y. They broke two big
holes in the ice, let down the lines which they always carried, the
hooks baited with fragments of meat, and were soon rewarded with
splendid fish, as much as they needed.

Tayoga with his usual skill lighted a fire, despite the driving snow,
and they had a banquet, taking with them afterward a supply of the
cooked fish, though they knew they could not rely upon fish alone in
the winter days that were coming. But fortune was with them. Before
dark, Robert shot a deer, a great buck, fine and fat. They had so
little fear of pursuit now that they cut up the body, saving the skin
whole for tanning, and hung the pieces in the trees, there to
freeze. Although it would make quite a burden they intended to carry
practically all of it with them.

Many mountain wolves were drawn that night by the odor of the spoils,
but they lay between twin fires and had no fear of an attack. Yet the
time might come when they would be assailed by fierce wild animals,
and now they were glad that Tayoga had kept Garay's rifle, and also
his ammunition, a good supply of powder and bullets. It was possible
that the question of ammunition might become vital with them, but they
did not yet talk of it.

On the second day thereafter, bearing their burdens of what had been
the deer, they reached the stony valley Tayoga had in mind, and Robert
saw at once that its formation indicated many caves.

"Now, I wonder if the bears have come," he said, putting down his pack
and resting. "The cold has been premature and perhaps they're still
roaming through the forest. I shouldn't want to put an interloper out
of my own particular cave, but, if I have to do it, I will."

"The bears haven't arrived yet," said Tayoga, "and we can choose. I do
not know, but I do not think a bear always occupies the same winter
home, so we will not have to fight over our place."

It was a really wonderful valley, where the decaying stone had made a
rich assortment of small caves, many of them showing signs of former
occupancy by large wild animals, and, after long searching, they found
one that they could make habitable for themselves. Its entrance was
several feet above the floor of the valley, so that neither storm nor
winter flood could send water into it, and its own floor was fairly
smooth, with a roof eight or ten feet high. It could be easily
defended with their three rifles, the aperture being narrow, and they
expected, with skins and pelts, to make