Instead of taking a direct route back to the Pawnee camp, Little Eagle
made a circle. This took him to the valley where he was sure the Pawnees
were hunting. Before he reached the top of the hill which formed the
boundary of the valley, Little Eagle could feel the ground trembling.
The Pawnees must have found a tremendous herd of buffaloes.
From the top of the hill he could see the progress of the hunt. The far
end of the valley was covered by the fleeing herd. Some of the buffaloes
had crossed the hill and were out of sight. Already the valley was
dotted with the carcasses of slain buffaloes. The Pawnees were still
riding into the herd, selecting young cows to be slain and added to the
supply of meat.
Little Eagle knew how Sioux hunters would do if they were on this hunt.
They would kill as many buffaloes as they could use. As soon as they had
enough, each hunter would start dressing those he had killed. As Little
Eagle watched, a Pawnee hunter stopped his horse, dismounted, and
started skinning one of the buffaloes he had killed. Another warrior,
and another, turned back to the slain buffaloes until the whole party of
hunters was busy skinning and dressing buffaloes.
Little Eagle waited only long enough to make sure that no warrior was
sent to bring the horses, before he turned toward the Pawnee camp.
Little Eagle kept a sharp watch as he approached the horses. He could
have made a mistake when he watched the hunters leave the camp. A
warrior might have been left to watch the horses.
As soon as he was sure there was no one watching the herd, Little Eagle
went straight to the horses. A few of them moved away from him, but most
of them continued grazing. He selected the two that he thought were the
best in the herd. He jumped onto the back of one of them and took the
halter rope of the other.
Little Eagle made no attempt to hide his trail. Angry Wolf had said they
would make a crooked trail when they left camp. There had been many
lessons about how to hide a trail. Angry Wolf probably knew most of the
tricks.
When Little Eagle rode into camp, Angry Wolf was ready to leave. He had
made a bundle of the small piece of meat left from the deer Little Eagle
had shot. He had dug up the deer hide and washed it in the stream.
Little Eagle noticed that Angry Wolf had brushed around the camping
place with a tree branch and had even scooped up the coals from the fire
and dumped them into the stream. When the Pawnees trailed the horses to
this camp, they would learn little about how many had camped there or
how long they had been gone.
Little Eagle took the package of meat and the deer hide. He watched
anxiously as Angry Wolf climbed onto the back of the other horse.
Ordinarily, Little Eagle would have tossed the halter rope to Angry Wolf
before he started to mount. This time he held it until Angry Wolf was
safely on his horse.
“We’ll follow the trail the Crows made,” Little Eagle called to his
companion as they started off.
Little Eagle took the path he had made when he had been carrying water
to Angry Wolf. He had planned to turn toward the place where the Crow
chiefs had camped. Before he reached the trail, he changed his mind. It
might be easier to fool the Pawnees if they were led to believe their
enemies were Crows.
Although his horse was eager to run, Little Eagle held it to a walk. He
continually looked back over his shoulder to see how Angry Wolf was
getting along. He was pleased to see that Angry Wolf was sitting erectly
on his horse. He didn’t appear to be any more tired than he would have
been in camp. At a place where the trail went over level ground, Angry
Wolf brought his horse alongside that of Little Eagle.
“Did the Pawnees have many buffaloes?” Angry Wolf asked.
“Enough to feed a big camp many days,” Little Eagle replied. “The sun
will be far down by the time they have all of them skinned and
butchered.”
“That is good,” Angry Wolf said. “We’ll have a long start before they
notice their loss. However, as soon as the Pawnees learn they have lost
horses, they’ll send two or three trackers on our trail.”
Little Eagle shifted uneasily on his horse. There were many good
trackers among the Sioux, but none so good as the Pawnees. Many times he
had heard warriors tell about Pawnees following trails that it had
seemed impossible for anyone to find.
As the sun began to slip down the western sky, Little Eagle lost some of
his uneasiness. Angry Wolf was still riding erectly. Perhaps, if they
had to increase their speed, Angry Wolf could stand the pace. At the top
of each hill, both Angry Wolf and Little Eagle looked back down the
trail. Each time they were relieved that there was no sign of pursuit.
Before the sun went down, they stopped at the top of a high hill. Little
Eagle jumped from his horse and climbed a tall tree. From there he could
see a long way back. There was no sign of Pawnees.
