The continued children's tale of an American Indian boy's quest to become a man PART TWO

After waving goodbye to his people, Red Deer turned
and felt a slight sadness about leaving. He was
excited, nerves and sad all at the same time.
Looking ahead at the vast expanse of land and sky,
he couldn't help feeling small.
Red Deer headed north, he knew it would be easier
to follow the river, he also knew he would have to
cross the river at some point. The trail he followed narrowed sharply, the woods closed in around him, eventually the path he was on sloped
down to the river. Twilight was fading into darkness, when Red Deer rode to a bend in the river, something moved to his right in a clearing, he looked, it was a couple of rabbits munching on some food. Red Deer was so hungry, he knew he must
not miss. He took aim very carefully, he fired his
arrow, he saw one of the rabbits go down while the
other ran off. He quickly jumped down off his horse and ran over to where the rabbit lay. He would feast tonight, and rest.
Red Deer collected some dry wood to start a fire,
he then took his flint and his piece of pyrite and
started to strike the flint against the pyrite, to
cause sparks to fly off and on to the wood, then he
started to blow to produce a flame. He built the fire up with some more wood. Now it was time to
prepare the rabbit for cooking. Once the fire had
died down, and the embers were hot, he found a
comfortable place to sit, then he continued to
skewer the meat on to some strong branches, then he
cooked the meat over the hot embers. As he cooked,
he thought about Little Bird, he wished that she
was with him to share this moment. Soon the rabbit
was looking and smelling good. He ate the bread his
mother had made for him, which made him feel sad and alone, wondering what his family would be doing now. Coming back to his senses, he told
himself.
"I've got to stop thinking like this, it's not helping me. I must look forward and not back."
He took another bite of the rabbit, it was delicious and his spirits lifted. Once he had eaten, he put some more wood on the fire, it was
starting to get cold and dark now. He was glad his
father had given him the buffalo hide, it made him
feel more secure, he wrapped himself in it and
listened to the sounds around him. Once he was warm, he decided to take Swift as Wind down to the
waters edge to drink, then he had a drink himself.
It was a quiet peaceful night, the moon was full and the stars were so big, he felt he could almost touch them. Even the river was calm. He decided that it would be a good idea to get some sleep now
and make an early start in the morning. Red Deer
wrapped himself in the buffalo hide and lay close
to the fire, his horse nuzzled him and Red Deer
spoke softly to his horse.
"We must rest now, you stay by me, we sleep."
It was as if the horse understood him. Red Deer
felt quite vulnerable laying there with just the sky above him. His mind spun in useless circles,
until sheer physical fatigue took over. He awoke once during the night, his rest broken by a nightmare that left him damp with sweat, but within seconds of waking, he drifted back to sleep, the nightmare forgotten. This time he slept
undisturbed.
Red Deer awoke suddenly by the sound of his horse in distress, he wiped the sleep from his eyes, for a moment wondering where he was, then
realising, he jumped up, his horse seemed to be in
pain.
"What is it boy?" Asked Red Deer.
The horse bolted and screamed, then collapsed on the ground and lay down. Red Deer looked at his
horse's back leg, because the horse kicked out.
Then he saw what it was, his horse had been bitten
by a rattle snake, he knew immediately what to do,
he had seen his father treat a rattle snake bite.
He got his sharpest piece of flint and cut the
wound, hoping to get rid of the poison, but he cried out loud as Swift as Wind went very quiet.
His horse lay down and started to breathe heavily
as if he were fighting for every breath. Red Deer
spoke to his horse,
"I will never let you die, please, please be
okay."
He gave his horse a hug. Red Deer did not know what to do except to sit with his horse and keep
talking to him. He thought about what his father
had said to him.
"Don't come back without eagle feather."
It was all to much for him, he broke down, suddenly feeling lost and afraid.
It was a while before Swift as Wind could stand,
but eventually he did. Red Deer took his horse down to the river, the poor horse hobbled down
behind him. His wound had swollen up pretty badly.
Red Deer knew he would have to make another incision incase there was still poison in the wound.
"Okay, now this is going to hurt," he said.
As he cut the wound, the horse screamed out in pain. Red Deer then led his horse into the running
water of the river, once in the water, it was as if the horse felt instant relief. Red Deer waded
out of the water and watched his horse, he sat down on the bank trying to think of what he should
do. He knew he would not beable to ride his horse,
so he decided the best thing, would be to swim
across the river. He looked at his buffalo hide
and his blanket, then decided to place his quiver
with his bow and arrows onto the buffalo hide and
blanket, then fold them into a bundle. He took the
rope that his father made for him, and fastened
one end of the rope to the bundle, the other end
he tied around his waist securely. He walked back
down into the river, he waded to where his horse
was waiting, then he spoke softly to his horse and
gently edged him on to swim, the horse seemed to
know instinctively what Red Deer wanted him to do.
