****
The remainder of their first day as Tribe members was spent moving to the Turtle Man Lodge. The only way to accomplish the move was on foot, but the Chief assigned a dozen strong young men to help them move their belongings. To the surprise of the newcomers, Singing Moon herself supervised a contingent of women and girls that also helped with the move, though she generally behaved as surly and unfriendly as ever.
Given all the Tribe help, the moving was soon accomplished. Fortunately the snowfall stopped and for several more days winter weather was expected to hold off. Following that the arctic jet stream was forecast to sink south of them and stay there until spring, accompanied by numbing arctic-cold and paralyzing snow. For now the entire Mohawk Tribe continued their frantic preparation for winter, including its newest members.
In moving the Rumsfeld belongings to the Great Lodge, jants still living in them were also moved. It was only a few hundred stealthy worker jants, but it was enough of a jant presence to maintain a link with Ed, and to hopefully establish secret links with a few selected additional humans at the Lodge.
Next and foremost on the agenda as far as Jack and Doc were concerned was the Bear Claw artifact. The four white Mohawks had seen it only briefly the day of their induction into the Tribe and Jack and Doc were particularly eager to see it again and examine it closely. They were disappointed to learn from Talking Owl that before examination of the Bear Claw would be allowed they must first learn everything known by the Tribe about the object and devise a plan to examine it that was judged to be safe by the Tribe Leaders.
Doc and Jack clarified to Ed and Mary that the four key Tribe Leaders consisted foremost of Turtle Man, Tribe Religious Chief and Turtle Clan Leader; closely followed by Mouse as unofficial Bear Clan Leader and Leader of the Elder Council of Mothers, Talking Bear as official Bear Clan Leader and Chief of the Tribe, and young White Cloud, Wolf Clan Leader and Talking Bear's right-hand man.
The fifth most influential Tribe member was young Talking Owl herself. Daughter to Singing Moon and Talking Bear, she was Turtle Man's right-hand aid and apprentice, and had the old man's confidence. Though gifted with telepathic abilities, intelligence, and beauty, Doc had learned from other Tribe members that Talking Owl presented a number of problems for the Tribe. She was by far the most talented young telepath of the tribe, which under the right circumstances would make her the preferred Tribe member to someday replace Turtle Man, but she was a woman and she was not of the Turtle Clan. Further, she had so far failed in all of her attempts to talk with turtles.
The situation was further complicated by the fact that White Cloud planned to someday marry her. White Cloud was the acknowledged young up-and-coming Tribe leader; there was already talk of him someday becoming Chief after Talking Bear retired. For him to marry the most beautiful and talented woman of the Tribe made political sense.
But there were complications that had so far prevented White Cloud from carrying through with wedding her. If White Cloud married her he would become part of the Bear Clan and ineligible to be Wolf Clan Leader any longer. He wanted Talking Owl but he also liked being the Wolf Clan Leader. He still hoped that some other way could be found for them, perhaps by some sort of bending of traditional Tribe rules that would require unanimous approval by all Tribe Leaders and Elders.
However White Cloud feared that any such solution would surely be blocked by Singing Moon. Telepathic ability had skipped her generation but she exercised influence in the Elder Council of Mothers second only to that of Mouse. Further, she was jealous of her daughter's increasing influence in the Tribe, and she was even jealous of her mother and of her own husband's influence as Chief. She was becoming a serious impediment in the Council; lately it was becoming increasingly difficult to get the Council to agree to anything at all.
Then there was the problem that Talking Owl was not in love with White Cloud in the way that he wanted her to be. She knew of his intensions and truly loved the man like a brother, but could not imagine being his wife. She truly dreaded the day when she might have to marry him for the good of the Tribe.
The complex Talking Owl/White Cloud issue was one of many Tribe concerns that was currently being ignored. For now the crisis of the coming winter, the failing health of Talking Turtle, and the possible awakening of the Stone-Coats overshadowed all other issues.
The day after their induction into the Tribe Mouse told the white foursome what was known about the Bear Claw. "According to legend, over six centuries ago during an unusually cold winter Hairless Bear came to life and began consuming the firewood that was piled high around him," she began.
"Stone-Coats eat wood?" Doc asked.
