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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:39:09 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:39:09 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12170-0.txt b/12170-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..faeed13 --- /dev/null +++ b/12170-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5805 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12170 *** + +THE WOLF HUNTERS + +A Tale of Adventure in the Wilderness + +BY +JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD + +1908 + +To my comrades of the great northern wilderness, those faithful +companions with whom I have shared the joys and hardships of the "long +silent trail," and especially to Mukoki, my red guide and beloved +friend, does the writer gratefully dedicate this volume + + +CONTENTS + +Chapter + +I The Fight in the Forest +II How Wabigoon Became a White Man +III Roderick Sees the Footprint +IV Roderick's First Taste of the Hunter's Life +V Shots in the Wilderness +VI Mukoki Disturbs the Ancient Skeletons +VII Roderick Discovers the Buckskin Bag +VIII How Wolf Became the Companion of Men +IX Wolf Takes Vengeance Upon His People +X Roderick Explores the Chasm +XI Roderick's Dream +XII The Secret of the Skeleton's Hand +XIII Snowed In +XIV The Rescue of Wabigoon +XV Roderick Holds the Woongas at Bay +XVI The Surprise at the Post + + +Illustrations: + +With his rifle ready Rob approached the fissure (Frontispiece) +Knife--fight--heem killed! +The leader stopped in his snow-shoes + + +THE WOLF HUNTERS + + +CHAPTER I + +THE FIGHT IN THE FOREST + + +Cold winter lay deep in the Canadian wilderness. Over it the moon was +rising, like a red pulsating ball, lighting up the vast white silence of +the night in a shimmering glow. Not a sound broke the stillness of the +desolation. It was too late for the life of day, too early for the +nocturnal roamings and voices of the creatures of the night. Like the +basin of a great amphitheater the frozen lake lay revealed in the light +of the moon and a billion stars. Beyond it rose the spruce forest, black +and forbidding. Along its nearer edges stood hushed walls of tamarack, +bowed in the smothering clutch of snow and ice, shut in by impenetrable +gloom. + +A huge white owl flitted out of this rim of blackness, then back again, +and its first quavering hoot came softly, as though the mystic hour of +silence had not yet passed for the night-folk. The snow of the day had +ceased, hardly a breath of air stirred the ice-coated twigs of the +trees. Yet it was bitter cold--so cold that a man, remaining motionless, +would have frozen to death within an hour. + +Suddenly there was a break in the silence, a weird, thrilling sound, +like a great sigh, but not human--a sound to make one's blood run faster +and fingers twitch on rifle-stock. It came from the gloom of the +tamaracks. After it there fell a deeper silence than before, and the +owl, like a noiseless snowflake, drifted out over the frozen lake. After +a few moments it came again, more faintly than before. One versed in +woodcraft would have slunk deeper into the rim of blackness, and +listened, and wondered, and watched; for in the sound he would have +recognized the wild, half-conquered note of a wounded beast's suffering +and agony. + +Slowly, with all the caution born of that day's experience, a huge bull +moose walked out into the glow of the moon. His magnificent head, +drooping under the weight of massive antlers, was turned inquisitively +across the lake to the north. His nostrils were distended, his eyes +glaring, and he left behind a trail of blood. Half a mile away he caught +the edge of the spruce forest. There something told him he would find +safety. A hunter would have known that he was wounded unto death as he +dragged himself out into the foot-deep snow of the lake. + +A dozen rods out from the tamaracks he stopped, head thrown high, long +ears pitched forward, and nostrils held half to the sky. It is in this +attitude that a moose listens when he hears a trout splash +three-quarters of a mile away. Now there was only the vast, unending +silence, broken only by the mournful hoot of the snow owl on the other +side of the lake. Still the great beast stood immovable, a little pool +of blood growing upon the snow under his forward legs. What was the +mystery that lurked in the blackness of yonder forest? Was it danger? +The keenest of human hearing would have detected nothing. Yet to those +long slender ears of the bull moose, slanting beyond the heavy plates of +his horns, there came a sound. The animal lifted his head still higher +to the sky, sniffed to the east, to the west, and back to the shadows of +the tamaracks. But it was the north that held him. + +From beyond that barrier of spruce there soon came a sound that man +might have heard--neither the beginning nor the end of a wail, but +something like it. Minute by minute it came more clearly, now growing in +volume, now almost dying away, but every instant approaching--the +distant hunting call of the wolf-pack! What the hangman's noose is to +the murderer, what the leveled rifles are to the condemned spy, that +hunt-cry of the wolves is to the wounded animal of the forests. + +Instinct taught this to the old bull. His head dropped, his huge antlers +leveled themselves with his shoulders, and he set off at a slow trot +toward the east. He was taking chances in thus crossing the open, but to +him the spruce forest was home, and there he might find refuge. In his +brute brain he reasoned that he could get there before the wolves broke +cover. And then-- + +Again he stopped, so suddenly that his forward legs doubled under him +and he pitched into the snow. This time, from the direction of the +wolf-pack, there came the ringing report of a rifle! It might have been +a mile or two miles away, but distance did not lessen the fear it +brought to the dying king of the North. That day he had heard the same +sound, and it had brought mysterious and weakening pain in his vitals. +With a supreme effort he brought himself to his feet, once more sniffed +into the north, the east, and the west, then turned and buried himself +in the black and frozen wilderness of tamarack. + +Stillness fell again with the sound of the rifle-shot. It might have +lasted five minutes or ten, when a long, solitary howl floated from +across the lake. It ended in the sharp, quick yelp of a wolf on the +trail, and an instant later was taken up by others, until the pack was +once more in full cry. Almost simultaneously a figure darted out upon +the ice from the edge of the forest. A dozen paces and it paused and +turned back toward the black wall of spruce. + +"Are you coming, Wabi?" + +A voice answered from the woods. "Yes. Hurry up--run!" + +Thus urged, the other turned his face once more across the lake. He was +a youth of not more than eighteen. In his right hand he carried a club. +His left arm, as if badly injured, was done up in a sling improvised +from a lumberman's heavy scarf. His face was scratched and bleeding, and +his whole appearance showed that he was nearing complete exhaustion. For +a few moments he ran through the snow, then halted to a staggering walk. +His breath came in painful gasps. The club slipped from his nerveless +fingers, and conscious of the deathly weakness that was overcoming him +he did not attempt to regain it. Foot by foot he struggled on, until +suddenly his knees gave way under him and he sank down into the snow. + +From the edge of the spruce forest a young Indian now ran out upon the +surface of the lake. His breath was coming quickly, but with excitement +rather than fatigue. Behind him, less than half a mile away, he could +hear the rapidly approaching cry of the hunt-pack, and for an instant he +bent his lithe form close to the snow, measuring with the acuteness of +his race the distance of the pursuers. Then he looked for his white +companion, and failed to see the motionless blot that marked where the +other had fallen. A look of alarm shot into his eyes, and resting his +rifle between his knees he placed his hands, trumpet fashion, to his +mouth and gave a signal call which, on a still night like this, carried +for a mile. + +"Wa-hoo-o-o-o-o-o! Wa-hoo-o-o-o-o-o!" + +At that cry the exhausted boy in the snow staggered to his feet, and +with an answering shout which came but faintly to the ears of the +Indian, resumed his flight across the lake. Two or three minutes later +Wabi came up beside him. + +"Can you make it, Rod?" he cried. + +The other made an effort to answer, but his reply was hardly more than a +gasp. Before Wabi could reach out to support him he had lost his little +remaining strength and fallen for a second time into the snow. + +"I'm afraid--I--can't do it--Wabi," he whispered. "I'm--bushed--" + +The young Indian dropped his rifle and knelt beside the wounded boy, +supporting his head against his own heaving shoulders. + +"It's only a little farther, Rod," he urged. "We can make it, and take +to a tree. We ought to have taken to a tree back there, but I didn't +know that you were so far gone; and there was a good chance to make +camp, with three cartridges left for the open lake." + +"Only three!" + +"That's all, but I ought to make two of them count in this light. Here, +take hold of my shoulders! Quick!" + +He doubled himself like a jack-knife in front of his half-prostrate +companion. From behind them there came a sudden chorus of the wolves, +louder and clearer than before. + +"They've hit the open and we'll have them on the lake inside of two +minutes," he cried. "Give me your arms, Rod! There! Can you hold the +gun?" + +He straightened himself, staggering under the other's weight, and set +off on a half-trot for the distant tamaracks. Every muscle in his +powerful young body was strained to its utmost tension. Even more fully +than his helpless burden did he realize the peril at their backs. + +Three minutes, four minutes more, and then-- + +A terrible picture burned in Wabi's brain, a picture he had carried from +boyhood of another child, torn and mangled before his very eyes by these +outlaws of the North, and he shuddered. Unless he sped those three +remaining bullets true, unless that rim of tamaracks was reached in +time, he knew what their fate would be. There flashed into his mind one +last resource. He might drop his wounded companion and find safety for +himself. But it was a thought that made Wabi smile grimly. This was not +the first time that these two had risked their lives together, and that +very day Roderick had fought valiantly for the other, and had been the +one to suffer. If they died, it would be in company. Wabi made up his +mind to that and clutched the other's arms in a firmer grip. He was +pretty certain that death faced them both. They might escape the wolves, +but the refuge of a tree, with the voracious pack on guard below, meant +only a more painless end by cold. Still, while there was life there was +hope, and he hurried on through the snow, listening for the wolves +behind him and with each moment feeling more keenly that his own powers +of endurance were rapidly reaching an end. + +For some reason that Wabi could not explain the hunt-pack had ceased to +give tongue. Not only the allotted two minutes, but five of them, passed +without the appearance of the animals on the lake. Was it possible that +they! had lost the trail? Then it occurred to the Indian that perhaps he +had wounded one of the pursuers, and that the others, discovering his +injury, had set upon him and were now participating in one of the +cannibalistic feasts that had saved them thus far. Hardly had he thought +of this possibility when he was thrilled by a series of long howls, and +looking back he discerned a dozen or more dark objects moving swiftly +over their trail. + +Not an eighth of a mile ahead was the tamarack forest. Surely Rod could +travel that distance! + +"Run for it, Rod!" he cried. "You're rested now. I'll stay here and +stop 'em!" + +He loosened the other's arms, and as he did so his rifle fell from the +white boy's nerveless grip and buried itself in the snow. As he relieved +himself of his burden he saw for the first time the deathly pallor and +partly closed eyes of his companion. With a new terror filling his own +faithful heart he knelt beside the form which lay so limp and lifeless, +his blazing eyes traveling from the ghastly face to the oncoming wolves, +his rifle ready in his hands. He could now discern the wolves trailing +out from the spruce forest like ants. A dozen of them were almost within +rifle-shot. Wabi knew that it was with this vanguard of the pack that he +must deal if he succeeded in stopping the scores behind. Nearer and +nearer he allowed them to come, until the first were scarce two hundred +feet away. Then, with a sudden shout, the Indian leaped to his feet and +dashed fearlessly toward them. This unexpected move, as he had intended, +stopped the foremost wolves in a huddled group for an instant, and in +this opportune moment Wabi leveled his gun and fired. A long howl of +pain testified to the effect of the shot. Hardly had it begun when Wabi +fired again, this time with such deadly