Read Online Thunder Rolling in the Mountains by Scott O’Dell - Free Book Online Page B

streaked the eastern sky.
    It was not long after that the warriors rode into camp. They called us to bring the pack ponies and follow them. We hurried back to the river.
    The white men had fled. The warriors chopped open the boxes and we loaded the horses. We took flour and sugar, beans and bacon. We took coffee. We
took pots to cook in—the first we had seen since Big Hole. The camp would feast that night.
    After we had loaded the ponies, our warriors burned the rest of the supplies. No Blue Coats would eat that food. As we rode north, a cold wind carried the smell of smoke from the river.

Sixteen
    T HERE WAS ICE on the ground and the wind blew hard. We suffered from the cold. The people wanted to rest. The old people said their bones were sore from so many days in the saddle. They wanted to rest beside a warm fire. The women said their children needed sleep. Their eyes were hollow and their gaze was dim. There was no joy in the camp.
    Lean Elk stopped the march early. Once more the chiefs met. Their voices grew loud.
    "We must keep going," said Lean Elk. "When we cross the Bear Paw Mountains we will come to the Old Lady's country. In three suns I will take us to Sitting Bull."
    "We are tired," said Looking Glass. "The old cannot travel at this pace. The children weep with weariness. We have beans and flour. We are in buffalo country. If we travel slow, our young men can kill buffalo."
    White Bird got to his feet. "Looking Glass speaks foolish words," he said. "Until we leave this country, we are hunted by Blue Coats."
    But White Bird was the only chief who sided with Lean Elk.
    Chief Joseph looked around the circle. He looked deep into the eyes of the chiefs. He looked into his heart. "I fear for the lives of the old people," he said. "And I fear for us all. If we go fast, our ponies may wear out. Their hoofs are tender and some limp. If we go slow, we may be caught by the Blue Coats."
    "Do not worry about the Blue Coats," said Too-hul-hul-sote. His hand cut the air to show his contempt for the soldiers. "They are at least two days behind us. We can travel slow and stay ahead of them."
    "Lean Elk is no chief for us," said Looking Glass. He stood tall and proud. His black hat trimmed with otter fur made him loom over the seated chiefs. "A chief does not wear out his people. A chief does not wear out his horses. Lean Elk should lead us no longer."
    Lean Elk stared hard at Looking Glass. His eyes were coals of hot fire. "All right, Looking Glass," he said. "You can lead. I am trying to save the people. You take command. But I think we will be caught and killed."
    He walked away from the chiefs and stood alone, a
silent figure in the gathering dark. He stared at the distant Bear Paw Mountains.
    Looking Glass led us on short marches toward the star that never moves. We started after the sun rose and stopped before it left the sky. The people no longer muttered.
    After four suns we crossed the Bear Paw Mountains. We were close to the lands of Sitting Bull. We traveled through a barren valley with no trees. Sagebrush grew here, but the long grass had frozen and was brown. It bent in the cold wind.
    We had been riding for a short while when Swan Necklace came back from the trail ahead. He said that the scouts had killed buffalo. The meat waited for us in a cove beside a stream. The sun was overhead when we reached the grasslands where the meat lay. Looking Glass said we would rest here until morning.
    Lean Elk said that we must keep on. This was a bad place to camp. Soldiers could sweep down on us from either side. But Looking Glass said our horses needed more rest. We would stay.
    He had chosen a cold place. The wind from the Old Lady's country swept across the land, turning our bones to ice. We had no tipis because we had left all our poles at Big Hole. The children huddled in deep ravines beside the creek while we made shelters with buffalo skins and canvas.
    There was no wood but many buffalo chips lay on the ground. They