" said Wolf Paw. "They will not like what
they find." He grinned down at the corpse he had just carved.

"Better mount up and ride away from here," said the scout. "If they see
us, they will chase us."

"They will not chase us," said Wolf Paw. "They will be afraid of an
ambush." His smile broadened. "Maybe we will give them one."

At Wolf Paw's shouted command the six warriors who had remained with him
moved into the trees north of Old Man's Creek, the same trees where
White Bear had taken refuge last night. White Bear tried to see the
tree where he had hidden Wegner, but the woods looked different in
daylight.

Wolf Paw ordered his party to mount their horses, tied up amidst the
trees, and ride north to Black Hawk's camp. But though he swung into the
saddle, he did not ride off with them. He sat on his white-spotted gray
pony facing the direction the long knives would be coming from. A screen
of low-hanging maple branches and wild grape vines concealed him. White
Bear, on a brown mare captured in Raoul's camp last night, drew up
beside him.

"Why are you staying?" White Bear asked.

"I counted only eleven dead long knives," said Wolf Paw. "I want to make
it twelve." He put the hammer of his flintlock on half-cock, poured
fine-grained priming powder on the pan from a small flask, and closed
the fizzen over it.

White Bear sensed that something very important was about to happen and
that he must wait with Wolf Paw.

"Why do _you_ wait?" Wolf Paw demanded. "You have never killed anyone."

"Here they come," said White Bear, choosing not to answer him.

The two horses pulling the wagon, a flatbed with railed sides, halted at
the creek. Most of the long knives dismounted and began to search
through the remains of Raoul's camp. A few others rode across the creek.
Wolf Paw raised his rifle.

The long knives cried out to one another and cursed as they found the
mutilated bodies of their comrades.

_Now they hate us more._

The long knives had rolled-up blankets tied across their horses' backs.
They opened the blankets and used them to pick up the dead. One pair of
men on foot was already carrying a blanket-wrapped body across the creek
to the wagon.

One long knife rode slowly toward them. He was so tall that his legs
dangled down from his horse almost to the ground. He came to the body
Wolf Paw had just been stripping, and climbed down. He took off his
broad-brimmed gray hat and stood holding it in both hands