About an hour after noon
`` Pehansan speaks well , '' said Roka . Then they left the river bed and , bearing away toward the west , approached the gorge which Will could now see was very deep , and with a comparatively easy slope . He had an idea that many of the great carnivora came into the valley by this road , but he did not speak of it to the other two . About an hour after noon they came to the edge of the forest and Pehansan , searching in the snow , found large tracks which were evidently those of hoofs . `` Elk ? '' said Will , `` and a big one , too , I suppose . '' `` No , '' replied Pehansan , `` not elk .