Chapter 31A hint of autumn rode the morning air as we rose with the coming sun to partake of a meal of papa, dried meat. Then it was time to meet Buffalo Leg and Touch the Clouds on the river. We packed our plunder aboard the two horses and headed north toward a thin column of smoke in the distance where Buffalo Leg was preparing the medicine lodge.
Touch the Clouds spread out a robe and put each of us in one of the four cardinal directions. He occupied the First Direction, the east, as the senior among us. After a short, simple greeting to the morning, he lit a pipe using an old-fashioned fire-steel and took a long draw. Then he passed it to Bear, who inhaled a lungful before handing it to me. After a shallow pull, I handed the calumet to Buffalo Leg.
While Touch the Clouds chanted a pr
