“Now, friends,” the trapper said, “it is time for a little lunch. Here is a piece of cornbread left over from my breakfast. It isn’t much, but we all get a bite. In the meantime, keep your eyes on the prairie and look out for Indian heads.”
“I think we should stay here until dark,” Tatanka suggested, “and then start for Shakopee or Fort Snelling. Indians do not fight during the night. The sky is going to be clear and we can travel by the stars. It is very dangerous to travel in daylight.”
“You are right, my friend,” the trapper replied, “but I am almost afraid to stay here. Our enemies may come back with more men to drive us out, or larger bodies of Indians may accidentally find us. Our horses have no water and we cannot leave the thicket if we are surrounded. I think we should find a better place, even if it is dangerous to travel by daylight.”
Before they left their hiding-place, Tatanka tied some small poplar twigs to his head and climbed the highest tree in the grove.
“I can see not a man nor horse,” he reported. “Our enemies have left. Even if the men were hiding in the grass, I would be able to see their wagon and horses.”
“The nearest places of safety are Fort Ridgely and New Ulm,” declared the trapper. “Should we not try to reach one or the other?”
“They are not safe now,” objected Tatanka, after a brief silence. “I have heard the young warriors brag that a thousand of them could easily rush both of these places. We could surely not get into either place on horseback. We might crawl into them at night. If you try to go there on horseback, I shall not go with you.”
“Perhaps you are right,” granted the trapper. “I do not wish to lose my two fine horses. Let us try to reach the small lake and timber north of here. We can water our horses there and the patch of timber is large enough so that a small party can not surround us. And if the worst should happen, we can abandon our horses and slip away on foot after dark.”
When they were ready to move, Bill found little Tim hunting about anxiously through the brush.
“I can’t find the coon,” he cried. “He was there before we sat down to eat our cornbread, but now he has chewed off the string I tied him with and he is gone.”