. Once Chipper
went out and found fresh tracks. He followed the tracks until he came
within close range of a reindeer. But his bare arms shook with the
cold, and he missed his aim.

The next day was bitterly cold. The river was frozen almost into
silence. Only the ripples of the swiftest currents laughed aloud at
the frost. The snow was deep on the hillsides. It was deeper in the
valleys, and the narrow ravines were almost filled with snow.

The third day was still very cold and everybody was hungry and cross.
The children were crying for food, and since Antler had nothing to
give them, she was trying to get them to play.

At length the children began to take turns at playing they were
cave-bears. Now it was Fleetfoot's turn to be the bear, and when
Antler saw him she laughed.

The Cave-men looked up in surprise. Everybody was so hungry and cross
it seemed strange to hear any one laugh. But Antler really was
laughing.

Fleetfoot had found a cave-bear's skin on a ledge in the cave. He had
wrapped it around him so that he looked like a little cave-bear. The
children kept calling him "little bear," and he was trying to act like
one.

Soon all the people were laughing. They forgot, for the time, how
hungry they were. And the next day they had meat, for it was warm
enough to go hunting.

Many times after that the children played cave-bear. Many times the
people laughed when they saw the children dressed in cave-bears'
skins. Once when Antler looked at them, she got an idea about making
clothes.

When Antler took a large skin and wrapped it around her, Fleetfoot
thought that she was going to play "bear." But Antler was not playing.
She was thinking of the cold days when the children had no food. She
was thinking that if she could make a warm dress, perhaps she could go
out in the bitter cold.

Antler talked with Birdcatcher about it, and Birdcatcher helped her
fit the skin. Birdcatcher fitted the skin of the head over Antler's
head so as to make a warm hood. Then she run a cord through the slits
along the edges and tied the ends under Antler's chin.

Antler fastened the skin down the front with buckles. She covered her
arms with the skin of the forelegs. She cut off the skin that hung
below the knees, and afterward used it to make a pair of leggings.

When the garment was fitted, Antler took it off. Then the women sat
down and worked until it was done. They punched holes through the
edges with a bone awl. Then