Young Medicine Man

by Francis Lynde Kroll

Little Eagle started toward them, but changed his mind. He remembered that strange sight he had seen in Clawing Bear’s fire. Those Crow warriors he had seemed to see had been shown to him as a sign. It was a warning. The Crows didn’t really want to make peace. They were planning treachery. Flying Wolf, the chief in charge of the Sioux camp was letting the Crows lead him down a blind path. Little Eagle turned and hurried to his own tepee.

When Little Eagle came out of his tepee, he had his bow and quiver of arrows in his hand. He turned toward the land-of-the-setting-sun. In that direction there were low hills covered with small trees and thickets of brush. Little Eagle had no plan for getting past the dog soldiers he could see pacing back and forth along the top of the hill. He hoped a plan would come to him.

The Sioux camp had been pitched at the base of the hills along the river. There were two rows of tepees, each row forming an arc. When Little Eagle reached the tepee in the second row, he stood near it to watch the dog soldiers. He saw that the dog soldier at the nearest post was Laughing Horse, one of the youngest warriors in the band.

Little Eagle noticed that while Laughing Horse walked his beat steadily, as a good dog soldier should, he often looked toward the river. Little Eagle turned and looked in that direction to see what was attracting the dog soldier’s attention. He grinned to himself when he saw that the squaws and young women were working at buffalo hides. Undoubtedly Summer Flower was among them. Laughing Horse was trying to catch sight of the young woman to whom he was paying court. At any other time Little Eagle would have raised a derisive shout.

Little Eagle turned his attention back to Laughing Horse. He watched closely to see how often the dog soldier glanced toward the camp, how often he looked toward the land-of-the-setting-sun, and how often he glanced toward the women. As he watched, Little Eagle kept count of time by slowly folding and unfolding his fingers. He soon knew how long the dog soldier looked in each direction.

Little Eagle tensed himself. The moment Laughing Horse’s back was turned, Little Eagle made a running dive for the nearest clump of shrubs. While he was running, Little Eagle was folding and unfolding his fingers as he had done while he was watching the dog soldier. There was a little more time left before Laughing Horse would turn toward the river. Little Eagle used that time to wriggle farther into the shrubs.

Little Eagle continued to fold and unfold his fingers, keeping time to Laughing Horse’s movements. He didn’t raise his head until the count on his fingers told him that Laughing Horse should again be looking toward the land-of-the-setting-sun. When that time came, Little Eagle raced across the open space to the next clump of shrubs.

Slowly he made his way up the hill. Near the top, the shrubs were thicker. While these gave Little Eagle better cover, he had to move carefully so that he didn’t brush against one of them. Laughing Horse’s mind might be on the girl at the riverbank, but he wouldn’t miss the quiver of a stem of brush if Little Eagle touched one.

As he saw the sun climbing steadily into the sky, Little Eagle began to worry. It was taking him much longer to get out of camp than he had planned. Still, he must go carefully. If a dog soldier saw him, his whole plan would be spoiled, and Little Eagle well knew that a warrior was not invited to become a dog soldier until he had proved himself more capable than most warriors.

The sun was almost straight overhead by the time Little Eagle reached a point close to the line along which Laughing Horse walked. Little Eagle held his breath while the dog soldier passed so close that Little Eagle could have reached out and touched him. As soon as Laughing Horse passed, Little Eagle crept across to the other side of the hill.