CHAPTER FIVE
Instead of taking a direct route back to the Pawnee camp, Little Eagle made a circle. This took him to the valley where he was sure the Pawnees were hunting. Before he reached the top of the hill which formed the boundary of the valley, Little Eagle could feel the ground trembling. The Pawnees must have found a tremendous herd of buffaloes.
From the top of the hill he could see the progress of the hunt. The far end of the valley was covered by the fleeing herd. Some of the buffaloes had crossed the hill and were out of sight. Already the valley was dotted with the carcasses of slain buffaloes. The Pawnees were still riding into the herd, selecting young cows to be slain and added to the supply of meat.
Little Eagle knew how Sioux hunters would do if they were on this hunt. They would kill as many buffaloes as they could use. As soon as they had enough, each hunter would start dressing those he had killed. As Little Eagle watched, a Pawnee hunter stopped his horse, dismounted, and started skinning one of the buffaloes he had killed. Another warrior, and another, turned back to the slain buffaloes until the whole party of hunters was busy skinning and dressing buffaloes.
Little Eagle waited only long enough to make sure that no warrior was sent to bring the horses, before he turned toward the Pawnee camp. Little Eagle kept a sharp watch as he approached the horses. He could have made a mistake when he watched the hunters leave the camp. A warrior might have been left to watch the horses.
As soon as he was sure there was no one watching the herd, Little Eagle went straight to the horses. A few of them moved away from him, but most of them continued grazing. He selected the two that he thought were the best in the herd. He jumped onto the back of one of them and took the halter rope of the other.
Little Eagle made no attempt to hide his trail. Angry Wolf had said they would make a crooked trail when they left camp. There had been many lessons about how to hide a trail. Angry Wolf probably knew most of the tricks.
When Little Eagle rode into camp, Angry Wolf was ready to leave. He had made a bundle of the small piece of meat left from the deer Little Eagle had shot. He had dug up the deer hide and washed it in the stream. Little Eagle noticed that Angry Wolf had brushed around the camping place with a tree branch and had even scooped up the coals from the fire and dumped them into the stream. When the Pawnees trailed the horses to this camp, they would learn little about how many had camped there or how long they had been gone.
Little Eagle took the package of meat and the deer hide. He watched anxiously as Angry Wolf climbed onto the back of the other horse. Ordinarily, Little Eagle would have tossed the halter rope to Angry Wolf before he started to mount. This time he held it until Angry Wolf was safely on his horse.
“We’ll follow the trail the Crows made,” Little Eagle called to his companion as they started off.