precision that one of the +wolves, springing high into the air, tumbled back lifeless among the +pack without so much as making a sound. + +Running to the prostrate Roderick, Wabi drew him quickly upon his back, +clutched his rifle in the grip of his arm, and started again for the +tamaracks. Only once did he look back, and then he saw the wolves +gathering in a snarling, fighting crowd about their slaughtered +comrades. Not until he had reached the shelter of the tamaracks did the +Indian youth lay down his burden, and then in his own exhaustion he fell +prone upon the snow, his black eyes fixed cautiously upon the feasting +pack. A few minutes later he discerned dark spots appearing here and +there upon the whiteness of the snow, and at these signs of the +termination of the feast he climbed up into the low branches of a spruce +and drew Roderick after him. Not until then did the wounded boy show +visible signs of life. Slowly he recovered from the faintness which had +overpowered him, and after a little, with some assistance from Wabi, was +able to place himself safely on a higher limb. + +"That's the second time, Wabi," he said, reaching a hand down +affectionately to the other's shoulder. "Once from drowning, once from +the wolves. I've got a lot to even up with you!" + +"Not after what happened to-day!" + +The Indian's dusky face was raised until the two were looking into each +other's eyes, with a gaze of love, and trust. Only a moment thus, and +instinctively their glance turned toward the lake. The wolf-pack was in +plain view. It was the biggest pack that Wabi, in all his life in the +wilderness, had ever seen, and he mentally figured that there were at +least half a hundred animals in it. Like ravenous dogs after having a +few scraps of meat flung among them, the wolves were running about, +nosing here and there, as if hoping to find a morsel that might have +escaped discovery. Then one of them stopped on the trail and, throwing +himself half on his haunches, with his head turned to the sky like a +baying hound, started the hunt-cry. + +"There's two packs. I thought it was too big for one," exclaimed the +Indian. "See! Part of them are taking up the trail and the others are +lagging behind gnawing the bones of the dead wolf. Now if we only had +our ammunition and the other gun those murderers got away from us, we'd +make a fortune. What--" + +Wabi stopped with a suddenness that spoke volumes, and the supporting +arm that he had thrown around Rod's waist tightened until it caused the +wounded youth to flinch. Both boys stared in rigid silence. The wolves +were crowding around a spot in the snow half-way between the tamarack +refuge and the scene of the recent feast. The starved animals betrayed +unusual excitement. They had struck the pool of blood and red trail made +by the dying moose! + +"What is it, Wabi?" whispered Rod. + +The Indian did not answer. His black eyes gleamed with a new fire, his +lips were parted in anxious anticipation, and he seemed hardly to +breathe in his tense interest. The wounded boy repeated his question, +and as if in reply the pack swerved to the west and in a black silent +mass swept in a direction that would bring them into the tamaracks a +hundred yards from the young hunters. + +"A new trail!" breathed Wabi. "A new trail, and a hot one! Listen! They +make no sound. It is always that way when they are close to a kill!" + +As they looked the last of the wolves disappeared in the forest. For a +few moments there was silence, then a chorus of howls came from deep in +the woods behind them. + +"Now is our chance," cried the Indian. "They've broken again, and their +game--" + +He had partly slipped from his limb, withdrawing his supporting arm from +Rod's waist, and was about to descend to the ground when the pack again +turned in their direction. A heavy crashing in the underbrush not a +dozen rods away sent Wabi in a hurried scramble for his perch. + +"Quick--higher up!" he warned excitedly. "They're coming out here--right +under us! If we can get up so that they can't see us, or smell us--" + +The words were scarcely out of his mouth when a huge shadowy bulk rushed +past them not more than fifty feet from the spruce in which they had +sought refuge. Both of the boys recognized it as a bull moose, though it +did not occur to either of them that it was the same animal at which +Wabi had taken a long shot that same day a couple of miles back. In +close pursuit came the ravenous pack. Their heads hung close to the +bloody trail, hungry, snarling cries coming from between their gaping +jaws, they swept across the little opening almost at the young hunters' +feet. It was a sight which Rod had never expected to see, and one which +held even the more experienced Wabi fascinated. Not a sound fell from +either of the youths' lips as they stared down upon the fierce, hungry +outlaws of the wilderness. To Wabi this near view of the pack told a +fateful story; to Rod it meant nothing more than the tragedy about to be +enacted before his eyes. The Indian's keen vision saw in the white +moonlight long, thin bodies, starved almost to skin and bone; to his +companion the onrushing pack seemed filled only with agile, powerful +beasts, maddened to almost fiendish exertions by the nearness of their +prey. + +In a flash they were gone, but in that moment of their passing there was +painted a picture to endure a lifetime in the memory of Roderick Drew. +And it was to be followed by one even more tragic, even more thrilling. +To the dazed, half-fainting young hunter it seemed but another instant +before the pack overhauled the old bull. He saw the doomed monster turn, +in the stillness heard the snapping of jaws, the snarling of +hunger-crazed animals, and a sound that might have been a great, heaving +moan or a dying bellow. In Wabi's veins the blood danced with the +excitement that stirred his forefathers to battle. Not a line of the +tragedy that was being enacted before his eyes escaped this native son +of the wilderness. It was a magnificent fight! He knew that the old bull +would die by inches in the one-sided duel, and that when it was over +there would be more than one carcass for the survivors to gorge +themselves upon. Quietly he reached up and touched his companion. + +"Now is our time," he said. "Come on--still--and on this side of the +tree!" + +He slipped down, foot by foot, assisting Rod as he did so, and when both +had reached the ground he bent over as before, that the other might get +upon his back. + +"I can make it alone, Wabi," whispered the wounded boy. "Give me a lift +on the arm, will you?" + +With the Indian's arm about his waist, the two set off into the +tamaracks. Fifteen minutes later they came to the bank of a small frozen +river. On the opposite side of this, a hundred yards down, was a sight +which both, as if by a common impulse, welcomed with a glad cry. Close +to the shore, sheltered by a dense growth of spruce, was a bright +camp-fire. In response to Wabi's far-reaching whoop a shadowy figure +appeared in the glow and returned the shout. + +"Mukoki!" cried the Indian. + +"Mukoki!" laughed Rod, happy that the end was near. + +Even as he spoke he swayed dizzily, and Wabi dropped his gun that he +might keep his companion from falling into the snow. + + + +CHAPTER II + +HOW WABIGOON BECAME A WHITE MAN + + +Had the young hunters the power of looking into the future, their +camp-fire that night on the frozen Ombabika might have been one of their +last, and a few days later would have seen them back on the edges of +civilization. Possibly, could they have foreseen the happy culmination +of the adventures that lay before them, they would still have gone on, +for the love of excitement is strong in the heart of robust youth. But +this power of discernment was denied them, and only in after years, with +the loved ones of their own firesides close about them, was the whole +picture revealed. And in those days, when they would gather with their +families about the roaring logs of winter and live over again their +early youth, they knew that all the gold in the world would not induce +them to part with their memories of the life that had gone before. + +A little less than thirty years previous to the time of which we write, +a young man named John Newsome left the great city of London for the New +World. Fate had played a hard game with young Newsome--had first robbed +him of both parents, and then in a single fitful turn of her wheel +deprived him of what little property he had inherited. A little later he +came to Montreal, and being a youth of good education and considerable +ambition, he easily secured a position and worked himself into the +confidence of his employers, obtaining an appointment as factor at +Wabinosh House, a Post deep in the wilderness of Lake Nipigon. + +In the second year of his reign at Wabinosh--a factor is virtually king +in his domain--there came to the Post an Indian chief named Wabigoon, +and with him his daughter, Minnetaki, in honor of whose beauty and +virtue a town was named in after years. Minnetaki was just budding into +the early womanhood of her race, and possessed a beauty seldom seen +among Indian maidens. If there is such a thing as love at first sight, +it sprang into existence the moment John Newsome's eyes fell upon this +lovely princess. Thereafter his visits to Wabigoon's village, thirty +miles deeper in the wilderness, were of frequent occurrence. From the +beginning Minnetaki returned the young factor's affections, but a most +potent reason prevented their marriage. For a long time Minnetaki had +been ardently wooed by a powerful young chief named Woonga, whom she +cordially detested, but upon whose favor and friendship depended the +existence of her father's sway over his hunting-grounds. + +With the advent of the young factor the bitterest rivalry sprang up +between the two suitors, which resulted in two attempts upon Newsome's +life, and an ultimatum sent by Woonga to Minnetaki's father. Minnetaki +herself replied to this ultimatum. It was a reply that stirred the fires +of hatred and revenge to fever heat in Woonga's breast. One dark night, +at the head of a score of his tribe, he fell upon Wabigoon's camp, his +object being the abduction of the princess. While the attack was +successful in a way, its main purpose failed. Wabigoon and a dozen of +his tribesmen were slain, but in the end Woonga was driven off. + +A swift messenger brought news of the attack and of the old chief's +death to Wabinosh House, and with a dozen men Newsome hastened to the +assistance of his betrothed and her people. A counter attack was made +upon Woonga and he was driven deep into the wilderness with great loss. +Three days later Minnetaki became Newsome's wife at the Hudson Bay Post. + +From that hour dated one of the most sanguinary feuds in the history of +the great trading company; a feud which, as we shall see, was destined +to live even unto the second generation. + +Woonga and his tribe now became no better than outlaws, and preyed so +effectively upon the remnants of the dead Wabigoon's people that the +latter were almost exterminated. Those who were left moved to the +vicinity of the Post. Hunters from Wabinosh House were ambushed and +slain. Indians who came to the Post to trade were regarded as enemies, +and the passing of years seemed to make but little difference. The feud +still existed. The outlaws came to be spoken of as "Woongas," and a +Woonga was regarded as a fair target for any man's rifle. + +Meanwhile two children came to bless the happy union of Newsome and his +lovely Indian wife. One of these, the eldest, was a boy, and in honor of +the old chief he was named Wabigoon, and called Wabi for short. The +other was a girl, three years younger, and Newsome insisted that she be +called Minnetaki. Curiously enough, the blood of Wabi ran almost pure to +his Indian forefathers, while Minnetaki, as she became older, developed +less of the wild beauty of her mother and more of the softer loveliness +of the white race, her wealth of soft, jet black hair and her great dark +eyes contrasting with the lighter skin of her father's blood. Wabi, on +the other hand, was an Indian in appearance from his moccasins to the +crown of his head, swarthy, sinewy, as agile as a lynx, and with every +instinct in him crying for the life of the wild. Yet born in him was a +Caucasian shrewdness and intelligence that reached beyond the factor +himself. + +One of Newsome's chief pleasures in life had been the educating of his +woodland bride, and it was the ambition of both that the little +Minnetaki and her brother be reared in the ways of white children. +Consequently both mother and father began their education at the Post; +they were sent to the factor's school and two winters were passed in +Port Arthur that they might have the advantage of thoroughly equipped +schools. The children proved themselves unusually bright pupils, and by +the time Wabi was sixteen and Minnetaki twelve one would not have known +from their manner of speech that Indian blood ran in their veins. Yet +both, by the common desire of their parents, were familiar with the life +of the Indian and could talk fluently the tongue of their mother's +people. + +It was at about this time in their lives that the Woongas became +especially daring in their depredations. These outlaws no longer +pretended to earn their livelihood by honest means, but preyed upon +trappers and other Indians without discrimination, robbing and killing +whenever safe opportunities offered themselves. The hatred for the +people of Wabinosh House became hereditary, and the Woonga children grew +up with it in their hearts. The real cause of the feud had been +forgotten by many, though not by Woonga himself. At last so daring did +he become that the provincial government placed a price upon his head +and upon those of a number of his most notorious followers. For a time +the outlaws were driven from the country, but the bloodthirsty chief +himself could not be captured. + +When Wabi was seventeen years of age it was decided that he should be +sent to some big school in the States for a year. Against this plan the +young Indian--nearly all people regarded him as an Indian, and Wabi was +proud of the fact--fought with all of the arguments at his command. He +loved the wilds with the passion of his mother's race. His nature +revolted at the thoughts of a great city with its crowded streets, its +noise, and bustle, and dirt. It was then that Minnetaki pleaded with +him, begged him to go for just one year, and to come back and tell her +of all he had seen and teach her what he had learned. Wabi loved his +beautiful little sister beyond anything else on earth, and it was she +more than his parents who finally induced him to go. + +For three months Wabi devoted himself faithfully to his studies in +Detroit. But each week added to his loneliness and his longings for +Minnetaki and his forests. The passing of each day became a painful task +to him. To Minnetaki he wrote three times each week, and three times +each week the little maiden at Wabinosh House wrote long, cheering +letters to her brother--though they came to Wabi only about twice a +month, because only so often did the mail-carrier go out from the Post. + +It was at this time in his lonely school life that Wabigoon became +acquainted with Roderick Drew. Roderick, even as Wabi fancied himself to +be just at this time, was a child of misfortune. His father had died +before he could remember, and the property he had left had dwindled +slowly away during the passing of years. Rod was spending his last week +in school when he met Wabigoon. Necessity had become his grim master, +and the following week he was going to work. As the boy described the +situation to his Indian friend, his mother "had fought to the last ditch +to keep him in school, but now his time was up." Wabi seized upon the +white youth as an oasis in a vast desert. After a little the two became +almost inseparable, and their friendship culminated in Wabi's going to +live in the Drew home. Mrs. Drew was a woman of education and +refinement, and her interest in Wabigoon was almost that of a mother. In +this environment the ragged edges were smoothed away from the Indian +boy's deportment, and his letters to Minnetaki were more and more filled +with enthusiastic descriptions of his new friends. After a little Mrs. +Drew received a grateful letter of thanks from the princess mother at +Wabinosh House, and thus a pleasant correspondence sprang up between the +two. + +There were now few lonely hours for the two boys. During the long winter +evenings, when Roderick was through with his day's work and Wabi had +completed his studies, they would sit before the fire and the Indian +youth would describe the glorious life of the vast northern wilderness; +and day by day, and week by week, there steadily developed within Rod's +breast a desire to see and live that life. A thousand plans were made, a +thousand adventures pictured, and the mother would smile and laugh and +plan with them. + +But in time the end of it all came, and Wabi went back to the princess +mother, to Minnetaki, and to his forests. There were tears in the boys' +eyes when they parted, and the mother cried for the Indian boy who was +returning to his people. Many of the days that followed were painful to +Roderick Drew. Eight months had bred a new nature in him, and when Wabi +left it was as if a part of his own life had gone with him. Spring came +and passed, and then summer. Every mail from Wabinosh House brought +letters for the Drews, and never did an Indian courier drop a pack at +the Post that did not carry a bundle of letters for Wabigoon. + +Then in the early autumn, when September frosts were turning the leaves +of the North to red and gold, there came the long letter from Wabi which +brought joy, excitement and misgiving into the little home of the mother +and her son. It was accompanied by one from the factor himself, another +from the princess mother, and by a tiny note from Minnetaki, who pleaded +with the others that Roderick and Mrs. Drew might spend the winter with +them at Wabinosh House. + +"You need not fear about losing your position." wrote Wabigoon. "We +shall make more money up here this winter than you could earn in Detroit +in three years. We will hunt wolves. The country is alive with them, and +the government gives a bounty of fifteen dollars for every scalp taken. +Two winters ago I killed forty and I did not make a business of it at +that. I have a tame wolf which we use as a decoy. Don't bother about a +gun or anything like that. We have everything here." + +For several days Mrs. Drew and her son deliberated upon the situation +before a reply was sent to the Newsomes. Roderick pleaded, pictured the +glorious times they would have, the health that it would give them, and +marshaled in a dozen different ways his arguments in favor of accepting +the invitation. On the other hand, his mother was filled with doubt. +Their finances were alarmingly low, and Rod would be giving up a sure +though small income, which was now supporting them comfortably. His +future was bright, and that winter would see him promoted to ten dollars +a week in the mercantile house where he was employed. In the end they +came to an understanding. Mrs. Drew would not go to Wabinosh House, but +she would allow Roderick to spend the winter there--and word to this +effect was sent off into the wilderness. + +Three weeks later came Wabigoon's reply. On the tenth of October he +would meet Rod at Sprucewood, on the Black Sturgeon River. Thence they +would travel by canoe up the Sturgeon River to Sturgeon Lake, take +portage to Lake Nipigon, and arrive at Wabinosh House before the ice of +early winter shut them in. There was little time to lose in making +preparations, and the fourth day following the receipt of Wabi's letter +found Rod and his mother waiting for the train which was to whirl the +boy into his new life. Not until the eleventh did he arrive at +Sprucewood. Wabi was there to meet him, accompanied by an Indian from +the Post; and that same afternoon the journey up Black Sturgeon River +was begun. + + + +CHAPTER III + +RODERICK SEES THE FOOTPRINT + + +Rod was now plunged for the first time in his life into the heart of the +Wilderness. Seated in the bow of the birch-bark canoe which was carrying +them up the Sturgeon, with Wabi close behind him, he drank in the wild +beauties of the forests and swamps through which they slipped almost as +noiselessly as shadows, his heart thumping in joyous excitement, his +eyes constantly on the alert for signs of the big game which Wabi told +him was on all sides of them. Across his knees, ready for instant use, +was Wabi's repeating rifle. The air was keen with the freshness left by +night frosts. At times deep masses of gold and crimson forests shut them +in, at others, black forests of spruce came down to the river's edge; +again they would pass silently through great swamps of tamaracks. In +this vast desolation there was a mysterious quiet, except for the +occasional sounds of wild life. Partridges drummed back in the woods, +flocks of ducks got up with a great rush of wings at almost every turn, +and once, late in the morning of the first day out, Rod was thrilled by +a crashing in the undergrowth scarcely a stone's throw from the canoe. +He could see saplings twisting and bending, and heard Wabi whisper +behind him: + +"A moose!" + +They were words to set his hands trembling and his whole body quivering +with anticipation. There was in him now none of the old hunter's +coolness, none of the almost stoical indifference with which the men of +the big North hear these sounds of the wild things about them. Rod had +yet to see his first big game. + +That moment came in the afternoon. The canoe had skimmed lightly around +a bend in the river. Beyond this bend a mass of dead driftwood had +wedged against the shore, and this driftwood, as the late sun sank +behind the forests, was bathed in a warm yellow glow. And basking in +this glow, as he loves to do at the approach of winter nights, was an +animal, the sight of which drew a sharp, excited cry from between Rod's +lips. In an instant he had recognized it as a bear. The animal was taken +completely by surprise and was less than half a dozen rods away. Quick +as a flash, and hardly realizing what he was doing, the boy drew his +rifle to his shoulder, took quick aim and fired. The bear was already +clambering up the driftwood, but stopped suddenly at the report, slipped +as if about to fall back--then continued his retreat. + +"You hit 'im!" shouted Wabi. "Quick-try 'im again!" + +Rod's second shot seemed to have no effect In his excitement he jumped +to his feet, forgetting that he was in a frail canoe, and took a last +shot at the big black beast that was just about to disappear over the +edge of the driftwood. Both Wabi and his Indian companion flung +themselves on the shore side of their birch and dug their paddles deep +into the water, but their efforts were unavailing to save their reckless +comrade. Unbalanced by the concussion of his gun, Rod plunged backward +into the river, but before he had time to sink, Wabi reached over and +grabbed him by the arm. + +"Don't make a move--and hang on to the gun!" he warned. "If we try to +get you in here we'll all go over!" He made a sign to the Indian, who +swung the canoe slowly inshore. Then he grinned down into Rod's +dripping, unhappy face. + +"By George, that last shot was a dandy for a tenderfoot! You got your +bear!" + +Despite his uncomfortable position, Rod gave a whoop of joy, and no +sooner did his feet touch solid bottom than he loosened himself from +Wabi's grip and plunged toward the driftwood. On its very top he found +the bear, as dead as a bullet through its side and another through its +head could make it. Standing there beside his first big game, dripping +and shivering, he looked down upon the two who were pulling their canoe +ashore and gave, a series of triumphant whoops that could have been +heard half a mile away. + +"It's camp and a fire for you," laughed Wabi, hurrying up to him. "This +is better luck than I thought you'd have, Rod. We'll have a glorious +feast to-night, and a fire of this driftwood that will show you what +makes life worth the living up here in the North. Ho, Muky," he called +to the old Indian, "cut this fellow up, will you? I'll make camp." + +"Can we keep the skin?" asked Rod. "It's my first, you know, and--" + +"Of course we can. Give us a hand with the fire, Rod; it will keep you +from catching cold." + +In the excitement of making their first camp, Rod almost forgot that he +was soaked to the skin, and that night was falling about them. The first +step was the building of a fire, and soon a great, crackling, almost +smokeless blaze was throwing its light and heat for thirty feet around. +Wabi now brought blankets from the canoe, stripped off a part of his own +clothes, made Rod undress, and soon had that youth swathed in dry togs, +while his wet ones were hung close up to the fire. For the first time +Rod saw the making of a wilderness shelter. Whistling cheerily, Wabi got +an ax from the canoe, went into the edge of the cedars and cut armful +after armful of saplings and boughs. Tying his blankets about himself, +Rod helped to carry these, a laughable and grotesque figure as he +stumbled about clumsily in his efforts. Within half an hour the cedar +shelter was taking form. Two crotched saplings were driven into the +ground eight feet apart, and from one to the other, resting in the +crotches, was placed another sapling, which formed the ridge-pole; and +from this pole there ran slantwise to the earth half a dozen others, +making a framework upon which the cedar boughs were piled. By the time +the old Indian had finished his bear the home was completed, and with +its beds of sweet-smelling boughs, the great camp-fire in front and the +dense wilderness about them growing black with the approach of night, +Rod thought that nothing in picture-book or story could quite equal the +reality of that moment. And when, a few moments later, great bear-steaks +were broiling over a mass of coals, and the odor of coffee mingled with +that of meal-cakes sizzling on a heated stone, he knew that his dearest +dreams had come true. + +That night in the glow of the camp-fire Rod listened to the thrilling +stories of