if indeed he ever saw them again. Out there in the east many
things might happen. And Baltook and Goshmeelee would not be there to
understand.

It was with a heavy heart that he climbed up to the den of the Silver
Fox. To his great disappointment, he found that Baltook was not at home.
Boola was, however, and the family. Without saying a word to her, he
made Boola understand. She gazed at him with a look in her eyes which
said as plainly as any expression could: "Don't do it!"

Dusty Star stroked her glossy fur affectionately, and felt the heaviness
sit heavier in his heart. And then, because the shadows were
lengthening, he went slowly down the hill. And far above him, in the
golden silences, Boola lifted her voice and howled.

With Goshmeele the case was different. _She_ did not content herself
with merely looking. She told him very plainly that he was a fool to go.
Even if grubs were scarce, she said, there were fat frogs by the stream
borders, and the berries were not yet over, if you were energetic enough
to search for them, and knew where to look. Dusty Star explained that it
was not a question of food, but of feeling. To which Goshmeelee replied
that food _was_ feeling, and that a stomach without plenty of berries in
it was a feeling that could keep you from going to sleep. She either
couldn't or wouldn't understand that there was such a thing as duty. But
she _did_ understand that what Dusty Star had in his mind meant a deal
of exercise; and that a lot of walking walked the meat clean off your
bones. "Stay here and get fat," was her unalterable opinion as to the
best thing to do. And when she found that Dusty Star was obstinate, she
growled at him in affectionate remonstrance, and let him dig his hands
into the deep places of her fur. And the good healthy smell of her warm
bearishness tickled his nose, and made him feel at home, and inclined to
keep hidden in Carboona from all the worry and tongue-wagging of the
stormy Indian world.

But then the memory of Lone Chief, and of the strong things he had said,
came to him, and teased his brain even more than the smell of Goshmeelee
tickled his nose.

So, without any more argument with her, he got up, and ran away quickly
till he was hidden among the trees. And after he was gone, Goshmeelee
watched the way he had disappeared, and then began solemnly to lick the
places where he had disarranged her fur.

After leaving her, Dusty Star did not return to camp. Once