White Bear that his face became a fearsome mask in the
firelight. "They have left me no choice. Yes, we will retreat from them.
But we will not run like hunted deer. We will send out war parties, big
and small, in every direction. We will lie in ambush on every trail. We
will fall upon every settlement. We will attack every traveling party of
long knives. No pale eyes north of the Rock River will be safe from us.
Until we have crossed the Great River, we will give the pale eyes no
peace."

At Black Hawk's words White Bear felt that an ice-cold hand had laid
itself flat on his back, between his shoulder blades. With those words
Black Hawk was condemning to cruel death hundreds of people--pale eyes
and his own.

And one of the largest settlements north of the Rock River was Victor.

"What is the use of more killing?" he said. "It will only madden the
long knives. They will come after us till they have destroyed us."

"I have decided," Black Hawk said. "We must fight back. We must be
avenged. They stole our land. They burned Saukenuk. They burned
Prophet's Town. We asked them for peace, and they killed us. Black Hawk
will show them that they cannot do this and go unpunished."

"So it shall be!" the Winnebago Prophet growled.

_And after that the long knives in their turn will have to be avenged._

Hopelessness lay like a heavy sodden blanket on White Bear. He saw the
old warrior's determination, and said no more.

He could only pray that Earthmaker spare those he loved. On both sides.

Black Hawk stood up. "Let us go back to our camp."

Wolf Paw said, "Father, I want to stay here till tomorrow with a party
of warriors. There are dead long knives scattered all over the prairie,
but we cannot find them in the dark. In the morning we can take their
scalps and their weapons."

His words stopped White Bear as he was about to turn away from the fire.
Otto Wegner might still be hiding in that hollow tree, waiting for dawn.

Hurriedly, White Bear said, "I, too, will stay. I will help Wolf Paw
search for the dead."

What could he do if Wolf Paw and his men captured Wegner? Perhaps not
save the Prussian's life, but at least persuade the warriors to kill him
cleanly and not torture him.

_Haven't I done enough for Wegner? I want to go back to Redbird._

But his impulses were a shaman's impulses, and the harder to explain
they were, the more he trusted them. It was important, for some reason,
that he stay at Old Man's