Then, realizing he needed to use his hands to tell the story, he rearranged their positions so they were facing one another, and, using sign for clarity, as well as a few English words, he said, "This story takes place when all the animals and man could talk to one another. Now, legend tells us that all of my tribe came here by the Wolf Trail. Where we were before is not told in the story, only that the people came here by the Wolf Trail,"—he gestured toward the Milky Way—"but, the story goes like this: when we first came here, the people did not know how to hunt. And so it came to be that one winter, because they had no food stores, our people were starving. Although there was much game all around them, they did not know how to hunt it and many men died trying, for the animals were big and strong. They knew they would all die soon if they could not find a way to take down and butcher this food source.
"But, one boy decided that if he could discover a way to hunt the game not yet known, the people would not starve. And so, he set out to see if he could learn how to hunt. The people tried to stop him because they were certain he would die, as others before him had done.
"But, he would not be dissuaded; he was determined to help his people. And so, the boy left them and went a good distance away from them where he made camp in a glen of some giant cottonwood trees. There he began to pray for help, entreating the Creator to have pity on him and teach him how to hunt. When his prayers were finished, he looked down and saw there a wolf sitting at his feet. The wolf had taken pity on him, you see. The wolf told the boy that he would hunt for him, and so he did, bringing in so much food to the boy, most of it went uneaten.
"After the lad had feasted to his satisfaction, the wolf told the boy to gather up the rest of the food and bring it to his people, but warned the boy to be sure to come back. Now, all the people were happy to see the young lad was alive, and when they saw he was bringing them food, they became very happy. They would survive.
"But, how had he, a mere boy, managed to get the food? All the people wanted to know. The boy, however, could not tell them how it had been done because it had been the wolf who had hunted the food and brought it to him. Enlightening the people about the wolf and how it had been the wolf, not he, who had successfully hunted, the boy found many of the men in the tribe volunteering to accompany him back to the wolf.
"And so, the boy and all the able-bodied men of the tribe made the journey back to the wolf. When they came within sight of the boy's camp within the glen of the cottonwood trees, the wolf trotted out to meet them all. And oh, what joyful greetings were exchanged between the wolf and all the men. The wolf toldthem about his own tribe and invited them, one and all, to come to the camp of the wolves.
The wolf tribe welcomed the men and showed them how to work together to hunt and bring down game. They showed them how to make apisskan,abuffalo jump, where many, many buffalo could be caught. The wolves then told this tribe of men that if they would work together as the wolves do, they would never again go hungry.
"Oh, how happy were those men, and they made arrangements to go home and share the good news. But, before leaving the wolf tribe, the good wolf who had come to the boy in answer to his prayers, told this brave youngster that Sun, the Creator, had sent him and had created the wolf trail for all wolves so that they could come down to the earth and teach the people how to work together. But, the wolves could not stay here on the earth; they were needed in their other home in the sky.
"Our people never forgot those helpful wolves. And so, to this day, we call that trail,Makóiyoh'sokoy,Wolf Trail." He pointed to the Milky Way.
"'Tis a beautiful story," Otahki said as she came up to her knees and placed her arms around his neck; then she leaned in toward him, and, looking up, brought her lips to his in a sweet, but delicious kiss. His arms immediately came around her, and he pulled her farther into his embrace while he shifted his own position until they were kneeling before one another, her curves imprinted upon his chest. Leaning down slightly, he kissed her with all the love and passion within him. As his tongue explored the depths of her mouth, he nudged her backwards, bringing his body up and over hers. But, the pleasing sensation of having her body beneath his didn't last long; he moved again and to the side of her.
He whispered, "Not safe…make love where enemy eyes…can see. Yet, I want…make love to you under stars."
Her soft, high-pitched sigh was like a lilt of music to him, and, as he took her hand within his own, he massaged both it and her fingers, the touch of her skin there feeling like the softest doeskin; it, in turn, made him burn with a yearning to touch her all over. Her natural aura smelled sweet, clean and wholly feminine, and, as he drew in a deep breath, he savored the simple wonder of the beauty of her.
The urge to make love to her here, up high on a butte and overlooking the prairie, was urgent and almost impossible to resist. Yet, to make love to her here where any enemy's eyes could see…this land where predators and war parties nightly prowled—
"My husband?"
"Áa? I am listening."
"Do all the tribe's wolves look up when they be scouting?"
"Áa," he said. "Of course they do. They miss nothing."
"Even into trees? They be lookin' up into trees in the summer when the forest's heavy leaves hide its many branches?" she asked.
He frowned at her.
"When I be young, me own self hid amongst a tree's limbs and foliage. And, I could be seein' anyone comin' to look for me, but they could not be seein' me, and they be lookin' for me, right enough. None looked up."
He grinned at her, yet warned, "A tree…not very comfortable."
"It be comfortable if thou can make a platform between its branches."
He frowned. Then, talking to himself, he said under his breath, "I have rope in…shelter. Branches on ground in forest below us. Blankets in shelter, too." Aloud, he asked her, "Want…try?"
She needn't have answered. Her smile lit up her face, and, looking at her as she lay by his side, he thought he had never beheld a woman so stunningly pretty. Pride lit up her countenance from within, and, as she smiled up at him, he was aware of how glad she was that she, alone, had thought of a possible remedy to ensure their nightly escapade under the stars would be safe from wandering war parties.
Always, he thought he might remember this moment and the utter goodness of her countenance, the sparkle in her eyes. He said, "Let us get…what need. We put up…platform. Make our shelter for…night within branches of tree."
"Aye," she whispered. "Aye."
****
Because this was Montana in the summer, the evening was not yet completely dark, and a body could well see one's way despite the late hour. Thus, the tree platform went up quickly.
From a nearby pine tree thicket at the butte's summit, First Rider found many fallen and dry limbs, looking much like poles. These he dragged behind him in an easy descent toward a big cottonwood tree standing amongst two other cottonwoods on a lower edge of the butte.
Otahki helped him to drag the logs to the cottonwood tree they had singled out, and then the both of them, climbing the tree, found the perfect spot to place the logs—between two parallel and strong tree limbs. At once, Otahki climbed down to the ground and began to pass each pole up to him, one log at a time, along with the strips of the rawhide he had earlier retrieved from their shelter.
