Chief Long Knife wasn't anticipating seeing his children huddled in a canoe or his wife half-hanging out of the second, features ashen as she reached into the water. Immediately he knew something was wrong.

A second later, Falcon howled, leaping off his canoe, before sinking beneath the waves. A few minutes longer and Falcon would have been a widower instead of a bridegroom.

Thunder Cloud remained in the canoe with Brebeuf as Chief Long Knife launched out of his ...