Wabi and the old Indian, and lay awake until nearly dawn, +listening to the occasional howl of a wolf, mysterious splashings in the +river and the shrill notes of the night birds. There were varied +experiences in the following three days: one frosty morning before the +others were awake he stole out from the camp with Wabi's rifle and shot +twice at a red deer--which he missed both times; there was an exciting +but fruitless race with a swimming caribou in Sturgeon Lake, at which +Wabi himself took three long-range shots without effect. + +It was on a glorious autumn afternoon that Wabi's keen eyes first +descried the log buildings of the Post snuggled in the edge of the +seemingly unending forest. As they approached he joyfully pointed out +the different buildings to Rod--the Company store, the little cluster of +employees' homes and the factor's house, where Rod was to meet his +welcome. At least Roderick himself had thought it would be there. But as +they came nearer a single canoe shot out suddenly from the shore and the +young hunters could see a white handkerchief waving them greeting. Wabi +replied with a whoop of pleasure and fired his gun into the air. + +"It's Minnetaki!" he cried. "She said she would watch for us and come +out to meet us!" + +Minnetaki! A little nervous thrill shot through Rod. Wabi had described +her to him a thousand times in those winter evenings at home; with a +brother's love and pride he had always brought her into their talks and +plans, and somehow, little by little, Rod had grown to like her very +much without ever having seen her. + +The two canoes swiftly approached each other, and in a few minutes more +were alongside. With a glad laughing cry Minnetaki leaned over and +kissed her brother, while at the same time her dark eyes shot a curious +glance at the youth of whom she had read and heard so much. + +At this time Minnetaki was fifteen. Like her mother's race she was +slender, of almost woman's height, and unconsciously as graceful as a +fawn in her movements. A slightly waving wealth of raven hair framed +what Rod thought to be one of the prettiest faces he had ever seen, and +entwined in the heavy silken braid that fell over her shoulder were a +number of red autumn leaves. As she straightened herself in her canoe +she looked at Rod and smiled, and he in making a polite effort to lift +his cap in civilized style, lost that article of apparel in a sudden +gust of wind. In an instant there was a general laugh of merriment in +which even the old Indian joined. The little incident did more toward +making comradeship than anything else that might have happened, and +laughing again into Rod's face Minnetaki urged her canoe toward the +floating cap. + +"You shouldn't wear such things until it gets cold," she said, after +retrieving the cap and handing it to him. "Wabi does--but I don't!" + +"Then I won't," replied Rod gallantly, and at Wabi's burst of laughter +both blushed. + +That first night at the Post Rod found that Wabi had already made all +plans for the winter's hunting, and the white youth's complete equipment +was awaiting him in the room assigned to him in the factor's house--a +deadly looking five-shot Remington, similar to Wabi's, a long-barreled, +heavy-caliber revolver, snow-shoes, and a dozen other articles necessary +to one about to set out upon a long expedition in the wilderness. Wabi +had also mapped out their hunting-grounds. Wolves in the immediate +neighborhood of the Post, where they were being constantly sought by the +Indians and the factor's men, had become exceedingly cautious and were +not numerous, but in the almost untraveled wilderness a hundred miles to +the north and east they were literally overrunning the country, killing +moose, caribou and deer in great numbers. + +In this region Wabi planned to make their winter quarters. And no time +was to be lost in taking up the trail, for the log house in which they +would pass the bitterly cold months should be built before the heavy +snows set in. It was therefore decided that the young hunters should +start within a week, accompanied by Mukoki, the old Indian, a cousin of +the slain Wabigoon, whom Wabi had given the nickname of Muky and who had +been a faithful comrade to him from his earliest childhood. + +Rod made the most of the six days which were allotted to him at the +Post, and while Wabi helped to handle the affairs of the Company's store +during a short absence of his father at Port Arthur, the lovely little +Minnetaki gave our hero his first lessons in woodcraft. In canoe, with +the rifle, and in reading the signs of forest life Wabi's sister +awakened constantly increasing admiration in Rod. To see her bending +over some freshly made trail, her cheeks flushed, her eyes sparkling +with excitement, her rich hair filled with the warmth of the sun, was a +picture to arouse enthusiasm even in the heart of a youngster of +eighteen, and a hundred times the boy mentally vowed that "she was a +brick" from the tips of her pretty moccasined feet to the top of her +prettier head. Half a dozen times at least he voiced this sentiment to +Wabi, and Wabi agreed with great enthusiasm. In fact, by the time the +week was almost gone Minnetaki and Rod had become great chums, and it +was not without some feeling of regret that the young wolf hunter +greeted the dawn of the day that was to see them begin their journey +deeper into the wilds. + +Minnetaki was one of the earliest risers at the Post. Rod was seldom +behind her. But on this particular morning he was late and heard the +girl whistling outside half an hour before he was dressed--for Minnetaki +could whistle in a manner that often filled him with envy. By the time +he came down she had disappeared in the edge of the forest, and Wabi, +who was also ahead of him, was busy with Mukoki tying up their equipment +in packs. It was a glorious morning, clear and frosty, and Rod noticed +that a thin shell of ice had formed on the lake during the night. Once +or twice Wabi turned toward the forest and gave his signal whoop, but +received no reply. + +"I don't see why Minnetaki doesn't come back," he remarked carelessly, +as he fastened a shoulder-strap about a bundle. "Breakfast will be ready +in a jiffy. Hunt her up, will you, Rod?" + +Nothing loath, Rod started out on a brisk run along the path which he +knew to be a favorite with Minnetaki and shortly it brought him down to +a pebbly stretch of the beach where she frequently left her canoe. That +she had been here a few minutes before he could tell by the fact that +the ice about the birch-bark was broken, as though the girl had tested +its thickness by shoving the light craft out into it for a few feet. Her +footsteps led plainly up the shelving shore and into the forest. + +"O Minnetaki--Minnetaki!" + +Rod called loudly and listened. There was no response. As if impelled by +some presentiment which he himself could not explain, the boy hurried +deeper into the forest along the narrow path which Minnetaki must have +taken. Five minutes--ten minutes--and he called again. Still there was +no answer. Possibly the girl had not gone so far, or she might have left +the path for the thick woods. A little farther on there was a soft spot +in the path where a great tree-trunk had rotted half a century before, +leaving a rich black soil. Clearly traced in this were the imprints of +Minnetaki's moccasins. For a full minute Rod stopped and listened, +making not a sound. Why he maintained silence he could not have +explained. But he knew that he was half a mile from the Post, and that +Wabi's sister should not be here at breakfast time. In this minute's +quiet he unconsciously studied the tracks in the ground. How small the +pretty Indian maiden's feet were! And he noticed, too, that her +moccasins, unlike most moccasins, had a slight heel. + +But in a moment more his inspection was cut short. Was that a cry he +heard far ahead? His heart seemed to stop beating, his blood +thrilled--and in another instant he was running down the path like a +deer. Twenty rods beyond this point the path entered an opening in the +forest made by a great fire, and half-way across this opening the youth +saw a sight which chilled him to the marrow. There was Minnetaki, her +long hair tumbling loosely down her back, a cloth tied around her +head--and on either side an Indian dragging her swiftly toward the +opposite forest! + +For as long as he might have drawn three breaths Rod stood transfixed +with horror. Then his senses returned to him, and every muscle in his +body seemed to bound with action. For days he had been practising with +his revolver and it was now in the holster at his side. Should he use +it? Or might he hit Minnetaki? At his feet he saw a club and snatching +this up he sped across the opening, the soft earth holding the sound of +his steps. When he was a dozen feet behind the Indians Minnetaki +stumbled in a sudden effort to free herself, and as one of her captors +half turned to drag her to her feet he saw the enraged youth, club +uplifted, bearing down upon them like a demon. A terrific yell from Rod, +a warning cry from the Indian, and the fray began. With crushing force, +the boy's club fell upon the shoulder of the second Indian, and before +he could recover from the delivery of this blow the youth was caught in +a choking, deadly grip by the other from behind. + +Freed by the sudden attack, Minnetaki tore away the cloth that bound her +eyes and mouth. As quick as a flash she took in the situation. At her +feet the wounded Indian was half rising, and upon the ground near him, +struggling in close embrace, were Rod and the other. She saw the +Indian's fatal grip upon her preserver's throat, the whitening face and +wide-open eyes, and with a great, sobbing cry she caught up the fallen +club and brought it down with all her strength upon the redskin's head. +Twice, three times the club rose and fell, and the grip on Rod's throat +relaxed. A fourth time it rose, but this time was caught from behind, +and a huge hand clutched the brave girl's throat so that the cry on her +lips died in a gasp. But the relief gave Rod his opportunity. With a +tremendous effort he reached his pistol holster, drew out the gun, and +pressed it close up against his assailant's body. There was a muffled +report and with a shriek of agony the Indian pitched backward. Hearing +the shot and seeing the effect upon his comrade, the second Indian +released his hold on Minnetaki and ran for the forest. Rod, seeing +Minnetaki fall in a sobbing, frightened heap, forgot all else but to run +to her, smooth back her hair and comfort her with all of the assurances +at his boyish command. + +It was here that Wabi and the old Indian guide found them five minutes +later. Hearing Rod's first piercing yell of attack, they had raced into +the forest, afterward guided by the two or three shrill screams which +Minnetaki had unconsciously emitted during the struggle. Close behind +them, smelling trouble, followed two of the Post employees. + +The attempted abduction of Wabi's sister, Rod's heroic rescue and the +death of one of the captors, who was recognized as one of Woonga's men, +caused a seven-day sensation at the Post. + +There was now no thought of leaving on the part of the young wolf +hunters. It was evident that Woonga was again in the neighborhood, and +Wabi and Rod, together with a score of Indians and hunters, spent days +in scouring the forests and swamps. But the Woongas disappeared as +suddenly as they came. Not until Wabi had secured a promise from +Minnetaki that she would no longer go into the forests unaccompanied did +the Indian youth again allow himself to take up their interrupted plans. + +Minnetaki had been within easy calling distance of help when the +Woongas, without warning, sprang upon her, smothered her attempted cries +and dragged her away, compelling her to walk alone over the soft earth +where Rod had seen her footsteps, so that any person who followed might +suppose she was alone and safe. This fact stirred the dozen white +families at the Post into aggressive action, and four of the most +skillful Indian track-hunters in the service were detailed to devote +themselves exclusively to hunting down the outlaws, their operations not +to include a territory extending more than twenty miles from Wabinosh +House in any direction. With these precautions it was believed that no +harm could come to Minnetaki or other young girls of the Post. + +It was, therefore, on a Monday, the fourth day of November, that Rod, +Wabi and Mukoki turned their faces at last to the adventures that +awaited them in the great North. