As the sun from the following morning began

 Page 3.

As the sun from the following morning began to rise a group of the tribes finest horsemen assembled near the edge of the village. The women and children gathered and together they gave blessings for a successful hunt and a safe return and they all were silent for it was bad luck to boast or make predications especially when wild horses were concerned. Enapay watched from the entrance of the village lodge as the men rode passed him in single file until the last rider stopped and handed him the reins of a painted pony. Within a instant he was aboard and with a gentle nudge from his heels they joined the party and headed toward the river. Hours passed as the group worked their way through a rocky gorge stopping only to water and rest their horses while others walked the area searching for any tracks that may have been left by the White Spirit and his herd. A lone eagle soared overhead which indicated a good sign in the eyes of the Sioux people making many on the trip less fearful. Enapay lead his pony to opened meadow and watched a dragon fly hover over a bed of yellow wildflowers and then chased away by a angry prairie dog.

All the men mounted their horses and met at the meadow where Enapay and his painted pony stood which was a vast stretch of endless miles of green grass and yellow flowers. By now it was noon and Trinapa the leader of the group told everyone to spread about a mile apart and move north toward a range of  low rolling blue green mountains. It was a cloudless sky overhead as Enapay worked his way across the meadow when he suddenly stopped his pony and looked down at the body of a dead horse. The animal was young and tracks that circled the half eaten carcass where that of wolves. The wolf tracks lead away from the body and Enapay followed them straight to the tracks of the White Spirits herd. Enapay rode as fast as he could to tell the others but they were gone, nowhere to be found and the sun was beginning to shine hotter with each step he and his pony made. Enapay climbed off his pony and walked northward toward the mountains hoping to pick up the groups tracks but he found nothing.

He began to become desperate and wondered if he misunderstood what directions the others had gone when he noticed a mounted figure rapidly moving toward him. As the figure grew nearer Enapay could hardly believe his eyes because it as Kangee his sister and she brought food and water. Enapay hugged his sister and then scolded her for leaving the village and she looked away knowing a woman’s place was not to search for horses with the men. Together they sat and ate while their horses grazed and Enapay told Kangee that he though they were lost. They both knew that the entire village would be out looking for them if they didn’t return but Enapay could never live down the though of becoming lost on his first hunt for wild horses. Enapay told Kangee about the dead horse he found the wolf tracks and most importantly the direction the wild herd was going. Kangee sat and listened and climb on top of her pony and with a swat of the reins she galloped off heading north toward the blue green mountains and the wolf tracks as Enapay rode quickly behind her.