He turned to Wolf Paw. "Come with me. I will see to your wound." Wolf Paw's brown skin looked clammy and bloodless. He had ridden for four days with a bullet in his shoulder. It must come out at once, or it would kill him. But White Bear took pleasure in giving orders to Wolf Paw. Eagle Feather came with a blanket, and Redbird wrapped it around Nancy. Most of the people scattered, many to mourn their dead, others to hear the stories of the braves and warriors who had come back with the war party, still others to see the horses and to butcher some of the cattle they had brought back. A small crowd followed White Bear, the yellow-haired prisoner and Wolf Paw. As Redbird and Iron Knife helped Nancy, now softly sobbing, into the low structure of branches and bark, Owl Carver came up to White Bear. "I was ready to terrify the people if they turned against you, but you did not need my help. You spoke to them, and against their will they heeded you." Owl Carver's praise delighted White Bear. But as he saw once again how the old shaman had declined, it took some of the edge from his pleasure. Owl Carver's eyes were watery and his cheeks were sunken. His arms and legs were thin as spear shafts. The trek up the Rock River had not been good for him. White Bear and Sun Woman had taken over most of the work of caring for the wounded and sick, though Owl Carver did as much as he could. "You are a Great Shaman, as I predicted you would be," Owl Carver said. "You foretold exactly what would happen if Black Hawk led the British Band across the Great River. But I am sad that your greatness must be proved by the suffering of our people." White Bear felt his chest expand and a warmth spread through his limbs at these words of his teacher. "I may need your help yet," he said. "The people do not like me protecting this pale eyes woman." Owl Carver nodded. "But they respect you. And they will respect you more when you show them you have magical powers." "I have no magical powers." "You do. It was not I who put the mark of the Bear on your chest." "What do you mean?" "I mean that the White Bear is your spirit self. And he can act in this world. The mark of his claws is the mark of his favor." As White Bear let this sink in, Wolf Paw approached with a stumbling walk. Running Deer and Burning Pine followed him. Out of their wickiup Redbird brought a blanket, White Bear's Sauk medicine bag and his black bag of surgical instruments. "Sit in the wickiup with the pale eyes woman," White Bear told Redbird. "She is very frightened." "I am frightened too," said Redbird as she left him. White Bear bit his lip. The tone of her voice said, _Who is this woman?_ As White Bear set out the markers for the seven directions, positioning four stones around Wolf Paw, he said, "This will hurt very much and Wolf Paw must not move." Keeping in place the two stones and the bear's claw White Bear laid on Wolf Paw's chest would force the brave to lie still.