ey put it in their lodge, where it spread so
far over the bark floor that they were compelled to roll it back partly,
to keep it out of the fire in the centre. It was the finest trophy in
the village, and many came to admire it.

"Rota was the largest that any of us has ever seen," said Inmutanka,
"but the farther north we go the larger grow the great bears. Far up
near the frozen seas it is said they are so large that they are almost
as heavy as a buffalo. It is true, too, of Ta (the moose). Word comes
out of the far north that he has been found there having the weight of
at least three of our ponies."

Will did not doubt what Inmutanka said, but his interest in his words
was due chiefly to the inferences he drew from them. Inmutanka spoke of
the immensity of the bear because they were in the far north, and it was
only another confirmation of his belief that the great march after he
was taken captive had been made almost due north. They must be in some
valley in the vast range of mountains that ran in an unbroken chain from
the Arctic to the Antarctic, more than ten thousand miles. Perhaps they
had gone much beyond the American line, and this was the last outlying
village of the Sioux.

But he did not bother himself about it now, knowing that he could do
nothing until next spring, as the snow fell heavily and almost
continuously. It was three or four feet deep about the lodges and he
knew that it lay in unmeasured depths in the passes. All the world was
gleaming white, but the crests of the mountains were seldom visible,
owing to the driving storms.

Plenty and cheerfulness prevailed in the village. Will had an idea that
he was seeing savage life under the most favorable conditions. It was
too true that the Indian coming in contact with the white man generally
learned his vices and not his virtues, and too often forgot his own
virtues also, until he became wholly bad. But this village, save for its
firearms and metal tomahawks, was in much the same condition that other
Indian villages must have been four or five hundred years earlier.

Old Xingudan ruled with the alternate severity and forbearance of a
patriarch, and now he showed his kindly side to Will, treating him
almost as one of their own young warriors. The "almost" was soon turned
to a fact, as old Inmutanka formally adopted Will as his son with the
ceremonies customary on such occasions, and he knew therefore that his
struggle had been achieved at last, t