The game, evidently not molested for a long time, fairly walked into their traps, and they were compelled to draw but little upon their precious supply of ammunition.

Food for the future accumulated rapidly, and the floor and walls of the cave were soon covered entirely with furs.
Not one of the numerous caves and hollows about them contained an occupant and Robert wondered if their presence would frighten away the wild animals, so many of which had hibernated there so often.

Yet he had a belief that the bears would come.

His present mode of life and his isolation from the world gave him a feeling almost of kinship with them, and in some strange way, and through some medium unknown to him, they might reciprocate.

He and Tayoga had killed several bears, it was true, but far from the cave, and they made up their minds to molest nothing in the valley or just about it.
It was a land of many waters and they caught with ease numerous fish, drying all the surplus and storing it with the other food in the cave.
They also made soft beds for themselves of the little branches of the evergreen, over which they spread their blankets, and when they rolled the stone before the doorway at night they never failed to sleep soundly.
They did their cooking in front of the cave door, but it was always a smothered fire.