d the letter. The Great Bear
would never have starved him."

"I know that now, Tayoga, and I learn from it that we're to hold out
too, long after we think we're lost, if we're to be the victors."

They came in the afternoon to a creek, flowing in their chosen course,
and despite the coldness of its waters, which rose almost to their
knees, they waded a long time in its bed. When they went out on the
bank they took off their leggings and moccasins, wrung or beat out of
them as much of the water as they could, and then let them dry for a
space in the sun, while they rubbed vigorously their ankles and feet
to create warmth. They knew that Langlade's men would follow on either
side of the creek until they picked up the trail again, but their
maneuver would create a long delay, and give them a rest needed badly.

"Have you anything in mind, Tayoga?" asked Robert. "You know that the
farther north and higher we go the colder it will become, and our
flight may take us again into the very heart of a great snow storm."

"It is so, Dagaeoga, but it is also so that I do have a plan. I think
I know the country into which we are coming, and that tells me what to
do. The people of my race, living from the beginning of the world in
the great forest, have not been too proud to learn from the animals,
and of all the animals we know perhaps the wisest is the bear."

"The bear is scarcely an animal, Tayoga. He is almost a human being.
He has as good a sense of humor as we have, and he is more careful
about minding his own business, and letting alone that of other
people."

"Dagaeoga is not without wisdom. We will even learn from the bear.
A hundred miles to the north of us there is a vast rocky region
containing many caves, where the bears go in great numbers to sleep
the long winters through. It is not much disturbed, because it is
a dangerous country, lying between the Hodenosaunee and the Indian
nations to the north, with which we have been at war for centuries.
There we will go."

"And hole up until our peril passes! Your plan appeals to me, Tayoga!
I will imitate the bear! I will even be a bear!"

"We will take the home of one of them before he comes for it himself,
and we will do him no injustice, because the wise bear can always find
another somewhere else."

"They're fine caves, of course!" exclaimed Robert, buoyantly, his
imagination, which was such a powerful asset with him, flaming up as
usual. "Dry and clean, with pl