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +RODERICK'S FIRST TASTE OF THE HUNTER'S LIFE + + +By this time it was bitter cold. The lakes and rivers were frozen deep +and a light snow covered the ground. Already two weeks behind their +plans, the young wolf hunters and the old Indian made forced marches +around the northern extremity of Lake Nipigon and on the sixth day found +themselves on the Ombabika River, where they were compelled to stop on +account of a dense snow-storm. A temporary camp was made, and it was +while constructing this camp that Mukoki discovered signs of wolves. It +was therefore decided to remain for a day or two and investigate the +hunting-grounds. On the morning of the second day Wabi shot at and +wounded the old bull moose which met such a tragic end a few hours +later, and that same morning the two boys made a long tour to the north +in the hope of finding that they were in a good game country, which +would mean also that there were plenty of wolves. + +This left Mukoki alone in camp. Thus far, in their desire to cover as +much ground as possible before the heavy snows came, Wabi and his +companions had not stopped to hunt for game and for six days their only +meat had been bacon and jerked venison. Mukoki, whose prodigious +appetite was second only to the shrewdness with which he stalked game to +satisfy it, determined to add to their larder if possible during the +others' absence, and with this object in view he left camp late in the +afternoon to be gone, as he anticipated, not longer than an hour or so. + +With him he carried two powerful wolf-traps slung over his shoulders. +Stealing cautiously along the edge of the river, his eyes and ears alert +for game, Mukoki suddenly came upon the frozen and half-eaten carcass of +a red deer. It was evident that the animal had been killed by wolves +either the day or night before, and from the tracks in the snow the +Indian concluded that not more than four wolves had participated in the +slaughter and feast. That these wolves would return to continue their +banquet, probably that night, Mukoki's many experiences as a wolf hunter +assured him; and he paused long enough to set his traps, afterward +covering them over with three or four inches of snow. + +Continuing his hunt, the old Indian soon struck the fresh spoor of a +deer. Believing that the animal would not travel for any great distance +in the deep snow, he swiftly took up the trail. Half a mile farther on +he stopped abruptly with a grunt of unbounded surprise. Another hunter +had taken up the trail! + +With increased caution Mukoki now advanced. Two hundred feet more and a +second pair of moccasined feet joined in the pursuit, and a little later +still a third! + +Led on by curiosity more than by the hope of securing a partnership +share in the quarry, the Indian slipped silently and swiftly through the +forest. As he emerged from a dense growth of spruce through which the +tracks led him Mukoki was treated to another surprise by almost +stumbling over the carcass of the deer he had been following. A brief +examination satisfied him that the doe had been shot at least two hours +before. The three hunters had cut out her heart, liver and tongue and +had also taken the hind quarters, leaving the remainder of the carcass +and the skin! Why had they neglected this most valuable part of their +spoils? With a new gleam of interest in his eyes Mukoki carefully +scrutinized the moccasin trails. He soon discovered that the Indians +ahead of him were in great haste, and that after cutting the choicest +meat from the doe they had started off to make up for lost time by +running! + +With another grunt of astonishment the old Indian returned to the +carcass, quickly stripped off the skin, wrapped in it the fore quarters +and ribs of the doe, and thus loaded, took up the home trail. It was +dark when he reached camp. Wabi and Rod had not yet returned. Building a +huge fire and hanging the ribs of the doe on a spit before it, he +anxiously awaited their appearance. + +Half an hour later he heard the shout which brought him quickly to where +Wabi was holding the partly unconscious form of Rod in his arms. + +It took but a few moments to carry the injured youth to camp, and not +until Rod was resting upon a pile of blankets in their shack, with the +warmth of the fire reviving him, did Wabi vouchsafe an explanation to +the old Indian. + +"I guess he's got a broken arm, Muky," he said. "Have you any hot +water?" + +"Shot?" asked the old hunter, paying no attention to the question. He +dropped upon his knees beside Rod, his long brown fingers reaching out +anxiously. "Shot?" + +"No--hit with a club. We met three Indian hunters who were in camp and +who invited us to eat with them. While we were eating they jumped upon +our backs. Rod got that--and lost his rifle!" + +Mukoki quickly stripped the wounded boy of his garments, baring his left +arm and side. The arm was swollen and almost black and there was a great +bruise on Rod's body a little above the waist. Mukoki was a surgeon by +necessity, a physician such as one finds only in the vast unblazed +wildernesses, where Nature is the teacher. Crudely he made his +examination, pinching and twisting the flesh and bones until Rod cried +out in pain, but in the end there was a glad triumph in his voice as he +said: + +"No bone broke--hurt most here!" and he touched the bruise. "Near broke +rib--not quite. Took wind out and made great deal sick. Want good +supper, hot coffee--rub in bear's grease, then be better!" + +Rod, who had opened his eyes, smiled faintly and Wabi gave a half-shout +of delight. + +"Not so bad as we thought, eh, Rod?" he cried. "You can't fool Muky! If +he says your arm isn't broken--why, it _isn't_, and that's all there is +to it. Let me bolster you up in these blankets and we'll soon have a +supper that will sizzle the aches out of you. I smell meat--fresh meat!" + +With a chuckle of pleasure Mukoki jumped to his feet and ran out to +where the ribs of the doe were slowly broiling over the fire. They were +already done to a rich brown and their dripping juice filled the +nostrils with an appetizing odor. By the time Wabi had applied Mukoki's +prescription to his comrade's wounds, and had done them up in bandages, +the tempting feast was spread before them. + +As a liberal section of the ribs was placed before him, together with +corn-meal cakes and a cup of steaming coffee, Rod could not suppress a +happy though somewhat embarrassed laugh. + +"I'm ashamed of myself, Wabi," he said. "Here I've been causing so much +bother, like some helpless kid; and now I find I haven't even the excuse +of a broken arm, and that I'm as hungry as a bear! Looks pretty yellow, +doesn't it? Just as though I was scared to death! So help me, I almost +wish my arm _was_ broken!" + +Mukoki had buried his teeth in a huge chunk of fat rib, but he lowered +it with a great chuckling grunt, half of his face smeared with the first +results of his feast. + +"Whole lot sick," he explained. "Be sick some more--mighty sick! Maybe +vomit lots!" + +"Waugh!" shrieked Wabi. "How is that for cheerful news, Rod?" His +merriment echoed far out into the night. Suddenly he caught himself and +peered suspiciously into the gloom beyond the circle of firelight. + +"Do you suppose they would follow?" he asked. + +A more cautious silence followed, and the Indian youth quickly related +the adventures of the day to Mukoki--how, in the heart of the forest +several miles beyond the lake, they had come upon the Indian hunters, +had accepted of their seemingly honest hospitality, and in the midst of +their meal had suffered an attack from them. So sudden and unexpected +had been the assault that one of the Indians got away with Rod's rifle, +ammunition belt and revolver before any effort could be made to stop +him. Wabi was under the other two Indians when Rod came to his +assistance, with the result that the latter was struck two heavy blows, +either with a club or a gun-stock. So tenaciously had the Indian boy +clung to his own weapon that his assailants, after a brief struggle, +darted into the dense underbrush, evidently satisfied with the white +boy's equipment. + +"They were of Woonga's people, without a doubt," finished Wabi. "It +puzzles me why they didn't kill us. They had half a dozen chances to +shoot us, but didn't seem to want to do us any great injury. Either the +measures taken at the Post are making them reform, or--" + +He paused, a troubled look in his eyes. Immediately Mukoki told of his +own experience and of the mysterious haste of the three Indians who had +slain the doe. + +"It is certainly curious," rejoined the young Indian. "They couldn't +have been the ones we met, but I'll wager they belong to the same gang. +I wouldn't be surprised if we had hit upon one of Woonga's retreats. +We've always thought he was in the Thunder Bay regions to the west, and +that is where father is watching for him now. We've hit the hornets' +nest, Muky, and the only thing for us to do is to get out of this +country as fast as we can!" + +"We'd make a nice pot-shot just at this moment," volunteered Rod, +looking across to the dense blackness on the opposite side of the river, +where the moonlight seemed to make even more impenetrable the wall of +gloom. + +As he spoke there came a slight sound from behind him, the commotion of +a body moving softly beyond the wall of spruce boughs, then a curious, +suspicious sniffing, and after that a low whine. + +"Listen!" + +Wabi's command came in a tense whisper. He leaned close against the +boughs, stealthily parted them, and slowly thrust his head through the +aperture. + +"Hello, Wolf!" he whispered. "What's up?" + +An arm's length away, tied before a smaller shelter of spruce, a gaunt, +dog-like animal stood in a rigid listening attitude. An instant's +glance, however, would have assured one that it was not a dog, but a +full-grown wolf. From the days of its puppyhood Wabi had taught it in +the ways of dogdom, yet had the animal perversely clung to its wild +instincts. A weakness in that thong, a slip of the collar, and Wolf +would have bounded joyously into the forests to seek for ever the packs +of his fathers. Now the babeesh rope was taut, Wolf's muzzle was turned +half to the sky, his ears were alert, half-sounding notes rattled in his +throat. + +"There is something near our camp!" announced the Indian boy, drawing +himself back quickly. "Muky--" + +He was interrupted by a long mournful howl from the captive wolf. + +Mukoki had jumped to his feet with the alertness of a cat, and now with +his gun in his hand slunk around the edge of the shelter and buried +himself in the gloom. Roderick lay quiet while Wabi, seizing the +remaining rifle, followed him. + +"Lie over there in the dark, Rod, where the firelight doesn't show you +up," he cautioned in a low voice. "Probably it is only some animal that +has stumbled on to our camp, but we want to make sure." + +Ten minutes later the young hunter returned alone. + +"False alarm!" he laughed cheerfully. "There's a part of a carcass of a +red deer up the creek a bit. It has been killed by wolves, and Wolf +smells some of his own blood coming in to the feast. Muky has set traps +there and we may have our first scalp in the morning." + +"Where is Mukoki?" + +"On watch. He is going to keep guard until a little after midnight, and +then I'll turn out. We can't be too careful, with the Woongas in the +neighborhood." + +Rod shifted himself uneasily. + +"What shall we do--to-morrow?" he asked. + +"Get out!" replied Wabi with emphasis. "That is, if you are able to +travel. From what Mukoki tells me, and from what you and I already know, +Woonga's people must be in the forests beyond the lake. We'll cut a +trail up the Ombabika for two or three days before we strike camp. You +and Muky can start out as soon as it is light enough." + +"And you--" began Rod. + +"Oh, I'm going to take a run back over our old wolf-trail and collect +the scalps we shot to-day. There's a month's salary back there for you, +Rod! Now, let's turn in. Good night--sleep tight--and be sure to wake up +early in the morning." + +The boys, exhausted by the adventures of the day, were soon in profound +slumber. And though midnight came, and hour after hour passed between +then and dawn, the faithful Mukoki did not awaken them. Never for a +moment neglecting his caution the old Indian watched tirelessly over the +camp. With the first appearance of day he urged the fire into a roaring +blaze, raked out a great mass of glowing coals, and proceeded to get +breakfast. Wabi discovered him at this task when he awoke from his +slumber. + +"I didn't think you would play this trick on me, Muky," he said, a flush +of embarrassment gathering in his brown face. "It's awfully good of you, +and all that, but I wish you wouldn't treat me as if I were a child any +longer, old friend!" + +He placed his hand affectionately upon the kneeling Mukoki's shoulder, +and the old hunter looked up at him with a happy, satisfied grin on his +weather-beaten visage, wrinkled and of the texture of leather by nearly +fifty years of life in the wilderness. It was Mukoki who had first +carried the baby Wabi about the woods upon his shoulders; it was he who +had played with him, cared for him, and taught him in the ways of the +wild in early childhood, and it was he who had missed him most, with +little Minnetaki, when he went away to school. All the love in the grim +old redskin's heart was for the Indian youth and his sister, and to them +Mukoki was a second father, a silent, watchful guardian and comrade. +This one loving touch of Wabi's hand was ample reward for the long +night's duty, and his pleasure expressed itself in two or three low +chuckling grunts. + +"Had heap bad day," he replied. "Very much tired. Me