Wolf Eyes, Page 4

  Chapter 3: New Friends

  Loot and Fire Cub were in their nest observing the Tushka River. They felt like they had been there a long time. All they had seen so far were the usual animals going about their daily business of searching for food and calling for mates. The forest was beautiful, with a canopy of large oak trees that lined the banks of the river. Their view of the river was a placid pool of dark green water that gently flowed from right to left. The sun was about midmorning height in the clear blue sky.

  “What a day,” said Loot, “a perfect day for just laying on the river bank. It’s too bad we are supposed to stay out of sight. We could be fishing.”

  “We can come back and go fishing later, maybe,” said Fire Cub. “But you’re right, it seems like we are wasting a perfect day.”

  Just then they heard a commotion on the far shore. The sound traveled well over the water. A person on the other side could speak in a normal tone of voice and be heard perfectly well by Loot and Fire Cub. But this was not a voice; it was a group of animals running. They saw several deer running with great leaps, and then they saw the wolf pack. The deer were now running along the top of the high bank, heading downstream. There were four of them, a buck followed by three does. Loot and Fire Cub counted six wolves behind them, and then another wolf appeared in front of the deer.

  The buck made a spectacular jump off the bank and into the water. He was followed by the other deer. They began crossing the river as fast as they could swim. The wolves jumped in after them. Now it was who could swim the fastest. The wolves gave up one by one, and the deer kept going. Loot and Fire Cub watched the deer. As the deer got close to the bank, they turned downstream and swam until they were completely out of sight. This is the way they avoided leaving a scent trail for the wolves to pick up later.

  The wolves got back out of the water on the far side, to Loot and Fire Cub’s relief. They climbed the bank and shook off. They then meandered downstream with their noses to the ground, trying to pick up another trail.

  As time went by, the sun rose higher in the sky. The boys had gotten the dried meat out of their pack and were having a snack, when they heard the song of a mockingbird. It was the call of their uncle, Red Talon. He was trying to locate them. This had been practiced many times in the boys’ training. Loot answered the call with a mockingbird song of his own. If it had been nighttime, the call would have been that of a whippoorwill.

  Red Talon came to the boys. “Hilito,” he said. “How are you braves doing? It looks as though you like being sentries. You get to lay around and do nothing.”

  “We want to go fishing,” said Loot.

  “We almost went wolf hunting,” said Fire Cub.

  Then Fire Cub told them about the wolf pack.

  Red Talon told the boys about the village of Nunnimingo. The boys looked at each other like they were glad they did not go fishing. They did not have anything to report as far as visitors. They had not seen a human being since Red Talon and Wolf Eyes left them the other day.

  Wounded Eagle and Giant Owl went up and down the river, placing the sentries at strategic locations. After the sentries were in place, the observation covered about two miles in either direction, up and down the river. This section covered a wide bend in the river and the part of the river that was closest to their village.

  Daylight faded in to night, and the braves kept their watch. They slept in shifts. They each got about four hours rest during the night.

  The next morning the river was foggy – so foggy that you couldn’t see the bank from fifty feet out in the water. The alarm was sounded that someone was on the river. They used the call of the crow to alarm over long distances. It was a canoe that had been spotted on the river. It had four people in it and was headed downstream, toward the spot where the canoe had been beached. The sentries closed in tighter as the craft came downstream.

  They watched as the canoe landed and was pulled up on shore. There was a woman and three children that got out of the canoe and started up the path. Then she stopped and looked up, realizing that she was surrounded. She screamed and had to be quieted. They realized quickly that they spoke her language. After she got her breath, she was relieved to learn that she was in good hands.

  Red Talon spoke, smilingly, “Woman, we are Chickasaw Bear Clan and mean you no harm. Who are you, and where do you come from?”

  She said, “My name is Three Baskets. I am also Chickasaw from the Bird Clan of the village of Nunnimingo. We are survivors of a war, and I have been looking for your village for days.”

  “Why did you come and then leave our area if you were looking for us?” asked Red Talon.

  She said, “There are other people that are sick and injured, and I have to go back to care for them.”

  Red Talon asked, “How many sick and injured? Where are they?”

  She said, “They are in a cave on the other side of the river, after the big bend straightens. There are five of them, three braves and two women.”

  Red Talon introduced the braves that were there along with Loot and Fire Cub. They had a discussion to decide what was the best thing to do. They would go to move the people back to the village of Nutala. It was the home village of Wolf Eyes, from where the braves had come.

  Three Baskets said that there were more canoes that were hidden in the forest close to the people and the river.

  Red Talon sent Loot and Fire Cub back to the village Nutala to take the three children. He, with Wounded Eagle and Burning Arrow, would go with Three Baskets to move the injured people. The rest of the sentries would move up the river to be close, in case they needed assistance.

