Yet by traveling only at night and
concealing herself in the daytime she hoped to
avoid these dangers, and she rode bravely forth
on the trail of the returning warriors.
Her dog, Wapayna, had followed the maiden,
and she was not sorry to have so faithful a
companion. She cautioned him not to bark at
or attack strange animals unless they attacked
first, and he seemed to understand the propriety
of remaining on guard whenever his mistress
was asleep.
She reached the Powder River country in
safety, and here she had more than once to
pick her way among the buffaloes. These wily
animals seemed to realize that she was only a
woman and unarmed, so that they scarcely kept
out of her path. She also crossed the trails of
riders, some of them quite fresh, but was fortu-
nate enough not to meet any of them.
At last the maiden attained the divide be-
tween the Tongue and the Big Horn rivers.
Her heart beat fast, and the sudden sense of her
strange mission almost overwhelmed her. She
remembered the only time in her life that the
Sioux were upon that river, and so had that bit
of friendly welcome from the valley--a recol-
lection of childhood!
It was near morning; the moon had set and
for a short time darkness prevailed, but the
girl's eyes had by this time become accustomed
to the dark.
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