Wolf Eyes
By
C. R Coburn
Copyright 2013 C.R. Coburn
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: The Hunt
Chapter 2: Bad News
Chapter 3: New Friends
Chapter 4: High Bluffs
Chapter 5: Black Tea
Chapter 6: Green Corn Festival
Chapter 7: Winter Games
Chapter 8: Springtime Journeys
Chapter 9: War Party
Chapter 10: Victors and Refugees
Chapter 11: Black Deeds
Chapter 12: Evil Comes
Chapter 13: Return of the Spirits
About C.R. Coburn
Chapter 1: The Hunt
It was early morning. The weather was a mist of rain. They had heard its growl a little before dawn. One challenge that had gone unanswered. They were on its trail now. It was ambling down the steep mountainside, turning over a log of a fallen tree, stopping to eat blueberries that grew on the steep slopes. It had no reason to go quietly about its business. There were few animals in the forest that would disturb it for any reason.
The bear stood on its hind legs and reached up for a limb of hickory. There was some sap there that it wanted to sample. Standing eight feet at the tip of its nose, it could reach another two and a half. Its weight about 700 lbs. With one grab and a pull the limb broke off the tree. The bear stood upright and gnawed and licked the sap.
The hunting party crept on the slope above the bear. They could see it now, but they must get closer for a kill. The leader went down on one knee, and the rest of the party followed suit. When they moved, they stayed hidden from the bear behind bushes and trees. He was still licking the sweet sap, unaware of his peril. The hunting party was still 150 feet away.
They moved stealthily, placing their feet down gently when they walked, like cats. A leaf was not turned. A sound was not made. One by one they moved, closer and closer.
The bear finished his licking and moved on a little down the hill. He was looking here and there. What is under this rock? What is inside this log? It’s a never-ending quest for food. The bear went on, and the hunters tried to close the distance between them and their prey.
The party was six warriors strong. It had been two days now since they left the village. The first day out there was ten of them. The party had separated after they had killed a buck and a wild hog. They had butchered their game, and the others had left to take the meat and other parts back to the village.
Back in the village, the different parts would be divided and given to the person whose craft it was to make the most out of them. The deer’s hide would make moccasins, and its sinews bindings for different uses. The meat would be smoked. Each animal that was killed was made total use of, with no parts wasted. Everything had its purpose, whether the part be used for food or clothing.
The hunting party was armed for any game that they might encounter. There were three that carried bows and quivers of arrows. The three others carried spears with large stone Clovis points. The arrows would wound and slow the bear down, and the spears would finish the job. Each hunter also carried a tomahawk and a stone butcher knife. The hunter in the rear carried other items that may be needed such as sinews for tying, tobacco for spiritual and pleasurable uses. There was salve to put on wounds, a little parched corn and cornbread to keep their strength up.
The pace had been slow after they had sighted the bear. If he saw them, the chase would be over. The sun was halfway to high noon. The bear was down in a stream that had cut a deep bank. He was splashing around like he was after a fish, and the hunting party closed the distance. They separated in to two groups. Three found a place out of the bear’s sight to cross the stream. The other three waited for a signal to launch the attack. That would occur when the hunters across the stream were in position. Out of the undergrowth came the sound of a thrush. It was the signal to move in closer and attack.
The bear still had his head down, trying to see a fish. The hunters with bows took aim and released their arrows. The arrows struck their mark, and the bear thrashed and rolled in the water. When he came up, he had one arrow in the back of his neck, one in his side under the arm and one in the right shoulder. He took off running downstream, splashing and bellowing as he went. The hunters gave chase on each side of the creek bank. One hunter got close enough to throw his spear. The spear struck the bear in the right hindquarter. He turned to bite at the spear, then turned back to run. The bear let out a bellow and slowed, favoring the leg. There was a dished out place in the creek bank – a natural place to make a stand. The bear went in and turned to face his foes, which were now very close. The bear rose up on his hind legs and shook his head as he growled. The water came off his head in rings of spray. The hunters hurled two more spears that sunk deep in the bear’s chest, and he charged them with a growl. His mouth gapped open, snarling. It was the kind of charge that had both speed and power, with his powerful back legs digging in and his rump lowered. The charge was toward the hunters that had crossed over to the opposite side of the creek. The bear knew that the spear had come from them.
Those hunters ran for their lives. One slash from the powerful bear’s claws could kill or maim the hunter for life. The hunters who had bows fired arrows at the bear as he charged, but the arrows missed their marks. The hunters split in three directions, and the bear followed the closest one. The bear chased the hunter that was closest to him. The bear was gaining ground, but the hunter saw a vine hanging from a huge tree – it was his only chance. He made a strong leap and caught hold of the vine. Then he climbed with all his might. The bear got to the vine and looked up, growling at the hunter. The bear tried to pull the vine down, but it was too strong. The hunter clung to the vine as the treetops shook with the bear’s pull. The bear, bleeding out his mouth, was now breathing hard. He stayed at the foot of the vine and walked around it for a while. He was getting weaker, and the rest of the hunting party waited for his eminent collapse.
The bear finally lay down, with one final bellow, and quit breathing. The hunters came forward and cautiously poked around his eye with a stick. When he did not blink, they knew he was dead. Finally, the lone hunter came down the vine.
The leader began a short ceremony. He took some tobacco and put it in the bear’s nostrils to appease the bear’s spirit and apologize for killing him.
