'Let us hope that he is mistaken,' said Cuwignaka.
'Aside from the main trail,' I said, 'there is no easy route, not even a narrow pathe, to the summit of Council Rock.'
'It can be climed,' said Hci. 'Men have done so.'
'Yes,' I said, 'but I think our enemies will find it difficult, costly and dangerous to do so, particularly in the face of determined defense.'
We watched the sun beginning to set over the western prairie. The smells of cooking fires drifted up from the Yellow Knife camp.
'My captor,' whispered Iwoso.
'Yes,' said Hci.
'I am in pain,' she said. 'My body aches.'
'Do you beg as a captive to be released from the post?' asked Hci.
'Yes, my captor,' she said.
'Do you bet it as a humble captive?' he asked.
'Please do not make me so beg!' she said.
He looked out again over the prairie.
'Yes,' she said, 'I so beg it! I beg it as a humble captive!'
We stood up and turned about, regarding the girls.
Iwoso looked pleadingly at Hci.
'The proud Iwoso looks well clothed in humility,' said Hci.
'It is all she is clothed in,' said Cuwignaka.
Iwoso looked away, as nude as a slave.
'Bring their hoods,' said Hci.
'Very well,' I said.
In a few moments I returned with the hoods. The girls, in them, bound, would be returned to the prison lodge.
I freed the necks of Bloketu and Iwoso from the posts.
'You said that I was to be judged today,' said Iwoso, 'but you were wrong. I was not judged.'
'That is thanks to the Yellow Knives,' said Hci. 'We had hoped that by now our business with them would ahve been concluded, but it has not been.'
'When, then, am I to be judged?' she asked, lightly, as though scarcely interested.
'The business of battle is to be first concluded,' he said. 'Then, when you are totally within our power, when you are helplessly ours, when you are ours, fully, to do with as we please, then, and then only, will you be judged.'
Her eyes widened with fear.
Then I drew the hood over her head and tied it under her chin. I then, similarly, hooded Bloketu. I then freed their hands from the post and, on either end of a common tether, I tied their hands together before their bodies. I then freed them from the posts and prepared to lead them to the prison lodge.
'Tie them well,' said Hci.
'I shall,' I said.
'In the morning,' he said, 'put them again, well roped, precisely as today, at the posts.'
'I will,' I said.
I then led them, hooded and stubling, by the common tether on their wrists, to the prison lodge.
After a time, after I had secured the girls, hooded and tied, wrists to ankles, in the prison lodge, I returned to the edge of the escarpment.
'The next attack will doubtless occur at dawn,' said Hci.
'No,' I said.
'When, then?' asked Hci.
'Tonight,' I said.
'The soldiers?' asked Cuwignaka.
'Yes,' I said.
Chapter 45
WHAT OCCURRED AT NIGHT AT COUNCIL ROCK
I felt the hand of Cuwignaka gently on my shoulder. I opened my eyes.
'The first,' he said, 'are nearly to the summit.'
I sat up. 'We will let a few attain the summit,' I said, 'that the others may be encouraged. Then we will greet them.'
Hci was already awake. He stood nearby, his lance in his hand.
The night was cloudy and dark. I did not envy the soldiers. The back faces of Council Rock were extremely dangerous even in daylight.
We treaded our way though the lodges, across the top of our fortress.
Our lines were already in place waiting.
'Sing no medicine,' said Hci. 'Be silent.'
Hci, Cuwignaka and I, then, leaving our weapons at the lodges, dropped down to our hands and knees and then, in a few moments, to our bellies, crawling forward.
We were then about four or five feet from the edge.
We heard small scrapings.
We then withdrew.
'Climbing the rock face is extremely dangerous,' I said. 'Too, these men are cavalrymen. They are not used to such tasks. Surely some must have fallen.'
'We heard no cries or screams,' said Cuwignaka.
'Such would surely have alerted us, had we not already been anticipating their climb,' said Hci.
'Their plan is surely a bold one,' said Cuwignaka. 'Surely, normally, we would not have expected an attack at night, and surely not from this quarter.'
'It is interesting,' I said, 'that no cries have been heard.'
'Perhaps they are all expert climbers,' said Hci.
'That is unlikely,' I said.
'Let us hide under kailiauk robes near the edge,' said Hci. 'We may then cut their throats, one by one, as they climb over the top.'
'These men are professional soldiers,' I said. 'There will be command chains. If certain signals of clear passage are not conveyed there will be standing orders to withdraw. Such signals I want conveyed. Then we will attack.'
'Thus,' said Hci, 'more men should be exposed, trapped, on the rock face.'
'I would think so,' I said.
'Good,' said Hci.
'It is odd,' I said, 'that none seem to have fallen.'
'Perhaps it is a diversion,' said Cuwignaka. 'Perhaps the true attack is to come elsewhere.'
'I do not think so,' I said. 'In any event, Mahpiyasapa and Kahintokapa maintain their posts at the main trail, and we have stationed guards at intervals about the perimeter.'
'One has attained the level,' whispered Hci.
'I see,' I said. There seemed a darkness in the darkness, which had moved. Then it lay very still.
'There is another,' said Cuwignaka.
'Yes,' I said. 'Wait.'
A certain subtle judgment must now be made. Enough men must be allowed to attain the surface to convince the enemy that their approach was undetected, that the orders for continuing the climb be transmitted,
