Chapter 108
The sound of the others stirring woke me while it was still dark. I went outside, carrying extra rations and ammunition for hunting. The old man clasped my forearm in the native fashion before wordlessly moving away. Spotted Panther took his place and nodded into darkness barely broken by a dim moon. Then New Star was there.
“Thank you, Grandfather,” he whispered.
“Be well. Take care of your family.”
I watched the party out of the yard as they made their way west to circle the hillock before turning north. I mounted the hill and sat in the cool earth, my ears listening for what my eyes could not yet see. When I could make out the shape of the grass at my feet, I rose and erased all sign of the visitors with a limb from a bush.