Two Feathers paused before he spoke. What she had said touched him. He liked the boys. He knew that they were brave and had good hearts but Beth was special to him. She was the one who took care of him and talked to him on the trail when he was injured.
Her concern for him went to his heart. His face was impassive when he replied “No, I worked my way into the herd. I saw a young bull that I thought would be tender and have good cuts of meat. My horse is experienced and I have train him well. He would not fail me.”
Jack thought “Christ he talks as if he were going to the supermarket to buy veal off of the shelve, not as if he were in the middle of a maelstrom of two thousand pound buffaloes.”
Beth said, “I feel the same as Yellow Boy and Brown Boy. I want to join the hunt also and will train hard until that day comes.”
Two Feathers said, “We begin your training tomorrow then.”
“All right!” said Sonny in English.
They could hardly wait.
They rode towards a group of braves that were resting their weary horses. Soon all of the braves were gathered in a group. They were tired but excitement of the hunt was still with them and they recounted their exploits. One told of how his horse had faltered. He thought that he was going down in the middle of the herd but that his horse regained his footing. He affectionately patted the horse on the neck and said, “It was a good hunt. I killed five.”
The others told how many they had killed and one told of how a bull had tried to gore his horse but that his horse was too smart and too brave to be gored. The stories went on and on.
Two Feathers looked at Jack and motioned with his head that he should speak.
Jack was at first shy. After all he was new and not yet a hunter but Two Feathers did want him to speak. He said, “I saw Tall Boy bring down a large bull.”
All conversation stopped and they all looked at Jack. He felt like sliding off his horse and crawling into gopher hole.
One of the warriors Stands in Water said, “Yes I saw that too. He shot well and rode well. The Bull went down with one arrow.”
Tall Boy couldn’t help himself. He beamed.
Spotted Horse, Tall Boy’s father rode over to his son and clapped him on the shoulder and said, “You did well. You are on your way to being a great hunter.”
The other warriors began praising Tall Boy and the other young boys who participated in the hunt. The younger boys weren’t allowed to participate in the dangerous part of the hunt. During their first hunts to gain experience they were allowed to shoot calves who were on the fringe of the herd or who were stragglers.
The older warriors would always praise the boys and say such things as “You rode well.” or “You shot well. Your arrows found their mark. You will make a good hunter.” Hunting was an extremely dangerous business and these boys needed their confidence built up. Someday the survival of their families and the survival of the tribe would depend upon these boys.
The women were already dressing out the dead animals. Two women could butcher a buffalo in an hour.
Two Feathers and the children rode over to where Falling Moon Woman was butchering an animal. She looked up and smiled. She bent over and picked up something and handed it to Two Feathers. It was the brains of the buffalo.
Two Feathers ate about half of it and handed the rest to Jack. Jack without hesitation took two bites and passed it to Beth. She did the same as Jack. Sonny who knew what was coming kept saying to himself “Don’t barf. Don’t barf.”
Beth handed Sonny what was left of the brains. He swallowed hard and began to eat. After the first couple of bites he thought “This isn’t too bad.” and scarfed down the rest. He didn’t realize how hungry he was.
He didn’t have to wait long for more. Falling Moon Woman was smiling and handing him a large piece of liver. All four sat on their horses laughing and eating. It was a joyous occasion.
Two Feathers said to Falling Moon Woman “Cut well.”
She smiled up at him and said, “It was a good hunt. We have much to do.”
He turned his horse towards camp and began to ride off.
Beth caught up with him and asked, “Should Yellow Boy, Brown Boy and I stay and help?”
Two Feathers said, “No, Falling Moon Woman has her sisters and nieces to help her. She will work faster without you.”
Beth wanted to say more. She wasn’t use to this man’s work, woman’s work concept. She just knew that there was a lot of work to do and she felt that she and the boys should help. She was also smart enough to realize that this division of labor was tribal custom and she certainly did not want to break any customs or taboos.
Falling Moon Woman had two sisters. One sister had two daughters and the other had one daughter. Both sisters were widowed. Normally these sisters and their children would have come to live in the same tent with Two Feathers and Falling Moon Woman. They would have become the wives of Two Feathers but Two Feathers preferred things the way they were. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Falling Moon Woman’s sisters. It was that he was content to have one wife and to live with only one woman, Falling Moon Woman.
It was still his obligation to provide for his wife’s sisters and their children, which he did. He was a good hunter and so far they had never wanted for food and ample buffalo hides.
By the time they arrived at camp, the older tribe members who hadn’t attended the hunt had set up drying racks and sites for smoking the meat that was to be brought in.
All day long the women brought meat in from the kill site and then returned for more. The older women and young girls began slicing the meat up and placing the meat on the racks. Large smoking tents had been erected and large portions of sliced meat were placed in the smoking tents.
Jack counted the hides and did the math. A Bull could weigh two thousand pounds and a cow one thousand five hundred pounds. He figured that they had killed, after discounting the calves, over two hundred thousand pounds of buffalo, over one hundred tons. It boggled his mind.
