not see it, and Miki was unconscious of it. But every
fibre in Neewa's body was atremble, and his heart was thumping as it
had pounded on that glorious day of the fight between his mother and
the old he-bear. It seemed to him that everything that he had lost was
coming back to him, and that all would be well very soon--FOR HE
SMELLED HIS MOTHER! And then he discovered that the scent of her was
warm and strong in the furry black mass under his feet, and he
smothered himself down in it, flat on his plump little belly, and
peered at Challoner over his paws.

It was hard for him to understand--the man-beast back there, sending
the canoe through the water, and under him his mother, warm and soft,
but so deadly still! He could not keep the whimper out of his
throat--his low and grief-filled call for HER. And there was no answer,
except Miki's responsive whine, the crying of one child for another.
Neewa's mother did not move. She made no sound. And he could see
nothing of her but her black and furry skin--without head, without
feet, without the big, bald paws he had loved to tickle, and the ears
he had loved to nip. There was nothing of her but the patch of black
skin--and the SMELL.

But a great comfort warmed his frightened little soul. He felt the
protecting nearness of an unconquerable and abiding force and in the
first of the warm sunshine his back fluffed up, and he thrust his brown
nose between his paws and into his mother's fur. Miki, as if vainly
striving to solve the mystery of his new-found chum, was watching him
closely from between his own fore-paws. In his comical head--adorned
with its one good ear and its one bad one, and furthermore beautified
by the outstanding whiskers inherited from his Airedale ancestor--he
was trying to come to some sort of an understanding. At the outset he
had accepted Neewa as a friend and a comrade--and Neewa had thanklessly
given him a good mauling for his trouble. That much Miki could forgive
and forget. What he could not forgive was the utter lack of regard
which Neewa seemed to possess for him. His playful antics had gained no
recognition from the cub. When he had barked and hopped about,
flattening and contorting himself in warm invitation for him to join in
a game of tag or a wrestling match, Neewa had simply stared at him like
an idiot. He was wondering, perhaps, if Neewa would enjoy anything
besides a fight. It was a long time before he decided to make another
experiment.