feel good--better +than sleep!" He rose to his feet and handed Wabi the long fork with +which he manipulated the meat on the spits. "You can tend to that," he +added. "I go see traps." + +Rod, who had awakened and overheard these last remarks, called out from +the shack: + +"Wait a minute, Mukoki. I'm going with you. If you've got a wolf, I want +to see him." + +"Got one sure 'nuff," grinned the old Indian. + +In a few minutes Rod came out, fully dressed and with a much healthier +color in his face than when he went to bed the preceding night. He stood +before the fire, stretched one arm then the other, gave a slight grimace +of pain, and informed his anxious comrades that he seemed to be as well +as ever, except that his arm and side were very sore. + +Walking slowly, that Rod might "find himself," as Wabi expressed it, the +two went up the river. It was a dull gray morning and occasionally large +flakes of snow fell, giving evidence that before the day was far +advanced another storm would set in. Mukoki's traps were not more than +an eighth of a mile from camp, and as the two rounded a certain bend in +the river the old hunter suddenly stopped with a huge grant of +satisfaction. Following the direction in which he pointed Rod saw a dark +object lying in the snow a short distance away. + +"That's heem!" exclaimed the Indian. + +As they approached, the object became animate, pulling and tearing in +the snow as though in the agonies of death. A few moments more and they +were close up to the captive. + +"She wolf!" explained Mukoki. + +He gripped the ax he had brought with him and approached within a few +feet of the crouching animal. Rod could see that one of the big steel +traps had caught the wolf on the forward leg and that the other had +buried its teeth in one of the hind legs. Thus held the doomed animal +could make little effort to protect itself and crouched in sullen quiet, +its white fangs gleaming in a noiseless, defiant snarl, its eyes shining +with pain and anger, and with only its thin starved body, which jerked +and trembled as the Indian came nearer, betraying signs of fear. To Rod +it might have been a pitiful sight had not there come to him a thought +of the preceding night and of his own and Wabi's narrow escape from the +pack. + +Two or three quick blows of the ax and the wolf was dead. With a skill +which can only be found among those of his own race, Mukoki drew his +knife, cut deftly around the wolf's head just below the ears, and with +one downward, one upward, and two sidewise jerks tore off the scalp. + +Suddenly, without giving a thought to his speech, there shot from Rod, + +"Is that the way you scalp people?" + +Mukoki looked up, his jaw fell--and then he gave the nearest thing to a +real laugh that Rod ever heard come from between his lips. When Mukoki +laughed it was usually in a half-chuckle, a half-gurgle--something that +neither Rod nor Wabi could have imitated if they had tried steadily for +a month. + +"Never scalped white people," the old Indian shot back. "Father did +when--young man. Did great scalp business!" + +Mukoki had not done chuckling to himself even when they reached camp. + +Scarcely ten minutes were taken in eating breakfast. Snow was already +beginning to fall, and if the hunters took up their trail at once their +tracks would undoubtedly be entirely obliterated by midday, which was +the best possible thing that could happen for them in the Woonga +country. On the other hand, Wabi was anxious to follow back over the +wolf-trail before the snow shut it in. There was no danger of their +becoming separated and lost, for it was agreed that Rod and Mukoki +should travel straight up the frozen river. Wabi would overtake them +before nightfall. + +Arming himself with his rifle, revolver, knife, and a keen-edged +belt-ax, the Indian boy lost no time in leaving camp. A quarter of an +hour later Wabi came out cautiously on the end of the lake where had +occurred the unequal duel between the old bull moose and the wolves. A +single glance told him what the outcome of that duel had been. Twenty +rods out upon the snow he saw parts of a great skeleton, and a huge pair +of antlers. + +As he stood on the arena of the mighty battle, Wabi would have given a +great deal if Rod could have been with him. There lay the heroic old +moose, now nothing more than a skeleton. But the magnificent head and +horns still remained--the largest head that the Indian youth, in all his +wilderness life, had ever seen--and it occurred to him that if this head +could be preserved and taken back to civilization it would be worth a +hundred dollars or more. That the old bull had put up a magnificent +fight was easily discernible. Fifty feet away were the bones of a wolf, +and almost under the skeleton of the moose were those of another. The +heads of both still remained, and Wabi, after taking their scalps, +hurried on over the trail. + +Half-way across the lake, where he had taken his last two shots, were +the skeletons of two more wolves, and in the edge of the spruce forest +he found another. This animal had evidently been wounded farther back +and had later been set upon by some of the pack and killed. Half a mile +deeper in the forest he came upon a spot where he had emptied five +shells into the pack and here he found the bones of two more wolves. He +had seven scalps in his possession when he turned back over the home +trail. + +Beside the remains of the old bull Wabi paused again. He knew that the +Indians frequently preserved moose and caribou heads through the winter +by keeping them frozen, and the head at his feet was a prize worth some +thought. But how could he keep it preserved until their return, months +later? He could not suspend it from the limb of a tree, as was the +custom when in camp, for it would either be stolen by some passing +hunter or spoiled by the first warm days of spring. Suddenly an idea +came to him. Why could it not be preserved in what white hunters called +an "Indian ice-box"? In an instant he was acting upon this inspiration. +It was not a small task to drag the huge head to the shelter of the +tamaracks, where, safely hidden from view, he made a closer examination. +The head was gnawed considerably by the wolves, but Wabi had seen worse +ones skillfully repaired by the Indians at the Post. + +Under a dense growth of spruce, where the rays of the sun seldom +penetrated, the Indian boy set to work with his belt-ax. For an hour and +a half he worked steadily, and at the end of that time had dug a hole in +the frozen earth three feet deep and four feet square. This hole he now +lined with about two inches of snow, packed as tight as he could jam it +with the butt of his gun. Then placing in the head he packed snow +closely about it and afterward filled in the earth, stamping upon the +hard chunks with his feet. When all was done he concealed the signs of +his work under a covering of snow, blazed two trees with his ax, and +resumed his journey. + +"There is thirty dollars for each of us if there's a cent," he mused +softly, as he hurried toward the Ombabika. "That ground won't thaw out +until June. A moose-head and eight scalps at fifteen dollars each isn't +bad for one day's work, Rod, old boy!" + +He had been absent for three hours. It had been snowing steadily and by +the time he reached their old camp the trail left by Rod and Mukoki was +already partly obliterated, showing that they had secured an early start +up the river. + +Bowing his head in the white clouds falling silently about him, Wabi +started in swift pursuit. He could not see ten rods ahead of him, so +dense was the storm, and at times one side or the other of the river was +lost to view. Conditions could not have been better for their flight out +of the Woonga country, thought the young hunter. By nightfall they would +be many miles up the river, and no sign would be left behind to reveal +their former presence or to show in which direction they had gone. For +two hours he followed tirelessly over the trail, which became more and +more distinct as he proceeded, showing that he was rapidly gaining on +his comrades. But even now, though the trail was fresher and deeper, so +disguised had it become by falling snow that a passing hunter might have +thought a moose or caribou had passed that way. + +At the end of the third hour, by which time he figured that he had made +at least ten miles, Wabi sat down to rest, and to refresh himself with +the lunch which he had taken from the camp that morning. He was +surprised at Rod's endurance. That Mukoki and the white boy were still +three or four miles ahead of him he did not doubt, unless they, too, had +stopped for dinner. This, on further thought, he believed was highly +probable. + +The wilderness about him was intensely still. Not even the twitter of a +snow-bird marred its silence. For a long time Wabi sat as immovable as +the log upon which he had seated himself, resting and listening. Such a +day as this held a peculiar and unusual fascination for him. It was as +if the whole world was shut out, and that even the wild things of the +forest dared not go abroad in this supreme moment of Nature's handiwork, +when with lavish hand she spread the white mantle that was to stretch +from the border to Hudson Bay. + +As he listened there came to him suddenly a sound that forced from +between his lips a half-articulate cry. It was the clear, ringing report +of a rifle! And following it there came another, and another, until in +quick succession he had counted five! + +What did it mean? He sprang to his feet, his heart thumping, every nerve +in him prepared for action. He would have sworn it was Mukoki's +rifle--yet Mukoki would not have fired at game! They had agreed upon +that. + +Had Rod and the old Indian been attacked? In another instant Wabi was +bounding over the trail with the speed of a deer. + + + +CHAPTER V + +MYSTERIOUS SHOTS IN THE WILDERNESS + + +As the Indian youth sped over the trail in the direction of the +rifle-shots he flung his usual caution to the winds. His blood thrilled +with the knowledge that there was not a moment to lose--that even now, +in all probability, he would be too late to assist his friends. This +fear was emphasized by the absolute silence which followed the five +shots. Eagerly, almost prayerfully, he listened as he ran for other +sounds of battle--for the report of Mukoki's revolver, or the whoops of +the victors. If there had been an ambush it was all over now. Each +moment added to his conviction, and as he thrust the muzzle of his gun +ahead of him, his finger hovering near the trigger and his snow-blinded +eyes staring ahead into the storm, something like a sob escaped his +lips. + +Ahead of him the stream narrowed until it almost buried itself under a +mass of towering cedars. The closeness of the forest walls now added to +the general gloom, intensified by the first gray pallor of the Northern +dusk, which begins to fall in these regions early in the afternoon of +November days. For a moment, just before plunging into the gloomy trail +between the cedars, Wabi stopped and listened. He heard nothing but the +beating of his own heart, which worked like a trip-hammer within his +breast. The stillness was oppressive. And the longer he listened the +more some invisible power seemed to hold him back. It was not fear, it +was not lack of courage, but-- + +What was there just beyond those cedars, lurking cautiously in the snow +gloom? + +With instinct that was almost animal in its unreasonableness Wabi sank +upon his knees. He had seen nothing, he had heard nothing; but he +crouched close, until he was no larger than a waiting wolf, and there +was a deadly earnestness in the manner in which he turned his rifle into +the deeper gloom of those close-knit walls of forest. Something was +approaching, cautiously, stealthily, and with extreme slowness. The +Indian boy felt that this was so, and yet if his life had depended upon +it he could not have told why. He huddled himself lower in the snow. His +eyes gleamed with excitement. Minute after minute passed, and still +there came no sound. Then, from far up that dusky avenue of cedars, +there came the sudden startled chatter of a moose-bird. It was a warning +which years of experience had taught Wabi always to respect. Perhaps a +roving fox had frightened it, perhaps the bird had taken to noisy flight +at the near tread of a moose, a caribou, or a deer. But-- + +To Wabi the soft, quick notes of the moose-bird spelled man! In an +instant he was upon his feet, darting quickly into the sheltering cedars +of the shore. Through these he now made his way with extreme caution, +keeping close to the bank of the frozen stream. After a little he paused +again and concealed himself behind the end of a fallen log. Ahead of him +he could look into the snow gloom between the cedars, and whatever was +coming through that gloom would have to pass within a dozen yards of +him. Each moment added to his excitement. He heard the chatter of a red +squirrel, much nearer than the moose-bird. Once he fancied that he heard +the striking of two objects, as though a rifle barrel had accidentally +come into contact with the dead limb of a tree. + +Suddenly the Indian