined cup. The boy laid the small specific portion of bog-ore — perhaps a small specific palm at the first firing — into the cup. Lao Wen watched.

The small forge took three hours to reach the small specific working temperature. By the second hour after the noon, the small specific bog-ore had — by the small specific reading at the cup — begun to give back the small specific accumulating slag at the surface. By the third hour, the slag had — by the small specific careful reading at the smith's son's eye — become the small specific dark layer of the upper-hills bog-iron's small first smelting.

By the dusk, the small specific accumulating dark layer at the bottom of the cup was — by the small specific reading of an old officer at his eye on it — perhaps a small palm of bog-iron.

Wang Er drew it out.

He drew it slowly, by the small specific careful work an old officer had been teaching him by the small low voice at the small bellows-bags through the long afternoon. He laid it at the small specific anvil. He took up — at his belt — the small forge-hammer that he had — by the small specific accumulating preparation of the past two moons — made for himself in the third moon at his old village hammer's guidance, by the small specific reading at the past two moons of cutting and shaping a small new wooden handle from the lower edge's pine.

The new hammer was — by the small specific reading at his hands at this dusk — a smaller hammer than the old one. The wooden handle was perhaps two-thirds the length of the old one. The iron head was — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past two moons — the same iron head; he had not had the iron to make a new one. The old hammer's iron head, on the new wooden handle, was — by the small specific reading — the smith's son's first specific tool of his own making at this hut.

He struck the small palm of bog-iron at the small anvil.

The hammer rang.

The ring was — by the small specific reading at the small clear ground in the dim grey of the dusk — the first ring of a smith's son's hammer at the upper hills in nineteen winters.

Lao Wen, at the edge of the small clear ground, closed his old eyes for one breath.

He opened them.

He said in the small low voice: *smith's son. Good. Strike it again. The bog-iron at this temperature has the small specific accumulating malleability of a small specific upper-hills bog-iron at the first smelting; you will, by the small specific reading at the next ten strikes, draw it into a small specific small bar. The bar will — by the small specific accumulating reading — be the small specific raw stock for our first piece.*

The smith's son nodded.

He struck.

He struck ten times. The small palm of bog-iron, by the tenth strike, had become a small specific small bar perhaps the length of two fingers and the width of one. The bar was — by the small specific reading — the small specific small bar an upper-hills smith would, at the small first smelting of his first bog-ore, draw.

Wang Er laid the small specific small bar at the small anvil. He stepped back.

He looked at the small bar.

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

"Yes, smith's son."

"The first piece."

"Yes."

"What — what should the first piece be."

Lao Wen looked at the small bar. He looked at the smith's son. He looked at the brothers at the edge of the small clear ground.

He said in the small low voice with the small specific reading of an old officer: *smith's son. By the small specific old reading of any first smelting at any small specific upper-hills smith's hands — the first piece is the small specific knife. The small specific knife of a smith's first smelting is, by the small specific old saying, the small specific knife the household will eat with for the rest of its winters at the hut. It is the small specific household's first iron knife. We will — at the morning of tomorrow — draw the small bar into a small specific blade.*

The smith's son nodded.

He bowed, very slightly, at the small forge.

That night, at the small fire, after the small evening meal — which the boy had cooked in the small specific accumulating spring portions of fresh wild greens and the small specific second deer's small remaining slice — Lao Wen sat at the small wooden stool with the small bound *Daxue* open on the small wooden table and looked at the four young men.

He said in the small low voice: *lads. The household has, at this dusk of the sixth day of the fourth moon, taken the small specific iron of the country into its hands.*

He paused.

"By the small specific old reading of an old militia officer — there is a small specific saying I will give you. *The household that has its own iron is the household that has, by the small specific old reading of the country's small old running, become a household.*"

He paused once more.

"The household has, at this dusk, become a household."

The brothers were quiet.

The small fire at the small ring held its small specific patient pace.

Heizi, at his place at the small wooden table, looked at the small fire and did not, on this evening, speak.

He filed it.

In the small lighter catalog of moments, beside the small wooden bowl that had waited three months and the small new fifth blanket and the small carved horse on Lao Wen's altar, he set: *the small specific dusk of the sixth day of the fourth moon, when the smith's son drew the first small bar of bog-iron at the new small forge.*

The lighter catalog stood, at this dusk, at perhaps nineteen items.

The dark catalog stood at five names.

He sat his watch through.

The owls of the upper hills called twice — and at the second call, Heizi noticed, by the small specific reading at his ear, that the upper-hills owl's call had — by the small specific accumulating turning of the country toward the spring — taken on the small specific intermittent shape of an owl that was, perhaps, beginning to look for a mate.

The country was turning.

The household was — at this dusk of the sixth day of the fourth moon, in the first spring of the new year at the grove of twelve pines — at the small specific accumulating shape of an old officer's small specific saying.

It had become a household.