_backed_ with his load.

In the edge of the balsams Thor had already found a hollow in the ground.
He thrust the carcass into this hollow, and while Muskwa watched with a
great and growing interest, he proceeded to cover it over with dry needles,
sticks, a rotting tree butt, and a log. He did not rear himself up and
leave his "mark" on a tree as a warning to other bears. He simply nosed
round for a bit, and then went out of the timber.

Muskwa followed him now, and he had some trouble in properly navigating
himself under the handicap of his added weight. The stars were beginning to
fill the sky, and under these stars Thor struck straight up a steep and
rugged slope that led to the mountain-tops. Up and up he went, higher than
Muskwa had ever been. They crossed a patch of snow. And then they came to a
place where it seemed as if a volcano had disrupted the bowels of a
mountain. Man could hardly have travelled where Thor led Muskwa.

At last he stopped. He was on a narrow ledge, with a perpendicular wall of
rock at his back. Under him fell away the chaos of torn-up rock and shale.
Far below the valley lay a black and bottomless pit.

Thor lay down, and for the first time since his hurt in the other valley he
stretched out his head between his great arms, and heaved a deep and
restful sigh. Muskwa crept up close to him, so close that he was warmed by
Thor's body; and together they slept the deep and peaceful sleep of full
stomachs, while over them the stars grew brighter, and the moon came up to
flood the peaks and the valley in a golden splendour.