When Little Eagle awoke the next morning, he was surprised to find the
ground covered with a light blanket of snow.
“Old-man-of-the-north sent snow early,” Angry Wolf said, as he crawled
out of the shelter.
“It isn’t much,” Little Eagle pointed out.
“It’s enough to be a warning to us,” Angry Wolf answered.
“Old-man-of-the-north sent it to warn us that we should hurry to the
winter camp.”
“Maybe he sent it to tell us that he would send more to cover our
tracks, if we take horses from the Crows,” Little Eagle suggested.
Angry Wolf looked at him questioningly. Little Eagle wondered if that
was fear he saw in his friend’s eyes. Since he had been wounded by the
Crows, Angry Wolf had acted strangely every time the Crows were
mentioned.
“If I can lead him in a successful raid against the Crows, he will be as
brave as he has always been,” Little Eagle thought to himself, but he
said nothing more to Angry Wolf.
“I’ll try to get fresh meat while you build a fire,” Angry Wolf offered.
Little Eagle watched as Angry Wolf left camp. It was surprising how much
better Angry Wolf had become in the last two days. He seemed as strong
as he had ever been. It was hard to believe that less than a moon ago he
had been seriously wounded.
By the time Little Eagle had a cheerful fire going, Angry Wolf returned
to camp with an antelope on his shoulder.
“Hunting is good,” Angry Wolf said, with a pleased smile. “This will be
food enough until we get a buffalo.”
As soon as they had finished eating, Little Eagle brought the horses
into camp. The sun had risen in a clear sky and already was melting the
snow. Angry Wolf had made two packages of the meat. One he had wrapped
in the hide of the antelope he had shot and the other in Little Eagle’s
deer hide. He handed one of the packages to Little Eagle.
Little Eagle led the way. At first the route was up and down wooded
hills, but soon the hills became smaller and the trees fewer. When they
stopped to rest at midday, Little Eagle could see the open prairie ahead
of them.
“We’re really started for our winter camp now,” Angry Wolf said
cheerfully.
“It will be good to be in camp with the rest of our people,” Little
Eagle replied, trying to forget how disappointed he was that the Crows
would go so long unpunished.
Several times during the afternoon the two boys sighted small herds of
buffaloes. Little Eagle’s mouth watered at the sight of them. Antelope
and deer steaks were good food, but not so good as buffalo. Every herd
of buffaloes that they sighted lumbered away before the riders were
within bowshot. Little Eagle knew that although the buffaloes could not
see far, their keen noses quickly caught the scent of enemies. If the
wind had been blowing from the other direction, he and Angry Wolf would
have had a chance to get one of the animals.
The sun was sliding down behind some clouds in the west when Little
Eagle and Angry Wolf reached a small stream. There were a few trees
along its banks. The trees would provide shelter and their branches
could be used for fuel.
“Shall I start building a shelter?” Angry Wolf asked.
As Little Eagle looked at the clouds climbing in the western sky, he
thought how much Angry Wolf had come to depend upon him to make all of
the decisions.
“The trees will protect us,” he replied. “With my deerskin over us,
we’ll be dry even if it should snow.”
While Angry Wolf cooked meat for their meal, Little Eagle made a pile of
dry leaves for their bed. Both of them were so tired that as soon as
they had eaten they put out the fire, crawled into the bed of leaves,
and pulled the deerskin over them.
When Little Eagle awoke the next morning, he saw that the branches of
the tree were wet and the ground around was, too. However, he and Angry
Wolf had been warm and dry in their bed. He was pleased that there was
no snow. Perhaps Old-man-of-the-north would let them cross the prairie
before he blew snow with his icy breath.
Little Eagle led the way across the open prairie. At midday he and Angry
Wolf stopped for their usual rest. They had come a long distance that
morning, but they had seen only one clump of trees. While they were
resting, Little Eagle watched a bank of clouds forming in the northwest.
“Will we be rained on again this afternoon?” Angry Wolf asked.
“Rain will not matter,” Little Eagle answered uneasily. “To me, the air
has a feel as if Old-man-of-the-north’s cold wind was behind that cloud.
It may be a long way to the next camping place. It would not be good to
be on the prairie if there is much snow.”
Angry Wolf looked doubtfully around the prairie where they were resting.
“It couldn’t catch us in a much poorer place than this,” he said.
