shoot because I couldn't," Harold replied earnestly. "At
first you were between me and the bear--and then Virginia was. It
all happened so quickly that there was nothing I could do. I can't
imagine why I forgot to reload the rifle. A man can't always
remember--everything. I thought I had. Thank God that it didn't turn
out any worse than it did."

Bill nodded; the girl's face showed unspeakable relief. She was glad
that this lover of hers had logical and acceptable reasons for his
omissions. The incident was past, the issue dead. They gathered about
the gray grizzled form in the snow.

"Does this--help our food problem any?" Virginia asked.

"Except in an emergency--no. Virginia, you ought to try to cut that
foreleg muscle." He lifted one of the front feet of the bear in his
hands. "You'd see what it would be like to try to bite it. He's an
old, tough brute--worse eating than a wolf. Strong as mink and hard
as rock. If we were starving, we'd cut off one of those hams in a
minute; but we can wait a while at least. If we don't pick up some more
game during the day, I'll hike over to my Twenty-three Mile cabin and
get the supplies I've left over there. There's a smoked caribou ham,
among other things. I'll bring back a backload, anyway." Then his
voice changed, and he looked earnestly into Virginia's eyes. "But you
won't want to hunt any more to-day. I forgot--what a shock this
experience would be to you."

She smiled, and the paleness about her lips was almost gone. "I'm
getting used to shocks. I feel a little shaky--but it doesn't amount
to anything. I want to climb up and look at the caribou trail, at
least."

"Sure enough--if you feel you can stand it. It's only a hundred yards
or so up the hill. I'd like to take old Bruin's hide, but I don't see
how we could handle it. I believe we'd better leave him with all his
clothes on, in the snow. And Heaven knows I'd like to find out what the
old boy was doing out--at a time when all the other bears are
hibernating."

They continued on up the creek until the grade of the hill was less,
then clambered slowly up. Fifty yards up the slope they encountered the
old caribou trail, but none of these wilderness creatures had been along
in recent days. They followed it a short distance, however, back in the
direction they had come and above the scene of their battle with the
bear.

"No profit here," Bill said at last. "We might as well go down to