Although he had been in the camp for less than two weeks, Biv was already adjusted to its routine. Soon, he knew, the camp crier would circulate among the 500 or so lodges that stretched along the stream, informing them of the developments that affected all the Cheyenne. Always included among the items was a progress report on the advance of the Notaxe-vehoe, a term that Biv had come to learn meant white soldiers.

Legendre had explained to him that the Cheyenne were aware of their presence long before they ever entered their territory. Even before Colonel Sumner reached Fort Laramie, small groups of Lakotas moving down from the north arrived with tales of many white soldiers on the move. Similarly, Arapahoes came in from the south to tell of other soldiers coming from that direction.

There was never any doubt among the Cheyenne that they were the intended target. The Notaxe-vehoe had tipped their hand the previous autumn when the commander at Bent's New Fort had told the Cheyenne who had come to claim their annuities that an expedition was being formed against them to retaliate for the raids against whites near Fort Kearny.

Biv could see that developments were having a profound effect upon the Cheyenne. With each new report of the advance of the soldiers, the war-seeking members of the tribe gained more strength, and this was threatening to upset the balance of a community which before had always been ruled by its older, and presumably wiser, members. The fact that there were two large, heavily armed units approaching from opposite directions toward the Tsis-tsis-tas allowed the war faction to argue that, despite the promises made by the Indian agent to the chiefs the previous October, the whites really wanted war. As far as Biv was concerned, it was a claim that, given the evidence, was nearly impossible to refute. In fact, from what Biv had seen, the elders were no longer even trying very hard to discourage the younger men's arguments. Biv watched in silent fascination as the camp, urged on by fiery pro-war advocates like Sliced Nose and Kills in Their Sleep, slowly turned from a peaceful settlement into one in which battle preparations had become the top priority.

While the war chiefs held sway in the council, making the proper political moves, two of the tribe's most prominent shamans, a member of the Iviststsinihpah band named Cut Lip, and a Hotamitaniu called Dark worked on things from the religious end. Just yesterday, the two had built a new sweat lodge just east of the village to which they planned to retire until they were able to communicate with the spirits on a correct course of action against the Notaxe-vehoe.

Biv took full advantage of the situation. Convinced he could not have arrived at a better time, he spent every hour of his waking time running from one end of the camp to the other, pad in hand, wildly sketching scenes depicting life as it was unfolding in front of his eyes. He was certain that the Western world had never seen anything like the finished works that he planned to produce once he got back to Fort Laramie.

Acting more in frenzy than according to a thought-out plan, Biv might spend one entire day drawing the women at work around the camp, then the next day sketching the men as they went out to hunt. Despite the certainty that war was coming -- maybe even because of it since they would need extra rations -- the Cheyenne's hunted even more fervently than normal as the short Plains summer neared its peak.

A few days after he arrived, early in the month the Cheyenne called the moon when the Buffalo Bills are Rutting, the village moved 15 miles to the north to a new site along a river they called Shistotoiyhoe, which Legendre told him meant "Cedar." There, they had more space since they could spread out in the bottom land that lay in a large bend of the stream, smack in the middle of an area known to be occupied by several large bands of antelope. Plus, it put them closer to the buffalo, which were more farther to the east as the summer progressed.

But more elbow room and the increased availability of game were not the only reasons the village changed locations; it was also part of plan to give the Cheyenne an advantage in the coming fight. The broad valley of the Mahkineohe was well-known to the Cheyenne; they knew every creek, trail, hillock, and hideaway. Since the Notaxe-vehoe would have the advantage in firepower and numbers, the Cheyenne wanted to be able to at least pick the place where the battle would be fought.

In the space allotted to him inside Legendre's lodge, which was where the trapper had insisted that he stay, Biv had piles of sketches of ordinary Cheyenne. There was Legendre, of course, along with his wife and Legendre's son, David, a bright-eyed bundle of energy that Biv had to catch on the fly because the boy was never still for very long. He also had two very nice drawings of David's favorite playmates, two blue-eyed, blond-haired boys named Puma and Magpie. One drawing of which Biv was particular proud, depicted the 4-year-old Magpie leading his pet otter by a leather leash.

If it were not for the boy's undeniably Germanic features, Biv would have sworn they were Cheyenne. They made no attempt to speak English with him; in fact when he once tried to initiate a conversation in the language they looked at him blankly, then burst into giggling fits since they were sure he was making up a new dialect for their benefit.

He also had sketches of the boys's adopted parents: Short Hair and Red Berry Woman who were raising Puma, and Large-Footed Bull and Lightning woman, who had taken Magpie into their tipi.

Once he heard the tale about how Red Berry Woman had insisted that she be allowed to accompany Short Hair on a revenge raid against the Pawnee -- and returned with an enemy scalp of her own -- Biv made additional drawings of the two.

In his collection, there also were likenesses of Long Chin, the village chief, Sliced Nose and, among the rarest of all, a portrait of Big Nose, a contrary who lived off by himself on the edge of the village in a red-painted lodge.

Big Nose's story had special fascination for Biv. Until he arrived in the camp he had no idea that there lived among the Plains Indians certain individuals, called contraries, who insisted on doing everything backwards. They said hello when they meant goodbye. They said they were warm when in fact they were freezing. They plunged their hands and arms into pots of boiling water without the least ill effects. But even more interesting to Biv was the fact that these men played specific roles in the Plains Indian culture.

When they went on a war party they carried a special whistle and an odd-looking weapon -- which Biv had captured in still another sketch -- called a hohnukawo or Thunder Bow. To Biv, it looked like a cross between a bow and a lance, except the bow part had two strings.

Under prodding from Biv, Legendre patiently explained that only the contrary could touch the Thunder Bow, and anyone who violated that prohibition had to be purified by being rubbed down with white sage.

The contrary had strange and unusual power, Biv learned. When he was with a group, he had to walk off to the side because it was believed that if anyone stepped in his tracks they would go lame. The tribe used this to their advantage by having the contrary walk across the footprints or hoofprints of their enemies in the belief that they would be crippled or quickly become exhausted, thereby becoming easy prey.

When he went into a fight, the contrary could move forward or backward as long as he held the Thunder Bow in his left hand. But if he gripped it in his right hand, blew his whistle, and make the sound of a burrowing owl, he was prohibited from retreating. From that critical point on, he had to keep charging the enemy until he was either victorious or he was killed.