ame to her, as they lay peacefully side by side afterward, that
this might have happened someday, but it would not have happened today
if Star Arrow had not come to claim his son.

7

Raoul's Mark

On the morning of the fourth day of their journey north from Saukenuk
along the Great River, when the sun was halfway up the sky, White Bear
and Star Arrow emerged from a forest into a prairie. To their right were
gentle hills covered with new green buffalo grass and prairie flowers of
every color. To their left the hills stood taller, then dropped suddenly
to the Great River. White Bear saw a large boat with great white wings
above it to carry it along.

Star Arrow brought his tall black stallion to a sudden halt and climbed
down, gesturing to White Bear to dismount from his brown and white pony.

"Look at this stone," Star Arrow said, pointing to a large gray rock
that stood upright on the edge of a bluff overlooking the river.

White Bear saw carving on the rock and, remembering Pere Isaac's
lessons, recognized it as the pale eyes' letter M.

"M for de Marion," said Star Arrow. "We are now on land belonging to the
de Marion family. You see no fences here because we could not cut enough
wood to fence off all our land. There is so much of it."

He reached out and rested his hand on White Bear's shoulder, his fingers
squeezing through the buckskin shirt. "But before we come to the place
where I live, and where you will live, we must speak of names. Among the
pale eyes I am called Pierre de Marion. My full name is Pierre Louis
Auguste de Marion."

He made White Bear say "Pierre de Marion" after him.

"According to our custom you should call me Father," Star Arrow said,
saying the word in English. White Bear already knew it.

"Now I will tell you what your name will be among the pale eyes."

White Bear pulled free of Star Arrow's hand and took a step backward.

"I already have a name. I was born Gray Cloud because I am neither white
nor red." He could hear reproach in his voice, though he had not meant
to sound that way. "But now I am White Bear. That is the name given me
by the shaman Owl Carver after my spirit journey. I must keep that
name."

"And you will keep that name, son. You will always be White Bear. But,
just as I am happy to have the British Band call me Star Arrow, so you
can have a pale eyes' name. One that tells pale eyes when you go among
them who you are--that you are a member of the de