t was about an hour
before sundown ere they were all quietly stowed away in these peculiar
resting places. The other Indians quietly paddled back to the places
designated beyond the rocks.

For a couple of hours they had to sit there in silence, broken only by
the singing of some birds around them, or the call or cry of some wild
animal in the forest. They were first aroused by hearing the crunching
of bones where they had noticed the fish lying. On peering out from
their hiding places they saw an old black fox, with a litter of half-
grown ones, making a hasty meal out of the fish. The Indians would have
loved to have captured them, as the skin of the black fox is very
valuable. However, it was not foxes they were now after, but bears;
and, besides this, the skin of the fox is only prime in the cold, wintry
months. So they had to be content with watching them as there they
greedily devoured the fish. Suddenly they were disturbed in their
repast, and dashed away, each with a piece of fish in its mouth, and the
watchers observed that what had caused their sudden retreat was a large
wolverine that had quite unexpectedly appeared upon the scene. He, too,
seemed to be fond of fish, and at once began to feast upon them.

Not long, however, was he permitted to thus enjoy himself, for out in
the beautiful gloaming a great black bear was seen emerging from the now
dark forest upon the shore. At his coming the thievish wolverine at
once slunk away. The bear did not attempt to eat any of the fish that
were still remaining; but, after a short survey of the coast up and down
to see that all was clear, he boldly plunged into the water and crossed
over to one of the shallow rocks only a few yards away. Hardly had he
reached it ere another, and then another, bear came out from the forest
along the central trail which the men had earlier in the day discovered.

They were not long in joining their comrade on the smooth, wide rocks
which we have described. After they had spent a little time in
inspection they lay down on the rocks facing the shore, as close to the
water as they could without really touching it. These movements could
be distinctly seen by the boys, as they were looking out toward the
west, where the sky was still bright and the few clouds golden.

For a few minutes the bears were very still, then there was a quick
movement on the part of one of them as he shot out one of his handlike
paws into the water un