"But he has never been west of the Mississippi, and it isn't likely he ever will go. We must have gone two thousand miles beyond. When we see him again won't we make him open his eyes with our story of a winter among a tribe of Indians far over toward the Stony Mountains?" "It will be a great story, indeed; but Victor, how are we going to pass the more than a hundred days that we must stay in this settlement?" "Time goes fast enough when we are on the move, either shooting rapids in a river, riding our horses or tramping on foot, but it is mighty dull to sit still and do nothing, and we mustn't think of any such thing." "But what shall we do?" "What shall we do? Lots of things. We can hunt and fish, play games with the youngsters, learn to tramp on snowshoes when winter is fairly here, and, if Taggarak goes off on any raids, we ought to be able to make a full man apiece." George looked into the face of his brother to see if he was in earnest. "Do you mean that, Victor?" "I certainly do. Why not?" "It is well enough to fight when you have to, but Deerfoot will never let you do anything of that kind, nor would I agree to it. It would be trying to kill other people just for the fun of doing so, and _that_ is contrary to what the Shawanoe has taught us." "I suppose we shall have to get on as best we can with the other amusements, but I tremble when I think of the weather that will be here in a few weeks." George looked around at the brown shaggy walls of buffalo fur. He grasped some of the long soft hairs in his palm and stroked the cool mass. "We need never run short of fuel, and when the fire is going and the door shut I don't see why we shall not be as warm as in our own home at Woodvale. But what shall we _do_? _That's_ the question. It will be tiresome beyond bearing to lie here stretched hour after hour during the day." "Plague take it!" impatiently exclaimed Victor; "who is going to do anything of the kind? I should like to see Deerfoot let you sleep and lounge your days away. He will share the lodge with us, and you may be sure he'll keep things moving. There isn't any weather cold enough nor snow deep enough to hold him within doors, and he'll hustle you out with him. So let's hear no more of that. Then you mustn't forget, George, that we shall make lots of acquaintances among these people. We have learned to speak a good many words of Blackfoot, and shall learn more; we shall take a liking to some of these folks, and, if we have any kind of tact, shall make them like us. Most of them have never before looked upon a white person, but they will soon get over their wonder, and we shall all stand on the same level." "Well, Victor, you have done a good deal to cheer me up. I guess it was the homesickness, after all, that made me blue. See here, these two fellows that put up this house for us have been such good friends that we must be able to call them by name." "Mul-tal-la has repeated them several times to us."