The Crow trail turned into land that was much rougher. There were chains
of steep hills with only narrow valleys between them. Every valley had a
stream flowing through it. At each stream, Little Eagle considered
riding up the stream where they would leave no tracks. Each time he
decided that the farther he and Angry Wolf rode along the Crow trail,
the more likely the Pawnees would be to turn back.
There was still daylight left when Little Eagle noticed that Angry Wolf
was slumped over his horse’s neck. Evidently Angry Wolf had suddenly
become so tired that he could scarcely stay on his horse. Once Little
Eagle saw him grasp his horse’s mane to save himself from falling.
“We’ll have to make camp,” Little Eagle called to his friend.
“I think we have escaped,” Angry Wolf agreed. “Anyway I need rest.”
They were near the top of another of those high hills. When they reached
the top, Little Eagle jumped from his horse and handed the halter rope
to Angry Wolf.
“I’ll watch the trail for a while,” Little Eagle said. “You ride to the
stream at the foot of the hill. We’ll camp there.”
As Angry Wolf rode ahead, Little Eagle found a place from which he could
see back along the trail they had followed. In the dusk he couldn’t see
far. Nevertheless, he felt he should watch for a while.
Little Eagle heard the Pawnees before he could see them. He could tell
by the pound of hoofbeats that the Pawnees were riding hard. Evidently
they weren’t afraid of riding into an ambush. Perhaps those expert
trackers had found signs that told them they were following two boys.
Little Eagle had his first glimpse of the Pawnees when they stopped at
the stream. He was relieved to see there were only two. One of the
Pawnees dismounted and stepped across the stream. Since Little Eagle and
Angry Wolf had made no effort to hide their trail, the Pawnee found it
at once. The warrior signaled for the other Pawnee to bring the horses.
Little Eagle knew it was too late for him to run to Angry Wolf with a
warning. The Pawnees would be upon them before they could mount. He had
to stop the Pawnees. He saw a hiding place farther down the hill. While
the Pawnee warrior was remounting, Little Eagle slipped to the hiding
place he had selected.
By the time he had hidden himself, Little Eagle had decided how far he
would let the Pawnees ride up the trail. He tried to control the shaking
of his hands as he raised the bow. He aimed an arrow at the nearer
Pawnee and slowly moved the bow to keep the arrow pointed at him as the
warrior approached. This was a far more important shot than the one he
had taken at the deer. If he had missed the deer, there would have been
other chances later. If he missed the Pawnee, neither he nor Angry Wolf
would escape.
The Pawnee was almost to the spot Little Eagle had decided upon as the
limit. Little Eagle held his breath to steady his hands. He pulled the
bowstring back. At the instant Little Eagle let the arrow fly, the
warrior’s horse half stumbled. The arrow hit the Pawnee higher than
Little Eagle had aimed, but it hit true enough to knock the Pawnee from
his horse.
The other Pawnee acted so quickly that Little Eagle didn’t have a chance
for another shot. The warrior wheeled his horse from the trail into the
shelter of some tall bushes. Little Eagle leaned forward, trying to keep
the Pawnee in sight. He was sure the warrior would get off his horse and
try to sneak around him or would send his horse charging toward the spot
from which the arrow had come. To Little Eagle’s amazement, the warrior
rode out onto the trail beside his wounded companion. He jumped from his
horse, picked the wounded man up, and placed him on his own horse. The
wounded warrior’s horse was already trotting back down the trail. The
Pawnee leaped on his horse behind his wounded companion and rode back
the way he had come.
Little Eagle brought his bow up and took careful aim at the warrior’s
back, but he didn’t let the arrow fly. He hadn’t supposed that anyone,
unless perhaps a Sioux warrior, would have the courage to do what that
Pawnee had done. While he despised himself for his weakness, he couldn’t
shoot that brave warrior in the back. He gave a little sigh of relief
when the warrior was out of sight and the chance to shoot him was gone.
When Little Eagle reached Angry Wolf, he found the other boy stretched
out on the ground. Angry Wolf raised himself on one elbow as Little
Eagle approached.
“What has happened?” he asked. “You were gone a long time.”
Little Eagle gave an account of what had occurred. He hesitated when he
told about letting the second Pawnee escape.
