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“The best hide coverings are made from buffalo, not deer,” High Hawk said, glad that his woman wanted to know so much of his people’s customs. “Bed coverings, clothing and saddles are also made from buffalo hide. Sinew from the animal is used for stringing our bows. My people’s women soften and dress the skins with brains from the buffalo. Mallets are made of the hoofs. Water bags are made from the bladder.”
“Buffalo!” Three Bears said as he came up to High Hawk’s left side. “They have been sighted around the bend, where the stream turns into a wide river.”
“Spread the word,” High Hawk said.
In his eyes was an anxiousness and gleam that Joylynn had never seen before. She could not help feeling the same excitement, even though she would not participate in the hunt. Just being with High Hawk at such a moment was enough to cause her heart to race with excitement.
High Hawk turned to her. “Go and stay far behind the warriors, where you can safely observe,” he said. “Do not move from that place unless by chance the buffalo are scared into stampeding, or they run toward you.”
“I will be alert at all times,” Joylynn murmured, resting her hand on her rifle, which was primed and ready as it stood in her gunboot at the right side of her horse. “Good luck.”
“Good . . . luck?” High Hawk repeated, arching an eyebrow.
“That is a way white people wish good fortune on their hunters,” Joylynn explained.
High Hawk smiled broadly as he reached over and took one of her hands in his. “The hunt today, a wedding tomorrow,” he said. “Tomorrow, my woman, you will be my bride.”
“Tomorrow,” she murmured, then watched him ride away with the others. She followed more slowly until she saw the buffalo herd just as she rounded the bend, where tall trees had until now kept them hidden.
She gasped in astonishment at how many buffalo she saw. A vast herd stood there together, grazing on the tall, green grass that swayed in the breeze.
She drew rein and searched out a less dangerous place. Seeing a slight hill where she could look down upon the hunt in safety, she rode up the slight incline. On the back side were thick trees that would also provide protection.
On two sides, the land stretched out far and wide, and on the other lay the river, with its pristine water reflecting the sun and the clouds floating away in the blue sky.
Just to be certain she would remain safe, she drew her rifle from the gunboot and rested it on her lap, then settled in more comfortably on the saddle. She had brought her binoculars, which hung around her neck.
She lifted them and gazed through the glass, watching the men slowly approaching downwind of the herd. The buffalo still were not aware of the danger drawing near.
Some of the herd grazed peacefully, while those closer to the river pawed the earth with one hoof.
She could hear some of the buffalo bellowing, others snorting.
And then her breath caught in her throat when she saw all of the hunters, with High Hawk in the lead, take their assigned positions as they formed a horseshoe shape with the open end toward the buffalo herd.
Some warriors now advanced on foot and made a line at the ends closest to the herd.
Those with the fastest horses were at a greater distance from the herd. But they waited and watched, and only when several of the buffalo suddenly sat down, resting in the grass and dirt, did the warriors ride at a hard gallop toward them.
The buffalo obviously heard the rumble of the horses’ hooves, for Joylynn saw them turn their heads toward the sound. Those buffalo that were standing could see the advancing warriors, yet still stood watching, as though not certain what to do.
Those that were sitting were just starting to rise. Gradually, they all began to move away. But just before they broke into a trot, the Pawnee hunters were among them.
The warriors on foot were shooting their arrows into the animals already, but they could not get closer because of the danger. This part of the hunt had to be conducted by those on horseback.
When the buffalo really began to run, Joylynn watched in awe as High Hawk and the mounted warriors were able to select which buffalo to shoot.
Joylynn knew, from what High Hawk had told her earlier, that they prefered to shoot a female because the meat was more tender and easier to prepare.
Joylynn had also been told that sometimes there was a competition among the hunters. The object was to see how many buffalo one could shoot with a single arrow.
As she peered through her binoculars, she saw that when a buffalo ran, it exposed an area behind the leg where the tough hide was thin. Some men were able to shoot low through this spot. If an arrow was shot with sufficient force, it went completely through and into another animal, killing two buffalo with one arrow.
She was awed by the accuracy of each warrior. Many buffalo were taken down, and before she knew it, the others had run away to be hidden from sight in a thick stand of trees.
She still stayed away from the warr
iors as they began to prepare the buffalo’s skin and meat for the return to their village. It almost made her ill to watch as the butchering began. It was not a delicate or pleasant task. It was messy work, with the summer flies and gnats almost unbearable. They were so bad that some warriors stood by, waving willow branches over the carvers.