  Red Talon and Three Baskets got into the front of the canoe, and Wounded Eagle and Burning Arrow got in the back. They started out into the fog bank and quickly disappeared from sight.

  The air was so still that not a sound could be heard. The braves paddled the canoe, silently. As they got to the back of their stroke they would turn the paddle so that the edge came out of the water first, so that not even a drop of water was splashed.

  There was an occasional woodpecker’s call that helped them determine the distance to the far bank. They wanted to get close enough to see the outline of the large trees, but no closer. Three Baskets was looking for a unique, large white rock that was stuck in the mud of the bank. It was their mark that they were close to the landing spot.

  “There it is,” she said, “just a little farther on down and under a giant bush that overhangs the water.”

  They found the bush and ran the canoe up under it. They pulled the canoe up on the bank, out of sight. The other canoes were hidden just a little farther back. They were inspected by Wounded Eagle.

  Three Baskets led the way in to a well-hidden trail. It was barely an animal trail, and they had to stretch their legs in long steps to find bare spots to put their feet down as they walked. But the path got better as it began to climb the slope up to the mouth of the cave. This cave became known as the Cave of the Survivors.

  It was not long before they were entering the cave, and Three Baskets made a chirping sound as a signal that it was she. The wounded braves could still defend themselves, but they were glad to see that help had come.

  Two of the three braves could only hobble. The third would have to be carried. One woman was old and would have to be carried also. The other woman was able to walk, but she had to move slowly because of the pain. Burning Arrow cut two forked tree limbs that the two braves could use as crutches. Red Talon and Wounded Eagle carried the brave that couldn’t walk, while Burning Arrow carried the woman. Three Baskets helped the other woman keep her balance, while she moved in slow, careful steps.

  Once they got to the river, the canoes were put into the water, while the injured survivors rested under the bush. They moved the injured into the canoes first, getting them settled and as comfortable as possible. It required Burning Arrow and Three Baskets to wade into the water to hold the canoes steady, while Red Talon and Wounded Eagle
lifted and moved the injured. They now were in three canoes.

  With the injured loaded, the other braves jumped into the canoes. The paddles slipped silently into the water. Paddle strokes began to move the canoes away from the bank and into the cover of the fog. The mist in the air was refreshing, but the tension of the situation was a distraction from any pleasure one would ordinarily feel. The breeze was light, and the water was like glass. The surface of the water was warm to the touch of the hand. As they slipped silently through the fog, they could hear the occasional splash as a fish attacked some prey on the surface. Woodpeckers were working in the large trees on the far shore. A crane squawked its warning at their approach, and then he left his standing place in the shallows of the river and flew.

  The canoes turned downstream when they neared the far bank, and they searched for the landing. They paddled on for a while, and then the landing was found. They had more help this time to get the injured out of the canoes. The canoes were hidden a short distance away from the river. A runner was sent to get help from the village – help to move the injured. Red Talon asked that poles be cut and used to make stretchers out of the skins they had brought. Food was provided for the survivors, because they were in need of nourishment.

  One of the injured, a warrior named Takololakna Inakfi or Orange Brother, began to tell the story of the raid.

  Orange Brother said, “It was barely sunup when, with no warning, a Creek warrior came into my house. He hit my uncle in the head with a war club when he was still in his bed. I was in the other room when I heard the sound and the short moan. My wife was at the fire, and she screamed. When he turned to look at her, I threw my tomahawk and killed him. There were two more that came in the door. The first one got my spear in his belly. The other one shot at me with his bow, but the arrow glanced off of the post in the lodge and was deflected. I dove at him as he tried to swing his club, and we went out the door together, tumbling on the ground. He still had his club, and I grabbed it and threw him to the ground. Then I killed him with his own club. Outside the house the enemies were everywhere. I think there must have been a hundred of them. They were chasing women and children. Our warriors were greatly outnumbered. I ran to the nearest enemy, and we started fighting with the clubs, but he was joined by another. I was hit in the back and fell into the river. They shot me with an arrow. I was disabled and almost drowned. I guess they thought I was dead. I drifted along with the current, surfacing to get air whenever I couldn’t hold out any longer. Eventually I came up under the overgrowth on the bank and was able to hide there. I could still hear the screams... the screams...from the village. Kioki and Haita, what has happened to them...Sob.”

  Three Baskets came to his side. “Quiet now,” she said. “You must calm down or your wounds will start bleeding again.”

  She calmed him like a mother calms a child.

  She turned to Red Talon and said, “He was like that when I found him in the water. I would not have found him, but I heard him sobbing. It was a few hours after the attack. I had managed to hide. When the attack started, I got away, out of the village, with the three little ones. We went into heavy brush and pushed our way through it. When we got to the other side, we ran far out into the forest. When my fear let me, I crept back in, little by little, listening like a deer – smelling the air like a deer. I was cautious of anything that moved or made a sound. Nothing seemed right – it was deadly silent. When I got to the village it was burning. Nothing was left. The dead lay around everywhere. A lot of our people had their scalps taken. Then I heard Orange Brother at the river. I got him out, and then one by one I found the other survivors.”

