The decisions about pace and route were not made solely in terms of military advantage; they were made in the context of whether particular people could survive particular choices.

Every leader in the council was aware of this.

Every decision about how fast to push, how far to move in a day, where to stop and rest, reflected the tension between the military requirement of outrunning the army and the human requirement of keeping the most vulnerable members of the community alive.

After Canyon Creek, the Cow Island crossing of the Missouri River and the skirmish at Cow Creek Canyon — where the nimíipuu raided a supply depot that provided needed food — brought the flight into the final stretch of Montana before the Bear Paw Mountains.

The Canadian border was getting close.