It certainly was that when Fred Linden was watching the three Winnebagos so closely, and when, as I have said, he noticed more than one matter, that he failed to recognize the animals they were riding. All three were familiar to him, and the one he had spoken of as being darker in color than the others, and as having a star in his forehead, was the identical animal owned by his father. Fred, himself, had ridden him more than once.  
It should be said, however, that they were the pack-horses, which even when put to their best paces, could not make good speed. Nevertheless, they were of great value to the hunters.
 
The first conviction of the lad on awaking to the alarming fact, was that his father and the other two men had been killed by the Winnebagos. The thought overcame him so that he leaned against the nearest tree and was on the point of fainting.
 
"They are all dead, Terry—I know it—we may as well give up, and try to reach home."
 
Terry was , but not so much so as his friend.
 
"Why, my dear boy, it's not so bad as that," he said feelingly; "do ye not moind that whin the gintlemen go to trappin' and huntin' they turn the horses loose to graze? The spalpeens have coom along and run off with the same."
 
"Do you think so?" asked Fred, looking up for the grain of comfort that his companion was able to give.
 
"I don't think so; I know so; if the gintlemen took the into the cabin and slipt with the same ivery night, as me rilatives do with their pigs in Ireland, why ye might think that they had suffered before the Winnebagos tuk thim away; but they have snaaked up where the animals was grazin', jumped onto their backs and rid off."
 
This view of the case was so reasonable, that Fred rallied and half smiled at his own faintheartedness. He stood and drew a deep breath of satisfaction.
 
"I believe you are right, but it strikes me that such thieves would have stolen all instead of half the horses."
 
"They've lift the ither three for their frinds that I make no doubt will be along to take thim, if they haven't done so now."
 
"You know that the loss of a horse is considered almost as bad as the loss of a man in this part of the world."
 
"Sometimes he amounts to a good deal more, as me mither—"
 
Terry paused in his remarks, for just then Fred uttered a warning—"Sh!" to signify that something was in the path in front. The next moment, he ran several paces to the right and sheltered himself behind a tree, Terry being only a few seconds behind him.
 
Both had discovered what it was. A brown bear of moderate size was along toward them. He had probably struck the trail, and finding it easier walking than among the trees and undergrowth, was swinging forward in the direction of the stream that had received such a visit from the .
 
The boys could not know for a minute or two whether the beast had seen them, but they felt no alarm. As I have said, he was not very large nor formidable looking, and, if he chose to turn aside to attack them, they were more than his equal. As it was, their own eagerness to get forward was all that prevented them from shooting him.
 
Bruin ahead in his awkward way, and, as the boys peeped , they fancied that his big brown eyes glanced at them; but they were mistaken. He did not see nor them, but went by, and, in a few minutes, disappeared from sight among the trees.
 
Hardly waiting till he had vanished, the youths stepped back into the path and resumed the rapid pace at which they had been traveling. The sun, that had been partly shining from behind the clouds, was low in the sky, and it was not long before they were journeying in the . The moon rose early, but its light was so much obscured by the mists that it gave little if any help, and the friends were disappointed to find it difficult to make any progress at all.
 
At this trying , they found themselves once more on the bank of a stream that had to be crossed before they could go any further. It was double the width of the one last passed, but did not look as if it was deep.
 
"My clothes ain't all dry yit," said Terry, "and I'm in favor of wadin' if we can."
 
"I am afraid it is too deep for that, and with our guns and bundles and thick clothes it isn't an easy thing to swim. Besides it's colder than it was last night and it won't be pleasant to spend a few more hours in wet clothing: mine is about dry."
 
Fred added that if they should decide to push on, the only way of doing so was by the usual means of a raft. It would take considerable time to build one, and probably still longer to work their way to the other side.
 
"No use of waitin'," said Terry; "let's take hold; I've an idaa that we ain't far from357 the cabin and ivery mile that we can make now counts."
 
Fred started to give his help, when to his unbounded , he narrowly missed going headlong over a small Indian canoe that lay at their feet. They would not have been more surprised had they come upon Deerfoot himself in a sound , and not until they had stooped down and examined it closely were they certain that it was not some log fantastically shaped by nature that had floated .
 
But an Indian canoe it was beyond all mistake, though after searching all around it, they failed to find the paddle so necessary for its propulsion. The boat had been up the bank, some bushes and undergrowth, where it would not have been seen by any one further off than six feet. It was so far back too from the stream that it would require an unusual to carry it away.
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