"No!" Klitonda replied, clenching his hands fiercely together. "No Chilcat gets these skins."
"But what will you do with them?"
"Klitonda will cross the great mountains. He will find the white traders."
"Did you ever go there before?"
"No."
"And will other hunters take their skins there, too?"
"No; they fear the Chilcats."
"But would they trade with the white men if they came into your country? Would they bring their furs to the white man's store?"
To this Klitonda did not at once reply. He seemed to be thinking deeply. A new idea had entered his mind. Would the white traders come? Would they buy the furs, and would they help to drive back the Chilcats beyond the coast range? Then he thought of the anger of the Chilcats should the white men enter the land, and begin trading with the Ayana. There would be trouble, he felt sure of that.
"It would not be safe for the white men to come," he at length remarked. "The Chilcat wolves would be angry; they would come in great force, and kill them."