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don’t mean to complain, but I don’t feel my legs no more,” Corn Poe announced.
    They had reached the Milk River hours ago. Then, they had continued toward the setting sun. Excluding the occasional clump of cottonwood, they hadn’t seen anything but snow in a long time. Lionel thought that it was as if the entire world had stopped, and it was just Lionel, his sister, and the horse…and now, Corn Poe.
    â€œMaybe we should walk awhile. Give Ulysses a rest.” Beatrice pulled the horse to a stop and slid gracefully from his back. Corn Poe did the same, but his legs gave out and he fell with a plop into a deep snowdrift.
    â€œBoy howdy, this is some of the coldest snow I ever laid eyes on!” Corn Poe proclaimed as he struggled to his feet. He stood there a minute shivering, trying to get the feeling back in his legs.
    Lionel slid down and once again scanned the horizon. The past two days raced through his mind, and as he looked around at the snow-covered desolation, he felt again as if he wanted to cry.
    â€œWe best keep movin’,” Beatrice said.
    â€œHow are you plannin’ on leadin’ that horse without no rope?” Corn Poe asked as he made his way out of the snowdrift.
    â€œHe’ll follow.” And with that, Beatrice continued. As she walked, Ulysses followed. Horses loved Beatrice and Beatrice loved horses, that much Lionel knew—and now so did Corn Poe.
    They walked on, but this proved to be harder than they thought. Ulysses’s long legs stepped in and out of the snow with ease compared to the children’s shorter legs. They were soon warmer from the movement, but exhausted.
    â€œDamn, I’m hungry,” Corn Poe exclaimed between gasps. He began to look worried and, like Lionel, could have very well been on the verge of tears.
    The three struggled up a high riverbank, with Ulysses fighting his way through the snow behind them. when they got to the top of the rise, Lionel thought he saw something moving toward them from the direction of the river. He strained his eyes and saw it again, this time briefly standing on top of the next bluff. It seemed to Lionel that it was a deer with very large antlers looking at them, almost spying on them. Lionel would catch a glimpse, but then it would disappear only to reappear a few feet from where it last appeared, depending on the direction the children moved. Lionel turned and saw that Beatrice had also seen the strange deer in the distance.
    Corn Poe continued, oblivious to the foreign presence, “Y’all remember when I said I needed to stretch my legs? well, I reckon they are permanently stretched after this one….”
    Beatrice raised a finger to her lips, and Corn Poe’s eyes went wide.

    â€œWhat? what is it?” Corn Poe whispered. Lionel couldn’t tell if he was shaking from the cold or trembling with fear.
    â€œLionel, listen to me. You two stay here. Stand next to Ulysses, all right? Just stand there behind him and don’t move.” And then Beatrice was gone.
    Beatrice was fast, and if it weren’t for the tracks that she left in the snow behind her, Corn Poe and Lionel might have thought that she just vanished. with his gaze, Lionel traced his sister’s tracks as they disappeared down the other side of the gully toward the river. He wanted to follow but knew that Beatrice would not stand for that. Something in the way that she had told Corn Poe and Lionel to stay put kept them right where they were.
    â€œWhat is it?” Corn Poe asked. His lips were now as blue as his legs.
    â€œWe saw something. Something over the hill.”
    â€œWhat in the hell was it? I didn’t see nothin’.”
    â€œIt looked like a deer to me, but we best keep from talkin’,” Lionel answered.
    â€œA deer?” Corn Poe exclaimed, louder than Lionel thought he meant to. “You think we might get us some supper after all?”
    Corn Poe’s comment