ran through him once
more. "Now they have gone into their caves, and I believe with you,
Tayoga, that the souls of great warriors truly inhabit the bodies of
the bears."

"And since they are snugly in their homes, ready for the long winter
sleep, lo! the great snow comes, Dagaeoga!"

A heavy flake fell on Robert's upturned face, and then another and
another. The circling clouds, thick and leaden, were beginning to pour
down their burden, and the two retreated swiftly to their own dry and
well furnished cave. Then they rolled the great stones before the
door, and Tayoga said:

"Now, we will imitate our friends, the bears, and take a long winter
sleep."

Both were soon slumbering soundly in their blankets and furs, and all
that night and all the next day the snow fell on the high mountains in
the heart of which they lay. There was no wind, and it came straight
down, making an even depth on ridge, slope and valley. It blotted out
the mouths of the caves, and it clothed all the forest in deep white.
Robert and Tayoga were but two motes, lost in the vast wilderness,
which had returned to its primeval state, and the Indians themselves,
whether hostile or friendly, sought their villages and lodges and were
willing to leave the war trail untrodden until the months of storm and
bitter cold had passed.

Robert slept heavily. His labors in preparation for the winter had
been severe and unremitting, and his nerves had been keyed very high
by the arrival of the bears and the singular quality in the air. Now,
nature claimed her toll, and he did not awake until nearly noon,
Tayoga having preceded him a half hour. The Onondaga stood at the door
of the cave, looking over the stones that closed its lower half. Fresh
air poured in at the upper half, but Robert saw there only a whitish
veil like a foaming waterfall.

"The time o' day, Sir Tayoga, Knight of the Great Forest," he said
lightly and cheerfully.

"There is no sun to tell me," replied the Onondaga. "The face of
Areskoui will be hidden long, but I know that at least half the day is
gone. The flakes make a thick and heavy white veil, through which
I cannot see, and great as are the snows every winter on the high
mountains, this will be the greatest of them all."

"And we've come into our lair. And a mighty fine lair it is, too. I
seem to adapt myself to such a place, Tayoga. In truth, I feel like
a bear myself. You say that the souls of warriors have gone into the
bear