“Shall we start in the morning?” Little Eagle asked as they were eating that evening.
“Don’t you think we should stay here another day so there will be no danger of reopening your wound?” Angry Wolf suggested.
Little Eagle nodded reluctant agreement. His arm still throbbed painfully. He had used the last of his material to make the poultice for this wound. It would be better to make sure the wound was healed before they started.
The one day became two. Both days dragged slowly for Little Eagle. Much of the time he was thinking of Clawing Bear and the many things yet to be learned from the medicine man. Late in the afternoon of the second day, Little Eagle picked up his bow and shot a few arrows at a slender sapling. He couldn’t draw the bow as well as he had before, but it seemed good to be able to use it at all.
“We can start tomorrow,” Angry Wolf said with a smile, as he watched Little Eagle.
That night they had a feast of buffalo meat. Angry Wolf cooked all that they could eat. When they had had enough, he put a small piece aside to cook for their morning meal. The rest he made into packs to be put on one of the horses.
“It still seems strange to me that the Crows haven’t sent a war party to catch us,” Little Eagle told his friend.
“We are far into Sioux land,” Angry Wolf replied. “They are afraid to come this far.”
“They would know that most of our people are in winter camp by this time,” Little Eagle pointed out. “They would be in little danger of meeting one of our war parties.”
“Perhaps they’re still chasing the Pawnees,” Angry Wolf suggested.