"I should never get over the disappointment," declared Roger, "if anything prevented us from keeping on to the end. We have made great sacrifices in order to be in the company. Besides, I am fairly burning to set eyes on some of the many wonders we expect to meet with in crossing the big mountains of rock. The Indians have kept telling us about strange animals to be encountered there." "Those mountains," Dick went on to say, "are the home of the terrible brown bear which Captain Lewis has called the grizzly. We know how they can fight, because we had an experience in a cave with one that we're not likely ever to forget."[5] "Yes," added Roger, "and according to the Indians' way of doing, we're entitled to wear those dreadful claws around our necks, after slaying the monster at close quarters. Whenever you run across an Indian with the claws of a grizzly bear worn as a necklace you can count on it that he's proved his right to the name of warrior. "Then we've also heard of a beast living among the crags of these mountains that has immense curved horns, upon which he alights after throwing himself from some lofty height. That may be only a fairy story, but I'd like to see for myself if there's any truth in it. "As for me, Dick, I've already made up my mind that I'll shoot one of those queer beasts, and get a sample of the curved horns, if ever the chance comes my way. Just yesterday I was thinking of the wonderful tracks we saw when we were having that adventure with the Dacotahs, and hoping that some of these fine days we might come upon the animal that made them." "I have tried my best, Roger, to learn what the beast looks like, and the nearest any Indian has been able to tell is that once in a while a monster of the deer tribe is seen in these regions. None of the trappers in our party have an idea what it can be, save Batiste, who declares he has shot just such a great beast up in Canada." "Then he must mean a moose!" exclaimed Roger, looking intensely interested. "Come to think of it now, I don't see why a moose might not wander over here. They live only in cold countries, I am told, but in the winter it must be bitter enough up here to please any one." Just as the boys had said, when talking matters over between themselves, the river had become so shallow that it was folly to try to push the heavy batteaux any further up the current. Accordingly, a permanent camp was to be established on the river bank, where a part of the men would be left in as comfortable circumstances as the conditions permitted. Here they were to stay until they were rejoined the following summer by the returning explorers, after they had been to the Coast. Those who were to be left behind were to establish relations and make friends with the neighboring Indian tribes, serve them as physicians, and do what hunting was necessary.