Before noon we had one eight point deer
It was such a beautiful animal
That we all sat for a while looking at it
Hunched over on our heels
Tall Pine’s arrow went in
Right above the left front shoulder
As we opened it up
We saw he had hit the heart perfectly
By evening we had slung it up
In a neat cache for our return
And we went around to familiarize ourselves
With where we had put it
So that we would be able to find it
On our return.
The next morning we were off at first light
Further East to see Amy, Frank, and Clarinet
As it got closer to darkness
We decided to find some food
And camp the night in a nice covered area
Among the great pines.
Moon Cow recognized where we were
This was his old land that he knew well
And he guided us towards Frank’s place
With relative ease
We had come at them from the West
I had thought we would still be well North of them
And would have to head South for a good long time
But as it turned out
We were only about three hours North of them
And we were at their door by nightfall.
They were all very excited to see us
And had much news and stories to tell us
About the Summer they had had
And news of the U.S. Army
For being isolated as we were
We hadn’t any news of their movement
They told us that many of the bands
Were signing treaties
Some of them were forced to sign at gunpoint
While others were just too tired
To fight anymore
So they signed and moved their people
To the land appointed them
There was nothing good coming of this whole thing
We knew it, and so did they.
I told them of our own village’s attack
And Frank told me that he had heard of a rogue group
Of miners who had done the same
To a few of the homesteads they had come across
He wasn’t sure if they had hit many other villages, too
But luckily, they hadn’t found their house
So they hadn’t heard or seen any sign of them
I could see that Amy had a bit of worry in her eye
As one usually does, living so remotely
And really vulnerable to renegades like that
I knew that it was a conversation they had had
And surely one that would continue
The older Clarinet got.