White Otter

by Elmer Russell Gregor

A few moments afterward High Eagle led his muzzled pony from the village and disappeared into the night. The people waited anxiously. It was a long time before they finally heard the dismal call of the prairie wolf, far away toward the west. Then their hearts filled with joy, and they began to shout and sing their war songs.

"It is good. High Eagle has crept past the Pawnees. Now he will bring our brothers, the Minneconjoux, to help us," declared Wolf Robe.

Then the bark of the little gray fox sounded close to the edge of the camp, and the Ogalalas knew that one of the scouts was returning. When the signal had been repeated the proper number of times, it was answered from the village. A few moments afterward Crooked Dog rode into the camp. He said that the Pawnees to the south of the village were advancing. While he was talking another signal sounded through the darkness and a scout rode in from the west. He, too, declared that the war party on that side of the camp was moving forward. Then the other scouts returned and gave warning that their foes were closing in on all sides of the village.

"My brothers, the Pawnees are coming to fight us!" cried Wolf Robe. "You must watch with the eyes of a fox; you must fight with the heart of a bear. Do not run out to meet them. No, that would be foolish. Keep close together, near the lodges. Then the Pawnees cannot get into the camp. Listen! I hear the great war cry of the Dacotahs. Yes, it is what I am listening for. We must drive off these boastful people until our brothers come here to help us. Then we will run out and chase the Wolf People back to their lodges. Dacotahs, I will ask you to fight like men. Now I am taking my weapons. I am going to the edge of the camp to kill many Pawnees. I have told you what to do."

Roused by the fearlessness of their aged chief, the Ogalala fighting men raised their voices in a mighty shout of defiance that rang out across the somber black plain, and carried an ominous warning to the ears of the advancing Pawnees. Then, having sent their challenge, they subsided into grim, silent watchfulness. Crouching close beside one another at the edge of the camp, they peered anxiously into the night, straining their ears to catch the first warning of their crafty foes.

For some time the stillness was unbroken, and the Sioux waited in trying suspense. Then the cry of the great gray wolf sounded a short distance to the west of the camp. The Dacotahs knew at once that it was a signal, and they believed the attack was about to begin. A few moments later a similar signal sounded from the south. The eyes of the Sioux flashed angrily as they listened. Then a third call came from the east.

"The Wolf People are all around us," said Wolf Robe. "When the next call sounds above the camp, then they will rush ahead and the fight will begin."

It was evident, however, that the company of warriors who were to attack the Ogalala village from the north had been longer in reaching their position, for as yet no signal had come from that direction. While the Sioux waited expectantly for the final signal another cry sounded from the west. It was apparent that the Pawnees were impatient at the tardiness of their comrades. Again an answer came from the east, and, a few moments afterward, another from the south. The north was still silent.

"I do not know about that thing," Wolf Robe told Yellow Horse, the medicine-man.

Before the latter could reply, however, the weird, long-drawn-out howl of the timber wolf rose in the north. Every Dacotah's heart bounded at the sound. They knew that the circle had been completed, the last gap had been closed, the camp was surrounded. The thought steadied the warriors for the fight. They realized that upon them depended the fate of their women and children, and they told one another that they must fight to the death to keep the Pawnees from the village. Then they waited calmly for their foes to appear.