"They are said to eat practically anything, but they particularly like wood or charcoal." Mouse said. "The heat of fire stops Stone-Coats. The wood should have been set afire to stop Hairless Bear, but a blizzard extinguished all Tribe torches sent from Giants' Rest Village."
"Why all the way from Giant's Rest?" Mary asked.
"That was before the Tribe had longhouses and before any of the Tribe lived close to Hairless Bear."
"Is that why the Turtle Man Lodge is so close to Hairless Bear?" asked Ed. He was as anxious as any of them to study the artifact and prove that this entire Stone-Coat business was superstitious nonsense.
"Yes," continued Mouse. "In recent centuries we have stayed closer to the Stone-Coats to better judge if they are waking and to better respond to them by using fire."
"Does fire kill them?" Doc asked.
"No," said Mouse. "Warming them merely stops them from moving until it is cold again. We don't know what might kill them; we have never been able to do such a thing. Long ago when Hairless Bear came alive there was no fire to warm and stop him. In desperation the Tribe attacked him with spears and axes, but the Stone-Coats are made of stone. Our weapons were useless. Hairless-Bear and others like him killed and consumed our strongest, bravest warriors. He went to our biggest trees, cut them down, and carried them up the Mountain."
"Weird," remarked Doc.
Ridiculous, thought Ed.
"Fortunately at this time there was a mighty warrior among our nearby Mohawk neighbors known by white man today as Hiawatha," continued Mouse. "He is said to have been a follower of Deganawida, known also known as Shennenrahawi, or Great Peace Maker, known by the Onondaga nation. Hiawatha was an Onondaga Chief but was visiting the Mohawk and speaking of the Peace Maker plan to join together all nations into one."
"When news of the Hairless Bear awakening reached the ears of Hiawatha he came at once to our village. The Onondaga are keepers of the flame. Hiawatha brought with him better ways of keeping fire that he learned from the Onondaga. With torches burning he led an attack on Hairless Bear. It is said that with a mighty ax blow he broke off the tip of the monster's finger, and the monster bled water and ice from the wound. Fires were set around him and Hairless Bear stopped moving where he stands today."
"That must have impressed people," Ed noted.
Mouse nodded in agreement. "It was what you whites would call a history-changing event. Hiawatha became a Chief to us known as the Peace Maker. Our Tribe joined the Mohawk and the Mohawk led efforts to form what became known today as the Iroquois Confederacy."
"And the monster's fingertip was kept as a sacred trophy," said Jack.
Mouse shook her head. "It is not kept as a trophy, but as a dangerous prisoner that eats what touches it, especially if it becomes cold. It has doubled in size since being captured. When it becomes colder than ice the Claw gathers whatever it touches to itself, including human flesh."
"According to legend," added Ed.
"According to the facts as we know them, Raccoon," Mouse retorted. "Now you know most of what we know."
"Does it have thoughts that Turtle Man can sense?" Mary asked.
"None that he can detect," Mouse answered.
"Have attempts been made to study the object?" Doc asked. "It seems incredible to me that over all those
years it has not been analyzed using basics such as stimulus and response, spectral and chemical analysis, and so forth."
"All such science methods were too alien to our culture and judged to be too dangerous until now," explained Mouse. "Your impulse is born of white-man science, while the Tribe has for countless centuries wanted nothing but to contain the Stone-Coats as evil monsters. When Hairless Bear last woke centuries ago, things changed for our ancient Tribe. We joined our Mohawk neighbors and adopted their ways. Now things are changing again. The Tribe has decided that some white man science might help us. We have young men and women in white man schools now, studying science. In perhaps five or ten years we could field a science team of our own, but for now, Jack and Doc are all that we have."
"What has changed now?" Ed asked. "Why not wait five or ten more years? You've been guarding your Mountain for millennia."
"Turtle Man senses that the Stone-Coats are hungry and waking. Not only Hairless Bear but all the Stone-Coats that sleep in the Mountain."
"How many Stone-Coats are there in the Mountain?" Mary asked.
"That is for Raccoon to verify," said Mouse. "Turtle Man says there are countless thousands of them. The Mountain does not merely hide the Stone-Coats; much of the Mountain IS the Stone-Coats. And it is a big mountain."