Great Bear Lake by Erin Hunter Page A

do if they couldn’t get to the other side of the river without getting wet? Would she and Ujurak be strong enough to push Toklo into the river and force him to swim?
    As they padded on, Lusa noticed that Ujurak kept casting uneasy glances across the river, and sometimes back over his shoulder. She picked up her pace to catch up to him.
    â€œWhat’s the matter?”
    Ujurak shook his head frustratedly. “We should be going the other way.”
    â€œWell, it’s okay,” Lusa reassured him. “We haven’t lost the path. Once we get across, we’ll go the right way again.”
    Ujurak didn’t argue, but he still looked uncertain, and his pawsteps dragged as if a current like the river was trying to pull him back. Lusa padded beside him, brushing his pelt with hers in an effort to encourage him. After a while the pebbly spit of land grew so narrow that she was afraid it was comingto an end; the bears walked single file, the outsides of their paws touching the water on either side. Toklo, who was in front now, said nothing, just plodded onward with his head down. Just when Lusa was about to point out that they might have to swim anyway, the spit of stones widened out again. It drew closer to the opposite bank, but the channel between was still too wide to leap, and looked too deep to wade.
    â€œThere’s something up ahead!” Ujurak called. He pushed past Toklo and broke into a trot.
    Lusa bounded after him and made out a long, dark shape stretching from the far bank. When she caught up to Ujurak she saw that it was an old fallen tree. The branches and leaves had been washed away, and even the bark was mostly stripped off. Only the bare silvery trunk remained, the root end resting on the bank and the narrower end, where branches had grown, on the pebbles.
    â€œSee?” Toklo said, joining them. “I knew we wouldn’t have to swim.”
    Lusa didn’t reply. She studied the tree carefully; it made a very narrow bridge across the channel, and she thought they might have trouble keeping their balance. She would much rather swim, but she didn’t want to make Toklo angry again. He obviously wasn’t going to get back into the river. Although the tree trunk might not give him a choice if it tipped him off….
    â€œI’ll go first,” she offered, scrambling up to dig her claws into the trunk. She figured that since she was the smallestand lightest, it made sense for her to test the bridge.
    Dark green moss grew on the trunk, making the barkless surface slippery. Are you there, bear spirit? she asked silently, resting her front paw questioningly against the tree. She didn’t know what happened to bear spirits whose trees fell or were cut down. Perhaps that was when they went to dance in the sky. If you’re still here, please help us, she begged.
    Carefully setting one paw in front of another she headed out across the channel. The trunk bounced under her weight, scaring her at first. But what’s going to happen, bee-brain? If you fall in, you can swim!
    Heartened by that thought, she moved faster, and soon got close enough to leap down onto the grassy bank at the far side.
    â€œCome on!” she called to the others. “You’ll be fine!”
    Ujurak was already climbing onto the trunk, squeezing through the few remaining root stubs. He crossed with quick, neat pawsteps, apparently unworried by the movement of the tree beneath his paws.
    He let out a sigh of relief as he joined Lusa on the bank. “Now we can find the right path again!”
    Lusa watched Toklo as he clambered onto the trunk and began to make his way unsteadily across. On the island, the end of the trunk sank more deeply into the stones, making a rough grinding sound. Under his heavier weight the trunk bounced harder; Toklo had to drive his claws into the wood at every pawstep to stop himself from toppling off. When he was halfway across, Lusa heard anominous creaking,