Frightened as he was he was ready to snarl if she would only wake up--ready to hurry down the tree and help her as he had helped her in the defeat of Makoos, the old he-bear.

But not a muscle of Noozak's huge body moved as Challoner bent over her.
She was stone dead.
Challoner's face was flushed with exultation.

Necessity had made of him a killer.

He saw in Noozak a splendid pelt, and a provision of meat that would carry him all the rest of the way to the southland.

He leaned his rifle against a tree and began looking about for the cub.
Knowledge of the wild told him it would not be far from its mother, and he began looking into the trees and the near-by thickets.
In the shelter of his crotch, screened by the thick branches, Neewa made himself as small as possible during the search.