“We hope for a son, Walks with Moon, but this is the first time you’ve said ‘our son’ with certainty. Do you know something I do not?”
Walks with Moon cast her eyes down for a brief instant, her lips lightly compressed, one cheek quivering. Her gaze returned to his. “No, husband. I just think it will be a son because I believe Spirit will bless us with a son–but any child is a blessing from Wakan Tanka.”
Eagle Talon regarded his wife in silence. There’s something she is not telling me. He decided not to press the matter. “It was a long and busy half moon. I and Brave Pony trailed the Pawnee warrior band. At various times there were at least forty, sometimes up to sixty braves. A large war party. Three Cougars, Turtle Shield, Pointed Lance, and Three Knives were a half sun’s ride from us and from each other, searching for tatanka and any alert to possible dangers.” He chuckled. “Those Pawnee have the eyesight of old women. They never spotted us. Twice we had to double-back to avoid Army patrols. One group of cavalry was perhaps twenty soldiers, the other was larger, perhaps forty. I assume they came from the white man’s Fort they call Kearney, a five or six-sun ride when we encountered them.”