The squirrel was on the curved bough of the oak,
the one that projects toward the north."

"You assume a good deal to say that it was a squirrel and surely mind not
eye would select the particular bough on which he sat."

"No, Dagaeoga, eye served the whole purpose. All the other branches are
almost smothered in leaves, but the curved one is nearly bare. It is only
there that the casual glance of the Great Bear, who was not at that time
seeking game, would have caught sight of the squirrel. Also, he must have
been there, otherwise his body could not have fallen directly beneath it,
when the bullet went through his head."

"Now tell me how your eye knows his body fell from the bough."

"Ah, Dagaeoga! Your eye was given to you for use as mine was given to me,
then you should use it; in the forest you are lost unless you do. It was my
eye that saw the unmistakable sign, the sign from which all the rest
followed. Look closely and you will detect a little spot of red on the
grass just beneath the bare bough. It was blood from the squirrel."

"You cannot be sure that it was a squirrel. It might have been a pigeon or
some other bird."

"That, O, Dagaeoga, would be the easiest of all, even for you, if you could
only use your eyes, as I bid you. Almost at your feet lies a slender bone
that cannot be anything but the backbone of a squirrel. Beyond it are two
other bones, which came from the same body. We know as certainly that it
was a squirrel as we know that the Great Bear ate first a wild goose, and
then a wild duck. But it is a good camp that those two great men made, and,
as the night is coming, we will occupy it."

They relighted the abandoned fire, warmed their food and ate, and Robert
was once more devoutly glad that he had kept the heavy buffalo robe. Deep
fog came over the mountain soon after dark, and, after a while, a fine
cold, and penetrating rain was shed from the heart of it. They kept the
fire burning and wrapped, Tayoga in his blankets, and, Robert in the robe,
crouched before it. Then they drew the logs that the Great Bear and Black
Rifle had left, in such position that they could lean their backs against
them, and slept, though not the two at the same time. They agreed that it
was wise to keep watch and Robert was sentinel first.

Tayoga, supported by the log, slept soundly, the flames illuminating his
bronze face and showing the very highest type of the Indian. Robert sat
opposite, his rifle across his