Owl Carver stared at him as if he had uttered nonsense. "The sun rises at sunrise."
He remembered how Frank Hopkins always reset his clock at sunset. "Yes, but in summer the days are long and in winter the days are short. But the arrows on this watch cannot keep pace with the sun."
Owl Carver shook his head. "Many things the pale eyes make are useful, but I do not understand the use of this thing."
What a struggle!
White Bear had a sudden inspiration. "It is true, this watch cannot tell you as much as the sun does, but it can tell you one thing."
"What is that?" Owl Carver frowned, weighing the watch in his hand.
"It can tell you when a pale eyes will do something."
Owl Carver grunted. "Well, it is pretty to look at. And it moves and makes sounds."
White Bear snapped open the back of the case, where the key was kept, and showed Owl Carver how to wind the watch, impressing on him the need to handle it very gently. Then the shaman went into his wickiup to put the watch in his medicine bundle.
White Bear sighed. He missed talking with Elysée, missed the library at Victoire, from which he'd managed to take only one book.