That night there was feasting and dancing. The old men told of the days when they were great hunters and recounted their experiences. The young men talked of their great hunts and of today’s hunt. Everyone was happy.
The children slept well that night and dreamed of the day when they could join the hunt.
The next day their training began. Two Feathers had two horses in his remuda that he thought would make good buffalo ponies and he traded five ponies to Stands in Water for the third pony. These ponies not only had to run fast and have endurance, they had to be smart.
The first instinct a horse has when it races against another horse or a buffalo is to win, to run faster than its competitor. A good buffalo pony doesn’t want to out run the buffalo. It has to pace it. It has to run alongside the buffalo at the same speed. Also, when a good buffalo pony hears the twang of the bow, it veers away from the buffalo, out of the range of the buffalo’s horns. A buffalo pony is guided by the shifting of the rider’s weight and the pressure of the rider’s knees.
Two Feathers took them out for bow practice and was surprised by how good the children were in handling a bow. He put a critical eye on their bows and saw that they were well made. The children told him that Tall Boy and his father Spotted Horse had shown them how to make a bow and the arrow maker of the village Crow Foot had taught them how to make arrows.
He was pleased to see that they had spent their time well and that they were seriously trying to learn the ways of the Cheyenne. He now gave them their horses. He told them that these were special horses and that they were to be trained as hunting horses. He said, “Treat these horses well. In the summer cool them down by bathing the horses in the river. Give them only the sweetest and best of grass and in the winter cover them with a buffalo robe. A good buffalo horse is something to be treasured.”
Except when he had to attend to tribal matters he trained the children every day. Tall Boy and Spotted Horse would join them and help Two Feathers in the training. Th
e children trained hard and as the summer wore on they were riding and shooting as well as the other children of their age. Two Feathers was pleased with their progress and very proud of them.
When he felt that he could teach them no more he turned them loose and told them to go hunt and play with the other children of their age. He knew that they would gain experience from being around the other Cheyenne children. They would still be practicing but not under the pressure of the watchful eye of an adult. Plus, this would be practice in the guise of play and be more fun. He would still coach them and smooth out any roughness.
When Two Feathers turned the children loose to play it was mid-August. They had been living with the Cheyenne for about two months.
Their favorite companion was Tall Boy. He had been one of the first to approach them and Two Feathers had known what he was doing the day of the buffalo hunt when he had told Jack to praise Tall Boy for killing a large bull. This praise from Jack had pleased Tall Boy and he was eager to show them how to do things and to teach them.
He was a year older, thirteen, and had already been on his first horse stealing raid against the Ute. All he had done during the raid was hold the warriors’ horses while they stole the Ute’s horses but that didn’t matter. He was still on the raid. He was now, after the last buffalo hunt, a full-fledged buffalo hunter. He was coming of age and at age fourteen he would be considered a young warrior, ready to take his place in the ranks of men.
During the last two months there had been two more buffalo hunts. On the last hunt the three children were allowed to hunt for calves. Next spring, if Two Feathers thought they were ready, they would be allowed to join the hunt as full-fledged hunters.
After the last hunt, the village moved closer to the mountains where it was cooler to avoid the heat of August. Tall Boy and Stone Fist took Beth, Sonny and Jack into the mountains for their first deer hunt. For an expedition such as this they would take ordinary ponies not their buffalo ponies.
They left before sun up. As they rode Stone Fist, said to Beth, Sonny and Jack, “If we come upon deer, they will probably be grazing in the open and we will have to break cover to get close enough to them for a good shot. Don’t crouch or try to sneak up on them, just walk slowly towards them but not directly towards them.”
Tall Boy broke in and said, “Walk naturally as if you were in the village going to visit my Grandfather. If you look like you mean to do them harm, they will know and will run.”
“When you get close enough for a shot, raise your bow slowly and take the shot,” said Stone Fist.
They rode on about five miles from camp. They tied their horses in a clump of trees. From there they went on foot for another half mile.
Tall Boy knew of a clearing where deer would sometimes come to graze. They approached the clearing from downwind. When they came to the clearing, they stayed to the trees. From their place of hiding they could see that they were in luck. Not a hundred yards away were five doe and a buck grazing.
Now came the hard part, how to get close enough to the deer for a shot.
From where they stood, the trees were fairly thick to the edge of the clearing so the last tree was about thirty feet away from the nearest deer. The plan was that they would spread out. Because of the way the trees grew, they would be able to approach the deer in two groups. They would put about ten yards between each group.
They split up, Stone Fist, Sonny and Beth in one group and Tall Boy and Jack in the other. They selected their targets in advance and would try and shoot in unison and maybe with luck they could bring down two deer.
The doe were the closest, with their backs to them. The buck was thirty feet further away and he was facing the hunters. A deer puts its head down and eats for a while and then picks its head up and looks around and listens for a while. They were to watch the buck closely and slowly advance while he was eating. As they got closer to the tree line, they began their causal walk towards the deer.
When they broke the tree line, the deer lifted their heads and looked at the hunters with concern at first and with what can only be called a wary indifference. They kept an eye on the strange creatures that were approaching them but they kept on eating as if they had nothing to fear.
