46 THE BIG CANOE

Ones are in this land and a white bear shall be the
sign that you are near the end of your search—a
white bear with two small cubs.”

Then were we happy, Loo and I, for we felt that we
should soon find the Ancient Ones. Sure enough, not
many sleep-times afterward, we saw a white bear
moving among the ice hummocks ahead and behind
her frolicked two cubs! Then we knew that we were
near the ice cave and the Ancient Ones; we knew that
my dream had been a true one, even as the other one
had been.

For hours we followed the white bear, staying far
behind, lest our scent be carried on the wind. Finally
we came to the shore of the sea, to a rocky barren
beach, along which the white bear trotted swiftly,
stopping now and then to sniff anxiously, as if she sus-
pected she was being followed.

When at last we saw a high cliff ahead, my heart
was glad, for I felt sure the Ancient Ones were there.
I was sure of it! I knew that here I should find the
animal no Haida had ever seen.

Even as we watched, the bear approached the cliff,
climbed up a little path, and disappeared inside a
cave. The cave of the Ancient Ones! So excited and
eager was I then, that I would have attacked the white
bear in the cave, had it not been for Loo.

He bade me remember that it was the white bear
that had led me to the cave; that ill luck would surely
befall me if she were harmed. He reminded me, also,