“That’s true,” Little Eagle agreed. “We’ll keep going.”
When they started again, Little Eagle wondered what caused his feeling
of uneasiness. The air was warmer. There didn’t seem to be any reason
for thinking that snow would fall. Even when the rain started, Little
Eagle was not too uncomfortable. Later in the afternoon the rain felt
colder. However, when the boys were chilled, they jumped from their
horses and trotted beside them. As soon as they were warm, they
remounted. There was still some daylight left when they reached a small,
tree-lined stream.
“This is the place for us to camp,” Little Eagle called cheerfully.
The two boys made camp quickly. As soon as they had a fire going, they
built a shelter. It was dark by the time they had the shelter finished.
It was while they were eating that the drops of rain began to change to
flakes of snow. In a short time the northwest wind was driving the snow
with stinging force.
“It is fortunate that we found this place,” Little Eagle said. “We may
have to stay here several days.”
The next morning it looked as though Little Eagle’s prediction would
come true. The wind was still driving the snow before it. A drift had
buried the boys’ fire and the pile of wood. They had to scrape the snow
from the wood and work carefully to get dry shavings to start a new
fire. Little Eagle noticed that Angry Wolf was restless and disturbed
because of the delay.
“Old-man-of-the-north may send much snow,” Little Eagle told him, “but
it won’t matter. In a few days much of it will melt. Then we can travel
easily.”
“If Old-man-of-the-north sends one snow, he will send others,” Angry
Wolf protested. “We may be caught on the prairie.”
“This will be the last snow of this moon,” Little Eagle stated with
certainty.
Angry Wolf seemed much encouraged by Little Eagle’s words. He took his
quiver of arrows and began smoothing some of the arrows. Little Eagle
spent his time rewrapping the hand grip on his bow. About midday the
snow slackened, and soon afterward it almost stopped. Little Eagle stood
up and looked about. In some places drifts of snow had been piled high.
In others, the ground had been swept almost bare. Although the wind was
cold, rays of sunshine filtered through the clouds.
“I’m going to see about our horses,” Little Eagle announced.
“I’ll finish scraping my arrows unless you want me to go with you,”
Angry Wolf decided.
“I’ll go alone,” Little Eagle answered. “They aren’t far away.”
However, Little Eagle walked a considerable distance from camp without
finding a trace of the horses. He couldn’t even find the trail they had
left when they wandered away. When the sun was getting low in the
western sky, Little Eagle turned back toward camp. On the way back, he
wondered what words he would use to tell Angry Wolf so that the other
boy would not be too alarmed at the danger of their situation. Little
Eagle didn’t try to hide from himself the fact that they were in grave
danger. Here in the middle of the prairie, with no horses, they might
not be able to get enough game to keep them alive through the winter.
Oddly enough, Angry Wolf was not greatly disturbed when Little Eagle
announced that he hadn’t been able to find the horses.
“They probably drifted ahead of the storm,” Angry Wolf said calmly. “In
the morning we’ll both look for them.”
The next morning the two boys left camp together. When they had gone
about a third of the distance Little Eagle had covered the day before,
they halted.
“You’d better go south here,” Little Eagle suggested. “I’ll go farther
east and then I’ll turn south.”
Little Eagle went almost as far east as he had gone yesterday before he
turned south. He plodded slowly through the deep snow. He climbed and
crossed many low hills without finding the horses. As he climbed to the
top of another hill, he decided he would turn back toward Angry Wolf and
search the ground between them. From the top of the hill Little Eagle
could see a clump of trees below him. It was possible that the horses
were crowded into the shelter of the trees and were hidden from his
sight. He decided to look behind the trees.
When Little Eagle circled the trees, he saw the tracks of the horses
leading south. He hurried forward to get a better look at the trail they
had left. He saw that the horses had left the grove while snow was still
falling. Their tracks were partly covered with snow. He stopped in
dismay when he saw that the tracks had been made by three horses.
Little Eagle made a quick search under the trees. He found where someone
had camped during the worst of the storm. He was not good enough at
tracking to read all of the signs, but he could read enough of them to
tell that someone had been camping here and that the horses had wandered
to the shelter of the trees during the storm. Whoever had been here had
taken the horses and ridden on while the snow was still falling.
