Redbird thought, the Sauk were known far and wide as a people who never shirked the demands of honor. If even one man of Black Hawk's party smoked the calumet with Wave, that would oblige Black Hawk and his remaining braves to surrender to the Winnebago and make peace.
Redbird said, "Now, with so many dead, can we have peace? Will you smoke the pipe with these two men?"
Owl Carver said, "If I were alone, I would smoke the pipe with them. But I will not go against Black Hawk."
"We are all that is left of the band," she said. "Someone must take the calumet and smoke it."
And by that odious Sauk custom, she thought, clenching her jaw, it would have to be a man.
As darkness deepened, the wailing died down. Wave and He Who Lights the Water made a little fire at the edge of the lake near Redbird's lean-to.
One by one the last people of Black Hawk's band drifted close to Wave's fire.
The Winnebago brave stood before the fire holding the peace pipe. Twilight lingered in the sky behind him while the firelight before him illuminated his heavy features.
Sitting near Eagle Feather, Redbird looked around and saw silent figures standing in the shadows as the people waited to hear what Wave had to say. Gravely he took tobacco out of a pouch at his waist and filled the bowl of the calumet. Then he touched a dry stick to his fire and carried the flame to the pipe. It flared up bright yellow over the pipe bowl as he puffed on it.
Wave cleared his throat and spoke in a strong voice. "Earthmaker gave us the sacred tobacco as a means of making peace among us. No one may break a promise sealed with tobacco. Our chief, Falcon, asks me to say this to you: