“Lie down and rest,” Angry Wolf ordered. “We will have to go on, but we should rest first. We will have time before the other Pawnees start.”
Although he wasn’t at all sure that the Pawnees wouldn’t be upon them at any moment, Little Eagle obeyed. He stretched out beside Angry Wolf and fell asleep. It seemed to him that he had scarcely closed his eyes when Angry Wolf touched him gently on the shoulder.
“I think we should ride on,” the older boy said. “We ought to follow this trail a short distance and then turn up one of the streams.”
Little Eagle caught the horses and brought them to where Angry Wolf was waiting. Slowly and painfully, Angry Wolf got to his feet. Little Eagle had to help him onto his horse.
Little Eagle led the way along the trail until they came to the third stream. Here he turned upstream. Both horses fought against the halter ropes, trying to get out of the cold water. When the animals found they wouldn’t be allowed to get out of the water, they went more rapidly. There were places where the horses sloshed through pools. At every step, water was splashed high into the air. Both Little Eagle and Angry Wolf were thoroughly soaked.
At every step water splashed high
When he glanced back over his shoulder, Little Eagle saw Angry Wolf bent low on his horse’s neck. Little Eagle pulled his horse to a stop and motioned for Angry Wolf to take the lead. If Angry Wolf fell from his horse, Little Eagle wanted to be ready to save his friend.
The stream wound through steep, wooded hills. What little light the stars gave was almost entirely shut off by the trees. Little Eagle could see very little on either side of the stream. After they had ridden a long time, Little Eagle noticed a change. The hills were farther back from the stream and there were fewer trees on them. The farther he and Angry Wolf went, the fewer were the trees.
It seemed to Little Eagle that they must have been riding most of the night when he saw a tiny creek flowing into the stream they were following. He called softly for Angry Wolf to turn off into the creek. Angry Wolf obeyed without answering. They followed the creek until it ended abruptly in a gushing spring at the foot of a hill.