Now, I wonder what Tayoga is doing! That boy certainly had something unusual on his mind!" "Here he is, ready to speak for himself, and back inside his promised half hour." Tayoga parted the bushes without noise, and sat down between them behind the big rocks.

He offered no explanation, but seemed very content with himself.
"Well, Tayoga," said Willet, "did you go down the side of the mountain ?" "As far as I wished." "What do you mean by that ?" "I have been engaged in a very pleasant task, Great Bear." "What pleasure can you find in scaling a steep and rocky slope ?" "I have been drinking, Great Bear, drinking the fresh, pure water of the mountains, and it was wonderfully cool and good to my dry throat." The two gazed at him in astonishment, and he laughed low, but with deep enjoyment.
"I took one drink, two drinks, three drinks," he said, "and when the time comes I shall take more.

The fountain also awaits the lips of the Great Bear and of Dagaeoga." "Tell it all," said Robert.
"When I looked down the steep side a long time I thought I caught a gleam as of falling water in the bushes.

It was only twenty or thirty yards below us, and, when I descended to it, I found a little fountain bursting from a crevice in the rock.

It was but a thread, making a tiny pool a few inches across, before it dropped away among the bushes, but it is very cool, very clear, and there is always plenty of it for many men." "Is the descent hard ?" asked Willet.
"Not for one who is strong and cautious.