The next days were filled with activity.
The cook house was coming along nicely, and everyone was anxious to see it finished.
“Isis, do you have a little time to help me with this new project?” Cisco asked.
“Sure, I need to take a break from what I’m working on,” she replied. “I’m kind of stuck and need to clear my mind.”
“Good. I borrowed one of your big bowls and emptied some Moonglow pods into it.” Cisco said. “I want to soak a three-foot section in the middle of this rope. Can you do that for me?”
“I’ll just measure that middle section and then coil it up so it will fit in the bowl,” Isis said.
“While you’re doing that,” Cisco said, “I’ll split this piece of bamboo and cut out the segment dividers along both halves.”
Working swiftly, Isis said, “Okay, I’ve got the rope soaking. What do you want me to do next?”
“You can help me fill both halves of the bamboo with flint chips,” Cisco said. “While the rope is soaking, I’ll get a fire going.”
When Cisco thought that the rope had soaked long enough, they moved on to the next step.
“Okay, Honey, we’re going to take the rope out of the Moonglow resin and pull it out straight.”
“Then we’ll lay the resin-soaked section lengthwise in one of the chip-filled bamboo halves.”
“After that, we’ll quickly flip the other bamboo half onto the first one.”
“Alright,” Isis said. “I understand what you have in mind. Let’s do it.”
When they were done, Cisco was left holding the two bamboo halves together.
“Okay, so far so good.” he said with a grin. “Now, I need you to tie each end with some cord.”
After Isis had the ends tied tight, Cisco said, “And now for the part that I’m not sure will work.”
“We need to hold this over the fire and heat it up until the resin in the rope reaches a stage where it’s almost, but not quite, to the rock-hard stage. I want it to be solid but slightly bendable.”
“It’ll be a trick if we can keep the bamboo from burning up,” Isis observed.
“Well, grab the far end and we’ll rotate the center section over the fire.” Cisco said.
“This could take a while, so get comfortable.” he added.
Occasionally, as they slowly rotated the bamboo, Cisco added another stick or two to the fire.
Finally, he thought it had been long enough.
“Okay, let’s see what we’ve got.” Cisco said as they moved the bamboo away from the fire.
“Let’s get it over the mat to catch the extra chips that are going to fall out when we cut this thing open.”
“I have no idea what this thing is for,” Isis said, “but here’s a kiss for good luck.”
“You do have a way of making things more enjoyable,” Cisco replied. “Thanks, Hon.”
“I’ll hold this while you cut the cords.”
“Okay, there you go.” Isis said as she cut the last cord.
“Well, so far so good.” Cisco said as the two halves fell apart, raining flint chips onto the mat.
“Let’s see what we’ve got.” he said, holding up the rope.
The center section of the rope was stiff with a slight droop and was completely encrusted with chips.
“Okay, now you’ve got a crunchy-looking rope,” Isis said. “So, what’s it for?”
“That will require a demonstration and a little extra muscle,” Cisco said. “Let’s go find Baxter and Benji.”
Everyone wanted to watch, so they all gathered near a medium-sized tree that was due to be cut down for one of the cabins.
“Okay, I want one of you on each end of the rope,” Cisco told the two big cats.
“Hold it about a foot back from the chip-covered center section.”
“Now, hold it against the tree and drag it back and forth,” he instructed. “I want to see if it will cut into the wood.”
“Go ahead and try it.”
After a couple of tries, with stops to change their grips, they finally got it working and started cutting a deep groove in the tree.
“The only way to get it started was to hold it lightly against the tree at first,” Baxter said, thinking about the test, “then to gradually start adding more pressure.”
“Even so,” Benji said, “it still took a lot of muscle to make it work.”
“Yeah, I saw that,” Cisco said. “I think I’ll make another using smaller chips.”
“I think tying wooden cross handles onto the rope would help too, but the basic concept works alright.”
