Each time I drink the drink, I become sleepy. I eat meat and fall asleep. I'm so sleepy. I eat without hunger as a dull throbbing reminds me of my broke leg.

I couldn't fully wakeup. Even when my eyes are open, I am not able to focus on what I am doing here. Each time I am awake. I drink the bitter drink.

Why I couldn't I wakeup? Being sick at the cabin, Maw makes soup and gives me medicine. I sleep a lot when I am sick.

When I try to get up, dizziness holds me down.

I stare at my leg. I know it's broke. Has a split the Indian boy checks before putting the buffalo robe over me again.

I don't try to get up.

I can't get up.

Pain comes and goes. The pain wakes me up.

I would stop drinking it, but then, leg hurts something fierce. It isn't a smooth trail.

Leg hurts.

What day is it? Where am I going? Need to feed the chickens. Got to get up before Paw gets me up to do my chores.

"Tired. So tired."

"Lit'l Fox tired too? We sleep. You fine. Fix drink for you and we sleep."

"I'm fine. Where am I going?"

It was black. It was cold. My leg is throbbing.

I hear talk. Men talk. Big men talk.

I woke with men talking.

There are two big hairy men. One lifts buffalo robe to look at us.

"Look a here, Wildcat. We got us two little boys hairless as little girls."

I watched him reach for Lit'l Fox.

It's quiet. I don't see big man. I'm dreaming. There are two big men.

I got to get up before big men get me.

Lit'l Fox has bow. He has arrows. He's an Indian. Indians have bows.

Got to get up. Something is wrong.

Pain says to stay put. Not sure where we go.

"Look out," I said to no one.

Where did Lit'l Fox go?

Where two men go? Dream. I'm dreaming.

Leg hurt. No get up.

"Where is Maw? Got to feed the chickens".

Pain. So much pain.

Moving again. Hear horses. Crazy dream. Leg hurts.

Dream again. Why dream big men?

Horses?

"You okay? You okay?" Lit'l Fox asks, no he tells me.

I got broke leg. It hurts. Not okay.

"I am okay. Leg hurts."

"Those men. Who are men?"

I yelled, afraid of what I didn't know. Something is wrong.

"No men. It okay. You dream. Drink make dreams. Go to sleep."

"You shoot arrows," I said, remembering two arrows.

"No shoot arrows. You dream. You okay," he told me.

"I'm okay. Leg hurt. Okay."

"Fix drink. You sleep."

I woke. The sled tilts one way, another way, goes back.

Leg hurt. Horses move too fast. No Lit'l Fox. Where am I?

"Look out," I yelled, seeing a big hairy man again.

"You okay, Drink now."

I drank.

There is a fire. It's warmer. Not moving. Eat venison. Go to sleep.

I'm so tired. Venison is tasty. No more dreams. Why dream about horses?

"Maw. Leg hurts. Didn't feed the chickens. Got to feed them today."

We're moving. Smoother. Warmer. Hear horses. Where did we get horses?

I see Lit'l Fox across fire. He smiles at me. I'm sleeping but I'm awake.

Eat more meat. Help drink to settle down. Am I hungry? I eat.

"You okay? Home soon."

"Where did you get horses?" I wondered out loud.

"No worry. You fine. Home soon."

"Those big men?'

"No big men. You dream. Finish eating. We go."

We did go.

I let the stick with venison fall beside sled. Not hungry.

I was always hungry. Shouldn't waste meat, but I'm tired.

Where am I? Where was I going? He said, "Home soon."

Is he taking me to the cabin in the valley where the river runs?

Horses? I hear horses. I smell horses.

Where did he get horses?

Sun high in sky. We are going west.

I was across the fire from Lit'l Fox. He gave me drink. I ate meat.

"Where did men go?"

"Bad men. Lit'l Fox make go way."

"We have horses. Where did we get horses?"

"You eat. Go sleep. Home soon."

I eat.

I found the fire fascinating. We move again.

He stops when pain is worse. He makes drink. I float away. Good drink. Feel no pain. Nice to feel no pain. Nice meat.

