Wave said in Sauk, "My father is a Sauk who married into the Winnebago. So I come to you as one joined with you by blood. We were sent by the chief of our band, Falcon." "How did you find us?" Black Hawk asked. "One of our hunters was passing this way and saw your camp. He was afraid to come near you, but he told me. I have been looking for you for many days." Wolf Paw, his face so deeply lined that he looked as old as his father, came to stand beside Black Hawk. "Do you have news of our people who were trying to cross the Great River?" he asked. He touched the silver coin that hung around his neck, as if for luck. Dread flowed cold through Redbird's arms and legs. _Now we will know._ Wave and He Who Lights the Water looked at each other for a long, silent moment. "What has happened?" Black Hawk pressed them. "The long knives caught up with them," said Wave. "Most of the people were hiding on an island in the Great River. The long knives had a smoke boat that fired a thunder gun at the island and killed many people. Then the long knives landed on the island and killed nearly all that were left." Redbird reeled, stunned. _Sun Woman! My second mother! Iron Knife! Oh, no! O Earthmaker, let it not be so._ Cold crept over her as she remembered Eagle Feather's cry: _The Bad Axe! The Great River runs red!_ Black Hawk gave a cry of anguish. His paper bundle dropped to the ground with a thud. He sat down on the ground, picked up a handful of ashes from Redbird's campfire and threw them on his head. The people around him screamed and wept and held one another in their grief. Wind Bends Grass fell against Owl Carver, and both of them sank to the ground weeping. Redbird saw Wolf Paw standing slumped and motionless, his arms hanging helpless at his sides, his face gray. He had insisted that both his wives and his four children try to cross the Great River at the Bad Axe, thinking they would be safer. Sobbing and clutching her baby, Redbird watched the orange sun disappear behind the pointed treetops on the western shore of the little lake. She thought, Iron Knife, so strong and always there when she needed him, must be gone. Her two sisters and their new husbands, probably dead. The people mourned, some sitting on the ground, some walking about distractedly, some standing, holding each other. And now Eagle Feather was stricken. She could not get the chill out of her body. When it was dark she relit her fire. Floating Lily woke and cried, and Redbird held her to her breast. Then she crawled under her lean-to to look at Eagle Feather. His eyes were still shut. He had not moved since his outcry, and his breathing was shallow. _I cannot bear this. Eagle Feather lying as if dead, White Bear vanished, most of my people dead._ _Why have I been spared to suffer so?_ Black Hawk began to mourn aloud for his lost people: "Hu-hu-hu-u-u-u-u ... Whu-whu-whu-u-u-u-u ..."