es shall
fill this world of ours from the eastern sea to the western sea."

"_Why?_" cried White Bear in anguish.

"Earthmaker bestows evil as well as good on his children. Sickness and
hunger and death come from Earthmaker, just as strong bodies, and good
things to eat, and love."

"Will all Earthmaker's red children die?"

"Great numbers will die, and those who remain will be driven to unkind
lands."

"What of the Sauk?" White Bear asked, trembling.

"The many who follow Black Hawk across the Great River will be few when
they cross back."

_Oh, no!_

This was what he had come here to learn, but hearing it was like being
cast down from this lodge in the clouds to crash to the earth.

"Then the British Band should not go back to Saukenuk?"

"You cannot stop them. For you as for all of my people, this is to be a
time of testing and pain. I charge you to see that those who hurt my
children do not gain from it. You will be the guardian of the land that
has been placed in your keeping."

"But I have already lost that land," White Bear cried.

As if he had not heard White Bear, the Turtle said, "Know that long
after all who live now have walked the Trail of Souls, my children will
be many again, and let the knowing lift up your heart." The Turtle
touched his own claws to the deep crevice in his under-shell from which
the water perpetually dripped.

White Bear knew it was time to go.

When he awoke in his body he would grieve. He saw nothing but heavy,
unending sorrow ahead for him and for those he loved.

* * * * *

Black Hawk slowly stood up. A mantle of buffalo fur draped over his
shoulders and a crown of red and black feathers woven into his scalplock
made him look even bigger and taller than he was.

White Bear sat close to the fire for its heat. The day was cold and
overcast, and the damp air around him and the chill ground under him
made him shiver in the white doeskin shirt he had worn for his wedding.
Because Owl Carver had asked him, on the band's behalf, to seek a
vision, he could now consider himself fully a shaman. He had costumed
himself accordingly--three red streaks painted across his forehead,
three more on each cheekbone, silver disks hanging from his ears, a
three-strand necklace of megis shells around his neck. Silver clasps on
his arms and silver bracelets around his wrists. All these things had
been supplied by Owl Carver or traded for by Sun Woman. If