After resting in place for a while, beating his sore thighs and moving his hands and feet, the horse whistle mounted the black blade and returned to the camp with the jumping hoof.

Although the black front did not run a straight line away from the camp before, but after running for so long, the distance was not short, and the people and horses had no physical strength at this time, so it naturally took a lot of time to return.

By the time the two approached the camp, it was late at night.

The two chatted casually.

"Jumping Hoof, where did you get your two feathers?" The horse whistle notices two feathers on the head of the jumping hoof.

Contrary to the impression of some people, including those in previous lives, the Indians did not always wear a large hat with feathers, some tribes did not have this thing at all, and not everyone in the tribes with this tradition was qualified to wear it.

Feathers mean merit, and the vast majority of people, throughout their lives, can also get two or three feathers and wear them on their heads.

Only a few people of high moral standing and meritorious service, due to the excessive feathers they obtained, would weave them into a battle crown, which became the classic image of Indian warriors in people's impressions.

As for the kind with a lot of feathers in the battle crown, which are dragged to the ground, in the eyes of today's horse whistles, they are actually similar to Brezhnev's painting style.

In addition, the materials of the battle crown are not all eagle feathers, and sometimes they will find some similar bird feathers to make do, similar to the "dog's tail mink".

"One from my horse herding work, and one from the battle." Jumping Hoof said.

"Fight with whom?"

"Of course our worst enemies, the Arapahoe." Jumping hoof blurted out.

When Ma Whistle heard this, he couldn't help frowning: "The Arapaho people are indeed our great enemies, but I think the white people are a greater threat. ”

He was disgusted by the complex and intense internal contradictions between the various tribes, and sometimes some tribes would even unite with whites to backstab other tribes. If it weren't for this, if the Indians could unite, why would they be beaten to this point by the whites.

Jumping Hoof disagreed: "If I'm not mistaken, your father was killed by the Arapaho." ”

"Yes, but my mother died at the hands of white men." Ma Whistle said.

"So you love your mother more?" Jumping Hoof asked.

"......" the whistle froze, "and it has nothing to do with personal hatred." The whites are united and have a more advanced civilization than we do, and if we don't unite, all the tribes will be driven into the barren reservations. ”

"Etiquette? What kind of etiquette is it for whites to burn, kill and loot! Jumping Hoof said, with some anger in his voice.

The horse whistle sighed. Instead of finding an Apache word suitable for translating "civilized," he used a word that was very close to "etiquette." The Indians did not understand the meaning of civilization by which he spoke, and there did not seem to be a corresponding word in the language.

The atmosphere was a little awkward, and the two moved forward wordlessly for a while.

"Wait." The horse whistle whispered warily, causing the black front to stop while staring at somewhere not far away.

Jumphoof stopped alertly, following his gaze.

Thanks to a religious practice of eating bison liver raw, the Sleeping Bear Clan has no night blindness, and no horse whistles on a healthy diet.

So in the night, the two quickly noticed something, it turned out to be a dark shadow sneaking around in the herd.

"Someone is stealing horses!" As an excellent horse breeder, Jumping Hoof immediately understood what this figure was doing, and instantly became angry.

Then he took out the battle axe from his waist and roared angrily and rushed at the black shadow: "If you dare to steal my horse, die!" ”

The herd quickly branched off to allow him to pass. The horse whistle also took out his tomahawk and followed closely.

After a while, the two met the horse thief who was about to escape.

There are also two people on the other side, Indians from other tribes, and their situation is obviously not good, after all, this is next to the camp where the sleeping bear people live, and if they don't escape in time, they will definitely die without a place to be buried.

With his excellent eyesight, Ma Whistle became the first of the two sides to see each other's movements.

Seeing that one of the horse thieves was also holding a tomahawk and ready to throw it, he immediately made a decisive move, and threw his own tomahawk with his backhand.

"Ahh A scream was heard, and the tomahawk struck the horse thief in the chest.

In fact, the horse's whistle missed, and his arm was still very sore, otherwise the axe would have been able to open the opponent.

The other horse thief was immediately frightened, and did not think to fight back, but turned his head and was about to flee, when he was chased by Jumping Hoof, and cut off his arm with an axe.

Naturally, there was another scream.

Of course, the clansmen had already heard the movement, and the first to arrive was a tall and thin young man, who rode his horse and looked anxious: "Whistle, jumping hooves, are you back?" What was the sound just now? ”

Jumping Hoof pointed to the two horse thieves on the ground, one dead and one wounded: "Blind shooting, how do you look at the horse when I'm not there?" Almost let these two horse thieves succeed. ”

Blind shot looked ashamed: "I'm sorry, it's my dereliction of duty." ”

After a while, more than a dozen clansmen arrived, including chiefs and shamans.

They quickly understood the situation, and the chief looked at the two horse thieves on the ground, one dead and one wounded, and said first, "Stone Crow, treat the wounded one, and ask him for his identity." ”

The crow nodded and left with the wounded horse thief.

Then the chief looked at the horse whistle and smiled: "Whistle, you kill an enemy, and the clan will award you an eagle feather as a reward." ”

"Thank you, Chief." Ma Whistle was a little surprised, and then thanked him.

The old chief looked at the blind shot again, and his face showed a serious expression: "Blind shot, this is your dereliction of duty, and the clan will deprive you of an eagle feather as a punishment for dereliction of duty." ”

Blind shot opened his mouth to argue, but still lowered his head and said in frustration, "Yes, chief." ”

The horse whistle hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Chief, this matter is caused by me, if it were not for me to train the horse and run out of the camp, the jumping hoof would not have left the herd, and he, as the best horse breeder, would not let the horse thief come close." ”

"So, the responsibility is on me, let's deprive my eagle feathers, after all, blind shooting is only a temporary care of the horses, and it can't be compared with jumping hooves, and it's normal to lack experience."

Hearing his words, Blind Shot suddenly cast a look of gratitude, and his expression was faintly complacent.

The old chief also felt that it made sense, he thought about it, and finally nodded: "That's right." In that case, let's cancel out the rewards and punishments just now. ”

"Let's go see the horse thief, his injuries are not light, and he may die." Someone said.

The group then came to the crow's place, and beside him lay the wounded horse thief.

"Do you know his identity?"

The crow was still bandaging the horse thief's wounds, but nodded: "He is from the Comanche, from the Twin Wolf Clan, not far to the southwest of us. ”

"Comanche!"