“He was so brave I couldn’t shoot him in the back,” Little Eagle said in
a shamed voice.
“I would have let him go too,” Angry Wolf admitted. “Not many warriors
are that brave.”
“I wonder if the whole party of Pawnees will come after us now?” Little
Eagle asked.
Angry Wolf was silent for a while. Little Eagle knew the other boy was
thinking of the stories their teacher had told them around the campfire.
Many of those stories had been about other tribes and the ways they
fought.
“I suppose they will,” Angry Wolf said after a long pause. “The Pawnees
will want to get revenge for the loss of their horses and especially for
the wounded man.”
Little Eagle opened the package of meat. There were a couple of small
pieces that had been cooked. He and Angry Wolf made a meal on those
pieces. When they had finished eating, Angry Wolf stretched out on the
ground to rest. Little Eagle started to get to his feet.
“Lie down and rest,” Angry Wolf ordered. “We will have to go on, but we
should rest first. We will have time before the other Pawnees start.”
Although he wasn’t at all sure that the Pawnees wouldn’t be upon them at
any moment, Little Eagle obeyed. He stretched out beside Angry Wolf and
fell asleep. It seemed to him that he had scarcely closed his eyes when
Angry Wolf touched him gently on the shoulder.
“I think we should ride on,” the older boy said. “We ought to follow
this trail a short distance and then turn up one of the streams.”
Little Eagle caught the horses and brought them to where Angry Wolf was
waiting. Slowly and painfully, Angry Wolf got to his feet. Little Eagle
had to help him onto his horse.
Little Eagle led the way along the trail until they came to the third
stream. Here he turned upstream. Both horses fought against the halter
ropes, trying to get out of the cold water. When the animals found they
wouldn’t be allowed to get out of the water, they went more rapidly.
There were places where the horses sloshed through pools. At every step,
water was splashed high into the air. Both Little Eagle and Angry Wolf
were thoroughly soaked.
[Illustration: _At every step water splashed high_]
When he glanced back over his shoulder, Little Eagle saw Angry Wolf bent
low on his horse’s neck. Little Eagle pulled his horse to a stop and
motioned for Angry Wolf to take the lead. If Angry Wolf fell from his
horse, Little Eagle wanted to be ready to save his friend.
The stream wound through steep, wooded hills. What little light the
stars gave was almost entirely shut off by the trees. Little Eagle could
see very little on either side of the stream. After they had ridden a
long time, Little Eagle noticed a change. The hills were farther back
from the stream and there were fewer trees on them. The farther he and
Angry Wolf went, the fewer were the trees.
It seemed to Little Eagle that they must have been riding most of the
night when he saw a tiny creek flowing into the stream they were
following. He called softly for Angry Wolf to turn off into the creek.
Angry Wolf obeyed without answering. They followed the creek until it
ended abruptly in a gushing spring at the foot of a hill.
Angry Wolf waited and let Little Eagle lead the way. Little Eagle rode
along the base of the hill until he came to a place where a narrow
finger of a valley extended back into the hills. Here both riders
dismounted. They turned the horses loose to graze. Little Eagle unfolded
the deerskin and put the fur side down. Both he and Angry Wolf crawled
under it and fell asleep at once.
Little Eagle awoke at daybreak. When he crawled out from under the
deerskin, he saw that the grass was covered with a heavy layer of frost.
He watched anxiously as Angry Wolf got to his feet. He noticed that in
spite of yesterday’s hard travel, Angry Wolf seemed much stronger. He
walked easily and held himself erect.
“You are almost well,” Little Eagle told him.
“I am strong enough to start our trip to the winter camp,” Angry Wolf
agreed. “It is time we were starting,” he added, kicking at the heavy
frost on the grass. “Old-man-of-the-north will soon send snow.”
“Snow will hide our trail from our enemies,” Little Eagle said.
“It will make traveling harder for us, too,” Angry Wolf replied.
The two boys went to explore the finger of the valley. They found it was
a narrow, grassy glen with a few trees in the middle. It was ringed with
steep hills. The only entrance was the one through which they had come.
“I wonder if it will be safe to start a fire and cook meat?” Angry Wolf
asked.
Little Eagle noticed how differently Angry Wolf treated him from the way
he had when they were planning to get horses from the Crows. Then,
because he was older, Angry Wolf had wanted to make all the plans
without asking Little Eagle’s advice. Now, he seemed to think that
Little Eagle was the wiser and should decide what was to be done.
