crouching position before White Bear and sat
down again, facing Star Arrow. "This young man is most precious to us.
The mysteries have been told to him, and he has seen visions of the past
and future."

At this White Bear's heart was eased a bit. The tribe did want him to
return.

_I am both red and white._

And both his tribe and the pale eyes wanted him.

_To go among the pale eyes will make you a man of knowledge_, Owl Carver
had said, and Black Hawk had agreed. Perhaps he could become a star
arrow, pointing the way for his people in the troubled days the Turtle
had foretold.

"I promise to keep him with me only for a time," said Star Arrow.

_He has not long to live. That is why he can promise._

And that meant that White Bear's time of exile from the Sauk would be
short. But knowing that brought White Bear no relief. He did not want
his father, whom he had just met, to die so soon.

"I ask one more thing," said Star Arrow. "It will be harder for the boy
to learn the ways of the pale eyes if he always feels the pull of his
Sauk people. For the first few summers and winters that he is with us, I
ask that he not return to you even for a visit, and that you send no
messages to him and he send none to you."

"That is much to ask," said Owl Carver. "That is hard. The boy may die
of longing for his people."

Star Arrow shook his head. "I would never let that happen. If I see that
it is unbearable for him, I will send him back to you. But I will do
everything I can to make him happy, and if he does not see the British
Band or hear from them, the pain of parting will go away sooner."

"I understand what Star Arrow says," said Black Hawk. "It is granted."

White Bear sat down slowly, feeling as if he had been mortally wounded.
Never to have a word from his mother or from Redbird--how could he bear
it?

Star Arrow continued, "He will go to a fine school in the East. And when
he has learned all he can learn, I will send him back to you."

"Let it be done," Black Hawk said.

Wolf Paw came through the crowd, holding up in both hands a calumet, a
sacred pipe. Its hickory stem was as long as a man's arm, wrapped in
blue and yellow bands, and its high, slender bowl was of dark red
pipestone, quarried in a valley far to the west.

Black Hawk took the pipe from Wolf Paw and filled the bowl with tobacco
from a beaded pouch at his waist. Owl Carver went into his lodge, and
brought back a burning twig that Black Haw