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But Echohaas proud to know that his chieftain father had wounded the white leader that day Surely the !

Echohawk tightened his reins and brought his horse to a halt He turned to his people and thrust a fist into the air “Ee-shqueen! Stay!” he shouted, the responsibilities of his father’s people his own until his father was able to perforain “We shall rest for a

while, then resume our journey!”

Echohawk sat for ahis people He could see relief in their eyes over being allowed to rest, and realized only no hard he had been driving theet them to their planned destination

But the fate of his people lay in his hands, and he realized the ie soon, and into a daily routine When the snows began coloring the ground and trees in cloaks of white, many deaths would come to those ere not prepared

Dis in the breeze, hisscarcely a sound on the crushed leaves beneath them, Echohaent to his father and knelt down beside hiee-bah-bah, Father?” he asked, gently rearranging the bear pelts around his father’s slight for how it used to be before the vicious raid His father had beenVital All of this had been robbed from him at the hands of Yellow Eyes and White Wolf, and someday, somehow, the evil men would pay

“Nay-i, I a eyes he looked past Echohawk at the loveliness of the surroundings, feeling serenity deep in the core of his being

He turned his gaze back to Echohawk, a s on his thin bluish lips “Soon we shall be there,with each word “Do you not see it? Do you not feel it? This is a place of peace A place of plenty Surely we are near Chief Silver Wing’s village Surely we are also near Colonel Snelling’s great fort, where Indians coood trading at Fort Snelling We have been wrong not to hed and paled “It is best that we are here, my son It is best”

“Ay-uh, yes, and ill soon be ht us to the Rum River It is the sae It is this sareat Mississippi River that flows past Fort Snelling” He nodded again “Ay-uh, soon ill be there, gee-bah-bah”

Gray Elk slipped a hand from beneath the pelts and clasped onto one of Echohawk’s, in his eyes a glea and I have been friends since our youth, when, side by side, we fought the Sioux for territorial rights,” he said, sucking in a wild gulp of air, then continuing to speak “It will be good to see hiain”

Gray Elk’s grip tightened on Echohawk’s hand “When Chief Silver Wing last came to me and we shared in a smoke and talk, he spoke of the abundance of wild rice plants that bend heavy with rice in the countless lakes and e, and skies that are alive aterfowl,” he continued softly “Soon we share all of this with Chief Silver Wing and his people Soon you will participate in the hunt again while our woather the rice Once more our people will be happy, Echohawk”

“We shall ride together on the hunt, gee-bah-bah,” Echohawk encouraged, wanting so badly for this to be so If his father died, his heart would be e an intensely cold winter fifteen winters ago, and his wife and unborn child only recently Surely the Great Spirit would not take his father from him also!

“You will get well,” Echohawk quickly added “You will ride your horse again”

But Echohawk doubted his oords His father was a leader who had ruled his people with kindly wisdoh to see that his people could begin a life anew close to two old friends, one Indian and one white They planned to , also Chippewa, and a half-day’s ride froe—a friend to all Indians

Echohawk, a wise and learned e of thirty winters, knew that his father had another reason for having chosen to e Gray Elk hoped that perhaps Echohawk ’s people to replace the one that he was