Little Eagle looked doubtfully at the valley below him. If he crossed it to climb the hill on the other side, he would have to walk in the open. He shook his head. Since enemies were so near, he would have to be very careful. The best plan would be to circle to the left where he could stay in the protection of trees.
It took him a long time to circle through the trees to a place where he could look down into the valley. When he saw the camp, he knew it belonged to Pawnees. Most of the tepees were hidden from him by trees, so he couldn’t count them and learn how many warriors were in the party. The cooking fire was in the open where he could see it. Several warriors were gathered around it. Little Eagle saw two of the men leave the campfire and go toward the grove of trees west of camp. When he looked in that direction, he saw horses grazing. There were at least twenty horses in sight, and others were hidden from him by the grove.
Little Eagle watched the two warriors. He saw them start to drive the horses toward camp. If the horses were being brought in, it must mean that the warriors were ready to leave. Yet, when Little Eagle glanced back toward the fire, the men were still sitting there. It seemed that they were waiting for something or someone. A couple of men got up to go help the two with the horses, but no one seemed to be in a hurry.
While Little Eagle was wondering if he should try to get closer to the camp, a rider came dashing toward it from the east. The man jumped off his horse and spoke excitedly to the others. The warriors suddenly sprang into action. In a few moments every warrior had caught a horse and was mounted. At a signal from the man who had ridden into camp, all of the warriors dashed off in the direction from which the rider had come.
Little Eagle understood their actions as well as if he had heard them talking. The rider who had dashed into camp was a buffalo scout. He had found a large herd of buffaloes near camp and was leading the warriors to the hunt. If the buffaloes had been far from camp, some warrior would have been given the job of bringing the herd of pack horses. The pack horses would be needed to bring the meat into camp.
Little Eagle looked longingly at the herd of horses. If Angry Wolf and he had two of them, they could safely risk the long journey across the prairie. Little Eagle was confident he could get two horses, since no warrior had been left to guard the herd. By the time the Pawnees had finished killing and butchering buffaloes, he and Angry Wolf could have half a sun’s start. But Angry Wolf wasn’t strong enough to do the hard riding they must do to escape.
Little Eagle turned away and hurried back to camp.
“What did you learn?” Angry Wolf asked as Little Eagle came into sight.
For a moment Little Eagle looked at his friend in surprise. Did Angry Wolf have the power to look into his mind as Clawing Bear had done? Little Eagle smiled at his own foolishness. He had been gone longer than usual. He had hurried back into camp. These things had told Angry Wolf that he had discovered something.
“There is a party of Pawnee hunters,” Little Eagle answered.