I do not want you to die, Redbird," said the low voice from the figure
towering over her.

She looked up at him. Was he going to be merciful?

He said, "It makes me angry that you throw your life away for that
fatherless pale eyes boy. To wed the son of Black Hawk would bring you
honor."

She understood now. He was going to offer to spare her life, if she
would marry him and give up Gray Cloud. He did not understand that she
would rather be dead twice over than spend her life mourning Gray Cloud
and married to Wolf Paw.

She was about to tell him so when she heard a rumble, almost like
thunder, from the trees nearer the camp. With much whinnying and
cracking of shrubbery, all the band's horses burst out of the woods and
ran, floundering and kicking up clouds of snow, out on the prairie.

"Be still," Wolf Paw cautioned in a low voice, "until we see what
frightened them." He stood with his head high, listening.

Whatever it was, she was grateful that it had taken Wolf Paw's mind off
her.

She heard a crashing in the forest, branches breaking, snow crunching.
Something large was coming toward them.

She turned. Through the trees she saw a bulky, hunched figure. It seemed
to be a large animal, but it was walking on its hind legs. It came
forward slowly, a step at a time. Its forelimbs swung at its sides. It
was a little taller than a man.

It looked very much like a bear. A new fear, greater than the fear of
what Wolf Paw might do, assailed her.

A bear in coldest winter, when all of that people withdrew to their dens
and slept? Once in a while, she had heard, a very hungry bear would
awaken and forage for food and then go back to sleep again. Such a bear
would kill anything it met. She tensed herself to run, though she knew
she could never outrun a hungry bear.

The shambling tread of the bear, or whatever it was, had brought it
closer, and she saw that it was all white, glittering in the moonlight
like a snowdrift.

She glanced at Wolf Paw and saw his eyes glisten as they widened. The
look on his shadowed face was one she never thought to see on him--fear.

He sucked in a shuddering breath. The hand that had held her arm
suddenly released her.

No wonder Wolf Paw was afraid. This was a white bear, a spirit bear. Its
eyes, reflecting the moonlight, seemed to glow.

Wolf Paw uttered a terrified, inarticulate cry. She turned to see him
racing over the snow. Were she not so frightened herself, she might hav