Boreland returned about supper time.
"Did you see 'em, dad?" shouted Loll as his father came in the door.
"What was it, Shane?" Jean called from the other room.
Boreland replaced his rifle in the rack over the head of the bed.
"Bear tracks," he answered succinctly. "Hind foot measures fourteen and a half inches!"
CHAPTER XIX
HOME-MAKING
"I figure that the Kodiak cub the Alaska Fur and Trading Company brought over here as a pet, is now wandering about the Island a full-grown grizzly, instead of being in bear heaven, as the people of Katleean thought," said Boreland, as they all sat about the supper table. "Confound it, it makes it mighty bad for us, with all that grub down there at the West Camp! If the beast takes a notion he can go there and raise the very devil."
"I'll take my blankets down there tomorrow and guard the cache until we get the provisions transferred," announced Harlan, quickly. "I'd like to get a shot at a Kodiak bear."
"Son, I ain't a-castin' any asparagus on yore shootin' ability, but I claims the right to shoot that anamile myself!" spoke up Kayak Bill.