CHAPTER SIX
As soon as Red Fox, Poka'aki, the wolf and their two horses had descended into a coulee, Red Fox called a halt to their travel, and, dismounting, he squatted next to a set of tracks to study them closely, brushing at the dirt here and there.
It was a war party—and a large one. It looked to be headed south and east…perhaps toward Fort Benton. He could see from the moccasin tracks that it was an Assiniboine party, although here and there was evidence of a Cree warrior or two, and if this were so, it was a dangerous combination.
Thinking to warn his friends, Red Fox stood up and was about to mount his horse and ride quickly toward the Pikuni camp which was, at present, set up around Fort Benton. But then, looking forward, he saw the tracks were taking a more easterly course, rather than going straight south and east.
Which meant… They were headed toward the Fehér ranch.
Why? Was this simply a horse raiding party? It could be. After all, due to the wars being brought by the white man into their country, the horse herds of the Assiniboine and the Cree were diminished, and the Fehér ranch was rich in several hundred horses.
These warriors needed no other reason. The tribes must have ponies, and lots of them, in order to survive.
But, seeing the tracks and where they were most likely heading brought on a concern. Who was now looking after the ranch's horses? Such had been one of Red Fox's responsibilities two winters ago. But, since he had returned from his experiencewith the Lakota, he hadn't sought out his old position. Besides, one of the main reasons he had worked at the ranch had been because of Poka'aki.
Letting his mind stray briefly into the past, he recalled how, even as a child, she had possessed a free-spirited beauty. From the very first time he had espied her, he had seen she was fearless, was outspoken, yet she was also demure in many ways, always regretting her outbursts.
However, these outbursts were one of her endearing qualities in his opinion.Niitá'p,a man would not be left wondering what she was thinking or what were her opinions; this was a certainty. He had been intrigued with her even when they had both been little more than children, she with her wavy dark-red hair and brown eyes. And, he had wished to know her better.
And so, he had accepted George's invitation to teach her the ways of the prairie—those skills being to scout, to hunt, to tend to and doctor the horses and animals in general.Niitá'p,he had befriended her without conditions, even instructing her on how to attain a few spiritual abilities that were essential if one were to remain safe in this country—one of them being to speak mind-to-mind.
Áa, George was Red Fox's best friend, his brother-in-law, his hunting partner and his almost constant companion when in camp. But even George could not have kept him at the ranch had Red Fox not been a little infatuated with Poka'aki. She, and she alone, had been the reason he had kept working for the Fehér family over several years, waiting for her to grow up.
Returning his mind to the present, if this war party were on the path to take horses—and he assumed they were—another might have believed they were headed toward Fort Benton. But, he did not believe this was their destination. For one, the fort guarded their horse herds with a stern fire-powered eye. Foranother, if that were so, the party would be keeping to a more southerly direction, rather than one that was moving both south and east...mostly east.
But, could there be another reason they were riding in the direction of the Fehér ranch? Could it also be because several notable Pikuni warriors, medicine men and their families were known to have come to the ranch, they being there because of Poka'aki's return? Was their mission to kill some of these prominent men, as well as to steal horses?
It could be. After all, the Fehér ranch was not as well guarded as Fort Benton. And, what were a few Pikuni men against perhaps fifty of the enemy?
"What do you see there?" asked Poka'aki.
"A large war party…Assiniboine and Cree. Mostly Assiniboine…about fifty."
"Can you tell from their tracks what their intentions are?"
"To kill the Pikuni and take their horses, I think."
"But, the Pikuni," she countered, "are well protected by hundreds of warriors encamped around Fort Benton."
"But, notallthe Pikuni men in the tribe are, at present, at your father's ranch."
He heard her gasp, and, looking up at her, he said, "We will go to your ranch with all possible speed."
"But, if this is so, what can we do?"
"Much, I think," he answered. "We can warn the others, and, with their repeating rifles as well as our own, I think we can do enough damage to the war party to make it turn away. But, we must hurry. This enemy is ahead of us by half-a-day's ride, and besides avoiding it, we must get to your father's ranch as quickly as possible. I fear there will be no sleep for us this night.Makóyi, Wolf, you take the rearguard. But, be ever on the alert. I will take the lead."
Returning to his pony, Red Fox jumped up to his seat, at once whipping his mount into a fast gallop, then into a run toward the ranch. He assumed Poka'aki would do the same as he, pulling up her rifle to check over the gun, ensuring it was loaded. And then she, too, would set her pony into a run, following behind his lead.
****
"There is the war party," signed Red Fox to Briella. He pointed into the valley, and Briella looked down below them toward the Marias River running through the flat valley, bright moonlight silhouetting the water with flashes of white reflected upon the water under the gleam of the moonbeams. But, she didn't see the war party.
She and Red Fox were lying on their stomachs atop one of the rocky buttes rising up here and there on the prairie, having left their ponies on the opposite side of the butte, from which a high, dry and flat prairie stretched out to the north.
Although she and Red Fox were lying flat, Hunts-with-the-wind stood upright on the rock ledge of the cliff, he going unnoticed by those in the war party. It had been Hunts-with-the-wind who had alerted Red Fox and Briella to the location of the war party.
Soon, she was able to see figures of men, being able to distinguish them only by their movements. Those men were speedily riding through the coulee below where she and Red Fox watched them.
