“Wise or not, Ceysoda, we must go on. Beartooth must be found. Not knowing the forest too well, he would probably travel the main trail toward the north. We will go in that direction. If we hurry, we may be able to pick up a sign of his route before the snow has a chance to cover it completely, and reach him before he goes too far.”
The boys spoke no further but hurried up the trail to the north, keeping their eyes toward the ground to look for signs of the boy’s having passed that way. Soon Naltan stopped and pointed to a place in the trail where the snow had been disturbed.
“He must have fallen here. See the way the snow has been pushed aside. Come, quickly, Ceysoda, he cannot be too far ahead.” The two boys continued swiftly on the trail. Soon they were able to make out signs of fresh moccasin prints in the snow. But just when they felt they were getting close, the wind began to blow harder, sweeping along the trail and covering any tracks or other signs that they might have found. The boys had been traveling at a fast pace for some time, when Ceysoda stopped suddenly.
“Wait, Naltan, I must rest,” he said. “I am tired. I cannot go on without rest. Just for a moment let me catch my breath. Surely Beartooth will not continue without rest, too, and we will lose no ground by stopping for a short while.”
“All right,” said Naltan, “but just for a moment. The day is growing late.” The two boys squatted down by the side of the trail and breathed deeply to get their wind back again. Suddenly, Nathan gazed up through the trees and then, stretching his hands out in front of him, he said, “Ceysoda, my friend, look! It has stopped snowing. We are in luck. But we must hurry even so, because the storm will no longer slow Beartooth’s pace.”
The two boys rose and sped on up the trail. Truly they were in luck, for soon they came upon a place in the snow where someone had stopped to rest at the side of the trail. The prints of small moccasins were plain in the snow and led straight up the trail. Now the boys increased their efforts, for they knew they must be close. Suddenly, the tracks stopped and turned off the trail into the thick woods. This puzzled Naltan, but he turned to follow them. The two boys began finding the going a little rougher. Suddenly, they found that they not only were following moccasin tracks, but another set of tracks now appeared not far behind the boy’s. These were the tracks of a bear!
The bear, Naltan thought, must have been late in going into hibernation for the winter because he had not found enough food. Now a delicious morsel of warm-blooded food was on the trail ahead of him. Now Naltan understood why Beartooth had left the trail; he must have seen the bear ahead on the trail and turned off to escape him. But the hear was not going to be avoided so easily. Naltan suddenly stopped and turned to Ceysoda.
“What shall we do if we do come upon the bear and Beartooth?” he asked. “We are not armed with our bows and arrows. We could hardly defend ourselves against such a worthy opponent as a bear. Two young Indians such as we, no matter how brave, would be easy prey for a large bear. Yet we must go on and see if there is any help we can give. To turn back now would certainly mark us as cowards.”
Ceysoda did not like the idea of fighting a full-grown bear; yet he liked less the thought of turning his back on danger and returning to the village to meet his friends’ ridicule and his father’s anger for having been so cowardly. They would have trouble enough as it was, for having left the village without letting their parents or friends know where they had gone. Naltan’s voice swung his thoughts back to his present plight.
“I have an idea, Ceysoda. Between us we have two knives. Let us cut a couple of stout saplings to use as spears if we should need them. At least we will have some chance, even if it is not a very good one, against the bear.”