  While Little Eagle waited patiently in front of the tepee of Clawing Bear, the medicine man, several of his friends went past. Each of the boys was carrying a bow and arrows. “Get your bow,” Angry Wolf called. “We’re having a shooting match.” Little Eagle shook his head. “I’m taking a lesson from Clawing Bear,” he explained. “You can take lessons every day when we are in winter camp,” Angry Wolf pointed out. “Today Roaring Lion is giving some fine arrows as prizes.” Little Eagle’s eyes gleamed. Roaring Lion was one of the best makers of arrows in the whole Sioux nation. One of them would be a prize worth more than a lesson. Little Eagle knew that there was little chance he could win one of the arrows. He was about the poorest shot among the boys in the camp. Still, this time luck might be with him. Certainly it was too good a chance to miss. He started to get to his feet to go with Angry Wolf, but changed his mind and sat down again. “I have promised to take a lesson,” he said. “I’ll keep my promise.” “You might as well,” Wounded Face spoke up. “You couldn’t win a prize anyway.” Little Eagle jumped angrily to his feet. He’d show Wounded Face that he could win a prize. But before he had taken the second step toward his own tepee, Little Eagle realized that this was no way for a Sioux to act. If he expected to become a great warrior and medicine man, he must keep the promises he made. “I’ll keep my promise,” he repeated. Little Eagle squatted again in front of the tepee while Angry Wolf and Wounded Face went on. It seemed a long time before Clawing Bear called for him to come into the tepee. When Little Eagle stepped inside, Clawing Bear had a pot of grease simmering over a tiny fire. The medicine man motioned for Little Eagle to sit at one side of the fire. Little Eagle tried to keep his mind on what Clawing Bear was doing, but his thoughts wandered to where the other boys were shooting at the slender target set up for them. He could almost see himself splitting the target while Wounded Face missed. He leaned forward, trying to make his mind and his eyes follow Clawing Bear’s movements. Abruptly the medicine man stepped away from the fire. He turned quickly, and his burning glance made Little Eagle’s eyes meet his. “I try to teach you the wisdom of Sioux medicine men,” Clawing Bear growled, “and your mind wanders off to where other boys are shooting for prizes.” Little Eagle dropped his eyes guiltily. Truly Clawing Bear had looked into his mind. “I am sorry,” he apologized, and then added with conviction, “I can mix the poultice.” “Do it then,” Clawing Bear ordered, upsetting the bowl with his foot so that the contents spilled onto the fire. A dense cloud of biting smoke filled the tepee. Little Eagle waited until some of the smoke had seeped out at the top of the tepee before he got to his feet. He pulled the bowl from the fire and set it aside. He selected another bowl, put grease in it, and set it on the fire. He began to add powdered herbs which he took from the bags Clawing Bear had hanging on the wall of the tepee. Clawing Bear had seated himself and was watching Little Eagle’s every move. Little Eagle carefully selected the materials to go into the bowl. He hesitated as he reached for the powdered herb in a large bag. At first he took a handful, but he changed his mind and dropped only a pinch into the bowl. He stirred the mixture until it began to boil. When he glanced toward Clawing Bear, he saw a look of approval on the medicine man’s face. “You nearly missed,” Clawing Bear said gruffly. “I know it’s hard for a boy of twelve summers to study when other boys are playing. There will be no more lessons today.” Using two sticks as tongs, Little Eagle lifted the bowl off the fire. His eyes moved from the bowl back to the fire as though they had been drawn by a magnet. He gave a little gasp as, in the leaping flames, he seemed to see a party of Crow warriors riding swiftly. He tried to count them, but they went too fast. As the Crows appeared to fade away in the fire, Little Eagle became aware that Clawing Bear was speaking to him. He tried to collect his scattered wits so that he could answer respectfully. “Tomorrow I’ll be a better pupil,” he promised. “Tomorrow you will think about becoming a warrior and a hunter,” Clawing Bear answered sadly. “Learning the arts of a Sioux medicine man is more important, but you won’t think so.” Little Eagle moved toward the flap of the tepee. In a moment Clawing Bear would make the sign of dismissal. There might still be time to race to the tepee, get his bow and arrows, and join the contest. “Wait,” Clawing Bear ordered. “You have done better than I expected. As a reward, you may carry some of the poultice with you.” Little Eagle tried to keep his face from showing the pleased surprise he felt. A real warrior or a real medicine man would have given no sign of pleasure. He watched as Clawing Bear picked up a small bag made from the lining of a deer’s stomach. The medicine man filled it with the mixture from the bowl. Then he took a sack made of soft elk leather and placed the bag of ointment inside the leather sack. He tied the sack with a long thong. He made a knot