Daughter of the Eagle Read Free

manhood. Manhood? Long Walker shook his head again, frustrated and uncomfortable.
    Perhaps the most distressing thing to Long Walker was his own inability to walk away from it. A season or two ago he would have found the situation uproariously laughable. It would still seem so, if it were any other girl. But now, just as he and the tall daughter of Eagle had rediscovered each
other, she had developed this crazy idea of warrior status. Perhaps she had gone mad. Still, her every action was precise, sensible, and efficient—appropriate, at least, to the effort at hand. She was behaving as any normal young man approaching the time of elevation to membership in a warrior society.
    And again, that did not befit a woman of the People. At the age of Eagle Woman, some eighteen summers, most were married. All other unmarried women were busy developing their skills in sewing, cooking, and preparing skins. Most girls far younger than Eagle Woman had started to collect the small items necessary for the time when they would have their own lodges. There would be the small flint knives and scrapers, bone awls for sewing, and perhaps a supply of sewing sinew.
    Many girls also started very young to collect their cooking stones. Skill in choosing and use of the stones was a major factor in developing a reputation as a superior cook.
    Perhaps Long Walker should have felt more secure. Deep in the storage space behind the lining of Eagle’s lodge was a small rawhide pack belonging to his daughter. For many seasons the girl had assembled items to be used in her own lodge.
    But Long Walker had no way to know the womanly instincts of this young woman. He could only see that she seemed to be behaving in a very unfeminine way. This was affecting the young warrior deeply and in strange ways.
    First, it seemed that the girl was becoming more attractive and desirable to him. Perhaps it was only inaccessibility, but he felt increasingly drawn to her.
    Then there was the matter of concern for the girl’s safety. Long Walker found himself increasingly anxious that she would find herself in a situation of great danger because of her masculine pursuits. He felt an urge to hold her, to protect and shelter her from harm. Wisely he refrained from any move in that direction. He realized that in her present stubborn frame of mind it would only make her angrier with him.

    There was a very real danger in the offing. He was not concerned with the immediate physical danger of the hunt. Long Walker had confidence in her ability to handle that. But, if she succeeded and applied to the Elk-dog Society, the next step was the fast and the vision.
    Each warrior, before formal induction, must go alone to a remote place. With no human contact for at least three days, the aspiring warrior would spend the time in prayer and fasting, seeking his vision. It was during this time that he would find his spirit guide, his medicine animal whose identity he must never reveal.
    Long Walker had gone through this religious rite two summers previously. It had been a deeply satisfying experience. But, it must be conceded, it was sometimes dangerous.
    There was always the possibility of accident or injury, but this was a way of life. It was made only slightly more hazardous by the fact that no one else must know where the vision seeker was.
    The real danger, however, was not from the elements or wild animals, but from the enemy. The Head Splitters were always a threat. Owl, the medicine man, had been captured during his vision quest and carried far away to be sold as a slave to strange tribes. True, in the end it had made his medicine even stronger, but it was certainly not a desirable thing.
    And for a girl to take such risks was beyond the understanding of Long Walker. It was known that the Head Splitters loved to kidnap women or young girls of the People. “Our women are prettier than theirs” had long been the accepted attitude of the People.
    It was true. Longer of