Half a day’s ride found Hawk at the Yellowstone, where he turned Rascal to the west. Riding about three miles to a spot where the river bowed around a rocky area, he left the road to continue straight ahead. Hawk had camped there before and found that, once past the rocky crags, there was a grassy clearing in the trees that lined the river and provided a secluded campsite over a hundred yards from the road. After pulling Rascal’s saddle off, he released the buckskin to go to the water, then he gathered some limbs to start a fire. With jerky, bacon, and hardtack enough to last him for a ten-day patrol, there was no shortage of food.

So, when he got his fire going, he went to the edge of the river to fill his coffeepot. “What are you snortin’ about?” he asked Rascal when he walked down the bank where the buckskin was drinking. The horse issued a few inquisitive whinnies as Hawk walked past him to fill his pot upstream from the spot where Rascal was stirring up the water. The horse whinnied again, causing him to stop and take a good look around him before deciding Rascal must have seen a muskrat or something. Thinking it was nothing, Hawk squatted on his heels and reached out to fill his coffeepot. It was then that he discovered what Rascal had been trying to tell him. Kneeling close to the ground, he could see a small moccasin under the low-hanging branches of a large chokecherry bush. He was surprised but gave no sign of having seen whoever was hiding in the bushes. If it was an ambush, he figured he’d be dead by now, so he continued filling his coffeepot. When it was full, he stood up and said, “I’m fixin’ to have me a cup of coffee and something to eat here in a few minutes. If you want some, you’ll have to come outta that bush to get it.”

There was no response from the owner of the moccasin, even though it was drawn quickly back when Hawk spoke. Judging by the size of the foot, he figured it to belong to either a young boy or a woman. From the glimpse he got of the beaded design on the moccasin before it was suddenly drawn back in the bushes, he guessed it to be Crow. “Suit yourself,” he said, after another few moments with no response. “I’ve got an extra cup and some food to cook. If you change your mind, come on out.” He turned and walked back toward his fire, which was burning nicely now.