They had left the wide flat valleys and were riding through narrow canyons with steep sides. There were many openings leading into these canyons. Little Bear wondered if Grandfather could find his way if there were no trail to follow. Probably he could. He seemed to know where they were. Little Bear had been thinking how easy it would be for the Crow to hide his horse in one of the canyons leading from the one they were in. He could wait for them and easily ambush them. He hadn’t thought at all of the danger of a heavy rain sending water roaring down the narrow canyon. Now that Grandfather had mentioned his fears, Little Bear remembered tales of warriors who had been caught in sudden floods and drowned.
He heard the faint roll of distant thunder. Soon the sound came nearer and became an almost continuous rumble. Little Bear saw a fork of lightning streak across the clouds.
“We must get to higher ground,” Great Bear warned. “Watch for a way out of this canyon.”
They urged their horses to a faster pace. The sound of thunder was no longer a distant rumble, but had become a crashing roar. Old-Man-of-the-Sky was throwing his lightning bolts all around them. Great Bear halted at a place where it seemed it might be possible for the horses to climb the canyon wall. He jumped from his horse and grabbed the halter rope. It was a steep slope and the ground was loose, giving the horse poor footing. With Great Bear pulling at the rope, the horse slowly struggled up the bank. Little Bear waited until Great Bear had his horse halfway up before he started to follow. Both horses slipped and struggled, but slowly fought their way ahead.
At last they came to a wide shelf on the side of the hill. It didn’t appear to be a very safe place. Little Bear wondered how much rain it would take to loosen the ledge from the side of the cliff and send it crashing to the bottom of the canyon. They had no choice except to stay. The walls of the canyon above them were so steep that they couldn’t go any higher.
The rain started with a few scattered drops which soon became a pounding downpour. Both Little Bear and Grandfather grabbed their buffalo robes and pulled them around their shoulders as they crouched against the side of the cliff. Little Bear could hear the thunderbolts, which Old-Man-of-the-Sky was throwing at the earth, crashing and bouncing back. There was the mounting roar of the wind around them.
The horses had moved about the ledge, looking for grass. As the wind rose, they, too, crowded against the cliff for shelter. Little Bear thought he could hear another roar mounting above the roar of the wind. Great Bear crouched forward in order to hear better.
“It is a wall of water going down the canyon,” Great Bear guessed, shouting to make his voice heard.
“Will it be this high?” Little Bear tried to keep the fear out of his voice.