Page:They who walk in the wilds, (IA theywhowalkinwil00robe).pdf/197

 if he could have a smoke some way of escape from it might be revealed to him!

But the lighting of a match, the pungent smell of the pipe! There would be risk of rousing his strange hostess, to a too discriminating wakefulness! However, his confidence grew as he thought of how assiduously she had licked the back of his head. That, he reflected, was nothing short of adoption. He had been accepted and admitted to full cub-ship. He allowed himself to stroke the old bear's head and scratch it softly around the ears; and he was rewarded by a sleepy woof of satisfaction.

He sat up, and, leaning back luxuriously against the bear's stomach, proceeded to fill his pipe, feeling very safe and comfortable. Then, rising carefully to his feet without disturbing the cub which had been nestled against him, he groped his way to the exit, which he discovered by plunging his hand into the snow. Here, with his back to the bear, and concealing the flame of the match beneath his coat, he lit the pipe, and stood there blowing every mouthful of the smoke carefully forth through the snow. But here by the opening of the cave he was sharply reminded of the terrors of the outer cold. By the time he had finished his pipe he was chilled to the bone. Gratefully he turned back to his warm retreat and snuggled down again between the old bear's paws. The