It didn’t take any sign reading for Little Eagle to realize how great a
misfortune had befallen Angry Wolf and himself. There was no hope that
they could get the horses back. It would be equally hopeless to try to
cross the prairie on foot. They would have to turn back to where there
were more trees. He and Angry Wolf would have to spend the winter by
themselves.
Little Eagle turned west to find Angry Wolf’s trail. When he reached it,
he followed it south. He went as swiftly as he could go. Angry Wolf
glanced back and saw him. The other boy turned back to meet Little
Eagle.
“Where are the horses?” Angry Wolf asked.
“Someone took them,” Little Eagle answered.
As Little Eagle told of the trail he had found, he closely watched Angry
Wolf’s face. He saw fear in the other boy’s eyes, and he tried to make
his voice cheerful.
“It was a Crow warrior who took our horses,” Angry Wolf said hopelessly
when Little Eagle had finished. “The Crows have powerful medicine.”
“We have to get those horses back,” Little Eagle urged.
Little Eagle spoke with a confidence he didn’t feel. He had no plan for
getting the horses, yet he knew he must say something to encourage Angry
Wolf.
“The Crows have powerful medicine,” Angry Wolf repeated.
“Old-man-of-the-north might send another snow to keep the Crow in camp
until we get our horses back from him,” Little Eagle suggested.
Angry Wolf glanced around the sky.
“There’ll be no more snow this moon,” he said. “We may as well return to
our camp.”
Without a word, Little Eagle turned back toward their own camp. While
Angry Wolf was in this mood, it would do no good to argue with him.
Perhaps when he had eaten and rested, he would see that their best hope
to escape would be to get their horses back from the Crow.
As soon as they reached camp, Angry Wolf began to slice thin pieces of
meat and put them on a stick. Little Eagle saw that Angry Wolf was
cooking enough food for a trip.
“It would be foolish for us to try to cross the prairie on foot,” he
said quietly.
Angry Wolf nodded agreement.
“Our best plan is to return to the camp we had on the creek,” he said.
“I’m preparing extra food in case we have trouble reaching the place.”
While Little Eagle busied himself with work around the camp, he turned
the problem over in his mind. He knew Angry Wolf would agree to wait
until morning to start the return trip. In the meantime he had to think
of a plan to get their horses from the Crow. It would have to be a good
plan if it convinced Angry Wolf. Angry Wolf had said that the Crows had
powerful medicine. Yet the two of them had spoiled the Crow plan to
attack the Sioux camp. Perhaps their own medicine was as strong as that
of the Crows.
Little Eagle sat down a few paces from the fire. He wanted to think more
about this problem. He tried to imagine what advice Clawing Bear would
give. When the answer came, it was almost as if Clawing Bear were
speaking to him. He had the deer hide. It was powerful medicine. He
should take the hide and go away from camp. If he rolled himself up in
the deer hide and slept, he might have a dream which would tell him what
to do. He told his thoughts to Angry Wolf.
“You have studied under the great medicine man, Clawing Bear,” Angry
Wolf said thoughtfully. “You should know more about these matters than
I. Yet, if you don’t get a clear dream, we ought to start back to the
old camp at daylight.”
As soon as darkness fell, Little Eagle carried his deer hide to the top
of a high hill. He was so far from camp that he couldn’t see the twinkle
of the fire. When he had thought of the plan, Little Eagle hadn’t
thought of the danger. As he pulled the deer hide over him, he felt
uneasy. He had never had a visit from a spirit. Suppose he was
frightened? It would be a disgrace for a Sioux boy to show fear.
At first he moved about restlessly. The wind seemed to creep under the
hide and keep him cold. After a time he had the deer hide arranged so
that the wind didn’t get under it. As soon as he was warm, he grew
drowsy. He had almost fallen asleep when a faint sighing noise aroused
him. He listened tensely. After a few minutes he realized the sound was
made by the wind sifting snow against the deer hide. He closed his eyes
and fell asleep.
Afterward Little Eagle was never sure whether he woke up, as he seemed
to do, or whether the whole thing was a dream. At least it was so real
that it seemed to happen. He felt cold. When he opened his eyes he saw
that it was still dark. He realized that the deer hide had slipped off
his shoulder. He reached his hand out to grasp it and pull it back over
his shoulder. He stopped when a soft voice spoke to him.
“Get up, Little Eagle,” the voice said. “I’ll show you how you can get
horses from the Crows. They are my enemies too.”
