“This,” Johnny told himself, “probably indicates approval.”
He was not the least bit displeased that the hunchback held a friendly feeling for him; yet he was led to wonder many times and how long he was to wander and how the affair was to end.
* * * * * * * *
Faye’s escape from her island was less dramatic than that of the Indians she had saved. As she waited, a surprisingly large cake of ice drifted by. Seizing the opportunity, she sprang once more into the chilling waters, swam a few strokes, clambered aboard, drifted close to shore, was caught and dragged to land by the husky natives. Then, followed by the dripping Tico, she raced away to camp.
For a second time that night her garments were hung by a fire to dry. This time, however, she did not dance away the chill, but creeping deep down among the blankets and deerskins, fell asleep to dream of towering icebergs and racing floods.
* * * * * * * *
As he tramped on and on, mile after mile over low ridges, down narrow valleys, through sparse growth of fir and tangled masses of willows, following his strange guide through the night, Johnny wondered over and over what their destination might be.
More than this, his mind was filled with wild speculations regarding the future. What were the plans that revolved in the mind of this hunchback? Had he any plans? His attitude amused Johnny. Of course he was only a boy, but in the wilds where he so often takes a man’s part a boy soon enough gets to rate himself as a man.
“He seems to think of me as a child,” he told himself after the strange being had finished patting him on the head. “No, not quite that either; more like a cub. That’s it, a bear cub.”
In a park where bears were protected and tame, Johnny had often amused himself by watching the actions of mother bears and their cubs.