he palm of his left hand, he tapped it with an angular stone held in his right hand. "The other way was to heat th

of the tree. Earlier in the morning, on visiting the snares, we had found a rabbit in each. They hung now in a tree n

arrow-point. The result was that we spoiled much of the none too plentiful material. I

a saucer-shaped fragment of rock. I was to do the heating of the obsidian and Pitamakan was to do the flaking. He chose a piece about an inch and

before him, while with the end of a pine needle he laid a tiny drop of water near the lower corner, about a quarter of an inch back from the squared edge. There was a faint hiss of steam, but no apparent change in the surface of the rock. We tried i

, for the cold water caused the rock to scale in the direction in which the drop ran. In the course of two hours the rough piece of obs

r having cleared, we went to look at the rabbit-snares. As neither had been sprung, we moved them to a fresh place. This las

ur bows and arrows. We found none that evening, but the next morning, after visiting the snares and taking one

, between two and three inches in diameter. Next we had a long hunt through the willows for straig

e only by the hardest kind of sandstone-rubbing, and by scraping and cutting with obsidian knives. But we did not dare t

inew wrappings. For the shafts, the grouse wings provided feathering, which was also fastened in place with the sine

were not only large and uneven, but weak. Pitamakan spoke of cutting off a braid of his hair for a cord, but on the mor

rve as bowstrings. After they were dry we tested one of them, and it broke. We knotted it together and twisted it with the other to make a cord for Pitamakan's bow. That left me without

it before we start

n we can help," Pitamakan replied; and

ot worn rabbit-skins, with fur side in, for socks, we could not have gone far from the

n trail parallel to the river, such as the buffalo and other game always made along the streams on the east side of the Rockies. On the west side of

. Presently a covey of ruffed grouse, flying up out of the snow into the pines, afforded easy shots; but we dared not risk our arrows fo

sel family. As I had often seen the large, glossy black pelts of these animals brought into the fort by Indians and company trappers, I was anxious to get a close view of one alive. I looked for it farther

t after it, jumped the fisher, the most beautiful, agile animal

l. The latter, making a circle in the branches, leaped back into the tree over our heads. The fisher was gaining on it, and was only a few feet behind its prey wh

ld only have g

m here, and we'll get some before th

omising lot of things that seemed impossible,-needles and thread, for i

s. There a barely perceptible trough in the new-fallen snow marked where he

we had better not hunt them until we

ard the river, and stopping here and there to snip off tender tips of willow and birch

down in there. Come

he didn't go straight to the deer trail. Finally I asked him the rea

flattened back, until he passes on; then they get up slowly and sneak quietly out of hearing, and then run far and fast. Remember this: never follow a trail more than just enough to keep the direction the animal is traveling. Keep looking ahead, and when you see

and I said so; but feeling that we were

," he replied. "This is a time for waiting instead of hurrying. You sho

places over the rapids. As there was no snow on the new-formed ice, walking on it was a great relief to our tired legs. A couple of hundred yards down stre

together that we could see no more than twenty or thirty feet ahead. I kept well back from Pitamakan, in order to

ole fluff of it. I saw the snow farther on burst up as if from the explosion of a bomb, and caught just a glimpse of the deer, whose tremendous leaps were raising the

ied. "I saw its t

short, white-haired tail, and keeps swaying it like the inverted pendulum of a clock; but if even s

ut blood like a rifle-ball because the shaft fills the wound. We soon came to the edge of the fir thicket. Beyond, the woods were so open that we could see a long way in the directio

It had stood for some time, as was shown by the well-trodden snow. Even here there was not one

y. "Her wound is only a slight one; it smarts just enough to keep he

elt worse, because he thought that

are plenty of deer close round here, and it is a long

. "Perhaps we had better go to cam

tired. I proposed to do it now, and added that it would be a good plan to walk on the ic

htening in a way that was good to see. "Go ahe

so much game in the valley we should kill something. On the smooth, new ice, our moccasins were absolutely noiseless; we were bound to get a near shot. Inside of half an hour we flushed severa

on a willow suddenly tumbled, while the willow itself trembled as if something had hit it. We stopped and listened, but heard nothing. Then nearer to us the snow fell from

nd with one eye on the cow and the other

with a mighty pull, whirled half round on the slippery ice and sat down, with the b

e elk had lunged out of sight the instant Pitamakan moved. He sat for a moment motionless on the ice, with bowed head, a pi

her," I proposed. "That may have

ted upstream, but after a few steps halted,

ave it a half pull, a harder one, then fitted an arrow and drew it slowly back; but before the head of the shaft was anywhere near the bow, frip! went the cord, broken in

ugh the deep snow. The afternoon was no more than half gone when we arrived at

d. "There are so many knots in our strings

ave but one chance left. If there is a bear in th

h cl

am forbids the cutting of my hair, and

id desperately. "Let's g

ur cutting-stones, we got us each a heavy, green birch club. Then we hurried off to the river. Although much snow had fa

of C