She was not tall, this girl of my tribe, not like many of the others, great-limbed and full-bosomed and strong of arm in pulling at the nets we had learned to make from the tough inner bark of certain trees and with which we caught abundance of the seashore fishes, nor was she as deft at the trapping of small things, or in the gathering of nuts and fruits, and, surely, she was not a fitting mate for such a strong fighting man as I, but--I could not help it--she of the red leaf had long been more to me than any other of the young women of my clan. Men are but foolish with women and unreasoning as the queer brown bird which lines its nest with glittering things. But she always smiled, this Red Leaf, and she was so small and slender and had such eyes, asking so much and telling so much, that the fancy ever grew upon me that I wanted her in a hut of my own that I might but play with her and bring her warm furs and feed her well. What need had I, Scar, of one of the great woman creatures of my tribe save for the cooking and the making of skin garments? And for these things Red Leaf would suffice, for, within the hut, though laughing, she was most diligent. It was odd that my heart should be bigger within me for her than for the others, yet it may be that it was best. So have I seen the grisly leader of the wolf pack have ever at his side in the running some light-hued, slender she wolf, the slightest of the yelping lot. That I cannot understand; I know but that the only face of woman I saw upon the mountainside was the face of Red Leaf. But even this face I saw not all the time, for there were the waters and we must needs look to ourselves. Night found the rafts well advanced in the building and we all felt more hopeful. When morning came it seemed more like a real daybreak. I can hardly describe it, but there was an indefinable something, a feeling in the air as if a change had come, a change for the better, though the rain still fell in floods. Work was eagerly resumed, and as I had been told to do, I went down the mountain to the shore of the sea, to note whatever the rise might be and went to a great rock where had been the water’s limit yesterday, the waves barely washing its base. I could not believe my eyes! the waters were receding! Between the rock and the waves was now a space of yards!