“Now while this was happening, the war party had grown weary of looking for Red Hail and had gone back home. And when at last the two with the horses and the packs came near the village of their people, they camped behind a hill, and peering from the top of it, they saw the people dancing yonder as for a victory.
“It was getting dark, and Brave Eagle said to Red Hail, ‘I will go to see my father, and you will watch the horses.’ So he crawled down the hill and came to a little tepee standing all alone outside the village. It was made of ragged hides and it was full of mourning. And when he raised the flap, he saw his father and his mother and his younger brother sitting there in ragged clothes, with their hair cut off and nothing in the tepee but their sorrow, for they had given everything away.
“And when Brave Eagle entered, they thought he was a ghost and just stared at him, afraid, until he spoke. And when he had told his story and heard that the people were dancing for Good Voice Hawk, his father said, ‘I will go to Red Hail’s father and tell him, for he is mourning too and has given everything away. We will say nothing to anyone else about this, and in the morning you will come with Red Hail and the horses and the packs.’
“So Brave Eagle went back to Red Hail there behind the hill. And in the morning when the dancing had begun again, some people saw the string of laden horses coming yonder with a woman leading them and a warrior in the rear. The dancing ceased and all the people stood and stared awhile without a word, for they could not yet believe they really saw. And around the circle of the village, left to right, rode Red Hail clothed in soft elkskin beautifully beaded, and after her the horses followed with their packs, and after them rode Brave Eagle clothed as when he rode away to war.
“Then at last a great cry went up from all the people, and the horses lifted up their heads and neighed, and there was great rejoicing. But Good Voice Hawk had fled.
“Now when the chiefs had called Brave Eagle and Red Hail into the great lodge and heard the story, they summoned the akichitas, who are the keepers of the law and have the power of thunder beings. And the head chief said to them, ‘Find Good Voice Hawk wherever he has fled, but do not bring him back.’
“Then there was feasting in the village and all the people gave gifts to those who had mourned, until they had more than plenty of all good things.
“And when he was still young, Brave Eagle became a wichasha yatapika and then a chieftain. And when the two were bent beneath the snows of many winters, Red Hail and Brave Eagle were still happy together, for all their daughters were like their mother and all their sons were brave.”
XIII
Four Against the Crows
Dry snow whined to the footstep in the hush of the blue-cold morning, and the tepee smoke stood straight. Before I entered I could hear the old man blowing meditatively upon his eagle-bone whistle—like a sleepy bird questioning the first promise of a summer dawn. “I thought you might not come,” he said, “for it is very cold; but it is good that you are here. We are getting closer to that story about this whistle, and I was sitting here thinking about it, and about the quirt too.