l not
depart wholly."

"Someone must go to the village for help," said Will, "help not only for
us, but to take away two or three tons of this good meat. Why, the bull
looks even bigger this morning than he did last night. One of my
snowshoes is broken, but, if Pehansan will lend me his, I'll make the
trip."

"You will not," said Roka. "Despite your skill with the bow and arrow
you would be devoured before you had gone a mile. The fierce beasts
would be in waiting for you and you would no longer have a ring of fire
to protect you."

"Then what are we to do, Roka? We can't stay here forever within the
ring of fire, living on steaks cut from the bull."

"Waditaka has become a great young warrior and he thinks much. Few as
young as he is think as much as he does."

"I don't grasp your meaning, Roka."

"Perhaps it would be better to say that no one thinks of everything."

"I'm still astray."

"We'll call the people of the village to us."

"If you had the voice of old Stentor himself, of whom you never heard,
you couldn't reach the village, which you know is more than twenty miles
away."

"We will not call with our voices, Waditaka. Behold how clear the
morning comes! It is the light of bright winter and there is no light
brighter. The sun is rising over the mountains in a circle of burning
gold and all the heavens are filled with its rays."

"You're a poet, Roka. The spell has fallen upon you."

"Against the shining blaze of the sky the smallest object will show, and
a large object will be seen at a vast distance. Bring our blankets,
Pehansan, and we will spread them over the little fire here."

Will laughed at himself.

"The smoke signals!" he exclaimed. "How simple the plan and how foolish
I was not to think of it!"

"As I told you," said Roka, "one young warrior, no matter how wise,
cannot think of everything. We will talk not with our mouths but with
the blankets."

In this case the signals were quite simple. Pehansan passed the blanket
twice rapidly over the fire, allowing two great coils of smoke to ascend
high in the air, and then dissipate themselves there. After five minutes
he sent up the two smoky circles again. The signal meant "Come."

"We will soon see the answer," said Roka, "because they are anxious
about us and will be looking for a sign."

All three gazed in the direction of the village, the only point from
which the reply could be sent, and presently a circle of smoke, then
two, t