We did appreciate the quantity of flour and hard tack from the raid on Cow Island, but it wasn’t as huge as government reports would have you suppose. I didn’t get more than a modest piece of fried bread and the slices of bacon were nice. There were beans aplenty, but beans are hard to cook when you are on the move. Come to think of it, we could have used them a little later as ammunition at the Bear Paws when cartridges ran out.

The night at Cow Island remains in my mind for several reasons. I spent half of it sitting on my buffalo robe, hugging my knees and watching the flames across the river. Hawk had a side of bacon to show for his participation in the raid, but that was all. He sat with me and we stared at the flames and sparks that roared higher.

I found it almost as entertaining as the fireworks on the Fourth last year, which were better than usual because 1876 represented the nation’s centennial. It was the first time my parents let me attend any function with a young man, a student at St. Mark’s Episcopal Academy. The St. Martians, our name for them, often paired with Miss Sumner’s Female Academy for harmless events, and this was one.

I don’t even remember his name, but my escort spent the entire time between “oohs” and “aahs” trying to hold my hand. It wouldn’t have minded it so much, except that he had clammy hands. All I will add here on the matter of the bonfire, courtesy of The People and the U.S. Army, is that Hawk did not have clammy hands.

He didn’t say much of anything, which was nothing new to me. He finally leaned closer and nudged my shoulder, which for him was an amazing liberty. “We ought to leave you here when we pull out tomorrow.”

“I suppose you could,” I replied, after a silence of my own that gave the word “dubious” all sorts of new meaning.

He asked (cautiously this time), “That’s what you want, isn’t it? Isn’t it?”

Now that push had finally come to shove, I didn’t know how to answer him. This would be a safe place to be left behind. I could stay on my side of the river until my friends the Nimiipuu were long gone, then wait for the soldiers to find me. There wouldn’t be any danger to me from Bannock or Crow scouts.