Hawk Eye and Raven Wing pointed their canoes to the middle of the river and bent to their paddles. In spite of its many twists and turns and the menace of fallen trees floating in the channel, they made good progress.
The river ran through a narrow valley, with hillsides covered with white flowers and bottom lands dotted with yellow cowslips. Birds, busy with their nesting, winged their way through the balmy air. Willows, cottonwoods, elms and soft maples made a leafy border along the shore.
Toward late afternoon they came to a widening of the river.
"Lac Qui Parle," Hawk Eye called back, slowing down that Raven Wing might come alongside. "I have heard my father say that in the paleface tongue. It means the 'lake that speaks.'"
"Black Eagle once told me that the Mich-e-see-be has a great widening which is called Lake Pepin by the white man. It is bordered by high bluffs and cliffs so steep that very few cedars can take root," answered Raven Wing.
"I have heard my father tell that only low hills guard the Minnesota until its fringe of trees thickens and it enters the big woods. The hills change to bluffs that creep closer to the water. At the mouth of the Blue Earth River there is but a narrow strip of sand. From there on the Minnesota makes a bend upward toward the land of snow and the rising sun," said Hawk Eye.
"It is a long river," said Raven Wing. "We shall have dipped our paddles many, many times before we come to the trading post."
"Have you fully decided to exchange your pelts for a gun?" inquired Hawk Eye.
"Yes," answered Raven Wing quickly. "I would like one like yours."
"It is a fine weapon, as I have often told you," Hawk Eye said. "My father was proud of it. He kept our lodge well supplied with meat before an Objibway's bullet ended his life."