youth imagined that he saw something--an indistinct +shadow that came in the snow gloom, then disappeared, and came again. He +brushed the water and snow from his eyes with one of his mittened hands +and stared hard and steadily. Once more the shadow disappeared, then +came again, larger and more distinct than before. There was no doubt +now. Whatever had startled the moose-bird was coming slowly, +noiselessly. + +Wabi brought his rifle to his shoulder. Life and death hovered with his +anxious, naked finger over the gun trigger. But he was too well trained +in the ways of the wilderness to fire just yet. Yard by yard the shadow +approached, and divided itself into two shadows. Wabi could now see that +they were men. They were advancing in a cautious, crouching attitude, as +though they expected to meet enemies somewhere ahead of them. Wabi's +heart thumped with joy. There could be no surer sign that Mukoki and Rod +were still among the living, for why should the Woongas employ this +caution if they had already successfully ambushed the hunters? With the +chill of a cold hand at his throat the answer flashed into Wabigoon's +brain. His friends had been ambushed, and these two Woongas were +stealing back over the trail to slay him! + +Very slowly, very gently, the young Indian's finger pressed against the +trigger of his rifle. A dozen feet more, and then-- + +The shadows had stopped, and now drew together as if in consultation. +They were not more than twenty yards away, and for a moment Wabi lowered +his rifle and listened hard. He could hear the low unintelligible +mutterings of their conversation. Then there came to him a single +incautious reply from one of the shadows. + +"All right!" + +Surely that was not the English of a Woonga! It sounded like-- + +In a flash Wabi had called softly. + +"Ho, Muky--Muky--Rod!" + +In another moment the three wolf hunters were together, silently +wringing one another's hands, the death-like pallor of Rod's face and +the tense lines in the bronzed countenances of Mukoki and Wabigoon +plainly showing the tremendous strain they had been under. + +"You shoot?" whispered Mukoki. + +"No!" replied Wabi, his eyes widening in surprise. "Didn't _you_ shoot?" + +"No!" + +Only the one word fell from the old Indian, but it was filled with a new +warning. Who had fired the five shots? The hunters gazed blankly at one +another, mute questioning in their eyes. Without speaking, Mukoki +pointed suggestively to the clearer channel of the river beyond the +cedars. Evidently he thought the shots had come from there. Wabi shook +his head. + +"There was no trail," he whispered. "Nobody has crossed the river." + +"I thought they were there!" breathed Rod. He pointed into the forest. +"But Mukoki said no." + +For a long time the three stood and listened. Half a mile back in the +forest they heard the howl of a single wolf, and Wabi flashed a curious +glance into the eyes of the old Indian. + +"That's a man's cry," he whispered. "The wolf has struck a human trail. +It isn't mine!" + +"Nor ours," replied Rod. + +This one long howl of the wolf was the only sound that broke the +stillness of approaching night. Mukoki turned, and the others followed +in his trail. A quarter of a mile farther on the stream became still +narrower and plunged between great masses of rock which rose into wild +and precipitous hills that were almost mountains a little way back. No +longer could the hunters now follow the channel of the rushing torrent. +Through a break in a gigantic wall of rock and huge boulders led the +trail of Rod and Mukoki. Ten minutes more and the three had clambered to +the top of the ridge where, in the lee of a great rock, the remains of a +fire were still burning. Here the old Indian and his companion had +struck camp and were waiting for Wabigoon when they heard the shots +which they, too, believed were those of an ambush. + +A comfortable shelter of balsam had already been erected against the +rock, and close beside the fire, where Mukoki had dropped it at the +sound of the shots, was a large piece of spitted venison. The situation +was ideal for a camp and after the hard day's tramp through the snow the +young wolf hunters regarded it with expressions of pleasure, in spite of +the enemies whom they knew might be lurking near them. Both Wabi and Rod +had accepted the place as their night's home, and were stirring up the +fire, when their attention was drawn to the singular attitude of Mukoki. +The old warrior stood leaning on his rifle, speechless and motionless, +his eyes regarding the process of rekindling the fire with mute +disapprobation. Wabi, poised on one knee, looked at him questioningly. + +"No make more fire," said the old Indian, shaking his head. "No dare +stay here. Go on--beyond mountain!" + +Mukoki straightened himself and stretched a long arm toward the north. + +"River go like much devil 'long edge of mountain," he continued. "Make +heap noise through rock, then make swamp thick for cow moose--then run +through mountain and make wide, smooth river once more. We go over +mountain. Snow all night. Morning come--no trail for Woonga. We stay +here--make big trail in morning. Woonga follow like devil, ver' plain to +see!" + +Wabi rose to his feet, his face showing the keenness of his +disappointment. Since early morning he had been traveling, even running +at times, and he was tired enough to risk willingly a few dangers for +the sake of sleep and supper. Rod was in even worse condition, though +his trail had been much shorter. For a few moments the two boys looked +at each other in silence, neither attempting to conceal the lack of +favor with which Mukoki's suggestion was received. But Wabi was too wise +openly to oppose the old pathfinder. If Mukoki said that it was +dangerous for them to remain where they were during the night--well, it +was dangerous, and it would be foolish of him to dispute it. He knew +Mukoki to be the greatest hunter of his tribe, a human bloodhound on the +trail, and what he said was law. So with a cheerful grin at Rod, who +needed all the encouragement that could be given to him, Wabi began the +readjustment of the pack which he had flung from his shoulders a few +minutes before. + +"Mountain not ver' far. Two--t'ree mile, then camp," encouraged Mukoki. +"Walk slow--have big supper." + +Only a few articles had been taken from the toboggan-sled on which the +hunters were dragging the greater part of their equipment into the +wilderness, and Mukoki soon had these packed again. The three +adventurers now took up the new trail along the top of one of those wild +and picturesque ridges which both the Indians and white hunters of this +great Northland call mountains. Wabigoon led, weighted under his pack, +selecting the clearest road for the toboggan and clipping down +obstructing saplings with his keen-edged belt-ax. A dozen feet behind +him followed Mukoki, dragging the sled; and behind the sled, securely +tied with a thong of babeesh, or moose-skin rope, slunk the wolf. Rod, +less experienced in making a trail and burdened with a lighter pack, +formed the rear of the little cavalcade. + +Darkness was now falling rapidly. Though Wabigoon was not more than a +dozen yards ahead, Rod could only now and then catch a fleeting vision +of him through the gloom. Mukoki, doubled over in his harness, was +hardly more than a blotch in the early night. Only the wolf was near +enough to offer companionship to the tired and down-spirited youth. +Rod's enthusiasm was not easily cooled, but just now he mentally wished +that, for this one night at least, he was back at the Post, with the +lovely little Minnetaki relating to him some legend of bird or beast +they had encountered that day. How much pleasanter that would be! The +vision of the bewitching little maiden was suddenly knocked out of his +head in a most unexpected and startling way. Mukoki had paused for a +moment and Rod, unconscious of the fact, continued on his journey until +he tumbled in a sprawling heap over the sled, knocking Mukoki's legs +completely from under him in his fall. When Wabi ran back he found Rod +flattened out, face downward, and Mukoki entangled in his site harness +on top of him. + +In a way this accident was fortunate. Wabi, who possessed a Caucasian +sense of humor, shook with merriment as he gave his assistance, and Rod, +after he had dug the snow from his eyes and ears and had emptied a +handful of it from his neck, joined with him. + +The ridge now became narrower as the trio advanced. On one side, far +down, could be heard the thunderous rush of the river, and from the +direction of the sound Rod knew they were near a precipice. Great beds +of boulders and broken rock, thrown there by some tumultuous upheaval of +past ages, now impeded their progress, and every step was taken with +extreme caution. The noise of the torrent became louder and louder as +they advanced and on one side of him Rod now thought that he could +distinguish a dim massive shadow towering above them, like the +precipitous side of a mountain. A few steps farther and Mukoki exchanged +places with Wabigoon. + +"Muky has been here before," cried Wabi close up to Rod's ear. His voice +was almost drowned by the tumult below. "That's where the river rushes +through the mountain!" + +Rod forgot his fatigue in the new excitement. Never in his wildest +dreams of adventure had he foreseen an hour like this. Each step seemed +to bring them nearer the edge of the vast chasm through which the river +plunged, and yet not a sign of it could he see. He strained his eyes and +ears, each moment expecting to hear the warning voice of the old +warrior. With a suddenness that chilled him he saw the great shadow +close in upon them from the opposite side, and for the first time he +realized their position. On their left was the precipice--on their right +the sheer wall of the mountain! How wide was the ledge along which they +were traveling? His foot struck a stick under the snow. Catching it up +he flung it out into space. For a single instant he paused to listen, +but there came no sound of the falling object. The precipice was very +near--a little chill ran up his spine. It was a sensation he had never +experienced in walking the streets of a city! + +Though he could not see, he knew that the ledge was now leading them up. +He could hear Wabigoon straining ahead of the toboggan and he began to +assist by pushing on the rear of the loaded sled. For half an hour this +upward climb continued, until the sound of the river had entirely died +away. No longer was the mountain on the right. Five minutes later Mukoki +called a halt. + +"On top mountain," he said briefly. "Camp here!" + +Rod could not repress an exclamation of joy, and Wabigoon, as he threw +off his harness, gave a suppressed whoop. Mukoki, who seemed tireless, +began an immediate search for a site for their camp and after a short +breathing-spell Rod and Wabi joined him. The spot chosen was in the +shelter of a huge rock, and while Mukoki cleaned away the snow the young +hunters set to work with their axes in a near growth of balsam, cutting +armful after armful of the soft odorous boughs. Inside of an hour a +comfortable camp was completed, with an exhilarating fire throwing its +crackling flames high up into the night before it. + +For the first time since leaving the abandoned camp at the other end of +the ridge the hunters fully realized how famished they were, and Mukoki +was at once delegated to prepare supper while Wabi and Rod searched in +the darkness for their night's supply of wood. Fortunately quite near at +hand they discovered several dead poplars, the best fuel in the world +for a camp-fire, and by the time the venison and coffee were ready they +had collected a huge pile of this, together with several good-sized +backlogs. + +Mukoki had spread the feast in the opening of the shelter where the heat +of the fire, reflected from the face of the rock, fell upon them in +genial warmth, suffusing their faces with a most comfortable glow. The +heat, together with the feast, were almost overpowering in their +effects, and hardly was his supper completed when Rod felt creeping over +him a drowsiness which he attempted in vain to fight off a little +longer. Dragging himself back in the shelter he wrapped himself in his +blanket, burrowed into the mass of balsam boughs, and passed quickly +into oblivion. His last intelligible vision was Mukoki piling logs upon +the fire, while the flames shot up a dozen feet into the air, illumining +to his drowsy eyes for an instant a wild chaos of rock, beyond which lay +the mysterious and impenetrable blackness of the wilderness. