Daughter of the Eagle Read Free Page B

the exercise, pressed after the retreating buffalo, her ears flattened against her neck. They moved alongside a fat young cow, and the girl dropped the rein to the mare’s neck, freeing both hands to shoot. She fitted an arrow to the string and pulled the
bow to full draw, her eye on the soft flank just behind the rib cage. The bow twanged, and the feathered shaft, ranging forward into the chest, all but disappeared into the body of the running cow. The animal stumbled, and the horse and rider swept past.
    Eagle Woman glanced to her right to see Long Walker make a well-aimed lance thrust at a large cow. She looked aside to find another target of her own. A yearling bull blundered past, and the girl’s arrow again sought vital structures. The animal fell, bloody froth spewing from the nostrils, and the girl rode on.
    An older bull snorted and threatened with a toss of his massive head as he brushed past. Eagle Woman refrained from loosing her arrow. The destructive might of a wounded bull was to be respected and avoided if possible. Besides, the girl told herself, the meat would be better on a fat young cow.
    She called a warning to Long Walker and pointed to the aggressive herd bull. He reined aside and waved his. thanks as the huge animal thundered past. A moment later Eagle Woman lost sight of her friend in the dust and confusion.
    The herd was thinning now, the thunder of their myriad hooves fading into the distance. Eagle Woman glanced around to see the extent of the hunt’s success. The short new grass of the meadow was strewn with dark bodies, some still moving or kicking feebly. Mounted hunters moved among the fallen buffalo, administering a final blow here and there. A thin haze of dust hung heavily over the scene.
    The butchering party was straggling over the distant hill, and Eagle Woman turned to point out her kills to the members of her family. She wondered if she would be expected to help with the butchering, and the thought struck her as amusing. It had not occurred to her until now to wonder if she should perform the duties of both the hunter and the woman. Probably, she decided. It would do no harm and would give the others a good feeling.
    A stray yearling cow came blundering up out of a rocky draw, panicky at being separated from the herd. The animal
made a dash for open prairie, its route to pass close to Eagle Woman’s position. The gray horse was instantly in pursuit, nearly unseating the rider.
    Eagle Woman was still excited from the chase. The prospect of returning to the drudgery of butchering was not nearly so appealing as that of continuing the hunt. She leaned forward, fitting an arrow as she rode.
    The cow doubled back, quick and evasive. This, the girl realized, was probably the reason for the animal’s escape from the first onslaught. She reined the horse around and started pursuit again.
    Other hunters, returning toward the area of the main kill, stopped to watch the chase. The sound of their hoots and laughter carried across the meadow, penetrating even the totally occupied thoughts of Eagle Woman.
    It was a question, at the moment, whether embarrassment or anger was her uppermost emotion. She missed another run at her quarry, and a wave of laughter echoed from the spectators.
    The girl was furious. There would be many warriors, she knew, who would delight in her failure. It would be only right, they would say smugly, that a woman who aspired to hunter and warrior status should be proved inept and incapable.
    The cow dodged again, and the frustrated horse pivoted on its heels to pursue. Again Eagle Woman was almost unseated, but she held tightly with her knees. The inside of her thighs ached at the groin from the constant muscular strain.
    Fiercely the girl calmed herself to reason how to end the ludicrous scene. If the animal would only run straight away and allow her to pursue! But it had learned quickly that escape was effected by running straight, then turning back as the