avoid gaps that the snow could come through. Leather pieces of the hide were then tied from the framework to the curved section to keep the bent poles from springing back out of shape. With all of us working together we had the toboggans and travois ready well before daylight. Everyone then ate and we hurriedly erected a small lean-to with the remaining poles facing the fire. After covering it with cedar boughs, we slept through the rest of the cold night.
With the approach of dawn we loaded all the toboggans with the moose meat and the body of Makwa. We took all that we could load on the sleds and left the rest. If the Nippissing came back this way before any wolves arrived, they would find enough meat to feed themselves for a while. We all had the burden of extra weight until the time came that we could bury Makwa. Agwingos and the small dog led us. Following them was Esiban pulling a toboggan. The twins would take turns pulling the sled whenever one or the other tired, and then the other twin had to lead us on the trail we had travelled here on. Plus be a lookout. Wàgosh, Kàg, Mònz, and I followed in that order. I pulled the sled with the body of Makwa plus as much meat as I could carry. The other two dogs brought up the rear; they needed packed down snow to pull their travois. The red dog had the antlers and a bit of meat and the white dog had the large hide. We had tied pieces of hide around all the dogs’ feet to protect their pads and to keep snow from collecting between their toes.
The start of the day was bitterly cold and our breath hung like clouds in the air. The only sounds that could be heard at the outset were the breaking of the snow under our moccasins and the creak of the sleds. Even the twins were too encumbered in their tasks at hand to be talking and teasing each other. We trudged through the snow until the sun was high in the sky. Then we stopped for a meal. The twins untied the red and white dogs from their travois and started a fire. I asked Wàgosh to walk ahead for a while to see if all was clear, and I backtracked for a distance to make sure no one was on our trail.
In half an hour we had a good fire going and meat cooking. Neither Wàgosh nor I had seen any activity in either direction. Kàg mentioned though that he had noticed a wind change and that Kaibonokka’s brother Shawano (God of the South Wind) was starting to blow. That meant that a storm was approaching, and we might have to sit it out as soon as we found good shelter. Mònz reminded us of the rock overhang that we had passed previously on our journey. If we could make it there before the storm hit, there would be adequate cover and we could sit out the tempest that was coming our way. The only advantage about the approaching storm was that it would make the Nippissing think twice about following us if they had thoughts of revenge.
After we had finished our meals, we melted enough snow to fill our small clay water casks that we all carried around our waists. Everyone then took their place in line and we continued on our journey. With the shifting wind and the snow starting to sting our faces, we were in for an uncomfortable trek. With bent heads we struggled against the cold and the snow, everyone straining against the leather ropes that pulled their toboggans. The only thing that kept us going was the realization that we would reach a sheltered area and be able to rest, eat, and feel safe in a haven protected from the elements that would want to harm us. We prayed to Kitchi Manitou (Father of Life) to guide us to the rock overhang.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Esiban, with the small dog in tow, ran down the line saying that he could see through the snow to the area where the outcrop was. Within minutes we were sheltered. The rock had an overhang that enabled us to go back into a small cliff about twenty feet; the roof itself was about twelve feet high. The floor of the small cave was dirt, and we easily built a fire. Some of the smoke escaped out from under the rock, but what stayed stung our eyes. This was no different than being in our lodges. We always had problems with our smouldering fires burning our eyes and causing them to water, because as hard as we tried, we couldn’t get the smoke to dissipate. Some of our people, as they grew older developed eye problems from the cooking and heating fires in their lodges.
Outside the cave we were well guarded by tall cedar, pine, and a couple of dirt mounds. Agwingos and Esiban collected wood, and we put the loaded sleds at the back of the cave so the meat would stay frozen. Kàg made a large spit and hung a good portion of moose meat over the fire. Wàgosh and I took the body of Makwa and put him well away from the fire. Our hope was that the fire would thaw the ground enough for us to bury this great warrior as close to his final battle as we could.
After we ate and drank, Mònz started telling stories. During this time I took some charcoal from the fire and some bloodroot I had in my satchel. With my paints I went to the rock wall closest to the flickering fire and started to draw the story of the hunt of the moose and the battle that ensued. Whoever came this way would know that brave men had battled and died so that their families would not starve. After I finished my drawings, I sat down for the first watch and looked over the small band of Omàmiwinini that I was leading. There was Kàg, my oldest brother and the father of Agwingos and Esiban. Kàg was a head taller than me but lighter in weight. He always wore two hawk feathers in his hair and had an earring of a bear claw in one ear. On his forehead, where he had the dent from the Haudenosaunee war club, he had drawn a tattoo of the sun to keep the spot warm because his headaches felt like ice.
Wàgosh, our younger brother, was just entering warrior-hood. No longer a young boy, Wàgosh had undergone the Wysoccan Journey and had left his childhood behind. Wàgosh was taller than Kàg, heavily muscled, and always wore a foxtail in his hair. He had a large scar on his cheek that he received during a summer trading session with the Malecite. It was the result of a lacrosse game that all the young boys of the two tribes had been playing. The game had become rough and bloody. His prize possession was a knife he had made out of the horn of his first hunt, a large white-tailed nàbe (buck).
Mònz, our brother-in-law, was a warrior and great hunter. The loss of two fingers in a battle with the Nippissing years before had forced him to become expert with the lance. He was a huge man and in battle or the hunt he was always the first to strike. He wore a necklace of bear claws of a nòjek (female bear) that did not take kindly of him stumbling on her and her makòns (cubs) one spring past. In the ensuing battle Mònz struck a fatal blow with his knife to the bear’s throat, but Mònz wore the scars of the combat. His left shoulder had deep scars from the claw of the bear, plus along the left side of his neck her mark was also prominent. If he hadn’t been with a hunting party that day he would have died in the woods. It took many weeks and the intense healing power of our Shaman to save his life. Learning the lesson from the bear, now it is Mònz who always strikes first.
For my part, I am known as Mahingan because my eyes have the slant of the gray wolf. I have seen twenty-five or more summers and have led my tribe since the passing of my father. The Shaman had told my father before he died that I would be great leader. In my hair I wear three misise (turkey) feathers because the wild turkey is one of the bravest animals in the forest. In my ears are the claws of a wolf, and now I have only part of the top of my right ear because of the Nippissing war axe.
The twins Agwingos and Esiban still have a few years to live until they have to take the Wysoccan Journey. They are active, always do what they are told, and are a great help whenever we take them hunting. The dogs stay with the boys at all times because they always make a fuss over them and are responsible for their feeding. Their looks are very similar, and at times they are hard to tell apart. In the winter we make Esiban wear his namesake’s fur as a hat. That way we can recognize them. In the summer it is anyone’s guess telling them apart.
The three dogs that we had with us were great hunters and war dogs. The huge red male dog and the white female dog were mates. The small dog was one of their pups, but he never grew as big as his parents did. His problem was he never backed down from a fight and was covered with scars along with his new wound from the Nippissing knife. Dogs are an important companion for the Omàmiwinini because they serve many purposes for us: beasts of burden, hunters, camp guards, and food in times of near starvation.
Feeling my eyes grow heavy, I woke Wàgosh for the next watch. Before I went to sleep, I walked out of the cave to relieve myself and to check on the weather. The