“I think it was a darn good first try,” Baxter said, “Let us know when you’re ready to try again.”
“Okay, everyone,” Benji said, “let’s get back to work.”
Cisco gathered up his cutting rope and headed back to his work area.
“Shaun, would you and Suki walk with me?” Cisco said.
“How are you doing with your shiners?” he asked.
“We’ve got about a hundred of the small shiners done,” Suki replied. “Now we’ve been trying a bunch of different ideas.”
“One of these nights, we’ll give a demonstration of good ones.”
“I’ve got my ‘contraption’ ready to show off,” Cisco said. “Why don’t we show everything at the same time?”
“Sounds good to us,” Shaun and Suki agreed. “Just tell us when.”
“Let’s wait until Piper and Star get back,” Cisco said, “then our whole group will be home.”
“But what I wanted to talk to you two about,” he went on, “is to see if you have time to help me with this cutting rope project.”
“Isis has been helping me, but she has her own projects that I’m sure are more important than this.”
“Absolutely,” Shaun responded. “We’re available anytime you want us. Right, Suki?”
“You bet. Working with you, Cisco, and getting to try our own ideas has been so exciting,” Suki said with a big grin.
“Okay then,” Cisco said. “You saw how Isis and I made this cutting rope.”
“I think the basic idea is good, but it needs refining. That’s where I need your help.”
“Here’s what I want to try next,” he went on. “We need to use smaller chips on the next rope.”
“If we hammer the chips we have to make them smaller, I’m afraid they won’t have sharp edges anymore.”
“I’m proposing that we spread the chips on a flat rock and roll a big, heavy rock across them.”
“I think that will cause the chips to flake, keeping their sharp edges.”
“The finer chips will take a smaller bite each time the cutting rope is dragged through the cut.”
“That should make it easier to use. Oh, and be sure to leave enough rope on either side of the cutting section to tie on handles.”
“That’s my main idea,” he concluded. “After that, I want you two to come up with ideas on how to make it better or just suited for other uses.”
“Oh yeah,” Shaun said. “I’ve already got an idea to try. But first, we’ll work on yours to get it just how you want it.”
“I’m sure glad those Moonglow plants grow all up and down the valley,” Suki said. “I can see we’re going to find a lot of uses for that resin.”
“I think they’re common throughout the territory, but we should pay attention to that,” Cisco said. “We certainly don’t want to destroy a valuable resource. Besides, the plant has a place in nature that we don’t want to upset.”
“Okay, so when do we begin?” Shaun asked.
“Finish any projects you’re working on, then jump over to this,” Cisco said.
Suki and Shaun left Cisco and headed back to their own work area. They walked, talking back and forth excitedly.
Cisco shook his head, thinking, “I wonder what those two are going to come up with.”
The next morning, as the cats were finishing their breakfast, Suki and Shaun stood up to get their attention. “Hey guys,” Suki said, “before you go back to working on the cook house, we want you to try out our new modified cutter rope.”
“Sure,” Baxter said, “we might as well go and attack the same tree again. Are you up for another workout, Benji?”
“Yeah, why not,” Benji replied.
When they got to the tree, Shaun handed them the new rope.
“As you can see, the chips are a lot finer,” he said, “and of course, you’ll notice the addition of handles.”
Handing over the cutting rope, he said, “Give it a try, but start a new cut.”
Positioning the rope against the tree, Baxter and Benji began dragging it back and forth.
After a few strokes, they picked up speed.
“Wow, this works great!” Baxter said with a big grin.
“It’s a heck of a lot easier than it was yesterday,” Benji said. “Look how deep we’ve cut already.”
As they cut far into the tree, the cut started to squeeze shut, trapping the rope.
“Well, I didn’t know that was going to happen,” Baxter said.
Cisco had been standing back watching the demonstration. Now he stepped forward.
“I think we’re going to have to pound a piece of wood or rock into the cut to get the weight off the rope.”
