Little Eagle went to the creek. He studied the place where deer came to drink. There were many tracks on the other side of the creek. He wet his finger and held it up to tell from which direction the wind was blowing. He gave a pleased nod when he found it was blowing from the other side of the creek toward him. He jumped across the creek and went straight into the wind.
Little Eagle picked his way with care. He went slowly, being careful to make no sound that would warn game ahead of him. He hadn’t gone far when he sighted five deer grazing in a small meadow.
The meadow was completely surrounded by trees. Although the deer were grazing near the middle of it, they were within bowshot of the nearest trees. Little Eagle dampened his finger again and tested the slight breeze. It was blowing directly from the deer toward him.
As he worked his way toward the deer, Little Eagle noticed that the stag constantly lifted his head and sniffed as though sensing danger. Little Eagle was sure that he was moving so quietly the deer couldn’t hear him. With the wind blowing from the deer toward the boy, the stag couldn’t catch his scent. Still the animal continued to sniff and move about uneasily.
Little Eagle stopped. In some way his movements must be carrying a warning to the deer. However, while Little Eagle remained motionless, the stag continued to sniff. Suddenly he snorted and bounded high into the air. While Little Eagle watched helplessly, the whole herd raced away. In a moment he saw the cause of the deer’s alarm. Two big gray wolves dashed out of their hiding place toward the nearest doe. Both wolves sprang, but both missed, and the deer were gone.
Little Eagle was so angry that he brought the bow up and took aim at one of the wolves. Before he let the arrow fly, he remembered that it was one of Angry Wolf’s good hunting arrows. If he missed the wolf, or merely wounded it, the arrow would be lost. Reluctantly he lowered the bow.
There would be no chance to stalk those fleeing deer. Little Eagle knew the stag might lead his herd for miles before he allowed them to stop and graze again. When he saw the wolves slink off to the right, Little Eagle turned to his left.
He continued until the sun was straight overhead without finding another herd of deer. Disappointedly, he turned back toward the creek. This was too far for him to carry a deer if he managed to get one. Besides, he didn’t like to stay away from Angry Wolf so long. Angry Wolf was better, but he was still far from well.