Of course Jack had to watch Henry, to see that he did not cut the hide and that he did not leave too much fat on it, and that made him work more slowly than he otherwise would have done, but Henry took hold very well, and seemed to remember everything that Jack told him, and before long it was only necessary for Jack to give an occasional glance at the other's work. Hugh had only just pulled the hide free from his beaver when the two boys threw aside the carcass at which they had been working. "Ah, Hugh," said Jack, "since I've got an assistant here I can work nearly as fast as you." Hugh looked around and saw that both boys had been skinning, and seemed surprised and pleased, as did also Mr. Clifford, who said, "Why, Henry, I had no idea you knew anything about skinning an animal. Where did you learn?" "I've learned all I know since we've been sitting here, father. Jack explained to me how it was done, and he and I have been working together ever since we got here." Mr. Clifford, who had been talking continuously with Hugh in a low tone of voice, seemed greatly interested in him, and finally asked him if he was willing that he and his party should stay with him and Jack so long as they were here in the valley. Hugh had replied that they would be glad to have them do so, but had said also that it was uncertain how long they would be here. They had proposed to go only up as far as the pass at the head of the stream, and then to return and to go south, into Middle Park, by way of Arapaho Pass. The English people seemed very pleasant, and very much interested in all that they saw, and were evidently anxious to learn from Hugh and Jack all that they could about the country and the ways of life in it. It was not yet the middle of the day when they had finished their skinning, and dragging the beaver carcasses off to one side, left them on a little bench of flat meadow, above which a spring trickled out of the hillside. Good-sized pine trees grew on the knolls on either side of this little meadow. As all hands started down for Hugh's camp, Hugh said to Jack, "We'll keep a lookout on those carcasses, and maybe before we go back we'll get a bear there." "Why, Hugh," said Jack, "have you seen any sign?" "Yes," said Hugh, "the day we got here I saw a little sign up the creek, and you know you started a bear yourself that same day." "That's so," said Jack. "I don't expect, though, that bears will come down in the daytime to feed right in sight of the tents." "No," said Hugh, "they won't. We've got to build a dead-fall here, and very likely we won't catch anything until we've moved." Mr. Clifford and his son, who had heard this conversation, were more or less mystified by it, and Mr. Clifford asked Hugh, "Are there really bears about here, Mr. Johnson?"