Move again.

I woke up. We hadn't stopped in some time. No drink and no meat. I'm hungry, leg hurts, ground is smooth but we hit bumps and my leg aches.

"Stop it."

I yelled after a particular vicious bump shot pain in all directions.

As he fixed drink, my leg felt as though someone was twisting it off.

"Where did men go," I yelled at him. "I saw men."

"Bad men. Make go away."

"You shot one with arrows. I saw it," I informed him.

"Bad men," he told me.

"One lifted buffalo robe to lock at us. Where did he go?"

"He touched me. I grab your knife to stop him."

"These are their horses?" I asked.

"Ye. Can't leave on mountain."

"They hang horse thieves," I told him.

"They kill Indians on sight," Lit'l Fox said.

There was that. My outrage went from a slow boil to acceptance. Had he not killed them, they were likely to kill us, once they finished with us. I had no doubt they were bad men.

No matter what happened, after he rescued me, we were in this together, and no one had to tell me those two men were dead. I saw it with my own eyes, but I felt as though it were a dream.

My mind cleared by the time I got the drink again. It almost didn't carry me away from the pain, but once I ate half a stick of meat, everything blurred.

Lit'l Fox saved my life.

Then, he saved it again, because those were very bad men. I knew it almost as soon as Lit'l Fox did. I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't have kilt two men. The thought wouldn't have come to mind until I was dead.

Lit'l Fox could and did kill two men. My life was saved again, and we had horses to get us to where we were going. They weren't our horses.

One more thing. Beside my Hawkin, there were two Sharps rifles I saw buffalo hunters at Lawrence's store one day when we shopped. They was all carrying those big ass Sharps rifles.

I knew more than I wanted to know, but I was right in the middle of whatever it was that happened. I only remembered pieces. I knew we left those two men on the mountain, and they would always be on that mountain.

I was left to wonder if someone could look at a Sharps and know who it belonged to?

It gave me one more thing to worry about.

We are on flat land. Not need to stop as much. Not drink the drink as much. Brain not in such a fog on flat land. Lit'l Fox was in a big hurry to get off that mountain, and he let me scream as we bounced our way off it.

We're taking our time again, but was there a chance there were other buffalo hunters on the mountain with those two?

Lit'l Fox was taking no chances. I watched him removing any signs those two men were ever there. He was careful to cover our tracks. Horses left signs, but it took time to read signs. Paw could track deer. I'm sure he could track me. Could someone track the two of us, leaving signs of fire every few hours?

We're in no hurry now. We are moving westward. The sun has moved in front of us. I'm warmer but my leg throbs, but doesn't spike the way it did before.

He rides horse and leads the horse pulling me. We have two horses. There were two men in the dream that was no dream. The pieces are coming together.

Still tired, but I can last a while longer before I start screaming again.

It was smoother. We didn't move fast. We moved steady. Leg didn't throb for a while. I knew it was broken. How did I break it?

I went to get me a griz, and I fell off the mountain.

I am awake. Not dreaming. Where are we going?

I reached to feel my hair. It was still there. Where does he take me?

The sled almost tipped over, and I screamed for Lit'l Fox to stop.

He was immediately at my side.

"We almost at village. Can you wait an hour."

"It hurts now," I yelled.

I needed the pain to stop and in a minute he is sitting across the fire from me. I smell the meat cooking. He drops herbs into a can he fixes the drink.

My leg doesn't hurt that bad now that we stopped. I still want the drink. The ride is nice after I drink the drink. I don't think as much when I get the drink.

After the drink, there was more meat to eat. He stood and watched me. He didn't eat or drink. He waited for me to finish eating.

He was calm now. No more hurry. I'm going home. He takes me home. It would be nice to be home. How long have I been gone?

It was dark. We didn't move. I saw the Indian boy across the fire.

"You scalp," I heard someone say.

"Warrior no scalp little boy," he told me.

He wasn't much older than me. He was a warrior. What was I? I left home to prove that I was a man. I even managed to make a mess of that.

