The man felt the warmth travel up his arm...and into his body. Slowly his breathing got easier. The warmth from Joey travelled through him till it reached every part.
"Thank you" he said and his head drooped. The men thought it was the end but Joey reassured them.
"He is sleeping now...that's all. It will mend him....let him sleep. Keep him warm but he should be better tomorrow.
And he was. The men started to look at the boy Joey with respect and to listen to his words carefully. Perhaps one day he would be a doctor!
Joey working the bronze looked like anything but a doctor. He was strong and able to fashion the bronze into useful objects like cups but also once after a specially long smelting he took the bronze to make it into something larger than the cups and bowls he had made previously. He bent the bronze over a large stone, shaped into a smooth round shape it was about the same size as a large man's head and after pulling the bronze a little he then started to take it out so that it made a shape that curved out at the bottom.
After several days of trying to get it smooth without the tell tale marks of the stone used to hit it, he tried something new....he took sand and used it as a sort of polish, working it with great strength so that the outside shape became smooth and glowing in the fire light.
Next he carefully took the original stone out of it being very careful to keep the shape.
Eventually the bronze stood on its own.
Uncle Joe looked at it, admired it and then asked the question they had all wanted to ask...."What is it? What is it for?"
Joey beamed at him, "Listen" he said. "Just listen and he struck it with a small stone.
It rang clear and true......he had made a bell!
"It's like the ones in the temple at home," said Joey smiling, "The ones that count the hours and summon the people for worship."
Uncle Joe laughed. Of course it was...it was a large beautiful bell, and over the next days and weeks Joey spent a lot of his time smoothing and polishing it.
Every night at supper time he would strike it so that it's deep ring sounded throughout the clearing and brought the men back to their huts for evening prayers.
Eighteen
After that Joey would go out exploring on good days....some days were just too unpleasant to go far so then they would stay at home whilst Joey told them stories of their original home, of their people, of the crops and the fish they would catch, and the people they had left behind.
On their days out Mia was always with him and had proved a good guard dog as well, barking if any strangers approached their settlement.
From outside she sounded ferocious and people approached with great care, being careful to state their names and business before Mia agreed to let them in!
One night though she woke them up. It was hours after they had settled down to sleep
Mia rushed outside barking ferociously.....the men stirred as Joey looked out.
He quietened the dog and told the others that they had company.
The men were read to rush out and to tackle the intruders. Uncle Joe took charge at this point.
"They know they've woken us up and that we have a dog" he said. " They are quite still just now...look over there." About six men stood on the shore line, their small boat pulled up just above the tide line.
"They have come for our bronze" muttered the men..."We should have hidden it"
As they started to walk towards them Mia erupted out of the little hut roaring like a lion. The men stopped, unsure as to what she might do. She stood as tall as a mans thigh and could inflict a nasty bite.
The six men were armed with sticks and an axe . Joey stepped outside and spoke calmly,
"Hello there " he said. "You are not from these parts are you? "
The men stopped. Conversation was not what they were used to in these circumstances.
Joey recognised one of the men. He came from the small village across the estuary where Joey had been many times.
"Hello " he said, "I know you, your sister gives me honey sometimes."
The men looked at each other. This was not what they had come for...
Five of them moved forward. Jack, the known one did not!
Joey smiled..."It's a bit late at night to be visiting lads but I must return the favour. Your people always make us a drink when we call, should you like something hot? "
The men looked at each other. They had all heard of this young man and he clearly had no fear of them.
They started to look shifty and one of them put down his stick.
"Just thought we'd pay you a visit like.....you are over with us often enough"
The sailors nodded at this....maybe they were not going to fight after all.
Slowly all six men put down their sticks and went to sit by the fire.
They noticed the bronze bell that Joey had made and admired it greatly.
"Taken hours of work, listen."
Proudly Joey rang it with a small stone. They nodded at the sound it made, it could have been heard miles away..
After a drink and some small cereal cakes that the shepherds kept for nights out spent with the sheep, the visitors relaxed. They had been greeted with kindness and were not bad men...they had gone over to see how the small camp was getting on they said...and they could see they were all fine, doing well in fact.
"How long are you staying here?" Jack asked as they got ready to catch the tide home.
"Till the next very high tide" Spring tide plus the equinoctial surge would float their boat off again.
The visitors nodded as they went....
" Might come back before then" they said as they went.
"Not if we see you first" one of the sailors muttered as they pushed themselves off the bank.
Joey laughed...."They have gone empty handed lads, thanks to Mia but from now on maybe we should take better care of our bronze! "
They nodded....stocks of the copper they'd brought with them were low. Unless they could trade some tin for more they were not going to make much more bronze .
Settling down again Mia snuggled tight into Joeys legs as he slept. It was an arrangement that suited them both!
"Good dog" whispered Joey...."That's a good girl" she wagged her tail and they kept each warm till morning.
Nineteen
The next morning Joey found good hiding places for the small things made from bronze. The bell was another problem He found a cleft in the rocks at one stage but at high tide it would fill with water...
"The salt water would do it no harm ."said Uncle Joe but Joey wanted it safe....it contained a great deal of precious metal.
In the end a solution was found....they fitted it with a loop on the top through which they threaded a rope.
The plan was to hoist it high from one of the over hanging branches, out of the reach of any piratical expeditions. Before doing that though they also fitted another loop on the inside of it with a string threaded through a smooth pebble. This made a very satisfying sound, ringing through the creek to summon the men to meals or prayers. But it would also be difficult to steal....the noise would wake them all up!
The rest of the winter was spent in survival....the dark and the cold dampness had a very dispiriting feel for many of them.Joey cheered them all on dark cold evenings with his stories which were often of home and much better weather. They all felt slightly home sick at times. Even those who were out working.
The men were still trading and collecting tin ore but the main activity was in farming and shepherding. The animals were still out in the fields here in the southern most tip of England....and a small group of young men worked regularly for the village, getting paid by food handouts which were getting less daily.
The dried stores of grain and the smoked fish and meat kept in the huts were dwindling and the men going out to catch fish were able to barter them in exchange for bread and occasionally hard little biscuits.
Fish was their staple diet....
it was possible to get out in their coracles pulling nets during most days, though they had to be well wrapped in sheepskin to cope with the intense cold.
Occasionally they would bring in a lobster, looking like an armoured beast of the sea. On one bright morning they were sorting out the good fish from a net when the lobster appeared still waving its claws. With great shouts they picked it up and threw it on the fire where slowly it emerged from its grey pallor and turned pink!
The men gasped...it looked much better in that colour. One of them took it and pulled its claws off looking at the revealed flesh.....they had never fancied the meat whilst it was sludge grey but this was different.
The sailor raised the flesh to his lips.
"No" Uncle Joe spoke sternly...."It is forbidden! "
The men looked at him, the smell coming from the shell fish was good.
"It is forbidden to eat shell fish" said Joe....."Put it down"
The man looked at him, they had been on a dull sparse diet for a long time....surely this would be no great sin?
Joe was adamant.....there was a stand off, the man clearly very interested in the flesh of the big lobster.
Joey spoke. "Let them taste it Uncle"
Joe stared at his nephew. "Why? It is forbidden to eat what is unclean."
"But this is clean...and cooked now"
"It has been eating other small fish...they might be unclean"
"You mean the sort of fish we eat every day? "
"Well yes!"
Joey looked puzzled. "Then why must it be unclean.? "
His uncle could find no answer to that.
Joey looked anxious and then his face cleared. "Andrew wants to eat it....let him eat it. If he dies then we shall know. Are you willing to take this risk