Without our snowshoes we would have been up over our knees in snow. The pulling of the sleds was heavy work, putting a strain on us all, but we were in good spirits knowing that this food would keep our families nourished for many days. The twins switched back and forth, pulling their sled, and led the column with the small dog. Sometimes though, his weight was too much for the crust of the snow, and he fell in up to his neck. But he struggled on. Wàgosh, Kàg, Mònz, and I switched spots in line every so often; that way one person wasn’t always having the hard pulling.
To hasten our time, that day we ate while we walked. We had been gone nine days and there had been very little food in the village when we had left. It was still bitterly cold, but I was sweating underneath all my layers of fur. The areas not covered by our scarves were at risk from the wind. We rubbed moose fat on the exposed skin to keep the elements from freezing the bare spots. Looking around at my companions, I saw the strain in their faces and the steam billowing from their bodies. Breath came out of our mouths like the puffs of smoke from a smouldering fire. The two dogs were always bringing up the rear because the walking was easier for the travois that they pulled. As I looked back at the dogs I sensed nervousness in the pair, and they were looking back sniffing the air. The wind had changed from the south since the storm. Now it was again at our back from the north. Seeing the nervousness of the dogs, I told everyone to get closer to the thicker forest and take a rest. There was also one other sign that I could see in the sky, and it was a warning of what I knew was coming. Three kàgàgi (ravens) were following us. I instructed the twins to not start a fire, but to collect firewood and prepare in case we had to stay. I also told them to tie up the small dog and to not take the travois off the other two. I decided to backtrack on our trail to see what was bothering the dogs. Asking my fellow three hunters to be vigilant, I left my sled with them and cautiously retraced our trail.
Within fifteen minutes I crested a small hill and was able to look off into the distance. There I could see what alarmed the dogs. There were ten mahingans following the leader who had them on a steady lope on our trail. The ravens were never wrong, and there was the proof in front of me. We would not be able to run from them. Standing and fighting would have to be the order of that day. I bent down and took my snowshoes off. I would need to run as fast as I could to get back to the group. Again we would have to fight to keep this moose. The survival of our families depended on what was going to take place in the next hour or so.
4
Death in the Snow
GASPING FOR AIR WHEN I reached my hunting party, I instructed Wàgosh to start a fire. Agwingos and Esiban were asked to tie the three dogs to the trees about twenty feet behind the fire. I further advised them to take the fur hides off of the dogs’ feet to make them battle-ready and to have their knives prepared to cut the dogs free if they were threatened.
Kàg asked what the danger was.
“Kàg, what does the Raven usually bring with him when there is meat or carrion about?”
“Your namesake: Wolf! How many are there?”
“I counted ten, plus the pack leader,” I said.
I then started shouting out orders and outlined our defence. I told my small group, “We have maybe fifteen minutes before they arrive. They are hungry and want the moose meat. We must be prepared with a defence, because they will circle us looking for a weak spot. We cannot let the dogs loose unless it is absolutely necessary; the size of this pack would tear them to shreds. Mònz, because you cannot shoot a bow, you will have to be behind us guarding the meat and the twins. I will face the trail where the leader and his mate will come. Kàg, you must defend the left and Wàgosh the right. We have to hope and pray our arrows fly true to the mark, because these animals are hungry and determined.”
It would be dark in a short time and the wolves would strike in the dim light. The sun was falling near the treetops, lighting the snow and the approaching beasts in a fiery red hue. They started to howl, sending a chill through my body. With this as a signal they broke into a run. Our dogs then started barking. Hearing this, the attackers immediately stopped and began snarling. The male and female pair jumped to the front and snapped in our direction. They were still a good distance away, but I loosed an arrow that flew toward the female. She moved at the last second and the arrow struck a young wolf in the chest with a resounding thump. The pack, sensing danger, pulled back as the younger wolf howled in pain.
The pack now sat as if waiting for instructions. Then they all started running in different directions. Wàgosh let out a warning and Kàg turned just in time to see two large wolves running toward him. He had no time to string his bow, so he grabbed his lance from the snow. At that instance another lance flew through the air and embedded itself in the lead wolf’s neck. Without a sound the animal dropped. The ever-wary Mònz had struck again. Kàg dropped to one knee as the other wolf sprung toward him. His lance caught the attacker full in the chest. Kàg was covered with the animal’s blood as both tumbled into the snow.
Then, upon hearing our dogs snarling and Esiban screaming, I looked around and saw Agwingos on the back of a large wolf that had his brother pinned face down in the snow. Agwingos was stabbing the wolf while Mònz was running to the aid of the boys. On the way past the dogs he cut off their leather ties with a slash of his spear blade. The dogs beat Mònz to the struggling twins and the wolf. First in battle was the small dog, and he lunged at the face of the wolf. The twins were screaming. The wolf was snarling and our dogs were barking. It sounded like a world gone mad. In a matter of seconds the small battle was over. By the time Mònz reached the melee our dogs and Agwingos’s knife had finished the intruder.
I turned my eyes back to the remainder of the pack. The female and male leaders of the group had stopped short of our circle. With four of the pack dead and dying, they realized that we were too formidable a prey to defeat. Any more losses to their family and they would have difficulty surviving and defending their territory against other wolf packs. With one last wail at us, they departed the way they had come.
With the retreat of the wolves, we gathered ourselves. Esiban suffered no wounds. This could be attributed to the quick reaction of his brother, the amount of clothes he was wearing, and the efforts of our dogs. We now had four wolf pelts. Because of the bravery of Agwingos and Esiban, they would each receive a pelt to do with as they desired.
We made camp for the evening and built the fire. That night marked the tenth day we had been gone, and we still had at least five or six more days of travel left. The extra load of pulling the meat on the toboggans was delaying our return. The next day we would push harder and try to reach one of our cedar enclosures that we had built on our trip north. We still had to pick up the deer that we had been hanging in a tree along our back trail. Again we would leave a place with the snow covered in blood. We hoped that the rest of our return trip would be uneventful and that Kitchi Manitou would watch over us and lead us in safety.
The fire was high and we ate moose and talked about what was ahead. Kàg took the first watch while the rest of us slept. The dogs didn’t need to be tied, as the wolf pack had left this area behind and would not bother us again.
5
The Long Walk
NO ONE HAD WAKENED me to take a watch, and I awoke in the faint light of the dawn. I was concerned that something had happened. I noticed Wàgosh sitting with his back to the fire and on watch.
“Brother, why didn’t you wake me for my watch?”
Wàgosh answered, “All was fine, and we had decided to split the sentry duties just three ways tonight. We thought that you needed the rest and maybe from this day forward we could let one of us sleep throughout the whole night.”
I had made the decision we would have a good first meal of the day, and I added an extra treat. I fashioned a bowl out of birch bark from a fallen tree that I had found. With a sharp small bone, I made a hole in the bark and pulled through the leather strips that I had in my medicine bag. I was then able to sew the bark together, and using pine sap that I had thawed I sealed the bowl. Then I melted snow in it. Next I cut some cedar leaves and put them in the melted water. Tying