“I was feeling sorry for you when Flying Arrow gave you Rock to ride,” Sly Fox admitted. “Now I see that you are lucky he did. Rock is making the work easier for all of us.”
For a time the boys had to give all of their attention to controlling the herd of pack horses. But, by the time the party was well out of sight of the camp, Rock had so discouraged the would-be runaways that the whole herd was moving steadily after the warriors. This gave the boys a chance to ride in pairs and talk together, as the sun climbed steadily in the sky and melted the thin blanket of snow.
“The sun is mad at Old-Man-of-the-North for sending snow so early,” Bent Arrow told Sly Fox.
“Yes,” Sly Fox agreed. “He has taken away all of the snow. The sun is powerful.”
“Old-Man-of-the-North is tricky,” Bent Arrow remarked. “Sometimes he sends snow when we aren’t ready for it. Other times he won’t send it when we want it.”
“I hope that he sends much snow as soon as we have plenty of buffalo meat and are in our winter camp,” Sly Fox exclaimed. “We need snow for our winter games.”
Bent Arrow nodded his agreement. Indian boys always had fun, but winter was the best time for games. It was a good time to learn new things, too. The warriors had leisure to teach the boys how to make bows and arrows. There were always stories to be told of battles and great heroes.
The sun was not yet overhead when Chief Barking Wolf stopped the hunting party in a small valley. He pointed to the low hills ahead.
“The herd of buffaloes is in a large valley across those hills,” he announced. “The hunters will ride across the hills and you boys will stay here with the pack horses. Wild Wind will be the last warrior. He will stay at the top of the hill until the rest of us have started to run the buffaloes. Then he will signal for you boys to bring the pack horses.”
As the warriors rode ahead, the boys were kept busy holding the pack horses in a herd. It was almost as much work keeping the herd from following now as it had been before to get it started. Sometimes, when one of the pack horses broke out of the herd, Bent Arrow was tempted to pretend that he couldn’t turn it back. If he let the horse go to the top of the hill, Bent Arrow would be where he could watch all of the excitement of the hunt. He was ashamed of the thought. A Crow boy who expected to become a warrior should do his best to carry out orders.