All was going well and the deer were happily eating away as Stone Fist, Sonny and Beth walked forward. When all of a sudden, the buck picked up his head sharply and snorted. The doe froze, lifted their heads and prepared to run. No one was in a position for a shot.
When the buck picked up his head, he looked in the direction of the hunters. To Sonny, it looked as if the buck looked directly at him. Sonny could never explain why he did what he did. He looked into the eyes of the buck. He dropped his bow and arrows on the ground and slowly walked towards the buck. Nobody else moved, not Beth, not Stone Fist, not Tall Boy, not Jack and neither did the deer.
The buck stayed alert and tense but the doe looked at Sonny with calm blank expressions. As he passed the first doe he was close enough that he reached out and patted her on the flank. She never moved. He stopped by her head and scratched her behind the ears. She actually leaned into the pressure of the scratching fingers like a dog would do.
Sonny continued his slow walk towards the buck. When he passed the second doe, he patted her on the rump. She took two quick steps away from him and turned to watch him pass.
He continued walking until he was just ten feet away from the buck.
The buck lowered his head snorted and pawed the ground. To Jack, it looked like he was ready to charge. Jack lifted his bow so he could get a shot at the buck but Tall Boy put his arm out indicating to Jack not to move.
The buck tossed his head up and shook his antlers. He took five short, quick steps forward and lowered his head again, snorting.
Sonny walked up to the buck and calmly leaned down, reached out and placed his hand between the buck’s antlers. The buck slowly raised his head and placed his nose on Sonny’s chest. Sonny walked around to the buck’s side and began stroking the buck’s neck and sides.
Tall Boy, Stone Fist, Jack and Beth could only look on in amazement.
Sonny then scratched the buck behind the ears, patted him on the rump and walked back towards Tall Boy, Stone Fist, Beth and Jack. The deer slowly trotted off in the other direction across the clearing towards the trees. Before entering the forest, the buck turned to look back at Sonny, paused for a moment and then turned and walked into the woods.
When Sonny reached the others they all ran up to him with the same question. “How did you do that?!!”
Sonny had a serene look on his face and his eyes were focused elsewhere. He looked as if he was in a trance.
Beth shook him and said, “Sonny, how did you do that and more important why?”
He looked at his sister and said, “What?” He still wasn’t with them yet and then he looked at her sharply and said, “Oh! I don’t know why I did it or how. It just seemed like the thing to do.”
That was all anyone could get out of him.
They all knew that they had seen something amazing but to Tall Boy and Stone Fist, this was more than just amazing. They knew that there were powerful forces at work here and they had had the privilege to witness it.
They went back to where they had tied their horses and rode back to the village. As they got closer to the village, Tall Boy couldn’t contain himself and raced ahead to Whistling Elk’s tent. He found the old man sitting outside with some of the other old men talking and taking the sun.
Tall Boy brought his horse to a quick stop in front of the old men and was off of his horse before it had come to a complete stop. The old men looked up with annoyance. “Don’t the young respect anything anymore?” they thought.
Tall Boy dropped to his knees so that he would be at eye level with Whistling Elk. His words came out in a jumble.
Whistling Elk held up his hand and said, “Slow down. Talk slower. I can’t understand you.”
Tall Boy started again but his excitement was so great t
hat his words still came out too fast.
Whistling Elk held up his hand again and said, “Slow down. Be quiet. Let me ask you some questions.”
Tall Boy wanted to speak but the old man persisted.
Whistling Elk asked Tall Boy “How many buffalo did you kill in the last hunt?”
Tall Boy looked at Whistling Elk like he was crazy but out of respect didn’t tell him so. He instead answered “Four, I killed four buffalo.” Couldn’t Whistling Elk see that he had something important to tell him? This was maddening.
Whistling Elk said, “Four, I am very proud of you. You have done well for someone so young. Your father is right. You will be a great hunter someday.” Whistling Elk already knew how many buffalo the boy had killed. Spotted Horse bursting with pride had told him as soon as the hunt was over.
“Has your mother, my daughter, finished that winter shirt that she promised me? Winter will be here soon and I need something warm.”
Tall Boy could see that his grandfather was not to be rushed and rocked back off his knees and into a cross legged sitting position.
“She is working on it and I think she will have it finished soon, long before the cold weather comes.”
“That is good. You know I don’t do as well in the cold as I use to when I was young. When I was your age I could break a hole in the ice and bathe in the water. Now things are different. My bones ache on cold days and rather than take a cold bath I prefer a warm fire.”
The old man chuckled and then said, “Now that you look like you can talk like a human being, tell me of your day’s adventure but do so slowly so I can understand you.”
Tall Boy leaned forward and his first impulse was to explode into words but he forced himself to be calm. In a slow, calm voice Tall Boy told Whistling Elk and the other old men about what he had seen.
After hearing the tale, the old men looked at each other, nodded their heads and said, “Hmmmm.” Like they knew all along that something like this was going to happen and that they completely understood it. What was really going on was “I’ll nod my head wisely and grunt and keep my mouth shut and let Whistling Elk explain it all.”
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