in the ends of the thong so that the sack would hang at Little Eagle’s belt in the place where a tomahawk would hang when Little Eagle became a warrior. “What you have learned today may save some Sioux’s life,” Clawing Bear told him solemnly. Little Eagle tried to find the right words to thank the medicine man. There were words which he should speak, but his tongue couldn’t say them. A brief smile touched the lips of the medicine man. “I do not care for words,” he said. “Let your deeds thank me.” Clawing Bear gravely made the sign of dismissal, but Little Eagle didn’t scamper out of the tepee. Instead he stepped out slowly as a warrior would have stepped out of the council wigwam. When he had gone a few paces, he remembered the other boys. He turned quickly toward his own tepee. He had covered about half of the distance when a commotion near the council wigwam attracted his attention. He turned to look. There was a crowd of warriors near the entrance to the wigwam. A party of Crow chiefs in splendid headdresses was going slowly toward the entrance. Little Eagle had been so busy with his lessons that he had forgotten this was the day for the powwow between the Crow chiefs and the chiefs of his own tribe to start. Little Eagle stood watching the Crows as they filed into the wigwam. He thought of how bitterly he hated these enemies of his people. Reluctantly, he admitted to himself that the Crow chiefs were brave. The Sioux chiefs had promised them safety while they were in the Sioux camp, but who knew when a young man, anxious to become a warrior, would ambush them on the way to or from their own camp? Little Eagle’s glance swept over the camp. He saw that there was no real danger to the Crow chiefs. The Sioux dog soldiers had formed a circle around the camp. It was the duty of the dog soldiers to see that camp orders were obeyed. Ordinarily they did little except when they were with a war party or a hunting party. However, now they would see to it that no Sioux left the camp until the Crow chiefs had had time to return to their own camp. Little Eagle was surprised that the teacher and the boys had been allowed to leave camp for the contest. Then he saw that they hadn’t. They were standing with the warriors, watching the Crows. Little Eagle started toward them, but changed his mind. He remembered that strange sight he had seen in Clawing Bear’s fire. Those Crow warriors he had seemed to see had been shown to him as a sign. It was a warning. The Crows didn’t really want to make peace. They were planning treachery. Flying Wolf, the chief in charge of the Sioux camp was letting the Crows lead him down a blind path. Little Eagle turned and hurried to his own tepee. When Little Eagle came out of his tepee, he had his bow and quiver of arrows in his hand. He turned toward the land-of-the-setting-sun. In that direction there were low hills covered with small trees and thickets of brush. Little Eagle had no plan for getting past the dog soldiers he could see pacing back and forth along the top of the hill. He hoped a plan would come to him. The Sioux camp had been pitched at the base of the hills along the river. There were two rows of tepees, each row forming an arc. When Little Eagle reached the tepee in the second row, he stood near it to watch the dog soldiers. He saw that the dog soldier at the nearest post was Laughing Horse, one of the youngest warriors in the band. Little Eagle noticed that while Laughing Horse walked his beat steadily, as a good dog soldier should, he often looked toward the river. Little Eagle turned and looked in that direction to see what was attracting the dog soldier’s attention. He grinned to himself when he saw that the squaws and young women were working at buffalo hides. Undoubtedly Summer Flower was among them. Laughing Horse was trying to catch sight of the young woman to whom he was paying court. At any other time Little Eagle would have raised a derisive shout. Little Eagle turned his attention back to Laughing Horse. He watched closely to see how often the dog soldier glanced toward the camp, how often he looked toward the land-of-the-setting-sun, and how often he glanced toward the women. As he watched, Little Eagle kept count of time by slowly folding and unfolding his fingers. He soon knew how long the dog soldier looked in each direction. Little Eagle tensed himself. The moment Laughing Horse’s back was turned, Little Eagle made a running dive for the nearest clump of shrubs. While he was running, Little Eagle was folding and unfolding his fingers as he had done while he was watching the dog soldier. There was a little more time left before Laughing Horse would turn toward the river. Little Eagle used that time to wriggle farther into the shrubs. Little Eagle continued to fold and unfold his fingers, keeping time to Laughing Horse’s movements. He didn’t raise his head until the count on his fingers told him that Laughing Horse should again be looking toward the land-of-the-setting-sun. When that time came, Little Eagle raced across the open space to the next clump of shrubs. Slowly he made his way up the hill. Near the top, the shrubs were thicker. While these gave Little Eagle