Talihaal was getting a little impatient.
He carried his gun and slowly climbed the mountain.
There was still plenty of game near his family's winter camp.
He had shot so many wild mountain goats last time, yet before long, signs of other herbivores had appeared nearby.
He had tethered his horse in the winter camp's pen. He planned to shoot something and give it to Li Long, then ask Li Long to teach him to drive the tractor.
Like everyone else, Talihaal knew Li Long would certainly teach Harimu and Jade Mountain River. After that, presumably those two would take turns cutting grass, and Li Long would only need to come check on them now and then.
He wanted to learn to drive the tractor too. He wanted to experience the thrill of driving the iron ox.
To get Li Long to teach him, he really only needed to ask. He believed Li Long would agree, but with so many people around, what if others asked after he did?
Deciding whom to teach and whom not to would be troublesome and put Li Long in a difficult position.
So he planned to shoot a wild mountain goat or another roe deer and give it to Li Long in exchange for the chance to learn to drive the tractor.
That way, anyone else who wanted Li Long to teach them would have to offer something in exchange too.
Talihaal thought his idea was bound to work, so he had come out with his gun.
Yesterday, he had shot a roe deer in another ravine. There had been a herd of five or six, and he had only hit one. The others had run this way.
He figured those roe deer could not have gone far. If he could shoot one here