silence, followed finally by the sweet chant of the Song-sparrow.
A great light dawned on Little Beaver. Now he remembered that voice in Glenyan so long ago, and told the others with an air of certainty:
"Boys, that's the yelling of a Lynx," and the next day Caleb said that Yan was right.
Some days later they learned that another lamb had been taken from the Raften flock that night.
In the morning Yan took down the tom-tom for a little music and found it flat and soft.
"Hallo," said he; "going to rain."
[459] Caleb looked up at him with an amused expression. "You're a reg'lar Injun. It's surely an Injun trick that. When the tom-tom won't sing without being warmed at the fire they allus says 'rain before night.'"
The Trapper stayed late that evening. It had been cloudy all the afternoon, and at sundown it began to rain, so he was invited to supper. The shower grew heavier instead of ending. Caleb went out and dug a trench all round the teepee to catch the rain, then a leader to take it away. After supper they sat around the campfire in the teepee; the wind arose and the rain beat down. Yan had to go out and swing the smoke poles, and again his ear was greeted with the screech. He brought in an armful of wood and made the inside of the teepee a blaze of cheerful light. A high wind now came in gusts, so that the canvas flopped unpleasantly on the poles.
"Where's your anchor rope?" asked the Trapper.