Grandfather smiled. “It would be,” he agreed.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Little Bear was up before daylight the next morning. He built up the fire and, as soon as he saw Great Bear stirring, set off to get their horses. When he returned with them, Grandfather had food cooked.
“You are eager to start.” Grandfather smiled.
“I want to get back to the tribe.” Little Bear nodded.
Great Bear’s guess that Old-Man-of-the-North would send another snow before the main Sioux camp was reached was surely wrong. The sun climbed out of the east into a cloudless sky. Little Bear helped his grandfather pack the meat on the horses they had captured from the Pawnees and on the two Crow ponies. He wondered why Grandfather didn’t put some of the meat on the Sioux ponies, but Great Bear offered no explanation.
Each of them mounted the same horse he had ridden when the two of them left the Sioux hunting party. Little Bear knew this was done to call attention to the horses they had captured.
At times it seemed to Little Bear they were scarcely moving. Yet he knew they were going faster than on any other day since they had started towards the winter camp. There was little snow on the ground and no deep drifts. The horses seemed to sense the long journey was almost done. They pushed ahead rapidly with little urging.
Each time Little Bear looked at the string of horses, he wondered again why Great Bear hadn’t loaded any of the Sioux horses. Surely Grandfather didn’t intend to give the horses back to their former owners.