’Pears to me them wuz the pow’fullest boasters that ever wuz born.  Why, what they said wuz mostly lies.  ’Twas bound to be so, an’ their ways uv fightin’ wuz plumb foolishness.  Why, ef A-Killus wuz to come along nowadays, beatin’ his brass shield in the face an’ hollerin’ out his big words, some Shawnee layin’ behind a rock would send a bullet through his head, jest ez easy ez knockin’ over a rabbit, an’ thet would be the end uv Mr. A-Killus, an’ a good thing fur all, too.”

“But there were no Shawnees and no rifles on the plains of Troy, Tom,” said Paul.

“What uv it?” exclaimed Ross in hot indignation.  “They didn’t fight fair, anyway.  It’s jest ez Sol sez—­whut did all them women goddesses mean by interferin’ an’ allus sp’ilin’ a good stan’-up fight?  Now, ez Paul tells it, Ole Jupe, a-settin’ up on his golden throne, wuz willin’ to tote fair an’ let the Greeks an’ Trojans fight it out among theirselves, but the women critters, whut had more power than wuz good fur ’em, couldn’t keep their hands off.  Every one uv ’em hed a fav’rite either among the Greeks or the Trojans, an’ she had to go snoopin’ ‘roun’, makin’ his enemy see double, or throwin’ a cloud over him so he couldn’t see at all, or pumpin’ all the blood out uv his veins an’ fillin’ ’em full uv water in the place.  Why, there ain’t a Shawnee or Miami in all these woods thet would he mean enough to take sech an’ advantage ez askin’ to be helped out by a squaw thet knowed witchcraft.  Ez fur thet Paris feller, he wouldn’t a-lived a week down in Kain-tuck-ee!”

“But all this happened a long, long time ago, Tom, when ways were different,” said Paul.

Henry always listened with attention to these stories, and the sight of Paul’s flushed face and vivid eyes, as he talked, would please him.  He understood Paul.  He knew that his comrade’s mind ranged over not only the wilderness in which they dwelt, but over the whole world, and far into past and future times.  Hence he respected Paul with a deep respect.

Presently the cold abated a little—­just enough to let the surface of the ice and snow soften a bit, and make walking easier.  Then Henry and Ross crossed once more to the mainland, partly to scout and partly to hunt.  They easily killed a large deer which was half-imbedded in a snowdrift, and might have taken a fine cow buffalo in the same way; but, as the deer was enough, they spared her.  They dressed the body of the deer where it had fallen, and, carrying it between them, started back.  With instinctive caution they kept to the thickest part of the forest, wishing to be hidden as much as possible by the tree trunks, and they plodded along in silence, carrying their burden easily, because the two were very, very strong.  Near the edge of the lake, but still in dense forest, Henry paused and looked down.  Tom Ross also paused and looked down, his glance following Henry’s.  It was never necessary for these two to say much to each other.  They did not talk about things, they saw them.