There had been a chill in the air that morning and the sky was filled with flying geese and ducks. The season was about to change and their time at the summer camp had nearly run out. They could not risk an early winter, they had made no provisions for that.
Stories of the bad times when winter had arrived before its time were told around the fires of the summer camp; they reminded everyone of the seriousness of their situation. There was a great deal of discussion about the weather and the coming change of season. It was decided that they would stay. The risk of starvation back at the big water outweighed their current plight. They still needed to gather more food.
A sickness had come into their number and while it wasn’t serious, it did last for a few days before running its course. Man Killer provided the sick ones with a mixture of leaves and berries that helped most tolerate the pain. Her ventures out into the woods for more of the berries would provide Stump Nose with the opportunity that he was looking for.
The tiny red berries were becoming harder to find. They once seemed to be everywhere, but time, the forest animals, and even Man Killer herself, had severely depleted their supply. Late one afternoon after a long day of harvesting rice, Man Killer set out in search of these small berries. She was nearly out of them and they were a staple of her Mide bag. She moved slowly down the old trail that followed the Brule. She walked for nearly an hour before she stumbled into a thicket that was bursting with the berries. Man Killer smiled, this would be enough to supply the entire camp with medicine for the long winter ahead.
Stump Nose was as quiet as fox as he followed Man Killer into the forest and away from the camp. He carried his knife and a new lance that he had made, lavishly carved, especially for this purpose. He wondered at his own stealth as he crept along, which filled his mind with great importance. He wasn’t taking a life, he was sharpening his skills. What could be wrong with that? She was only one woman and she was a loner, she would not be missed. Someone else could learn her ways and Man Killer’s name would blow away on the wind.
Man Killer was still smiling as she removed the largest of the three skins, a raccoon, and she began to fill it with the berries. She hadn’t dared hope to need the raccoon skin, but she decided to bring it along, just in case something wonderful like this happened.
She would never see Stump Nose that day.
Huck
Brindle's Odyssey Page 29
