For one, how was she to stop thinking when near the enemy? She had discovered from First Rider that all life is able to detect a man's thoughts, and, this being so, in order to remain unseen a scout must not think when an enemy is too near. For another, she was to use only abbreviated sign or the mind-speak when in enemy territory.
Abbreviated sign? What was this?
There was more. A man's tracks could show the man's thoughts, could even display his physical well-being or his sicknesses. There were even waves in the air, similar to the circular waves in a pond when a stone is thrown into it, which could be felt by the scout so he could be alerted in advance of possible dangers.
But, her most important duty he had told her was to remain silent and unseen. How she was to do this, she didn't know. But, she would try; it was all she could do.
After a few days of following Ernest, they being unseen from the tops of surrounding hills, it looked to her that First Rider had been correct about what he had thought would be Ernest's destination. Apparently, Ernest had recouped enough of his losses at Fort Benton so as to make the journey to Fort Connah—which was quite a distance north and west of The Medicine—unnecessary. Additionally, not having to make the long and treacherous journey through the Backbone-of-the-world Mountains toward the fort would also lessen his travel time to the gold fields.
Ernest was, at present, journeying during the day and sleeping at night; it was the complete reverse of the Plains Indian war parties' schedule. For stealth reasons, a war party usually trekked over the prairie at night and slept by day. Although there was danger in Ernest traveling alone and being clearly visible upon the Plains, there was also the safety factor of keeping an opposite traveling schedule from most war parties.
Liliann had listened earnestly to First Rider explaining a fundamental understanding of how to scout Plains Indian–style: they missed nothing in their awareness of the environment around them. Using the sun and its position in the blue overhead, they carefully studied every trail and every footprint. They could see when Ernest had given in to a "call to nature," they knew when and where he had eaten his meals, and, they could plot where he would be within the next few days by his trail pattern, thus making it easy to set barriers into his path. Indeed, they seemed to know more about the man than perhaps the man knew about himself.
And, by being attuned to his strengths and his weaknesses, they were able to play to his physical disadvantages. Forinstance, they knew more about the health of his soul than she might ever know about another person's spiritual well-being, perhaps including her own, as well.
First Rider had pointed out various aspects of Ernest's spiritual weaknesses: the way he set up his camps each night and the manner in which he left his camps in the morning showed he cared nothing for the life around him. It was there in his disregard for the living, breathing desire to live inherent in all things alive: he killed without need of food or clothing; he set traps to kill for food or necessities but forgot to trip them before he broke camp, thus disabling or killing a life without need. This weakness could be used against him.
Also, she had discovered through First Rider that, although Ernest pitched his camps in the brush or tree growth near the Big River, he did not bother to hide the evidence of his fires when he left the camp, nor did he brush over his steps, a necessity in this country, and especially for a man alone and in an environment where the young men of all the tribes were often on the war path.
His animals were not well cared for, they being tied to a tree instead of being hobbled. This kind of restriction placed on his animals kept them from munching on the choicest grasses. And, he didn't always wash off the sweat from his horses after a hard days' ride, which was a necessity if one wished one's ponies to be healthy.
These and more were spiritual weaknesses.
There were other markers of his lack of awareness that had gone unnoticed by her; however, they had not been missed by First Rider and his friends. Because the three men talked to one another by abbreviated sign, she was able to learn a little from them about the map Ernest carried; he consulted it continually. Thus, they had discovered one of Ernest's survival crutches and had deduced from it how to add confusion to Ernest's trek since,without the map, Ernest would soon find himself confused. Indeed, without it, he might soon become lost.
And so, it happened late at night and after Ernest had gone to sleep, Stands Strong had crept into Ernest's camp and had taken the map. Bringing it back, the three of them had quickly buried the paper.
The next morning's light had shown a panicked Ernest as he furiously pulled out clothing, tools and weapons from his bags, obviously hunting for the map. Watching him from their cover of shrubs and tall grasses, the three scouts discussed by condensed signs if Ernest might suspect he was being followed. Or would he believe he had left his precious prop in his camp the previous night? And, if this were his conclusion, would he retrace his steps back there or would he carry on?
Soon it became evident: Ernest had decided to cut his losses and continue onward toward the gold fields.
After her initiation into the world of the tribe's wolves, and after she had discovered what was expected of her, Liliann was doing the best she could to be as quiet as a mountain lion in search of prey. And, though she tried hard to "not think," as First Rider had instructed her, it was simply an impossibility, and she found herself thinking perhaps even more than she would have were she not trying so hard to have no thoughts in her mind.
But, she had to try. First Rider had warned her about how important it was to cease to think. Still, even knowing this, she found she could not make herself stop pondering over many things, including her infatuation with First Rider.
Then, as if by silent mutual consent, another council was called between the three men, and once again Liliann became a silent observer. Using shortened sign only, they discussed Ernest's path, all three of them agreeing upon taking away his next dependence—his weapons: his rifle, his two guns and hisseveral knives. But, though they needed to get his guns so they could unleash upon him their next strategy of revenge—whatever this was—they decided to try to not alert him yet to the fact he was being followed and watched.
It happened, then, during a series of several days and nights, the three men took turns sneaking into Ernest's camp while he was either engaged in packing up his gear or was asleep, and, silently, as though they were mere shadows, they obtained his flint and the knife he used to start a fire. They took the pan he favored to cook his food in, as well as the utensils he needed. They acquired his hat and gloves—even the feather he usually wore attached to his ponytail; it now decorated one of Red Fox's braids.
But still, it appeared Ernest had not become cognizant of what was really happening—that he was systematically being worked upon. Instead, he seemed to blame himself for leaving these items in his previous camps. And so it continued. Little by little, the three scouts stole into Ernest's camp during the early evening or at night while Ernest was sleeping, removing little items he needed for survival, Ernest still apparently unaware and, from their observation of him, continuing to accuse himself for his losses.
But, it couldn't last, and soon another council was held where a most serious discussion became the topic of their talk: they must disarm Ernest. They could go no farther without Ernest becoming aware he was being worked upon.
First Rider and the others now discussed the methods they might use for this purpose. From this point forward, if they didn't find a way to get Ernest's weapons away from him, their lives were at risk.
At first they discussed taking only one knife and perhaps confiscating another knife the following evening. But, they dismissed the plan.
If they were going to disarm him, it must be done all at once. If they took one knife here and another one the next night, the chances were that Ernest would discover he was being shadowed. No, if they were to disarm him, it would have to be done all in one night.
And so, they waited for the right chance.
It happened two nights later after two hard days of travel. Even Liliann could see the environment itself was working its justice upon Ernest, dealing out his deserved "rewards" for his ignorance of this land. Without his precious flint, Ernest floundered from one stream to another, looking for flint.
Why he didn't start his fires using his rifle, no one knew, except to conjecture that he might be low in ammunition. But in lieu of this, why didn't he try to start the fire in another way—perhaps with the bow he carried?
At least because he retained his rifle, he had no difficulty taking down game to eat, but then he faced another problem: how was he to prepare it for roasting? Indeed, how was he to cook it at all? He had no pan and no utensils. Of course he could use sticks to cook the meat of his kill, but without a fire, even those were useless.
It was easy to see now what hunger could do to a man. Ernest began to act like a man demented, and soon he began to eat the meat he killed raw. Then he began to make other mistakes.
