isn't too bad we'll stop
at some good country below--say on Nagel Creek, down the bend."

"That seems fair," assented John; and Jesse also said he would vote
the same way.

"How about you, Leo?" inquired Uncle Dick.

"Me not 'fraid of any water," replied the courageous Indian. "I like
stay here. Most best grizzlum country of anywhere. Down below too much
timber. Plenty black bear, not so much grizzlum. Not many place where
you'll get grizzlum now. This plenty good place."

"Agreed," said Uncle Dick. "I think you all reason pretty well, and am
convinced that we could spend another day here to good advantage. And
now, Rob, since you got your bear, I think I'm going to send you down
to camp in the morning for Moise and George. They can carry down the
hide and some of the other stuff which will have to go down."

"All right," said Rob. "I'm not afraid. The only risky place is on the
snow-slide at the side-hill. Then you go right down in the
creek-valley and follow that to the camp."

"Very well. That will leave the other two boys to make a hunt
to-morrow, and if they have as good luck as you have had we certainly
will have more hides in camp."

With this arrangement already made, they at length turned to the
little tent, where their blankets and the big hide of the bear made
some sort of a bed for them.

At an early hour of the morning they had finished their breakfast, and
Rob was ready to take the trail back to the camp.

"Well, so-long, Rob," said John. "We're going to try to kill as big a
bear as you got. You're not afraid to go back through the woods, are
you?"

"Certainly not," said Rob; "I have my ax, and my compass, and my match
box, and a little something to eat, besides my rifle. I might be able
to get clear through to the railroad or back to Tete Jaune if I had
to. But I'll not have to. So-long."

"That's good boy," said Leo, approvingly, after Rob left and as they
saw his sturdy figure trudging steadily onward toward the shoulder of
the mountain.

"They're all good boys," replied Uncle Dick. "I'm going to make
hunters out of all of 'em. And now, just as a part of their education,
they'll all help us to flesh out this bear-hide."

Jesse, hunting around on the side of the mountain, found a bit of
coarse stone which John and he used as a whetstone to sharpen up their
knives. They knew well enough that work on the coarse surface of a
bear-hide dulls a knife very quickly. It was an hour or two before