Time Travelers from the Umbrella House

Chapter 21 Regenerating Fire

Following Ronnie's example, Alice took the flag and the potato crumbs and headed for the beach. Ronnie, on the other hand, was preparing for the second fire, going first to the grove on the other side of the island, where there were about twenty trees that took up half the island. He wanted to find a branch with elasticity that could be bent into a bow shape, this was the hardest thing to find, the branches he found were either too hard to break when he broke them or too soft to make any force. It took him nearly an hour to find one. He also found a block of wood to replace the thick bark from the last time, and since he had some hay and leaves from the last time, he went back with the elastic branch and the block of wood. Once inside, he looked at Michiko and was relieved to see that she was resting quietly. Then he found the rope from the sail, cut it into small strands, tied it to both ends of the elastic branch to make a bow, then used a sharp stone to make a small opening in the block of wood, took out the thick branch he had used last time, aimed at the small opening in the block of wood and inserted it on top of it, then put the bow rope on the thick branch, pressed one hand on the thick branch, and pulled the bow quickly with one hand, and the block of wood was blackened by the friction of the thick branch, but it just didn't produce any smoke. He tried many times, but still could not make a fire, and he could not help but feel very disappointed and discouraged. He fell onto his back and stared up in disbelief. "It seems like nothing I can do is going to work."

He didn't know how long it had been, but a clear voice rang in his ears, "Ronnie, what's wrong with you? haven't you started the fire yet? I've got a bumper crop today," as she spoke, Alice appeared before him carrying two fish.

"Sister, I'm waiting for you, I'm too weak to make a fire by myself."

"Well, how can I help you?"

Ronnie rolled over and sat up, holding the branch, "I'll hold this and you draw the bow."

"That easy?" Alice was a little surprised, took the fish in her hand, crouched down and pulled hard according to the method Ronnie had taught her, but only after two or three pulls did she hear a "pop" sound, the bowstring broke. "How can it be so hard to make a fire? are the books all lies?" Ronnie was so angry he stamped his feet.

"Don't be in a hurry, take your time!" Alice comforted him, "this time I'll hold the top and you pull the bow, you just pressed it crooked so the rope will break."

"Then let's try it again," Ronnie switched the rope again and did it, this time the log quickly went up in smoke, but as soon as he was satisfied he let go of his hand and the smoke went out again. "Sister, I can't get the strength to pull it back, so I'd better ask you to pull the bow and I'll hold the top edge."

"Good, this time you can't push crooked."

"I know!" Learning from the experience of the last few times, this time the two of them kneaded the hay and stuffed it into the small mouth of the wooden block to increase the friction, according to the agreed division of labor, one person pulled the bow and one person pushed the top, little by little the wooden block smoked black, and in a short time the fire jumped out. "Great! finally a fire!" Ronnie was overjoyed, picking up the leaves and hay on the side to start the fire, the fire immediately rose, looking at the hard-earned flames, the siblings were overjoyed.

"Sister, we should make a burning stove, we can't let this fire go out, it's better to prepare a kindling as well, I don't want to make another fire, it's too hard!"

"Good, now let's grill these two fish, it's been a while since I've had cooked food," Alice said as she stood up and went to work on the fish, she used a large shell to take out the guts, scraped off the scales, and then found branches to put through the mouths of the fish. Ronnie, on the other hand, kept adding fuel to the fire, and soon black smoke was rising from the house, and the three of them were smoked to tears. Ronnie hastily moved the fire outside the house, knowing it was because the firewood he had collected was too wet. Alice placed the fish on the newborn fire and rolled it over and over for fear of burning it.

The siblings were busy for more than ten minutes and finally cooked the fish, sharing one and leaving one for Michiko. Michiko was still lying on the bed, her face a little better. Alice picked the thorns off the fish, tore the fish into small pieces, and fed them to her. Michiko was starving and ate the whole fish quickly. Ronnie watched her finish and felt even hungrier, licking his tongue with a gluttonous look on his face.

"Sis, can you go back to the beach later, I want to eat some more fish. After you leave, I'll make a fire, it will be much easier to cook."

"You're still a glutton, it's so hot now in the middle of the day, I'll go again in the afternoon."

"Then you rest first, I'll make the stove," Ronnie said and went to work. He found the shovel he had modified when he built the room and dug in the middle of the room. Alice saw him digging a pit in the room and stopped him, "Aren't you afraid the smoke will rise and smoke us again?"

"Sister, the leaves we just burned were too wet to produce black smoke, it will be fine if we choose dry wood in the future, the fire won't get rained on when we put it in the house, we can also use it for lighting at night, and when the weather is cold we can also use it for warmth, and most importantly, it's our kindling."

Alice hadn't expected Ronnie to talk so much sense when he was just trying to dig a hole. She was stunned and felt like an idiot as she could only nod her head and say, "Then dig it!"

With his sister's permission, Ronnie went ahead and dug a shallow pit forty inches in diameter and twenty inches deep. After digging, he moved the fire source back into the house and then surrounded the shallow pit with rocks in a circle, "Sister, now all that's missing is a pot."

"Then you figure it out, I'll just fish."

"To make pottery, I need to find some clay, I wonder if there is any on this island. It also needs a high temperature of 950-1165°to be molded. This is a big project, sister, you have to help me before I can do it."

"All right, call me if you need me."

Ronnie said he would and immediately set out to find clay suitable for making pottery, he searched all over the island and could hardly believe he had found clay with a high viscosity to use as raw material. Next, he needed to build a bigger kiln, he chose an open space five meters away from the cave entrance, in order to achieve the high temperature needed to burn the pottery, he also needed to build a blower. Alice was curious to hear that he was going to build a blower and asked, "What are you going to do with that? can't you blow with your mouth?"

"Sister, the blower is to raise the temperature and can be used to make iron later, if you let me blow with my mouth, when the ceramics are made, my mouth will be scrapped," Ronnie rolled his eyes as he said this.

Alice didn't dare speak anymore, she felt that if she said one more word she would lower her IQ by one level. After answering his sister's questions, Ronnie started working again, first he made a bark fan, using two pieces of bark, find a rock to polish two notches out, put them together, then find a branch, get some grass rope to tie it up, rub it with both hands, and the wind power was generated. But it was not enough to have a small fan, he still needed to gather the scattered winds to make the wind stronger, so he had to make a shovel shape out of thin clay, with the handle part of the shovel empty inside for ventilation, and a hole dug in the center of the shovel. He placed the bark fan in the hole dug in the center, and then placed a bow made of raw fire over the branches of the fan, and by pointing the fan toward the stove and pulling on the fan, the flame temperature would rise. On the other side of the stove, Ronnie added water to the rocky soil that had fallen down when the house was built, got hay to mix it with, and enlisted Alice's help to build a stove. The stove was sixty centimeters high and fifty centimeters wide, with an opening underneath to attach a fan for ventilation. The next day, Ronnie waited for the stove to dry and then wanted to start making pottery.

After lying down for two days, Michiko also felt much better and was able to get up. She saw that Ronnie was making pottery today and came over to try to help. "Ronnie, you know so much, did you learn it all from a book?"

"Michiko, it's great that you can get up and play with me again," Ronnie replied.

"If you want to make some bowls, I can help you, I took a ceramics class, but I only made blanks, none of them were fired."

Ronnie was thrilled, "That's great, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do ceramics and you show up."