The bear looked at me in such brotherly fashion that I could never
have sent a bullet into him. I'd rather go hungry."

Neither Willet nor Tayoga had any rebuke for him.

"Doubtless the soul of a good warrior had gone into the bear and
looked out at you," said the Onondaga with perfect sincerity. "It is
sometimes so. It is well that you did not fire upon him or the face of
Areskoui would have remained turned from us too long."

"That's just the way I felt about it," said Robert, who had great
tolerance for Iroquois beliefs. "His eyes seemed fully human to me,
and, although I had my pistol in my belt and my hand when I first saw
him flew to its butt, I made no attempt to draw it. I have no regrets
because I let him go."

"Nor have we," said Willet. "Now I think we can afford to rest again.
We can build our wall six feet high if we want to and have wood enough
left over to feed a fire for several days."

The two lads, the white and the red, crouched once more in the lee of
the cliff, while the hunter put two fresh sticks on the coals. But
little of the snow reached them where they lay, wrapped well in their
blankets, and all care disappeared from Robert's mind. Inured to the
wilderness he ignored what would have been discomfort to others. The
trails they had left in the snow when they hunted wood would soon be
covered up by the continued fall, and for the night, at least, there
would be no danger from the warriors. He felt an immense comfort and
security, and by-and-by fell asleep again. Tayoga soon followed him to
slumberland, and Willet once more watched alone.