“That might work,” Benji said. “I’ll go get a mallet and something to pound in there.”
He soon returned with the mallet and a couple of rocks that were thin at one end and thick at the other.
“Let’s try these,” Benji said. “I’ll pound them into the cut.”
As he pounded, he said, “See there, it’s opening up.”
“Should we try cutting all the way through while we keep pounding in the rocks?”
“If we do that,” Baxter said, “the tree is going to fall over before we get all the way through and splinter itself.”
“I think we need to cut a notch on the other side of the tree, just like we do with our axes.”
“And, we don’t want all of us standing this close when the tree does go down,” Cisco said.
“We already know how dangerous that can be.”
“Okay, let’s see if we can take this tree down the rest of the way,” Baxter said.
“We’ll cut a slice out of the other side and then come back around and finish this back cut.”
“Pound those rocks in some more to give us more freedom to get the rope out. I’ll untie one of the handles so we can drag it through.”
They went around to the front of the tree and made two cuts to remove a wedge-shaped slice. Then they returned to the back side.
“Well, I’ve got the handle off again,” Benji said, “but it might be a bugger trying to shove the rope back into the cut with the wedges in place.”
Pushing it through on the first try, he said, “That wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. That stiff cutting section made it go right through.”
“Next time, we’ll do the front cuts first,” Baxter said. “They’re shallow enough the rope shouldn’t get caught.”
“Then we’ll do the back cut. We’ll still have to use the wedge rocks, but we won’t have to keep taking one of the handles off.”
“Let’s finish this job,” Benji said. “Everybody stay clear, here we go.”
Pulling the cutting rope back and forth, they made short work of felling the tree.
“Okay, guys, what do you think?” Cisco asked. “Is the cutting rope a good idea or not?”
“It’s going to save us a lot of effort cutting down all the trees we’ll need for the cabins,” Baxter said.
“And it will be better for cutting the logs to length. It makes flat, fairly smooth cuts,” Benji added.
“That’s a win then,” Cisco said.
“But I think Suki and Shaun have come up with something else for us.”
Suki smiled and held out what she had been holding behind her back.
“We made this smaller version of the cutting rope,” she said, “for, well, smaller jobs.”
“You can see that it’s just the cutting rope, cut down in size. The rope itself is thinner, the flakes are finer, and the cutting section is only about a foot long. It does, of course, have handles. It’s small enough for one person to use.”
“We’ve already tried it,” Shaun said, “and it works great for cutting bamboo or small saplings.”
“It should work for trimming wood for making furniture and that sort of thing,” Benji added.
“Suki and Shaun, you two did great,” Cisco said. “I’m proud of both of you.”
“So, what are you two going to do next?”
“Next, we’re going to make more of the cutter ropes and cutter cords to give out to the crews,” Suki said.
“I’m sure they’ll show up some weaknesses that we’ll have to fix,” Shaun said, “but I think we’ve got a good thing here.”
“Thanks for letting us work on your ideas Cisco,” Suki said. “I think we’re going to make some amazing things before we’re done.”
“You guys make my ideas look good. We’re a good team.” Cisco said with a smile.
At the end of the week, the entire outer structure of the cook house was finished. Zelli was putting the finishing touches on the roof, and Juni and Breezy were set to start on the interior of the living quarters. All the other Rangers were moving on to the other cabins.
“Hey Juni and Breezy,” Kikki called. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure, Kikki, what’s up?” Juni replied.
“I was thinking that before you spend a lot of time finishing the living quarters, why don’t we get Taniki up here to tell us how she’d like it set up?” Kikki said.
“Now that you say it,” Breezy said, “that does make a lot of sense.”
“We’ll hold off until you can get her up here.”
“Tam and I are making another run down to the Hungry Village this morning,” Kikki said.
“We might have her back by noon.”
“You’ll know where to find us when she decides what she wants.” Juni said.
“Come on, Breezy, let’s go show the guys what real work looks like.”