"Awake, Timid Hare, for there is a faint light in the eastern sky. The
sun is already rising from his bed."
At these words from Sweet Grass, Timid Hare's eyes burst wide open and
she sprang from her bed. There was much to do at once, for the signal
must be given to the whole village from the home of Bent Horn.
So quickly did his squaw and young daughter work that a half-hour
afterwards the walls of the chief's tepee were flapping in the morning
breeze. Immediately afterwards the same thing happened to every other
home in the village. Next, down came the tent poles of the chief's
tepee, and then those of all the others.
Timid Hare went quickly here and there, obeying the orders of her
mistress. Ropes of skin must be brought to tie the poles into two
bundles. The little girl must help hold these bundles in place, while
Bent Horn's best pack horses were brought up and the bundles fastened
against the sides of their bodies, and at the same time allowed to drag
on the ground behind.
"Quick, Timid Hare," Sweet Grass would say, pointing now to this bundle
of bedding, and now to another of dishes or clothing. The horses were
restless and the bundles must be well-fastened to the poles before they
should be ready to start. Some of Bent Horn's dogs were also loaded in
the same way.
While Sweet Grass and her mother, with Timid Hare's help, were packing
their own stores every other woman in the village was doing the same.
In a wonderfully short time the procession was on its way, the squaws
leading the pack horses. When they started out, however, the braves
and youths, riding their favorite horses and ponies, were already far
ahead.
Timid Hare trudged bravely along beside her young mistress who led one
of the pack horses. She carried a big bundle on her back. So did
Sweet Grass and her mother. So did all the other squaws except those
who were too old and feeble.
"Let us move fast while we are fresh," Sweet Grass would say now and
then when Timid Hare began to lag. "When the day grows old, then is
the time to move like the turtle."
As they travelled along. Timid Hare passed The Stone who looked at her
with ugly eyes. The old squaw was thinking, "Had it not been for my
sending the girl that day to Sweet Grass she would now be making my
load light. Fool that I was!"
Afterwards Timid Hare and her mistress talked with The Fountain, the
pretty bride who lived near The Stone. The Fountain smiled pleasantly
at the little girl. She said, "Sometime, Timid Hare, you shall come to
see me in the new home. I may have a surprise for you."
The sun had nearly set when word came down the line: "The chief has
chosen a place for the new camp. It is beside a stream of clear water
and the tracks of buffaloes are not far distant."
Timid Hare was glad to hear the news, because her feet and back ached.
She was not strong as an Indian girl of her own age should be and she
knew it. "But I look like one," she said to herself. She was glad now
that her body was stained. She had colored it afresh of her own accord
just before the journey, for she felt she would not be jeered at by the
children of the Dahcotas so long as her hair and body were of the same
color as their own.
When the new camping ground was reached, she was very tired. "But I
must not show it," she thought. "I must be bright and cheerful." So
she moved quickly, helping to set up the tepee and get supper for the
family. But her eyelids closed the moment she lay down to rest, and
she knew nothing more till the barking of the dogs roused her the next
morning. At the same time she heard Sweet Grass and her mother talking
together.
"The Fountain was last seen when we stopped at a spring to get water in
the late afternoon," one of them was saying.
"I hope she is safe," replied the other, "and that the gray wolf was
not abroad."
Timid Hare shuddered. "Where can The Fountain be?" she wondered. "She
is so good and so pretty, I hope she is unharmed."
The very next moment a neighbor appeared in the door. "The Fountain
has just reached us," she said. "She spent the night by the spring,
and she now brings with her a baby son. He is a lusty child. May he
grow up to be a noble warrior!"
"I will go to her and give her my best wishes," declared the chief's
wife. "It is a good sign for the new home that one more is added to
our people."
Soon afterwards Timid Hare and her young mistress were also on their
way to visit the young mother. She was very happy. So was her
husband. So was her baby; at least it seemed happy to Timid Hare as
she looked at it nestling quietly in its mother's arms. The little
girl longed for it to open its eyes.
"By and by," The Fountain told her with a smile, "my son will awake.
But now he must sleep, for he finds this world a strange one, and he is
tired."
"The Great Spirit has been kind to The Fountain," said Sweet Grass as
she walked homeward with her little maid.
"How powerful He must be," declared Timid Hare thoughtfully. "Whenever
He speaks to us in the thunder and lightning I tremble with fear. But
when I looked at the little baby just now I felt His love."