"It's almost as near this way as the other," he said. "And I reckon it will be a bit easier pulling."
"Well, make it as easy as you can, Henry. It's no light load, I can tell you that. Sam Barringford was once telling me how he dragged three deer from Plum Valley to Risley's new place, over the snow. I don't see how he did it."
"Oh, it's easy when the crust of the snow is hard enough—the drag goes like a sled. But I admit Sam is a wonderfully powerful man."
"Indeed he is. Why, it was a sight to see—the way he fought when Red Fox and his followers attacked the trading post. He was a whole host in himself."
Inside of quarter of an hour they had reached a bend in the stream, and now Henry left the watercourse and pushed on over a low hill backed up by a series of rocks.
"It will be a slight pull up hill," he said. "But it will save us nearly half a mile. We can rest a few minutes when we get to the top. When we get up there I'll show you the spot where I saw those four bears three years ago."
"Don't know as I want to meet four bears just now."
"Oh, the spot isn't on this hill—it's on the hill to the left. Pow-wow Hill Sam Barringford called it. He said it used to be a great Indian resort when the Miamies were in this neighborhood. But the redskins from Shunrum came and drove 'em out."
The top of the rise gained, Dave was glad enough to rest, and both sat down on the trunk of a fallen monarch of the forest, the home now of some chipmunks that fled quickly at their approach.
"There is the spot where I saw the bears," said Henry, pointing with his hand to a clump of trees on the next hill, quite a distance away. "They were in a bunch under that——Hullo! What can that mean?" He broke off short. "Down behind the tree, Dave! Quick!"