Chapter 2

At camp, Bear Claw quickly made dinner and cleaned up the camp then set the bedroll out for me and knelt next to the bedroll waiting for me to get in. I asked where she was going to sleep and if she had any gear we needed to collect in the morning? Bear Claw told me that all she had was what she was wearing. She had been part of a hunting party that was attacked. She ran off while the two parties fought and got lost. Bear Claw looked like she was going to cry, so I reached out to hold her. She grabbed me and held on tight for a short time. Once she regained her composure, she released me and said she would sleep by the fire and keep it going through the night. I flipped the bedroll back, picked her up, sat her on the bedroll and turned to put two large logs on the fire. I set the rifle next to the bedroll and kept the pistol with me as I sat next to Bear Claw and said good night, pushing her onto her back as I moved to my own back, pulling the covers over both of us.

Just as the sun was starting to break the horizon, I turned to look into Bear Claw's eyes and saw she was also awake. I smiled and got up. She was just as quick to get up and moved to the far side of a bush, raising her dress she squatted and peed. She then returned to the fire to pile more wood on the coals and stoke it up to a large blaze, so she could cook food for the morning meal. I checked the perimeter after checking both weapons, taking the time to pee myself and at the river edge, washed my face and rinsed the taste of sleep from my mouth. I walked back to camp and was admiring Bear Claw as she gracefully moved around the camp getting the coffee and meal ready. Once we were both done eating, Bear Claw cleaned up again and had everything packed away, ready to leave at any time. I collected my traps and had two beavers to clean and skin, Bear Claw did one and I did the other. She was just as fast as I was and did almost as good a job; in fact I thought that with a little practice she would be faster and better at it than I was.

Bear Claw cleaned the two skinning knives and put them back in the pack, but I told her to keep one for herself just in case, until I could get her a Bowie of her own. Bear Claw was shocked at first because squaws were not allowed to keep weapons. Then she realized that I looked at her as an equal and depended on her being able to help protect us both, so she put the strongest of the skinning knives inside her right moccasin boot. I gathered my pack mule, Bob, and loaded up to move on.