Evening came; the sun had gone down, and the shadow of night covered the valley, when again thunder was heard, this time far away at first, and then coming nearer. Then presently Plover Call heard something heavy fall by the doorway, and her husband entering, said: “Well, I got the deer for you. There it lies just outside.”
The young woman was uneasy; she went over and consulted her father.
“Surely mysterious things are happening about here,” said Low Wolf, “and I suspect your husband is not what he seems to be. Anyhow, it is well to be on the safe side; do not eat any of the deer he brought in.”
The young woman went back to her lodge, cut some meat from the deer, and cooked it for [[134]]her husband. While he was eating she skinned the animal, cut it into quarters, and hung it out on a near-by bush. After the evening meal was over her father came in, and the two men talked for a long time about hunting and war, and her husband told interesting stories about his people. Listening to him, both Plover Call and her father were ashamed of their fears, and resolved to make amends by treating the young man as kindly as they knew how.
The next day the wind changed to the north, and there came a light fall of snow; no hunting was done. The following morning Plover Call’s husband again started out with his bow and arrows, and, as before, as soon as he left it thundered for a long time. The fears of the little family were again aroused, and when at night the young man returned after a long rumbling of thunder, they were all frightened, and feared that something dreadful was about to happen. The hunter had brought in another deer and told how he had killed it, and where he had been hunting.
“Why,” said Low Wolf, “I was out there, too, this morning; it is strange I did not see you. I should have seen your tracks anyhow.” [[135]]
They learned the next day that he made no tracks. When he started out they watched him; he took four steps from the lodge door, and then suddenly vanished, the thunder beginning again and rumbling away into the distance. As he disappeared, a strange-looking bird was seen flying the way the thunder was muttering. Then they knew that this person was really the thunder bird, and their hearts were filled with a great fear.
Four times the strange husband went hunting, always disappearing at the lodge door in his mysterious way, always accompanied by thunder, going and coming, never leaving any footprints beyond the lodge. Yet when at home he was just like any other young man, light-hearted, sociable, and kind to his wife. The morning after his fourth hunt he said that he must go and visit his people.
“It is a very long distance that I must travel,” he said to them, “and I may be away many moons; but do not worry, for I shall return as soon as I can.” With that he left the lodge, and peering through the folds of the doorway, they saw him vanish as before, and as the thunder rolled, saw the bird flying out [[136]]across the valley, over the rim of the plain towards the south.
The moons came, grew, and went, but Plover Call’s husband did not return. She was glad of it, and so were her parents, for they all feared his terrible, mysterious ways.