“You see I am the old Indian and you are Weewah in this case. Only you haven’t had a chance to kill your lynx yet. But we are going right into that country where the lynx lives, and sooner or later you’ll have a chance to show your metal. When that time comes remember the story of little Weewah.
“And now you must turn in for the night.”
CHAPTER VI
FINAL PREPARATIONS
Sometime in the middle of the night Larry was awakened by flakes of snow driven into his face, and by the sound of the storm howling around the tent. The flakes sputtered in the fire which still flared and struggled to keep burning. The boy was warm and comfortable in the fur bag, however, and after pulling the flap over his head to keep out the snow, he was soon sleeping soundly. When he opened his eyes again it was daylight, and Martin was plodding about in the storm, building a fire close to the tent where the wind struck it least. The snow was still falling and was even then a foot deep on the level.
The old hunter was in high spirits: he had been hoping for the storm, and the fact that it was a roaring blizzard made no difference to him so long as the snow kept falling.
The inside of the tent was warm and the boy crawled out of the fur bag reluctantly and reached for his shoes.
“Not that pair,” old Martin said; “there are your things over at the foot of your bed. No more city clothes from now on. I nearly worked my fingers off last night getting things ready for you.”
Larry wondered how much time the old hunter had found for sleep when he examined the pile of clothing the hunter had laid out for him. For most of the pieces had been altered in some way to make them so that the boy could wear them, cut down from some of the larger garments from the hunting outfit. Sleeves and trouser-legs had been cut off or turned up, and buttons set over to take up the slack of the bagging jacket in a way that showed how handy the old hunter was with the needle. His most laborious task had been in reducing the size of a pair of moose-skin moccasins, although he had simplified this operation by taking in the back seam. At that they were at least three sizes too large, as Larry pointed out.
“But when you have on two, or three, or four pairs of thick German socks,” Martin assured him, “you won’t notice a little thing like that. And you’ll fill out the rest of the clothes with underwear the same way.”
Beside the pile of clothing Martin had placed some other things which he told the boy were to be his personal belongings that were to be carried with him all the time except when he slept. But the hunter told him not to put them away until after they had had breakfast, and made things a little more secure about the tent. So Larry left the things as he found them, and went to help Martin.