"I am very glad to be back," Dusty Star said, pretending he hadn't noticed anything odd in Goshmeelee's manner.
There was a pause. Then Goshmeelee asked him suddenly:
"Will you be glad to go?"
"Go? But we have only just come back!" he exclaimed.
"In Carboona there are many comings and goings," Goshmeelee said vaguely. "One does not always remain."
"But why should I go?" Dusty Star asked earnestly; for his curiosity was now fully roused.
Goshmeelee swayed a little, and grunted, which meant that the reason for his going was hidden from her.
"But we have come back to stay always," Dusty Star said uneasily. "Has anything happened since we have been away?"
"Strange feet are walking," the bear replied darkly. "In the forest there is a new trail."
What the trail told, where, by whom made, Goshmeelee would not say. All Dusty Star's utmost efforts were useless to induce her to throw any further light on her mysterious remarks. When she had stared at him for a little longer, in an aggravating dumbness, she dropped down on her front feet, and lumbered gently away.