with the
work. They still stayed outdoors as much as possible, but the cold
became intense, the temperature going almost to forty degrees below
zero, the surface of the snow freezing and the boughs of the big
trees about the valley becoming so brittle that they broke with sharp
crashes beneath the weight of accumulated snow. Then they paused long
enough in the work on the snowshoes to make themselves gloves of
buckskin, which were a wonderful help, as they labored in the fresh
air. Ear muffs and caps of bearskin followed.

"I feel some reluctance about using bearskin so much," said Robert,
"since the bears about us are inhabited by the souls of great warriors
and are our friends."

"But the bears that we killed did not belong here," said Tayoga, "and
were bears and nothing more. It was right for us to slay them because
the bear was sent by Manitou to be a support for the Indian with his
flesh and his pelt."

"But how do you know that the bears we killed were just bears and
bears only?"

"Because, if they had not been we would not have killed them."

Thus were the qualms of young Lennox quieted and he used his bearskin
cap, gloves and cloak without further scruple. The snowshoes were
completed and Tayoga announced that he would start early the next
morning.

"I may be gone three or four days, Dagaeoga," he said, "but I will
surely return. I shall avoid danger, and do you be careful also."

"Don't fear for me," said Robert. "I'm not likely to go farther than
the brook, since there's no great sport in breaking your way through
snow that comes to your waist, and which, moreover, is covered with a
thick sheet of ice. Don't trouble your mind about me, Tayoga, I won't
roam from home."

The Onondaga took his weapons, a supply of food, and departed,
skimming over the snow with wonderful, flying strokes, while Robert
settled down to lonely waiting. It was a hard duty, but he again found
solace in work, and at intervals he contemplated the mouths of the
bears' caves, now almost hidden by the snow. Tayoga's belief was
strong upon him, for the time, and he concluded that the warriors
who inhabited the bodies of the bears must be having some long and
wonderful dreams. At least, they had plenty of time to dream in, and
it was an extraordinary provision of nature that gave them such a
tremendous sleep.

Tayoga returned in four days, and Robert, who had more than enough of
being alone, welcomed him with hospitable words to