Little Eagle sat up. It wasn’t as dark as he had thought. The eastern
sky was beginning to lighten. It wouldn’t be long until the sun came up.
Little Eagle looked around, but he could see no one. The only living
thing near was a small bird which sat huddled on his deerskin. When the
voice spoke again, Little Eagle saw that it was the bird speaking.
“The Crows have killed many buffaloes,” the bird said. “They are gorged
with food. It will be easy to take horses from them.”
Little Eagle scrambled to his feet. He could dash back to camp and get
Angry Wolf. Together they would follow the bird and get horses. He
reached down to pick up the deer hide to carry it back to camp.
“Put it under that tree,” the bird said, nodding his head toward a tree
in the direction away from the camp. “My family will use it to build
warm nests for the winter which is almost here.”
Little Eagle folded the skin neatly. The bird flew ahead and perched on
a limb while Little Eagle placed the hide at the foot of the tree. The
bird flew off to the west. He went so quickly that Little Eagle didn’t
have time to ask for permission to get Angry Wolf. He had to run to keep
the bird in sight.
While it didn’t seem that they had traveled long, the sun was down and
darkness had fallen when they reached the Crow camp. The camp had been
set up on the sheltered side of a grove of trees. The smell of roasting
buffalo meat made Little Eagle’s mouth water. A few Crows were feasting
on the fresh buffalo meat. Little Eagle knew that most of the band had
stuffed themselves with fresh meat and had crawled into their tepees to
sleep.
The bird flew around the Crow camp, and Little Eagle followed him. In a
short time they came to the herd of horses. Little Eagle saw the ones
that belonged to Angry Wolf and him. He guessed that the warrior who had
taken them had gone south until the storm stopped and then had circled
to join the Crows in this camp.
“See how easily you can take all the horses you want,” the bird
whispered.
Little Eagle looked around. What the bird said was true. There were no
guards. Most of the horses were out of sight of the camp. Anyone who
used reasonable care could take horses from this herd.
Little Eagle didn’t know what happened after that. He was chilly and he
awoke to find that the deer hide had slipped from his shoulder. He sat
up. The sun was just rising over the eastern hills. His dream had been
so plain that for a moment he couldn’t believe it had been a dream.
Little Eagle’s first feeling was of disappointment. It had been a dream
and he didn’t actually have the horses. The feeling of disappointment
passed quickly. He had heard Clawing Bear tell of the messages that came
to a medicine man in dreams. This was a message for him. He had learned
how he and Angry Wolf could get horses. He jumped to his feet and raced
to camp.
Angry Wolf had already risen. He was cooking more meat at the fire. He
looked sad and dejected as Little Eagle ran into camp.
“You had a message?” he asked doubtfully when he saw Little Eagle’s
excitement.
Little Eagle nodded. Eagerly, he related what had happened in his dream.
When he had finished, he saw that Angry Wolf was still unconvinced.
“Was the messenger a blackbird?” Angry Wolf demanded.
“No,” Little Eagle answered. “It was—”
He stopped. In his excitement he hadn’t noticed what kind of a bird it
had been. He was sure it wasn’t a blackbird. He would have known better
than to follow one of those bringers of misfortune, even in a dream.
Then he remembered that the bird had said, “The Crows are my enemies
too.”
“It was a mud swallow,” Little Eagle exclaimed. “It told me that the
Crows were its enemies too.”
“That is better,” Angry Wolf admitted. “The Crows shoot the swallows,
and we never do.”
“Then you are ready to accept the sign and try to get horses from the
Crows?” Little Eagle demanded.
“I’m not sure it is a sign,” Angry Wolf answered slowly. “It may just be
a dream with no meaning.” He stood up. “We have to have horses, though.
I am willing to try.”
In spite of Angry Wolf’s doubts, Little Eagle was so excited that he
could hardly eat. He reminded himself that it had been a long journey in
his dream. He would need all of his strength, so he forced himself to
eat as much as if he were hungry.
As soon as Angry Wolf was ready, Little Eagle led the way. He went to
the hill where he had spent the night. He picked up the deerskin, folded
it carefully, and put it under the tree, as he had done in his dream. In
his dream Little Eagle had gone so swiftly that he hadn’t noticed the
landmarks. Now there was nothing to guide him. He remembered that he had
gone west and a little south. He tried to take the same direction.