“It is dangerous, but we need food,” Little Eagle answered.
Little Eagle went back to the entrance where they had left the meat. By
the time he returned, Angry Wolf had a small fire started. While Angry
Wolf tended the fire, adding fuel slowly so there would be little smoke,
Little Eagle cut the meat into slices. They cooked all of the meat and
ate as much as they wanted. Little Eagle made a package of what was
left. He covered the fire with dirt.
“Are you going to catch the horses so we can start on?” Angry Wolf
asked.
“It will be better if we stay here today,” Little Eagle answered. “The
Pawnees will come to look for us. I don’t think they will find the old
trail we made. If we make a new one, they might find it.”
“I should have thought of that,” Angry Wolf said.
Little Eagle went back to the place where the glen opened into the main
valley. He could see across the valley and to the tops of the hills on
the other side. No one could go through the valley without being in
sight.
Little Eagle heard the faint stir of footsteps in the grass behind him.
As suddenly as a startled deer, he twisted aside and rolled over. At the
same time he brought his bow up. He had an arrow pointed straight at
Angry Wolf. He felt foolish as he lowered the bow. There had been a
frightened look on Angry Wolf’s face. It gave way to a smile of
admiration.
“You are becoming a warrior,” Angry Wolf said. “It will not be easy for
an enemy to take you by surprise.”
“I don’t believe the Pawnees are coming,” Little Eagle said, thinking of
the long journey to the winter camp and the need to get started at once.
“Maybe not,” Angry Wolf replied. “However, I think your first plan a
good one. Besides, we need more rest. You go farther back and sleep. If
I need you, I’ll toss a stone.”
Little Eagle took a couple of minutes to decide which would be the
better plan. The heavy frost on the grass this morning was a warning
that winter could not be far off. He and Angry Wolf had a long journey
to make across the prairie before they reached winter camp. Perhaps they
were being too cautious. It was the need for rest rather than the fear
that the Pawnees would still come which decided him. He went back to
where they had left the deerskin.
Although he was sure his thoughts would keep him awake, Little Eagle
stretched out on the deerskin. He closed his eyes against the glare of
the sun and fell asleep at once. He was awakened by the rattle of a
small stone, falling in the grass near him.
Little Eagle crawled to a place beside Angry Wolf. He saw the two Pawnee
scouts at once. They were riding up the trail on the other side of the
creek. Little Eagle watched the scouts with a puzzled frown. The scouts
didn’t seem to be watching for the place where their enemies had ridden
out of the stream.
“They don’t act as though they’re looking for our trail,” Little Eagle
whispered.
“I expect they know of a beaver dam farther up the stream,” Angry Wolf
whispered back.
Little Eagle nodded. That was a likely explanation. If the beavers had
made a dam across the stream farther up it, anyone riding upstream would
have to go around it. The Pawnees must know of such a dam. They would
ride there, expecting to pick up the trail again. It was lucky that he
and Angry Wolf had turned off here.
The two Sioux watched the Pawnees until a bend in the valley hid them
from view. Angry Wolf started to crawl away, but Little Eagle touched
his arm to stop him. It wasn’t long until a party of Pawnee warriors
rode into sight. Angry Wolf turned an admiring glance on Little Eagle.
“How did you know a party of warriors would follow those two Pawnee
scouts?” he asked.
“You told me that was the way Pawnees followed a trail,” Little Eagle
reminded him. “It is because you are so tired that you didn’t think of
it,” he added. “Go back and sleep while I watch.”
Angry Wolf obeyed without protesting. Little Eagle kept his eyes on the
bend in the valley where the Pawnees had disappeared. Little Eagle
smiled to himself as he thought how surprised the Pawnee scouts would be
when they reached the beaver dam and couldn’t find their enemies’ trail.
He and Angry Wolf had certainly made a crooked trail.
The warm sun had wiped away the frost and dried the grass. For a while
its heat made Little Eagle drowsy. Now some clouds rolled up and hid the
sun. The wind was rising and it had a chilly edge. Little Eagle raised
his eyes to study the clouds. He saw that it wouldn’t be long before
rain started to fall.