After the ceremony, they began to butcher the bear with knives and hatchets. They salted down the meat. Saplings were cut to make travois, which were used to pull the heavy loads. Each man had all he could carry.
Time was taken to wash off in the creek before loading up for the homeward journey. They left none of the bear behind. They started on their way back to the village, singing as they went, making up a song about their hunt and the bravery of the bear. They thanked the Great Spirit for their good fortune.
The leader of this hunting party was Wolf Eyes. He was tall and strong and was frequently chosen to lead the hunts. He wore moccasins that fit close to his legs all the way up his shins. They wore little else except for a breechclout. They had their heads shaved except for a strip down the center, which was cut to a length of 2 1/2 inches and made to stand up stiff by a dressing of bear grease. They were tattooed about the shoulders, chest and back with individual designs. The bowman had deer skin quivers for their arrows. And all had deer skin belts and scabbards for their knives.
Wolf Eyes said, “We will have to make camp in the Valley of the Big Cedar tonight.”
The rest of the warriors were glad that Wolf Eyes was ready to stop for the night. It had been a great effort tracking the bear all day without making a sound. It would feel good to lie down and rest.
When they reached the Valley of the Big Cedar, the sun had fallen behind the m
ountain. They found a pumice knot on a fallen down tree and used it to make a fire.
The pumice knot is a growth found on sides of oak trees, caused by insect infestation. It looks a lot like a dried up sponge inside, very light and porous. When lit by a spark, it will burn very slowly. By placing the burning knot under dry materials, a fire can be started when blown upon with the breath. The flame will then spread to other dry materials. The unused portion of the pumice knot was saved for future use.
They roasted a portion of the meat and ate their fill. They all sat cross-legged around the fire. The talk was of past hunts.
Wolf Eyes said, “When I was a young brave, I was part of a hunting party led by my Uncle Night Walker. We had encountered a bear, but had not inflicted any injury to it. He had charged us much like the one did today. He charged one group of us and then another. Our whole party had been scattered. Finally, the bear had run into thick brush. Night Walker could not understand why the bear would seemingly escape our pursuit only to come back as if he were asking to be slaughtered. The bear was playing a game with us. We considered this strange-acting bear dangerous because he did not follow a normal bear’s natural instinct. He clearly was not afraid of men.
The bush was so thick that we had trouble getting through it. We followed him all day, and then it became night, so we stopped to build a fire. The night was so dark that you could not see. It would have been dangerous to follow him on a night that was so dark.”
Black Otter asked, “Did anyone get to sleep that night?”
“No,” said Wolf Eyes. “That bear roared all night, or at least part of it. It so disturbed my uncle that he told us to stay there by the fire. He would go after the bear.
“‘As long as he roars, I can find him,’ he said.
“We listened to the bear go back and forth for most of the night with Night Walker after him. Somehow, in the night, the bear doubled back on Night Walker. Now the bear hunted him. Uncle could stay just far enough ahead of the bear to keep the bear interested. We all listened to the sounds of tree limbs and brush breaking all through the night as the chase went back and forth between Night Walker and the bear. We heard growls when the bear was chasing Night Walker, and we heard war hoops when Night Walker had the advantage on the bear. Then after a while the night became silent. Nothing could be heard in the night but the call of the owls.
“At dawn the next morning we heard Uncle Night Walker calling for help. It was a comforting sound to hear his voice. We started to him, but our way was blocked by a massive growth of Wisteria. The vines were so thick that we could not walk through them. Night Walker was in the middle of it. We started cutting our way to him. When we found him he was cutting off his entanglements.
“ ‘Where is the bear?’ I asked.”
“Night Walker pointed into the Wisteria. ‘The bear left in the direction of the rising sun,’ he said. ‘We were both tangled in the vines and could not free ourselves. We struggled face to face as the vines tightened around us. It was the spirits of the upper world intervening, keeping us separated, and then a strange thing happened as we were both trapped in the vines within easy reach of the other – if only we had been able to free ourselves. Our spirits met and took away our anger. We made a truce between us, as the vines held us there, that we would no longer seek to harm the other. The bear happened to free itself first from the vines. He approached me and could have killed me, as I was still caught. I felt its hot breath on my face, but it only licked me as a mother bear licks her cubs. Then it left me to free myself and tell its story to you, that you might know of its truce with us and not harm it any more.’ That bear is known as Nita Itikana, the bear with the friendship of Night Walker, and it roams the forest until this day.”
Everyone around the fire laughed at the story, and then Black Otter said, “Do you believe the bear really licked him in the face?”
“Well, I can only say that is the way he told it,” said Wolf Eyes.
Black Otter said, “Night Walker had many adventures.” Then he paused. “He was the first to tell me about men and bears. He said, ‘In ancient times men and bears lived together, dwelling in the same caves for shelter. But then the bears started eating the children of men, and men started eating the children of bears, and that was the end of the partnership.’”
“I remember that story well,” said Wolf Eyes.
“You miss Night Walker, don’t you, Wolf Eyes?” said Black Otter.
“Yenah,” he said. “His spirit does not rest easy because of his murder. He will not be at peace until his murder is revenged and the evil-one is punished.”
They had heard many stories told by Night Walker and others. Stories that were told over and over, and some of which became legends. Some were based on true happenings. Others were told so many times that over the eons they had been changed to make them myths. These stories were the fabric that made up their beliefs, and Night Walker was missed around the campfire.