Both boys were silent for a while. Little Eagle’s thoughts were following the band of Crows. It could have been the same band which had planned to attack their camp.
“The Crows have powerful medicine.” Angry Wolf spoke almost as if his thoughts were following those of Little Eagle. “It is fortunate that we were able to get horses from the Pawnees. If we had tried to take horses from the Crows, we would have failed again.”
Little Eagle turned Angry Wolf’s words over in his mind. It was true that fortune had seemed to be with the Crows. They hadn’t been punished for the treachery they had planned against the Sioux. Even though he and Angry Wolf had kept the Crow plan from succeeding, it was still an almost-victory for the Crows.
“The Crows should be punished,” Little Eagle said angrily.
Angry Wolf nodded. He rubbed his hand along the side of his head where the Crow arrow had struck him.
“They will be,” he answered. “With the horses we have, we can reach the winter camp. Next spring a war party will be sent to punish the Crows.”
Next spring seemed far away to Little Eagle. In his mind he could picture the party of Crows sitting around their campfires. They would tell of how they had tricked the Sioux chiefs. While they hadn’t succeeded in making an attack, they had forced the Sioux to run. Now they had won a victory over the Pawnees too. Truly there would be boasting around the Crow campfires this winter.
“We ought to find a better place to make camp,” Angry Wolf interrupted Little Eagle’s thoughts. “We will want shelter against this rain.”
Little Eagle had been so wrapped in his thoughts that he hadn’t noticed the rain. It was only a sprinkle, but the heavy clouds in the northwest gave promise of more to come. Little Eagle arose and went to bring the horses.
He caught the horses and led them to the place where he had left the deerskin. He rolled their belongings into a bundle with the deerskin around it. He mounted his horse and led the other to Angry Wolf.