His long claws _click-click-clicked_ on the stones; he crunched heavily in the gravel; in soft sand he left enormous footprints.
That part of the valley which he was now entering held a particular significance for Thor, and he began to loiter, pausing often to sniff the air on all sides of him.

He was not a monogamist, but for many mating seasons past he had come to find his _Iskwao_ in this wonderful sweep of meadow and plain between the two ranges.

He could always expect her in July, waiting for him or seeking him with that strange savage longing of motherhood in her breast.

She was a splendid grizzly who came from the western ranges when the spirit of mating days called; big, and strong, and of a beautiful golden-brown colour, so that the children of Thor and his _Iskwao_ were the finest young grizzlies in all the mountains.

The mother took them back with her unborn, and they opened their eyes and lived and fought in the valleys and on the slopes far to the west.