Thunder Rolling in the Mountains

The tribe moves to White Canyon, a place where they can hide from attack until they decide what to do. A few days later, soldiers arrive and shoot on their white flag of truce. A war breaks out, and Sound of Running Feet takes the children away to distract and hide them. One boy, Ollokot’s son, disappears to watch the battle. He nearly dies trying to steal a dead soldier’s bugle. Sound of Running Feet saves him and brings him back to safety. The Nez Perce win their fight, only wounding two of their warriors. Sound of Running Feet is thrilled. Swan Necklace tells her, “all the warriors have rifles. The soldiers won’t need them anymore” (41). 

The tribe travels over the mountain to a safe place in Crow country. They have warriors ahead and behind to wait for soldiers. Sometimes they go hungry and eat tree bark to fill their stomachs. It is cold and wet, and water runs fast in the mountains. One day, the Red Coats come back and report soldier’s building a fort ahead. Swan Necklace and Sound of Running Feet discuss her joining the fight should the war continue. He argues only warriors can fight, and she says, “Fighting is for those who would stand against white soldiers” (45). A peace caravan goes ahead, and they greet the soldiers. The Nez Perce’s bravery in leaving their guns behind and approaching the soldiers startles them. The soldiers shake their hands and allow them to pass. They move past the fort the next day, and the soldiers do not follow or attack them. Sound of Running Feet believes the war is over. 

Heading to Crow country, the tribe is safe, but Sound of Running Feet notices her father’s pain. She asks him if they could not go back and fight for their home, and he says, “The white settlers are like the sands of the river. No matter how many we kill, more come” (48). Sound of Running Feet realizes this peace means she can finally have her wedding. She is embarrassed thinking of it and hides her feelings by telling the children stories of the trickster Coyote. Coyote made the tribes by tricking a horrible monster into eating him, and then Coyote cut the monster apart from the inside. Each piece of the body became a tribe, and the Nez Perce came from the monster’s fertile heart: “The drops of blood became Ne-mee-poo, the real people” (50). 

The tribe comes to a clearing, and they plan to spend three days there. They hunt, fish, gather roots, and prepare for a feast. The Red Coats claim danger may be around the corner, but everyone ignores them. They have a great dinner of trout, and then everyone goes to bed. It is quiet until dawn, when Sound of Running Feet sees Wah-lit-its get shot by a random bullet. His pregnant wife cradles him until he dies, and then the soldier shoots the wife too. Suddenly, war descends upon them. By the end of the day, more than 50 people are dead or wounded, including many children, women, and elderly. Springtime, Sound of Running Feet’s mother, sustains a gunshot wound and they nurse her until she dies by the river. Chief Joseph is devastated. He says, “All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief. Yet we shoot one another down like animals” (57).