better cover, he had to move carefully so that he didn’t brush against one of them. Laughing Horse’s mind might be on the girl at the riverbank, but he wouldn’t miss the quiver of a stem of brush if Little Eagle touched one. As he saw the sun climbing steadily into the sky, Little Eagle began to worry. It was taking him much longer to get out of camp than he had planned. Still, he must go carefully. If a dog soldier saw him, his whole plan would be spoiled, and Little Eagle well knew that a warrior was not invited to become a dog soldier until he had proved himself more capable than most warriors. The sun was almost straight overhead by the time Little Eagle reached a point close to the line along which Laughing Horse walked. Little Eagle held his breath while the dog soldier passed so close that Little Eagle could have reached out and touched him. As soon as Laughing Horse passed, Little Eagle crept across to the other side of the hill. There were more trees on this side. With them to hide him, Little Eagle was able to go faster. Yet it seemed a long, long time before he reached the tree-lined creek where he was out of sight of the dog soldiers. As soon as he was sure he was safe, Little Eagle got to his feet and started off at a brisk walk. He would have liked to run, but he knew the sharp ears of a dog soldier might catch the thud of running feet. He walked until he was far enough up the next hill so that there was a chance the dog soldiers could see him. Here he crouched down and crawled, slipping from bush to bush until he was across the hill and safely out of sight of the guards. As he hurried along, Little Eagle grew more and more uneasy. It had taken him a long time to get away from camp. It might take him even longer to discover the treacherous plan that the Crows were making. It seemed almost as though there was a voice whispering in his ear: “Hurry, hurry! Danger, danger!” He began to run. Little Eagle had been taught the proper pace to use to go swiftly on a long journey. It was an easy trot which he could keep up all day. But the warning voice seemed to be urging him to go faster and faster. The thought of danger to his tribe was like a lash, driving him on. Little Eagle ran faster and faster until he was driving himself as hard as he could go. He ran until he was gasping for breath and had to slow to a walk. He wanted to sit down and rest, but he forced himself to go on. He walked until he was breathing more easily, although his legs were still trembling from overexertion. He looked about for a place where he could hide and rest. He was crossing a wide strip of prairie where there were no trees or shrubs behind which he could hide. He saw a place where rain had washed a gully in the hillside. When he turned to it, he found it was a narrow gully with heavy grass overhanging its sides. He crawled into it and stretched out flat. The grass hid him so well that anyone might pass within a few paces without seeing him. When he felt rested, Little Eagle started to get to his feet. His ears caught the sound of pounding feet. Someone was running toward him from the direction of the camp. Little Eagle guessed that some dog soldier had found his trail and was following him. He should have known that he couldn’t escape them. He fought down the impulse to raise his head and look. Instead he stretched out and remained as quiet as possible. He could hardly believe it when he heard the footsteps go on past and fade out in the distance. It was strange that the dog soldier had followed his trail this far and then failed to see where he had turned aside. When Little Eagle finally raised his head, whoever had gone by was out of sight. Little Eagle went back to his own trail. There were a few bits of dry grass which hadn’t straightened. He sensed that something wasn’t as it should be. He knelt down to get a better look. There were no signs of anyone else having followed his trail. Yet he knew he had heard someone running past. He hunted about until he found another trail several paces to the right of the one he had made. Whoever had been running in this direction had not been following him. Again Little Eagle knelt to get a better look. He saw that the strides taken were not much longer than his own. The warrior who had passed must not be a large man, but Little Eagle could not tell whether the man had been a Sioux or a Crow. He wished Clawing Bear or a warrior were with him. They would have been able to read all of the signs. Little Eagle hesitated. He glanced toward the land-of-the-rising-sun, then he turned and took a long look in the other direction. At last he made up his mind. He ran several paces to his left and again started toward the land-of-the-setting-sun. This time he went at a sensible pace. He ran at a jogging trot, occasionally slowing to a walk. The sun was still high in the sky when he came to the place where the Crow camp should be. He began to go as cautiously as he had when he slipped out of his own camp. When Little Eagle saw smoke rising into the air across the hill ahead of him, he knew he was almost upon the Crow camp. There didn’t seem to be any Crow watchers on this side of the hill. Nevertheless, he