Tayoga with his usual skill lighted a fire, despite the driving snow, and they had a banquet, taking with them afterward a supply of the cooked fish, though they knew they could not rely upon fish alone in the winter days that were coming.  But fortune was with them.  Before dark, Robert shot a deer, a great buck, fine and fat.  They had so little fear of pursuit now that they cut up the body, saving the skin whole for tanning, and hung the pieces in the trees, there to freeze.  Although it would make quite a burden they intended to carry practically all of it with them.

Many mountain wolves were drawn that night by the odor of the spoils, but they lay between twin fires and had no fear of an attack.  Yet the time might come when they would be assailed by fierce wild animals, and now they were glad that Tayoga had kept Garay’s rifle, and also his ammunition, a good supply of powder and bullets.  It was possible that the question of ammunition might become vital with them, but they did not yet talk of it.

On the second day thereafter, bearing their burdens of what had been the deer, they reached the stony valley Tayoga had in mind, and Robert saw at once that its formation indicated many caves.

“Now, I wonder if the bears have come,” he said, putting down his pack and resting.  “The cold has been premature and perhaps they’re still roaming through the forest.  I shouldn’t want to put an interloper out of my own particular cave, but, if I have to do it, I will.”

“The bears haven’t arrived yet,” said Tayoga, “and we can choose.  I do not know, but I do not think a bear always occupies the same winter home, so we will not have to fight over our place.”

It was a really wonderful valley, where the decaying stone had made a rich assortment of small caves, many of them showing signs of former occupancy by large wild animals, and, after long searching, they found one that they could make habitable for themselves.  Its entrance was several feet above the floor of the valley, so that neither storm nor winter flood could send water into it, and its own floor was fairly smooth, with a roof eight or ten feet high.  It could be easily defended with their three rifles, the aperture being narrow, and they expected, with skins and pelts, to make it warm.

It was but a cold and bleak refuge for all save the hardiest, and for a little while Robert had to use his last ounce of will to save himself from discouragement.  But vigorous exertion and keen interest in the future brought back his optimism.  The hide of the deer they had slain was spread at once upon the cave floor and made a serviceable rug.  They spoke hopefully of soon adding to it.

A brook flowed less than a hundred yards away, and they would have no trouble about their water supply, while the country about seemed highly favorable for game.  But on their first day there they did not do any hunting.  They rolled several large stones before the door of their new home, making it secure against any prying wild animals, and then, after a hearty meal, they wrapped themselves in their blankets and slept prodigiously.