His attention was drawn back to the trail by the faint drumming sound
made by the hoofs of fast-running horses. The sound rapidly became
plainer. Little Eagle picked up a small stone and tossed it back over
his shoulder.
By the time Angry Wolf had crawled to Little Eagle’s side, the Pawnees
were flying back down the trail. Three riderless horses raced ahead of
the warriors. Little Eagle saw that the Pawnees were whipping their
horses, trying to get them to go still faster. When he saw the big band
of Crows come into sight around the bend, he understood why the Pawnees
were fleeing.
There must have been fifty warriors in that band of pursuing Crows. The
Crows were lashing their ponies as furiously as were the Pawnees. Three
or four Crows were outdistancing the rest of the pursuers and drawing
closer to the Pawnees.
Most of the Pawnees leaned low over their horses’ necks. One, at the
rear of the group, suddenly straightened up. He half turned and,
seemingly without taking aim, let an arrow fly. The leading Crow dropped
from his horse as though he had been jerked off by an invisible, giant
hand.
The other Crows pulled their horses to a stop around the fallen man.
They hesitated for only a moment before they raced on, but it was long
enough to allow the Pawnees to gain a considerable distance.
Little Eagle and Angry Wolf watched the chase until both parties were
out of sight. They continued to watch the fallen Crow where his
companions had left him, with his horse grazing a few paces away. The
sun was almost down when the party of Crows returned. They weren’t
leading any riderless ponies so it was plain that the Pawnees had
escaped. The Crows stopped and picked up the slain warrior. They laid
him across the back of his own horse and slowly rode out of sight.
“That is a lesson we must remember,” Little Eagle said. “The Pawnees
were so anxious to catch us that they forgot to watch for other
dangers.”
“But they did kill a Crow,” Angry Wolf replied.
“There were three Pawnee horses without riders,” Little Eagle reminded
him.
“It was a high price to pay for one enemy,” Angry Wolf agreed.
Both boys were silent for a while. Little Eagle’s thoughts were
following the band of Crows. It could have been the same band which had
planned to attack their camp.
“The Crows have powerful medicine.” Angry Wolf spoke almost as if his
thoughts were following those of Little Eagle. “It is fortunate that we
were able to get horses from the Pawnees. If we had tried to take horses
from the Crows, we would have failed again.”
Little Eagle turned Angry Wolf’s words over in his mind. It was true
that fortune had seemed to be with the Crows. They hadn’t been punished
for the treachery they had planned against the Sioux. Even though he and
Angry Wolf had kept the Crow plan from succeeding, it was still an
almost-victory for the Crows.
“The Crows should be punished,” Little Eagle said angrily.
Angry Wolf nodded. He rubbed his hand along the side of his head where
the Crow arrow had struck him.
“They will be,” he answered. “With the horses we have, we can reach the
winter camp. Next spring a war party will be sent to punish the Crows.”
Next spring seemed far away to Little Eagle. In his mind he could
picture the party of Crows sitting around their campfires. They would
tell of how they had tricked the Sioux chiefs. While they hadn’t
succeeded in making an attack, they had forced the Sioux to run. Now
they had won a victory over the Pawnees too. Truly there would be
boasting around the Crow campfires this winter.
“We ought to find a better place to make camp,” Angry Wolf interrupted
Little Eagle’s thoughts. “We will want shelter against this rain.”
Little Eagle had been so wrapped in his thoughts that he hadn’t noticed
the rain. It was only a sprinkle, but the heavy clouds in the northwest
gave promise of more to come. Little Eagle arose and went to bring the
horses.
He caught the horses and led them to the place where he had left the
deerskin. He rolled their belongings into a bundle with the deerskin
around it. He mounted his horse and led the other to Angry Wolf.
Little Eagle led the way across the valley to the trail by which the
Pawnees had fled from the Crows. He turned down the trail in the
direction the Pawnees had gone. He rode across one stream but, at the
second, left the trail and rode to a thick grove of trees.
“We’ll make camp here,” he said.
They turned their horses loose and set to work to build a shelter. They
found a clump of small trees. By lacing the branches together, they made
a sort of lean-to to protect them from the rain. They found a big pile
of leaves and dug into them until they came to dry ones. These they
carried to the shelter to make a bed.
Before they went to sleep, the two boys ate some of the cooked meat.
“In the morning we’ll have fresh meat,” Angry Wolf vowed.