moved carefully. The Crows might have dog soldiers around the camp. Near the top of the hill, Little Eagle got to his hands and knees and crawled forward. The top of the hill was covered with brush and trees, so it was easy for him to keep hidden. He could hear the sounds of the camp ahead. He crawled forward until he came to a place where the hill sloped steeply down into a valley. He found a clump of brush to hide behind. From there he could look down onto the Crow camp with little danger that a warrior would see him. As Little Eagle studied the camp, it seemed as though his suspicions had been wrong. There were no more than the agreed twenty-five warriors in it. As nearly as he could tell, the warriors were loafing, waiting for the chiefs to come back from the powwow. Although everything in the camp appeared to be as it should be, Little Eagle still hesitated. The suspicions in his mind were hard to put aside. But at last he decided to return to his own camp. There was nothing to show that the Crows weren’t keeping their agreement. He had made that long run, and taken the chance of being punished by the dog soldiers, all for no purpose. A warrior rode into camp from the other side He was starting to move back when a warrior rode into camp from the other side. The other warriors sprang up and surrounded the rider. Little Eagle stopped. He could tell that excited talk was going on in the camp, but he was too far away to hear it. He couldn’t even catch the meaning of the signs made by some of the speakers. It did seem odd that the rider didn’t dismount. The man talked only a short time to the warriors before he turned his horse and rode out of camp the way he had come. The whole affair was baffling to Little Eagle. He had a strong feeling that something was wrong, yet he had no idea what it was. He shook his head. And then suddenly he knew the answer. The messenger had come only a short distance, otherwise he would have exchanged his horse for a fresh one before starting the return journey. There was another party of Crows near! Here was proof that they were planning treachery. They had agreed to have only twenty-five warriors on the disputed land until after the powwow. That rider was proof there was another band near. The only purpose for having that other band near would be to make a surprise attack on the Sioux camp. Little Eagle knew he had to get back and report what he had learned. Slowly he inched his way backward until he was far enough down the hill that he dared get to his feet. Even then he slipped from tree to tree. It wasn’t until he was at the bottom of the hill that he realized he didn’t have enough information to take back to camp. Some of the Sioux were so anxious to believe the Crows wanted peace that they would have another explanation for the rider. No, he would have to see the other Crow camp before he could convince his own leaders. Little Eagle continued away from camp many paces before he turned to go around it. He made a circle wide enough so that there was no longer danger he would be discovered. He continued the circle until he came to the trail made by the rider. At a jogging trot, he turned to follow it. The sun was alarmingly far down the western sky. However, Little Eagle had learned his lesson, and he held himself to a steady trot. While he was sure this other Crow camp was near, it would still be a long trip back to the Sioux camp. He took some comfort from the knowledge that the Crows wouldn’t make an attack before daybreak. By that time he should have his proof and be back to report to his chiefs. When he heard the sounds of the camp ahead of him, Little Eagle used every skill he knew to move silently. He reached a place from which he could see the other Crow camp. He saw it was much larger than the first one. His eyes sparkled angrily. Here was the proof. This was a camp of many warriors, probably as many as five camps like the first one. If there had been any doubt in his mind as to the plans of the Crows, activities in the camp below would have erased them. Many of the warriors were busily repairing bows and other fighting equipment. Others were painting their faces with war paint. Little Eagle gave a grunt of anger. While they were pretending to make peace, the Crows were actually getting ready to make an attack. Little Eagle could see that if this band of Crows succeeded in surrounding the Sioux camp, not a Sioux would escape. Little Eagle had to get the warning back to his own people. Somehow he would make the chiefs listen to him. As he tensed his muscles to start to move back, he could feel danger around him like the chill of a cold wind. This wasn’t danger from the Crow camp. This was close at hand. Before he could move to defend himself, someone dropped onto his back. He was pinned helplessly to the ground, and a hand was clamped tightly over his mouth. Little Eagle forgot his own danger in the bitter thought that he had failed his tribe. His captor leaned close and whispered into Little Eagle’s ear, “Follow me.” Little Eagle’s heart gave a tremendous bound of relief. The voice was that of Angry Wolf. |
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