When the hunting party returned
They knew something was wrong immediately
And came right to me
I told what had happened
And also what I had learned from some of the family
I had been talking to in the village
Who were there when it happened
When Mountain Chief heard
What Tall Pine and I had done
He pulled from his headpiece
Two eagle feathers
And honoured each of us with one.
Most of the damage had already been fixed
Prior to the men returning
So we all kept ourselves busy with
Smoking and curing the meat
A very necessary task for the upcoming winter
They had returned with sufficient supply
That we were all fairly confident
There would be no shortage of food this winter.
For two days we had a grieving ceremony
And it was very sad to watch those who were very close
To those who had been killed, mourn
But as a community, as a family
We were all there to help them, to support them
To give our own offerings.
I took Tall Pine along with Moon Cow and I
As we went on a hunt of our own
With our bows across our backs
We set off to the East
To see if we could find some grazing animals
Still exposed, unprepared for the coming months
We had a rough idea to head towards
Amy and Frank, as Moon Cow also knew them
And was wondering how they were doing.
By the end of the first day
We hadn’t found anything,
But had fresh tracks of many smaller animals
Mostly rabbits and pheasants
So we were able to feed ourselves
But nothing to bring home
We woke early the second morning
And were off at daylight.