The rain started with a few scattered drops which soon became a pounding downpour. Both Little Bear and Grandfather grabbed their buffalo robes and pulled them around their shoulders as they crouched against the side of the cliff. Little Bear could hear the thunderbolts, which Old-Man-of-the-Sky was throwing at the earth, crashing and bouncing back. There was the mounting roar of the wind around them.
The horses had moved about the ledge, looking for grass. As the wind rose, they, too, crowded against the cliff for shelter. Little Bear thought he could hear another roar mounting above the roar of the wind. Great Bear crouched forward in order to hear better.
“It is a wall of water going down the canyon,” Great Bear guessed, shouting to make his voice heard.
“Will it be this high?” Little Bear tried to keep the fear out of his voice.
“We can only wait and see,” Grandfather answered.
The storm had shut out the light so quickly that it was almost dark. Little Bear crouched despairingly against the cliff. He felt above his head in the hope he could find rough places which could be used as steps out of the canyon. The wall was smooth and water running down it made it slippery. If the water in the canyon rose to their shelf, there was no way of escape.
He couldn’t talk to Great Bear. The thundering, crashing roar of water was so loud he couldn’t have made himself heard if he had leaned close to Great Bear’s ear and shouted. The rain began to slacken, but the roar of water in the canyon grew louder. Little Bear knew that even if the rain stopped at once, the water in the canyon might still rise to their shelf.
He waited for what seemed hours. The rain decreased until there was only a light drizzle falling. Little Bear’s muscles ached from sitting in his cramped position. At last he could stand it no longer. Slowly he got to his feet. Sharp pains ran up and down his arms and legs, but as he continued to move around, the pains soon left. Was the deafening roar of water in the canyon decreasing? He waited, listening. He saw Great Bear raise his head in a listening attitude. Slowly Grandfather got to his feet.
“The water is going down,” Great Bear shouted.
It was true. Only a few minutes earlier he couldn’t have heard Grandfather shout. The roar of rushing water lessened rapidly. In a short time the sound was no more than what a small river would have made.