Chapter 5
Weeks passed, but there was no sign of Mr. Bennet anywhere. Elizabeth kept waiting for her father to appear and rescue her from this terrible place, but he never did. At least Darcy still had not touched her in any indecent way. She had eventually given in and bathed as Darcy stood with his back to her. She had simply become too filthy to be able to withstand it anymore, especially after she had found the clay. She was pleased with how the pottery had turned out. Darcy had seemed astonished, and she surmised this tribe did not know how to make pottery.
She still wondered where she was, and why her papa had not come to rescue her. Surely he must know where she was. It was his device, after all, that had sent her here – wherever she was.
She prayed daily to be rescued, but there was no sign of any civilized person anywhere. She had also seen more strange creatures that she did not recognize. There was a huge creature that looked like a rhinoceros, but it was woolly. There were also extremely large, strange fish that she had never seen before in the stream and in the lake. She no longer thought she could possibly be in New Holland.
The landscape began to change as the weather grew warmer, and Elizabeth found that she was in a beautiful place at least. Clover bloomed all over the valley, and the tribe went out and gathered the fresh, tender shoots to eat. Darcy helped her gather pine nuts, and showed her how to check birds' nests for eggs. The women showed her how to grind the grain with stones, and Georgiana especially had been helpful in helping her learn how to do the women's chores, which were apparently various. She still had not learned how to make a decent basket, and she burned everything she tried to cook. She was at least good at doing the laundry.
Her language skills had improved, too. She could now speak the tribe's language in short sentences, although she was having a bit of trouble with verb conjugation. It was difficult to learn a spoken language without words on a page. She spoke French and Italian, and her father had taught her Greek and Latin, but the language she was learning now was nothing like any of them. It did not seem to have its root in any language she was familiar with.
She was shocked by the lack of modesty among the people of this tribe. The women would bare a breast to feed their babies in front of everyone, and people would strip down to bathe in front of anyone else who happened to be there, as Darcy had done her second day there. She could also hear the sounds of mates lying together in the cave at night. It always made her flush and turn scarlet when she heard it.
Her gown was becoming tattered. She tried to wash it as best she could, but it was all she had to wear. Darcy had tried to give her some animal furs to wear, but they were far too immodest for her.
She prayed her father would find her soon.
Three weeks after he had found Elizabeth, Darcy took her down in the morning as usual so she could relieve herself. He always turned his back to her, as she wished, but it made him nervous not to have her in his sights. He was always afraid some danger would come upon her. This morning, as he was waiting for her to go, he heard her cry out, a sound of alarm. He spun around at once to face her, and saw her bent over, holding up her skirt with one hand, and blood on the other.
"Elizabeth! What is it? Are you hurt? What happened?"
"No, not hurt," she replied, quickly shoving down her skirt so he would not see her legs. It was odd, but she never wanted him to see any part of her body that was hidden by her strange garment.
"Where is the blood coming from?"
Her face was flushed, and she looked mortified, but he could not figure out why. He took her hand to examine it, and was able to smell the blood. That was when he realized what was happening. The blood did not smell like regular blood; it was her bleeding time. But why was she so upset? She was old enough that this could not be the first time her blood had come.
"Why are you upset?"
She flushed further, but would not look at him. She just shook her head.
Then he realized she must not have whatever things women used when they had their monthly blood. He himself had no idea what she needed.
"Come, let's ask Georgiana. She'll have something you can use for your bleeding time."
She followed after him back to the cave, but she would not look at him, and her face remained red. He could not figure out why she was so embarrassed. Didn't this happen to every woman?
He found Georgiana by the fire, eating breakfast beside her mate. "Georgiana, Elizabeth has started her bleeding time. Do you have whatever she needs?"
"Yes, of course, brother. Come, Elizabeth."
Elizabeth looked relieved as she followed his sister back into the cave. "Thank you," she said, and he smiled in response.
Elizabeth sighed in relief as Georgiana helped her strap on the odd contraption that these women apparently used for their courses. It was not so different from what she used at home in England, although it was made of animal skin and sinew, and the absorbent was a bundle of dried grasses.
She was mortified that Darcy had discovered what was happening to her body. She had not wished to tell him, but she had forgotten all about her courses with the bewilderment of being in a new strange place, so when they had come she was shocked and alarmed. She had had no idea what to do.
After the contraption was in place, Elizabeth thanked Georgiana, then followed her back out to the fire to eat breakfast. She blushed as she sat beside Darcy, unable to look at him.
After they finished their meal, Darcy took her down to the lake again, which was her favourite place. He said he would let her bathe and then he turned around so she could do so in privacy. It still embarrassed her to disrobe in the presence of a man, but she was becoming used to it. He had never turned around to look at her.
Just as she was putting her gown back on (she no longer wore her corset), she saw Darcy take his flint knife and hack off a chunk of his long hair. Then he took another strand and hacked it off at a different length. With alarm, she went to face him.