As they swam, the current picked them up and was
trying to carry them down river, this Red Deer did
not want, so he and his horse were fighting against the current. With the weight of the bundle round his waist, it became very tiring, even though Red Deer was a strong swimmer. He was also
concerned for his horse, Red Deer thought for a
while they might not make it, but it was not long
before they reached the otherside.
Once he had reached the bank, Red Deer crawled out of the water with his horse, he lay down exhausted and very wet. When he had got his breath
back, he sat up and looked around, he realised he
would have to get out of his wet clothes, so he
unfastened the bundle round his waist, then he
stripped off. The sun was just starting to come up, but he felt cold and although he hadn't come
very far, the swim had tired him out. His horse was also tired and in no fit state for riding.
Red Deer found some dense growth close to the
river giving him more shelter. Being naked he started to shiver, he needed to make a fire, so he
cleared away some of the long grass. Luckily there
was plenty of kindling close by, so he collected
as much as he could and set to work making a fire.
Once the fire was lit, he got his clothes and
buffalo skin and brought them over to the fire.
He managed to cut two branches off a near by tree,
that had forks on one end, he pushed the other ends into the ground close to the fire and found
another branch, to put across the top. Then he hung his buffalo skin and his blanket and clothes
over the top branch.
Although he was totally exhausted, he knew he
could not rest, so he checked on his horses leg,
the swelling had gone down slightly, which was good. Red Deer hoped he had managed to get all the
poison out. His horse was at least starting to look a little better.
The sky was clear and the sun was high when Red
Deer decided he would try to catch a fish, although it was getting warmer, he still kept a fire going. He collected some fresh grass for his
horse. Swift as Wind lay down in the shade of a
tree. The sun was starting to get hot and flies
started to buzz around Red Deer, he brushed them
away as he collected more kindling. He knew he
could not go far and leave his horse.
He found a long branch from a near by tree, and
sharpened one end to a point with his piece of
flint. Once it was sharp and pointed, he walked
down to the rivers edge. The river was flowing
quite fast, but the water was so clear, he could
see the fish swimming quite easily. He waded in
up to his knees and had his spear at the ready.
The afternoon sun glinted in the constant motion of the swiftly flowing current. Suddenly he saw a
trout, keeping very still, he lifted his arm and then came down quick. He speared the fish, his patience paid off.
Red Deer waded out of the water, glad to
be on dry land. He felt pleased with himself,
another day and he was still alive.
Red Deer prepared his fish for cooking, darkness
would not be to far away, he always felt a pang of
lonliness at this time of day, he was glad of the
company of his horse. Swift as Wind came over and
lay between him and the fire drawing security from
both. Red Deer comforted his horse, putting an arm
around him. He spoke to his horse.
"Swift as Wind, you must get better soon, I need
to find eagle feather, we go on long journey."
Luckily his buffalo hide had dried out with a
mixture of the sun and the fire, so he wrapped
himself in the buffalo hide. He ate his fish, it
tasted good, but he knew he would need to eat some
fresh greens, roots and berries, tomorrow he
decided he would search for edible roots and plants.
He got dressed in his dry clothes and again,
wrapped himself in his buffalo hide and then lay
down by the fire, he thought about the following
day, until he drifted off to sleep. When Red Deer
awoke, it was quite late, the sun was up. His horse was standing in the river, almost as if he
knew what he must do. Red Deer had to smile to
himself, then he looked around, everything was as
it was the day before. It had come to the point
that he didn't know what to expect, after the
previous day, so he was glad that today the sun was shining and his horse seemed to be looking a
bit better.
Red Deer got up and went to relieve himself, then went down to the river to have a drink. He
stroked his horse.
"How are you boy?" He said.
"Let me look at your leg."
The horse whinnied. Red Deer took hold of the rope
and led him out of the water. Then he checked his
leg, it seemed his horse had improved alot, though
he was not sure if he would be able to ride fast
and also carry him. He made a descion to attempt to ride, he carefully pulled himself up on to
Swift as Wind, the horse whinnied a bit, but started to trot around.
"Let's see what you can do."
He jumped back down, collected his blanket and
buffalo hide, put them over the horse's back, then he gently got on. He started to get Swift as Wind to trot again, but the horse did not like it, and
bolted. Red Deer got off. His horse whinnied and
nuzzled him, as if to say, "I'm sorry."
"This was no good," he thought to himself.
"What am I going to do?"
To be continued .............