for us, so we will always know where our great battle was fought.”
With this, Bear Claw again pounded his pipe loudly against the log, and before he put his pipe away, he whispered.
“And then it happened!”
Each child seemed suspended in mid air, as they waited for him to continue.
“What happened?” They all shouted.
“Steam began to rise around the large hot rock, curling high into the air, like a ghost swirling around them. Then suddenly there was a hissing like sound of a great serpent that grew louder and louder until the warrior’s ears felt like they were going to split if they didn’t cover them.
Then just as sudden as the noise stopped, they saw water spouting out of the ground, shooting everywhere, as if it had been trapped in the ground for many moons. It took only moments for the water to fill the hole in the earth as it began to flow as if it was anxious to reach our great fishing lake. Still in shock by what the warriors had all witnessed, they stood back safely so they were not washed away by the roaring stream as they watched this magic river bubble out of the earth and flow north toward the lake. The spray from the water seemed to be everywhere, feeling cold as ice on their face, as it cooled their sweat covered bodies while they watched this Great Spirit show off its power. As each of the tribe members tasted the water on their lips, it seemed to magically quench their thirst.”
With that Bear Claw licked his lips, as if he himself had just quenched a deep thirst.
“Then one of the wounded warriors looked at his wounds and screamed in amazement. ‘My wound is gone, I’m healed!’”
“As each of the wounded warriors looked at their wounds, they were shocked to see that all their injuries were completely healed.”
“Chief Black Thunder stood up and shouted loudly above the noises of the rushing magic river.”
“This is surely the work of the Great Spirit Kitchimanido. He has provided these sacred waters as our Midewiwin,’ [medicine man]. We must keep this water secret from the Sioux, and the white man. We must never let them know of this spirit who saved our lives and healed our wounds.”
Bear Claw then stood up and began to walk away, but after he took several steps he stopped and turned back to look at the children.
“Tonight, you can dream of this great gift the spirit has given us, but you must never speak about it with anyone other than an Annishinaabe Indian.”
“Can we go see this Great Midewiwin Gift?” One child asked.
“Not until you are older. Its location must be kept secret, but soon our fisherman will be bringing a fresh supply of this magical water to our reservation, and you may all have a taste.”
Chapter 4
After breakfast, Bill, Dave and Ed hurriedly packed for their hike to the mouth of this amazing stream that was fed by this remarkable aquifer. After walking less than a half mile, Dave stopped and pointed to a clearing.
“This is where the Indians threatened me and destroyed my camp site,” Dave explained, his eyes studying the area. As Bill and Ed looked at Dave, it quickly became apparent his body recaptured some of the fear he’d experienced a year ago when they chased him out of here.
Nervously they all looked at each other, not knowing what they’d really do if they were again confronted by this same tribe of Indians.
“What are we going to do, if they do find us?” Ed asked.
“Well, we’ll just tell them we’re fishing, and if they don’t like it, that’s their problem,” Dave scoffed. “But this time, I’m at least going to find out if these Indians are Chippewwa or Sioux. If they’re Chippewwa, I’ll tell them I’m a good friend of Chief White Cloud from the Arrowhead Country. And if that doesn’t work, I’ve got my Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum persuader right here on my waist,” he said, patting his gun case. “But let’s hope that never happens, and I think it will be the best of all worlds if we can just keep a low profile. Remember, I spent ninety days in this forest before they kicked my butt out of here last year.”
“Do you think they know there’s gold in this stream?” Bill asked.
“I’m not sure they even suspected that, they just wanted me out of here for some damned reason.”
“Well, if we’re going to tell them we’re fishing,” Bill said thoughtfully rubbing at his rough chin, “I think it would be wise if we set up camp near the lake. That way they’ll have a tough time questioning our presence, and we can sneak up stream whenever we want to look for gold.”
“I agree. And if we camp near the lake, they’ll have a tough time chasing us out,” Dave said. “They don’t dare start chasing U.S. fishermen off the lake, or the Game Wardens will be all over them.”
Ed nodded. “Yes, but before we even start searching for any gold, we still have to move our boat and campsite to the mouth of this stream, so maybe we should get busy.”
“Hey,” Dave shouted. “You’ve got to let me at least find one nugget, before we do that,” he grinned. “I still have to prove to you guys that I know what I’m talking about - don’t I?”
With that, Dave walked leather boots and all into the stream while staring at the bottom as if he expected to see that same sparkle he saw when he was bathing in this cold water a year ago. Several times he reached down, grabbing at a suspicious rock, only to turn and quickly throw it away in disgust. He even tried panning with his hands, in the shallow water, but to no avail.
Damn, this might be harder than I thought, he mumbled. But I know gold’s here somewhere, he whispered to himself.
“I think Ed’s right.” Bill finally interrupted Dave. “Let’s find the mouth of this stream and move our camp site first, and then we can search for gold as long as we’d like. I never expected it to be like picking cherries off a tree anyway. Come on Dave, you look silly as hell the way you’re going at it now, we need to get our equipment and do this thing right.”
“Yah, I guess you’re right,” Dave laughed, slipping in the mud several times as he climbed out of the water. “Let’s go find the mouth of this river and then get back to camp before its dark,” he snickered as he squeezed water from his wet pants legs.
As they walked along this stream it was a much easier hike than the previous Split Rock fiasco, and it only took about an hour before they were looking out over an expansive view of the lake, which Bill quickly identified as the Sabaskong Bay.
“This huge Sabaskong Bay is just to the north of the very large open body of water to our south,” Bill explained. “And to the west of the Sabaskong there are hundreds of islands that one can easily get lost in. Even though the Sabaskong looks peaceful today, I’ve always been very cautious of this section of the lake, because those sudden winds can whip around the islands and kick up some dangerous waves in an instant - and those waves can sometimes reach five to ten feet high in this peaceful water we’re looking at right now. Several times I’ve been forced to find refuge on one of those islands to the west, so it’s very easy for me to remember this crazy part of the lake.”
As