Paw would just shake his head and walk away when I make a mess.

"You watched me," I said after watching him for a while.

"I see. No watch. Hunt deer on mountain. Weather bad. Heard shot. Only you on mountain. Lit'l Fox follow tracks. Find boy."

"How'd you find me?"

"Follow tracks. Shoot bear near deer kill. Follow bear. Second bear follow you. Find rifle. More tracks. You not there. I look down. I Find you."

Lit'l Fox didn't mind me sleeping. I didn't babble so much when I slept.

"Things are jumbled inside my head," I said.

"Fever talks. Tea make sleepy. Help Pain. Medicine Woman help pain."

I realized we were sleeping together under a buffalo robe. He slept beside me, but he didn't take me off the sled.

He moved my gear so I couldn't roll off, but I knew not to move around. When I drank the drink at night, I slept until daylight. Have strange dreams.

I was having a dream. I had the same dream in pieces. For the first time, I dreamed the dream with all the pieces in the proper order.

I'm not sure which morning it was. I was awakened by talking. I was the only one Lit'l Fox had to talk to. I felt him beside me. I felt his warmth. He wasn't talking. Who was talking?

There was talking close to us.

"Look, Wild Cat, here's two naked little boys. Hairless as little girls."

"I got to hobble these horses, Jake. Save one for me."

I felt the cover lifted off me. I felt exposed. When my eyes opened, there was a huge man standing over us. He reached to touch Lit'l Fox, while Lit'l Fox reached for my knife. Once he got it, the first man disappeared, totally taken by surprise by the speed in the thrust of Lit'l Fox's hand.

There were two of them. They were big hairy men. I felt Lit'l Fox get up with his bow and arrow in his hands. He stood facing a man bending over attending to a horse. When he stood and turned around, first one, and then a second arrow appeared in his chest. He looked surprised the arrows were there. He tried to pull one arrow out before he fell. I looked to make sure it was Lit'l Fox with the bow. It was Lit'l Fox.

There were two dead men. Except for the gruff voice of the man he stabbed, and his friends reply, there was only the sound of a bow string as it issued two arrows that found their mark.

Lit'l Fox went into action.

"We go. More buffalo hunters nearby. Eat later."

Lit'l Fox put on leggings and shirt. He did this in a hurry. pull the man closest to us off into the forest by his feet. After a while, he came to pull the second man off in the same direction. He spent time making sure he covered the drag marks he made with the two bodies. I watched all of this without the killing of two men ever being a fact in my mind.

I was shaking by the time the memory played itself out. It was dark, we were off the mountain the morning I had the complete dream. I did not like it.

I couldn't move. I wasn't tied to the sled, but I was petrified by this turn of events. I didn't like it and my leg was throbbing. My brain throbbed as I wondered if he would kill me that easy. It was jumbled up inside my head, and then it all came out in a dream, and that's where the horses came from.

I was uneasy. Had I been alone, I would have been dead. I knew the two men were bad men. They intended to hurt us. I couldn't have stopped them. Lit'l Fox did. It was likely he saved my life a second time, but he kilt two men.

I didn't abide with killing men. I never liked hearing about men being kilt. He made me part of the killing. If he hadn't killed, we would have died on the mountain. I was sure of it, but I didn't like it. I was offended by the knowledge.

Lit'l Fox didn't hesitate to stop those two men in their tracks. He was what he said. He was a warrior. Had he killed men before? I doubted I could kill a man.

As the horses pulled me too fast off the mountain, my leg ached something fierce. We ran over rocks and holes and branches as he dragged the sled as fast as he dare go. My leg felt like someone was twisting it off. I screamed in pain, but we weren't stopping until we were off that mountain, and then there was fire, meat, and the drink I now craved in spite of its bitterness. It made me float away.

That was how I got to where we were on the third or fourth day after Lit'l Fox found me. I didn't feel like it was part dream and part real. It was real and now that I wasn't getting the drink as often, my mind put all the pieces together.