Would Noozak, his mother, come up presently out of one of those dark forest aisles?
Was she sleeping here, as she had slept in the darkness of their den?
The questions may have come vaguely in his mind.

For it was like the cavern, in that it was deathly still; and a short distance away its gloom thickened into black pits.

Such a place the Indians called MUHNEDOO--a spot in the forest blasted of all life by the presence of devils; for only devils would grow trees so thick that sunlight never penetrated.

And only owls held the companionship of the evil spirits.
Where Neewa and Miki stood a grown wolf would have paused, and turned back; the fox would have slunk away, hugging the ground; even the murderous-hearted little ermine would have peered in with his beady red eyes, unafraid, but turned by instinct back into the open timber.

For here, in spite of the stillness and the gloom, THERE WAS LIFE.