Young Medicine Man

by Francis Lynde Kroll

Little Eagle hesitated. He glanced toward the land-of-the-rising-sun, then he turned and took a long look in the other direction. At last he made up his mind. He ran several paces to his left and again started toward the land-of-the-setting-sun.

This time he went at a sensible pace. He ran at a jogging trot, occasionally slowing to a walk. The sun was still high in the sky when he came to the place where the Crow camp should be. He began to go as cautiously as he had when he slipped out of his own camp.

When Little Eagle saw smoke rising into the air across the hill ahead of him, he knew he was almost upon the Crow camp. There didn’t seem to be any Crow watchers on this side of the hill. Nevertheless, he moved carefully. The Crows might have dog soldiers around the camp. Near the top of the hill, Little Eagle got to his hands and knees and crawled forward.

The top of the hill was covered with brush and trees, so it was easy for him to keep hidden. He could hear the sounds of the camp ahead. He crawled forward until he came to a place where the hill sloped steeply down into a valley. He found a clump of brush to hide behind. From there he could look down onto the Crow camp with little danger that a warrior would see him.

As Little Eagle studied the camp, it seemed as though his suspicions had been wrong. There were no more than the agreed twenty-five warriors in it. As nearly as he could tell, the warriors were loafing, waiting for the chiefs to come back from the powwow.

Although everything in the camp appeared to be as it should be, Little Eagle still hesitated. The suspicions in his mind were hard to put aside. But at last he decided to return to his own camp. There was nothing to show that the Crows weren’t keeping their agreement. He had made that long run, and taken the chance of being punished by the dog soldiers, all for no purpose.

A warrior rode into camp from the other side

He was starting to move back when a warrior rode into camp from the other side. The other warriors sprang up and surrounded the rider. Little Eagle stopped. He could tell that excited talk was going on in the camp, but he was too far away to hear it. He couldn’t even catch the meaning of the signs made by some of the speakers. It did seem odd that the rider didn’t dismount. The man talked only a short time to the warriors before he turned his horse and rode out of camp the way he had come.

The whole affair was baffling to Little Eagle. He had a strong feeling that something was wrong, yet he had no idea what it was. He shook his head. And then suddenly he knew the answer. The messenger had come only a short distance, otherwise he would have exchanged his horse for a fresh one before starting the return journey. There was another party of Crows near! Here was proof that they were planning treachery. They had agreed to have only twenty-five warriors on the disputed land until after the powwow. That rider was proof there was another band near. The only purpose for having that other band near would be to make a surprise attack on the Sioux camp.