The Game of Silence

Deydey agrees to guide Father Baraga to a distant people. Yellow Kettle is worried about Deydey’s decision to embark on such a long journey The thick layer of ice over the lake breaks, signaling the arrival of the spring season.

Time passes, and when Deydey does not return at the expected time, Yellow Kettle becomes nervous and edgy. Omakayas has a dream in which she “recognize[s] an island where Deydey often stopped to lay tobacco on the shore. He was there, sitting next to a black rock. In his hands, he held his long counting stick and his knife” (209). Omakayas reports her dream to Yellow Kettle and Nokomis. They take her dream seriously and send men out to find Deydey and Father Baraga.

For days, the women wait anxiously for the return of the men. Finally, the men return, with Deydey sneaking up on Yellow Kettle to surprise her. A feast is held to honor the return of Deydey and his rescuers and to honor Omakayas’s visionary gift. Two-Strike Girl is impressed by Omakayas’s ability to save her father through a dream, and this makes Omakayas feel guilty for being jealous of Two Strike Girl’s moose victory.