Strongarm would look down for the grass with one eye, while he kept an eye up among the branches or along the sides of the canyon for fear of mountain lions. An’ he stuck close in among the hills, an’ would not go out on the plains where the wolves lived; an’ he wouldn’t talk with a wolf or listen to his words.
But Strongarm, while he ran an’ hid from Moh-Kwa and the others, was not afraid of the Blossom, who was his squaw, but would come to her gladly if he might find her alone among the trees.
“It is not the first time,” said the Wise Bear, “that the hunter has made his trap of love.”
With that he told the Blossom to go into the hills an’ call Strongarm to her with her love. Then she was to bind his feet so that he might not get away an’ run.
The Blossom called Strongarm an’ he came; but he was fearful an’ suspicious an’ his nose an’ his ears an’ his eyes kept guard until the Blossom put her hand on his neck; an’ then Strongarm’s great love for the Blossom smothered out his caution as one might smother a fire with a robe; an’ the Blossom tied all his feet with thongs an’ bound his eyes with her blanket so that Strongarm might not see an’ be afraid.
Then came Feather-foot, gladly, an’ cut Strong-arm’s throat with his knife; for Feather-foot did not know he killed his father—for that was a secret thing with Moh-Kwa an’ the Blossom—an’ thought only how he killed a great Elk.
When Strongarm was dead, Moh-Kwa toiled throughout the day carrying up the big cedar; an’ when a pile like a hill was made, Moh-Kwa put Strongarm’s elk-body on its top, an’ brought fire from his house in the rocks, an’ made a great burning.
In the morning, the Blossom who had stayed with Moh-Kwa through the night while the fire burned, said, “Now, although the big elk is gone into ashes, I do not yet see the Strongarm.” But Moh-Kwa said, “You will find him asleep in the lodge.” An’ that was a true word, for when Moh-Kwa an’ the Blossom went to the lodge, there they found Strongarm whole an’ good an’ as sound asleep as a tree at midnight.
Outside the lodge they met the little Feather-foot who cried, “Where is the big elk, Moh-Kwa, that I killed?” An’ the Blossom showed him his father, Strongarm, where he slept, an’ said, “There is your big elk, Feather-foot; an’ this will ever be your best hunting for it found you your father again.”
When Moh-Kwa saw that everything was settled an’ well, an’ that he would now have always his regular fish, he wiped the sweat out of his eyes with his paws which were all singed fur an’ ashes, an’ said, “I am the weariest bear along the whole length of the Yellowstone, for I carried some heavy trees an’ have worked hard. Now I will sleep an’ rest.”