d, laying his hand on Floating
Lily's head. He left, the scented smoke lingering behind him.

When Redbird bared her breast, White Bear leaned over and kissed her
nipple, his lips catching a droplet of milk that had formed there. She
put Floating Lily to her breast and lay in contented silence with her
husband sitting beside her.

He took up his book and read aloud:

"Whence Hail to thee,
Eve, rightly called Mother of all Mankind,
Mother of all things living, since by thee
Man is to live, and all things live for Man."

"What does that mean?" she asked.

He translated the words into Sauk, and said, "It means that all life
comes from woman."

Iron Knife's head suddenly appeared in the doorway, his eyes wide, his
mouth drawn down.

"White Bear! Long knives coming this way, thousands of them."

Redbird's body went cold, and she clutched the baby to her. How could
she keep this tender new life safe in the midst of flight and fighting?

"Maybe they will not be able to find us," White Bear said.

"No, the scouts say they have Potawatomi guides riding with them, who
know where to look for us. Potawatomi dogs! To side with the long knives
against us."

"The Potawatomi must have been forced to help," said White Bear quietly.

Iron Knife said, "Black Hawk says we must break camp right now. We will
head west as quickly as we can toward the Great River."

Redbird tightened her arms around Floating Lily until the baby cried out
in pain. Instantly she relaxed her grip, but in her mind she saw the
long knives coming, with their cruel, hairy faces, murdering them all
with their guns and their swords. She saw the people she loved sprawled
dead in the mud of the Trembling Lands. White Bear had told her that
Black Hawk's war parties had killed many pale eyes, even women and
children. Now the long knives would take terrible vengeance. Even as she
stroked the baby and whispered to soothe her, her heart pounded in her
chest.

There would be hard traveling ahead and even less food, thought Redbird.
Trying to walk after just giving birth, the pain would kill her.

For an instant she hated Black Hawk for having led them into this
suffering. If only the British Band had listened last winter to White
Bear. And to her. Then hatred gave way to sick despair. She would die
before they ever reached the Great River. And Floating Lily, who had
just come into the world, would die too.

Iron Knife left them. White Bear