tied us together first when Neewa, there, was just about as
big as your head, and we did a lot of scrapping before we got properly
acquainted. Then we got lost, and after that we hitched up like
brothers; and we had a lot of fun and excitement all through last
summer, until at last, when the cold weather came, Neewa hunted up this
hole in the ground and the lazy cuss went to sleep for all winter. I
won't mention what happened to me during the winter. It was a-plenty.
So this spring I had a hunch it was about time for Neewa to get the
cobwebs out of his fool head, and came back. And--here we are! But tell
me this: WHAT MAKES NEEWA SO BIG?"

It was at least that thought--the bigness of Neewa--that was filling
Miki's head at the present moment. And Meshaba, in place of listening
to an explanation, was reaching for his rifle--while Neewa, with his
brown muzzle sniffing the wind, was gathering in a strange smell. Of
the three, Neewa saw nothing to be wondered at in the situation itself.
When he had gone to sleep four and a half months ago Miki was at his
side; and to-day, when he awoke, Miki was still at his side. The four
and a half months meant nothing to him. Many times he and Miki had gone
to sleep, and had awakened together. For all the knowledge he had of
time it might have been only last night that he had fallen asleep.

The one thing that made Neewa uneasy now was that strange odour he had
caught in the air. Instinctively he seized upon it as a menace--at
least as something that he would rather NOT smell than smell. So he
turned away with a warning WOOF to Miki. When Meshaba peered around the
edge of the rock, expecting an easy shot, he caught only a flash of the
two as they were disappearing. He fired quickly.

To Miki and Neewa the report of the rifle and the moaning whirr of the
bullet over their backs recalled memories of a host of things, and
Neewa settled down to that hump-backed, flat-eared flight of his that
kept Miki pegging along at a brisk pace for at least a mile. Then Neewa
stopped, puffing audibly. Inasmuch as he had had nothing to eat for a
third of a year, and was weak from long inactivity, the run came within
an ace of putting him out of business. It was several minutes before he
could gather his wind sufficiently to grunt. Miki, meanwhile, was
carefully smelling of him from his rump to his muzzle. There was
apparently nothing missing, for he gave a delighted little yap at the
end, and, in spite of