Hunt

The Kuwapi people were more significant than a mere band of nomads scratching out their existence on the Great Plains of North America, yet they did not have the numbers nor the blood ties to mark them as a tribe or even a clan. They began as outcasts from among the Oglala Sioux. In Lakhota, kuwapi means "they follow". These outcasts wandered the tribe's hunting grounds as a kind of punishment detail for religious offenses, with the level of Oglala displeasure permanently tallied by the number of whip scars each one bore on their back.

To the north the Kuwapi were beset by the Dakotas who held the entire Black Hills and the plains around them. The Kuwapi named them the northern raiders and if the mainline Oglalas helped fend them off from time to time it was more to ensure their own food supply than to do favors.

In the richer grasslands eastward the Kuwapi had the fierce Pawnees to contend with. To the south along the Oregon Trail the Kuwapi were buffeted by the Arapahoes and also ran the risk of encountering white settlers moving west and the US Army troops who protected them.

In the scrubby furrowed lands westward they had the Cheyennes to fear. The whole northwest was put out of their minds by dread of the Crow and Blackfeet. But in the ever-moving sliver of meager grasslands left in the wake of the Oglala the Kuwapi wandered, and here their hunters rode.

Wanica led them downwind of a herd of bison drinking water at a ford in a large creek named Squaw River by the whites. When he signaled a halt, they tied their horses off to the roots of sun-bleached stumps and crept unseen through brush to approach the herd.

Some of the animals grew nervous though they could not see any of the men. As Wanica and his hunters crept through the riparian zone to watch the herd they cast no shadows. This day was darker than most, with a low overcast. It was cold, but it did not rain.

The bull stopped drinking and stared downstream, sensing danger. Judging the moment to be right, Wanica stood from behind a shrub and loosed an arrow. The bolt struck a cow in a flank but it was not a lethal shot. All the bison heard the cry of the victim and panicked. A rapid series of shots were made by other hunters but all of their arrows missed or made non-lethal wounds.

The bison fled to a slope north and west and made for the cover of the low cloud bank, although they were too stupid to have planned such a move. Led by Wanica the hunters returned to their horses and followed the herd away from the river.