“Now the Great Bear had two ways to go in the water, up the stream or down the stream, and you and I, Dagaeoga, think he went down the stream, because the current leads on the whole eastward, which was the way in which he wished to go.  At least, we will choose that direction and I will take one side of the bank and you the other.”

They followed the brook more than a mile with questing eyes, and Tayoga detected the point at which Willet had emerged, plunging anew into the forest.

“Warriors, if they had picked up his trail, could have followed the brook as we did,” said Robert.

“Of course,” said Tayoga, “but the object of the Great Bear was not so much to hide his flight as to gain time.  While we went slowly, looking for the emergence of his trail, he went fast.  Now I think he meant to spend the night in the woods alone.  The rangers must still have been far away.  If they had been near he would not have felt the need of throwing off possible pursuit.”

They followed the dim traces several hours, and then Tayoga announced with certainty that the hunter had slept alone in the forest, wrapped in his blanket.

“He crept into this dense clump of bushes,” he said, “and lay within their heart, sheltered and hidden by them.  You, Dagaeoga, can see where his weight has pressed them down.  Why, here is the outline of a human body almost as clear and distinct as if it were drawn with black ink upon white paper!  And the Great Bear slept well, too.  The bushes are not broken or shoved aside except in the space merely wide enough to contain his frame.  Perhaps the goose was so very tender and his nerves and tissues had craved it so much that they were supremely happy when he gave it to them.  That is why they rested so well.

“In the morning the Great Bear resumed his journey toward the east.  He had no breakfast and doubtless he wished for another goose, but he was refreshed and he was very strong.  The traces are fainter than they were, because the Great Bear was so vigorous that his feet almost spurned the earth.”

“Don’t you think, Tayoga, that he’ll soon turn aside again to hunt?  So strong a man as Dave won’t go long without food, especially when the forest is full of it.  We’ve noticed everywhere that the war has caused the game to increase greatly in numbers.”

“It will depend upon the position of the force to which the Great Bear belongs.  If it is near he will not seek game, waiting for food until he rejoins the rangers, but if they are distant he will look for a deer or another goose, or maybe a duck.  But by following we will see what he did.  It cannot be hidden from us.  The forest has few secrets from those who are born in it.  Ah, what is this?  The Great Bear hid in a bush, and he leaped suddenly!  Behold the distance between the footprints!  He saw something that alarmed him.  It may have been a war party passing, and of which he suddenly caught sight.  If so we can soon tell.”