Black Elk’s people do not want to live on the reservations (agencies) that they are being driven to, and their former places near the Powder River are changed, so they go to Canada to join Sitting Bull. Black Elk hunts for bison with his uncle Running Horse and later with Iron Tail. There are several skirmishes with the Crow Indians and Black Elk uses the power granted by his vision to bring his companions out of danger. He records the courage of Brave Wolf, who sacrificed his own life to save a girl from the Crow, and of his cousin Hard-to-Hit, who was killed defending another Lakota from the Crow. Black Elk feels glad that his power is growing.
The winter is difficult, but in the midst of a blizzard, the voices of his vision guide Black Elk to a herd of bison. He and his father come across two other Lakota on their way to the bison, and together they slaughter eight of them. They butcher them, and have a great feast, dancing and singing. Encamped in a shelter built from the bison hides, they hear a group of porcupines crying in the cold during the night; Black Elk says they felt sorry for the animals and so did not hurt them. They load their horses with meat, caching the rest, and return home. It remains so cold that five of his horses freeze. Black Elk’s people are sad to be out of their own country. The older people tell stories of the good times, now past, and Black Elk himself is homesick.