  “Who were Kioki and Haita?” asked Red Talon.

  “They were his wife and daughter.

  “We moved out of the village to the cave. We had no food so I found the canoe and began to hunt this side of the river. I thought it would be safer over here, and I was looking for your village.”

  After they had eaten and rested for a while, the injured were put on the litters, and a party left for the village. The party consisted of Red Talon, Three Baskets, Wounded Eagle, four other braves and the injured.

  When Loot and Fire Cub came into the village, they brought the three children to Waving Willow.

  “Well, who do we have here?” asked Waving Willow.

  She smiled a warm smile and went to a jar that was buried in the corner of the floor. The three children were silent, and Loot and Fire Cub gave the explanation of who the children were. Waving Willow knelt and sliced cornbread, then spread on a mixture out of the jar. She gave each of the children cornbread with a mixture of blackberries, honey and bear grease on it. It was a favorite treat among the Indian children. Now they smiled at her as they ate.

  Chief Silver Eagle was watching Loot and Fire Cub come through the village with the children. He came to the house of Waving Willow to inquire about the new arrivals.

  After getting the explanation, the chief sought out Wolf Eyes, who he found at the side of the stream. Wolf Eyes was in the process of making a new war club. He was taking advantage of the nice weather, soaking up some sun, while he worked. He had a sharp scraper that he was using to shape the handle. The other pieces were laid out in order. A jagged stone for the hammer, that weighed about three pounds, had been shaped for sturdy attachment to the handle. He had deer hide strips and sinews for the bindings. The grip was carved so that it could be held using one or two hands. There was a leather loop that would tether the handle to the wrist so that it could not be easily taken away by the enemy.

  The chief sat down by Wolf Eyes and spoke. “You have three new faces in your house now, Wolf Eyes.”

  “What do you mean by that?” asked Wolf Eyes, with one of those funny, questioning looks.

  The Chief said, “Loot and Fire Cub brought in three children that somehow survived the massacre at Nunnimingo. They brought them straight to Waving Willow. She has a way of making the children like her. No matter whose children they are, they like to come to her house.

  “Yenh” (yes), said Wolf Eyes. “They all love her, as do I. She knows how to make them like her because she likes them. She loves them all. What a good woman she is! The Great Spirit has blessed me.”

  “Wolf Eyes,” said the chief, “there may have been other survivors or captives. It is known that they will make slaves out of some of their captives. Others they will torture and kill.”

  Wolf Eyes said, “Yenh.”

  The chief continued, “We will be asked to provide information about our enemy when the war party arrives. I know there will be a war party coming here to avenge Nunnimingo. There will be war dances and ceremonies, and then they will destroy the Yellow Leafs. But we need to know what we are dealing with, so that we can offer the other chiefs good advice when they come.”

  Wolf Eyes looked at the chief and said, “I will prepare myself to go like the ghost and learn about the enemy. The spirit in me is calling for me to go, so I must go and avenge the Nunnimingos. The spirit gets restless and agitated. The feeling inside me builds, and then I cannot rest until I satisfy the spirit.”

  “I know how it is,” said the chief. “I have a ghost spirit myself. The spirit will not let you rest until you do what it wants. But when you are at its service, it will give you great power.”

  The chief thought back, “I knew you had a ghost spirit, Wolf Eyes, when you were a small boy. You were sitting on your mother’s lap at the main campfire. It was a village ceremony, celebrating the renewal of spring. It was a dark night, and there was much dancing around the fire. Everyone was happy. There was much noise and merrymaking in the village. I was sitting across the campfire from you and your mother, when over her shoulders a wolf trotted in to view. It got behind your mother and stopped. The wolf stared straight at me. I was awestruck by his eyes; they were glowing in the dark. I looked at you, and you had a big smile that came onto your face. Then the wolf disappeared into the night. There was no other explanation for it oth
er than the wolf was your ghost spirit. We gave you the name Wolf Eyes, so that he would be with you always as he was that night. There was no question in my mind for whom that spirit came. I knew it was you, because, as the wolf looked at me, you also looked at me with a big smile. A wolf does not appear in the middle of the village, in the middle of a crowded celebration. No real wolf is that crazy. He was a ghost wolf, and he came to give you his spirit.

  “I will prepare myself to go,” said Wolf Eyes. “But first, I will go to my house and see my new additions.”

  Wolf Eyes gathered up his project, stood up and walked in a slow, tall motion to his house. He knew what his next few weeks would be like. But now it was family time.