As the sun began to sink low in the west, Angry Wolf watched anxiously
ahead.
“We should be nearing the place,” he said.
“It was almost dark when the bird and I got there,” Little Eagle
answered. “We can go many paces before darkness falls.”
“You said the Crows were camped near trees,” Angry Wolf reminded him.
“We have seen no trees since we started.”
The same fear had been nagging at Little Eagle. In his dream the Crows
had been camped behind a grove of trees. Yet he and Angry Wolf had
traveled all day without seeing trees and there seemed to be none ahead.
The two of them came to the top of a high hill. Far ahead of them they
saw a grove of trees.
“That must be the place,” Little Eagle exclaimed.
“We’d better rest and eat,” Angry Wolf suggested. “We can’t take horses
until after darkness falls.”
They found a place where the sun had melted the snow and dried the
ground. Here they ate the cold meat they had brought with them. For the
first time since they had started, Angry Wolf seemed to think they had a
chance to succeed.
“When we have horses again, we’ll hunt buffaloes,” Angry Wolf said.
“No other meat is so good,” Little Eagle answered.
They rested until the darkness was heavy enough to hide their movements.
It didn’t take them long to reach the grove of trees. They could see the
gleam of campfires on the other side of the grove.
The two Sioux slipped among the trees until they reached a place where
they could see the Crow camp. There were several campfires, and chunks
of buffalo meat were roasting over each of them. Some warriors were
sitting around, gorging on fresh meat. Others had evidently stuffed
themselves and crawled into their tepees to sleep. As Little Eagle and
Angry Wolf watched, one of the warriors got to his feet and staggered to
a tepee.
Little Eagle knew that sometimes warriors, who had been without food for
several days, would stuff themselves with fresh meat when they had the
chance. Warriors who did that would sleep soundly. He and Angry Wolf
should be able to take horses without trouble.
Little Eagle touched Angry Wolf’s arm. He began to circle the camp, with
Angry Wolf following him. They went around the west side of the camp and
continued south until they came to the herd of horses. Even in the
darkness they located the two that had been taken from them.
Angry Wolf took a careful look around. He motioned for Little Eagle to
stay where he was. Little Eagle waited patiently as Angry Wolf slipped
away in the darkness. While he was sure there were no guards watching
the herd, Little Eagle realized that Angry Wolf was doing what should be
done. A warrior should look for his enemies even when he didn’t expect
to find them.
“There are no guards,” Angry Wolf whispered when he returned.
The two boys went straight to their own horses. The horses stood quietly
while their riders mounted. Angry Wolf wanted to take at least ten
horses apiece, but Little Eagle objected.
“We’ll have a better chance to get away if we pick a few good horses,”
he pointed out.
“The more horses we take, the greater our victory,” Angry Wolf whispered
urgently.
After a few minutes of whispering together, Angry Wolf agreed to accept
Little Eagle’s plan to take five horses apiece. When the horses had been
selected, Angry Wolf took the halter ropes of two of them and started
away from the camp. Little Eagle rode behind, herding the others. Now
the wisdom of Little Eagle’s plan was plain, for even the few horses
were hard to get started. Little Eagle’s horse was kept turning and
plunging to hold the horses in a bunch.
Angry Wolf rode straight west until he saw that Little Eagle had the
herd under control. Then he turned north, as they had decided to do.
There was no chance to pick a route where they wouldn’t leave a trail.
Even in the places where there was no snow, the tracks of the horses
could easily be seen.
After they had ridden for what seemed a long time, Little Eagle called
for Angry Wolf to stop. Little Eagle circled the herd and rode to his
friend’s side.
“We’ll turn east here,” Little Eagle ordered. “We may be able to fool
the Crows into thinking we are Pawnees. If we do, they’ll turn south to
cut us off. We will soon turn north again.”
“We have won a great victory over the Crows,” Angry Wolf gloated.
“We will win a great victory if we get away,” Little Eagle answered
grimly. “The Crows will follow us when they learn of their loss.”
“By that time we shall have escaped,” Angry Wolf said hopefully.
Little Eagle looked at his friend in wonder. For days, Angry Wolf had
been downhearted and gloomy. He had thought they had no chance against
the Crows. Now that they had made this little start, Angry Wolf had
completely changed. He already counted the victory won.
“We won’t sing the Victory Song until we are sure we have escaped,”
Little Eagle said quietly.