"No, no cut!" she said.
"Don't cut it? Why not? It is heavy and hot in this weather."
"I cut," she said authoritatively.
He just smiled and shook his head, but handed her the knife. She went to stand behind him, and wondered how best to go about this. She had never cut someone's hair before.
Slowly, she took strand by strand, trying to cut the locks at the same length, until it was short all about his head. That was much better. She turned to face him, brushing the discarded hair off his shoulders. "Better," she said with satisfaction.
He grinned at her. "Thank you," he said.
Then she had a thought. "Now this," she said, pointing at his beard. She did not know his word for it, but she wanted it gone. She had thought for weeks that he would look better without it.
"Beard," he supplied the word.
"Beard," she repeated, and he nodded. "Beard gone too."
He looked bemused, but simply shrugged, as if to say she could do as she wished.
This was an even more perilous undertaking than cutting his hair had been. Careful not to nick his skin, she shaved off his beard, and then stood back to look at him in amazement.
He was the most handsome man she had ever seen!
Darcy passed his hand over his jaw. "It feels strange," he said.
"Looks well," she said, and he smiled.
Elizabeth felt herself flush all over at the sight of that smile. In that moment, she wondered what it would feel like to kiss him. She had never wanted to kiss a man before. She was embarrassed by her thoughts. But Darcy had truly been very kind to her, since the moment he found her. She had not recognized his kindness at first, but he had kept her safe despite her obstinacy. She had not realized what danger she was in at the beginning.
Before she could pursue the thought, she heard thunder sound, and she and Darcy both looked up to find the sky quickly covered in dark clouds.
"Come, we need to get back to the cave before the rain starts," Darcy said.
She nodded and they walked quickly, she trying to keep up with his long legs. They were only halfway there when the rain started. To Elizabeth's surprise, Darcy swung her up into his arms and began to run. She squealed to feel herself in the air, but then settled contentedly into his arms. It felt wonderful to be held by him. Maybe it was not proper to think such a thing, but she truly did like him. She took a deep breath, inhaling his familiar scents of pine and leather. It was a pleasant smell, and always gave her comfort.
Only a few drops of rain hit her by the time they got back to the cave. Everyone from the tribe had gathered there for the duration of the storm. It was a huge cave, one that could fit all of them, with bone shelves along the back walls to hold all of their stores. The fur beds lined the walls and the center of the cave. Darcy had the biggest and most comfortable bed, since it was up against the cave wall and had the most animal furs. Elizabeth had discovered in her time there that Darcy was the strongest and best hunter in the tribe. She was clearly the envy of the other, unmated women there. One woman especially, who she had learned was called Caroline, seemed to hate her. It was Caroline who was glaring at her now as Darcy carried Elizabeth into the cave and set her gently on her feet beside his bed.
They spent the rest of the day in the cave, but Elizabeth was not bored. She had a long language lesson with Darcy and Georgiana, who had come over to sit with them. Elizabeth surmised Georgiana would give birth in another couple of months. Her belly had grown rapidly in the last few weeks.
The rain and thunder lasted all through the following night, until finally, in midmorning, it slowed to a trickle and then stopped. When the tribe came out of the cave, they found that the fire had gone out. Elizabeth could see the dismay on everyone's faces, but did not know why. Over the next hour, she began to understand.
It was extremely difficult for them to start a fire.
They had clearly done it before, using friction with sticks and twigs and a few strands of someone's hair, but it was taking a very long time, with several people working together.
Elizabeth wondered how she could help. Then she had an idea. She had never started a fire any way other than with a match, but she had read about other methods.
She had tried to keep her hair up using its pins, and so she removed one of them now and brought it over to Darcy, who was one of the principal people trying to start the fire. She pointed to his waist and the flint knife that hung there.
"I try," she said. "Idea." She pointed to her temple.
Darcy looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"I start fire," she said. "Use this." She pointed to the hair pin.
The other tribesmen grumbled, but Darcy was clearly willing to give her a chance, and so she knelt before the sticks and took the flint knife Darcy handed her. She struck the hairpin against it. Nothing happened, so she did it again. Again and again, harder and harder, until, at about the twelfth time, a spark struck and flew into the air, to fall harmless onto the ground. The tribesmen all let out cries of surprise and she grinned. She looked up at Darcy to see him staring in astonishment.
"Do it again," he said.
She struck the hairpin against the flint a few more times, until at last, the spark kindled into a blaze. She watched the fire grow happily, while everyone exclaimed in amazement.
"How did you do that?" Darcy asked.
"This," she replied, holding up the hairpin. "Steel," she said, using the English word.
"Steel?" he repeated the English word. "What is that?"
She shrugged, not able to explain with her limited vocabulary. "I no can explain."
Everyone gathered around her with their thanks and praise, and Elizabeth felt at home there for the first time. What truly warmed her from inside, though, was the glowing smile Darcy gave her. And once again, she wondered what it would feel like to kiss him.