Thunder Rolling in the Mountains

The chiefs get into an argument about how quickly they move. Lean Elk’s pace wears out all the horses and the elderly people. He is afraid they will die if they move too slowly. Looking Glass takes over again, and they move slower. Everyone is happier. They stop in a cold meadow for the night, and Lean Elk is afraid of an ambush. Looking Glass ignores him. They eat buffalo meat, and Swan Necklace reassures Sound of Running Feet that soon they will marry. She is afraid: “I wondered if the ugly moon was a warning from the Great Spirit. Was it blood I saw on the rising moon?” (90). 

That morning, soldiers approach led by Cheyenne scouts. They descend upon the tribe. Horses run and bullets fly—it is chaos. Chief Joseph encourages Sound of Running Feet to take a horse and flee to Sitting Bull, but she gives the horse to a pregnant woman and child instead. She is in the battle. She hides in a gully, where Swan Necklace finds her. He is bleeding but alive. They hide until dusk when the fighting stops briefly, and they can bury the dead.