"He had a breed mark, too," Tom volunteered.
"A what?"
"Breed mark—it's different from a species mark," he added naively.
The officer looked at him rather curiously. "And what do you call a breed mark?" he asked.
Tom looked at the other man who seemed also to be watching him closely. He shifted from one foot to the other and said,
"It's a scout sign. A man named Jeb Rushmore told me about it. All trappers know about it. It was his ear, how it stuck out, like."
He shifted to the other foot.
"Yes, go on."
"Nothing, only that's what a breed sign is. If Jeb Rushmore saw a bear and afterwards way off he saw another bear he could tell if the first bear was its grandmother—most always he could.
"Hmm. I see," said the officer, plainly interested and watching Tom curiously. "And that's what a breed sign is, eh?"