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MUKOKI DISTURBS THE ANCIENT SKELETONS + + +Completely exhausted, every muscle in his aching body still seeming to +strain with exertion, the night was one of restless and uncomfortable +dreams for Roderick Drew. While Wabi and the old Indian, veterans in +wilderness hardship, slept in peace and tranquillity, the city boy found +himself in the most unusual and thrilling situations from which he would +extricate himself with a grunt or sharp cry, several times sitting bolt +upright in his bed of balsam until he realized where he was, and that +his adventures were only those of dreamland. + +From one of these dreams Rod had aroused himself into drowsy +wakefulness. He fancied that he had heard steps. For the tenth time he +raised himself upon an elbow, stretched, rubbed his eyes, glanced at the +dark, inanimate forms of his sleeping companions, and snuggled down into +his balsam boughs again. A few moments later he sat bolt upright. He +could have sworn that he heard real steps this time--a soft cautious +crunching in the snow very near his head. Breathlessly he listened. Not +a sound broke the silence except the snapping of a dying ember in the +fire. Another dream! Once more he settled back, drawing his blanket +closely about him. Then, for a full breath, the very beating of his +heart seemed to cease. + +What was that! + +He was awake now, wide awake, with every faculty in him striving to +arrange itself. He had heard--a step! Slowly, very cautiously this time, +he raised himself. There came distinctly to his ears a light crunching +in the snow. It seemed back of the shelter--then was moving away, then +stopped. The flickering light of the dying fire still played on the face +of the great rock. Suddenly, at the very end of that rock, something +moved. + +Some object was creeping cautiously upon the sleeping camp! + +For a moment his thrilling discovery froze the young hunter into +inaction. But in a moment the whole situation flashed upon him. The +Woongas had followed them! They were about to fall upon the helpless +camp! Unexpectedly one of his hands came in contact with the barrel of +Wabi's rifle. The touch of the cold steel aroused him. There was no time +to awaken his companions. Even as he drew the gun to him he saw the +object grow larger and larger at the end of the rock, until it stood +crouching, as if about to spring. + +One bated breath--a thunderous report--a snarling scream of pain, and +the camp was awake! + +"We're attacked!" cried Rod. "Quick--Wabi--Mukoki!" + +The white boy was on his knees now, the smoking rifle still leveled +toward the rocks. Out there, in the thick shadows beyond the fire, a +body was groveling and kicking in death agonies. In another instant the +gaunt form of the old warrior was beside Rod, his rifle at his shoulder, +and over their heads reached Wabigoon's arm, the barrel of his heavy +revolver glinting in the firelight. + +For a full minute they crouched there, breathless, waiting. + +"They've gone!" broke Wabi in a tense whisper. + +"I got one of them!" replied Rod, his voice trembling with excitement. + +Mukoki slipped back and burrowed a hole through the side of the shelter. +He could see nothing. Slowly he slipped out, his rifle ready. The others +could hear him as he went. Foot by foot the old warrior slunk along in +the deep gloom toward the end of the rock. Now he was almost there, +now-- + +The young hunters saw him suddenly straighten. There came to them a low +chuckling grunt. He bent over, seized an object, and flung it in the +light of the fire. + +"Heap big Woonga! Kill nice fat lynx!" + +With a wail, half feigned, half real, Rod flung himself back upon the +balsam while Wabi set up a roar that made the night echo. Mukoki's face +was creased in a broad grin. + +"Heap big Woonga--heem!" he repeated, chuckling. "Nice fat lynx shot +well in face. No look like bad man Woonga to Mukoki!" + +When Rod finally emerged from his den to join the others his face was +flushed and wore what Wabi described as a "sheepish grin." + +"It's all right for you fellows to make fun of me," he declared. "But +what if they had been Woongas? By George, if we're ever attacked again I +won't do a thing. I'll let you fellows fight 'em off!" + +In spite of the general merriment at his expense, Rod was immensely +proud of his first lynx. It was an enormous creature of its kind, drawn +by hunger to the scraps of the camp-fire feast; and it was this animal, +as it cautiously inspected the camp, that the young hunter had heard +crunching in the snow. Wolf, whose instinct had told him what a mix-up +would mean, had slunk into his shelter without betraying his whereabouts +to this arch-enemy of his tribe. + +With the craft of his race, Mukoki was skinning the animal while it was +still warm. + +"You go back bed," he said to his companions. "I build big fire +again--then sleep." + +The excitement of his adventure at least freed Rod from the +unpleasantness of further dreams, and it was late the following morning +before he awoke again. He was astonished to find that a beautiful sun +was shining. Wabi and the old Indian were already outside preparing +breakfast, and the cheerful whistling of the former assured Rod that +there was now little to be feared from the Woongas. Without lingering to +take a beauty nap he joined them. + +Everywhere about them lay white winter. The rocks, the trees, and the +mountain behind them were covered with two feet of snow and upon it the +sun shone with dazzling brilliancy. But it was not until Rod looked into +the north that he saw the wilderness in all of its grandeur. The camp +had been made at the extreme point of the ridge, and stretching away +under his eyes, mile after mile, was the vast white desolation that +reached to Hudson Bay. In speechless wonder he gazed down upon the +unblazed forests, saw plains and hills unfold themselves as his vision +gained distance, followed a river until it was lost in the bewildering +picture, and let his eyes rest here and there upon the glistening, +snow-smothered bosoms of lakes, rimmed in by walls of black forest. This +was not the wilderness as he had expected it to be, nor as he had often +read of it in books. It was beautiful! It was magnificent! His heart +throbbed with pleasure as he gazed down on it, the blood rose to his +face in an excited flush, and he seemed hardly to breathe in his tense +interest. + +Mukoki had come up beside him softly, and spoke in his low guttural +voice. + +"Twent' t'ousand moose down there--twent' t'ousand caribou-oo! No +man--no house--more twent' t'ousand miles!" + +Roderick, even trembling in his new emotion, looked into the old +warrior's face. In Mukoki's eyes there was a curious, thrilling gleam. +He stared straight out into the unending distance as though his keen +vision would penetrate far beyond the last of that visible +desolation--on and on, even to the grim and uttermost fastnesses of +Hudson Bay. Wabi came up and placed his hand on Rod's shoulder. + +"Muky was born off there," he said. "Away beyond where we can see. Those +were his hunting-grounds when a boy. See that mountain yonder? You might +take it for a cloud. It's thirty miles from here! And that lake down +there--you might think a rifle-shot would reach it--is five miles away! +If a moose or a caribou or a wolf should cross it how you could see +him." + +For a few moments longer the three stood silent, then Wabi and the old +Indian returned to the fire to finish the preparation of breakfast, +leaving Rod alone in his enchantment. What unsolved mysteries, what +unwritten tragedies, what romance, what treasure of gold that vast North +must hold! For a thousand, perhaps a million centuries, it had lain thus +undisturbed in the embrace of nature; few white men had broken its +solitudes, and the wild things still lived there as they had lived in +the winters of ages and ages ago. + +The call to breakfast came almost as an unpleasant interruption to Rod. +But it did not shock his appetite as it had his romantic fancies, and he +performed his part at the morning meal with considerable credit. Wabi +and Mukoki had already decided that they would not take up the trail +again that day but would remain in their present camp until the +following morning. There were several reasons for this delay. + +"We can't travel without snow-shoes now," explained Wabi to Rod, "and +we've got to take a day off to teach you how to use them. Then, all the +wild things are lying low. Moose, deer, caribou, and especially wolves +and fur animals, won't begin traveling much until this afternoon and +to-night, and if we took up the trail now we would have no way of +telling what kind of a game country we were in. And that is the +important thing just now. If we strike a first-rate game country during +the next couple days we'll stop and build our winter camp." + +"Then you believe we are far enough away from the Woongas?" asked Rod. + +Mukoki grunted. + +"No believe Woongas come over mountain. Heap good game country back +there. They stay." + +During the meal the white boy asked a hundred questions about the vast +wilderness which lay stretched out before them in a great panorama, and +in which they were soon to bury themselves, and every answer added to +his enthusiasm. Immediately after they had finished eating Rod expressed +a desire to begin his study in snow-shoeing, and for an hour after that +Wabi and Mukoki piloted him back and forth along the ridge, instructing +him in this and in that, applauding when he made an especially good dash +and enjoying themselves immensely when he took one of his frequent +tumbles into the snow. By noon Rod secretly believed that he was +becoming quite an adept. + +Although the day in camp was an exceedingly pleasant one for Rod, he +could not but observe that at times something seemed to be troubling +Wabi. Twice he discovered the Indian youth alone within the shelter +sitting in silent and morose dejection, and finally he insisted upon an +explanation. + +"I want you to tell me what the trouble is, Wabi," he demanded. "What +has gone wrong?" + +Wabi jumped to his feet with a little laugh. + +"Did you ever have a dream that bothered you, Rod?" he asked. "Well, I +had one last night, and since then--somehow--I can't keep from worrying +about the people back at the Post, and especially about Minnetaki. It's +all--what do you call it--bosh? Listen! Wasn't that Mukoki's whistle?" + +As he paused Mukoki came running around the end of the rock. + +"See fun!" he cried softly. "Quick--see heem quick!" + +He turned and darted toward the precipitous edge of the ridge, closely +followed by the two boys. + +"Cari-boo-oo!" he whispered excitedly as they came up beside him. +"Cari-boo-oo--making big play!" + +He pointed down into the snowy wilderness. Three-quarters of a mile +away, though to Rod apparently not more than a third of that distance +from where they stood, half a dozen animals were disporting themselves +in a singular fashion in a meadow-like opening between the mountain and +a range of forest. It was Rod's first real glimpse of that wonderful +animal of the North of which he had read so much, the caribou--commonly +known beyond the Sixtieth Degree as the reindeer; and at this moment +those below him were indulging in the queer play known in the Hudson Bay +regions as the "caribou dance." + +"What's the matter with them?" he asked, his voice quivering with +excitement. "What--" + +"Making big fun!" chuckled Mukoki, drawing the boy closer to the rock +that concealed them. + +Wabi had thrust a finger in his mouth and now held it above his head, +the Indian's truest guide for discovering the direction of the wind. The +lee side of his finger remained cold and damp, while that side upon +which the breeze fell was quickly dried. + +"The wind is toward us, Muky," he announced. "There's a fine chance for +a shot. You go! Rod and I will stay here and watch you." + +Roderick heard--knew that Mukoki was creeping back to the camp for his +rifle, but not for an instant did his spellbound eyes leave the +spectacle below him. Two other animals had joined those in the open. He +could see the sun glistening on their long antlers as they tossed their +heads in their amazing antics. Now three or four of them would dash away +with the speed of the wind, as though the deadliest of enemies were +close behind them. Two or three hundred yards away they would stop with +equal suddenness, whirl about in a circle, as though flight were +interrupted on all sides of them, then tear back with lightning speed to +rejoin the herd. In twos and threes and fours they performed these +evolutions again and again. But there was another antic that held Rod's +eyes, and if it had not been so new and wonderful to him he would have +laughed, as Wabi was doing--silently--behind him. From out of the herd +would suddenly dash one of the agile creatures, whirl about, jump and +kick, and finally bounce up and down on all four feet, as though +performing a comedy sketch in pantomime for the amusement of its +companions; and when this was done it would start out in another mad +flight, with others of the herd at its heels. + +"They are the funniest, swiftest, and shrewdest animals in the North," +said Wabi. "They can smell you over a mountain if the wind is right, and +hear you for half a mile. Look!" + +He pointed downward over Rod's shoulder. Mukoki had already reached the +base of the ridge and was stealing straight out in the direction of the +caribou. Rod gave a surprised gasp. + +"Great Scott! They'll see him, won't they?" he cried. + +"Not if Mukoki knows himself," smiled the Indian youth. "Remember that +we are looking down on things. Everything seems clear and open to us, +while in reality it's quite thick down there. I'll bet Muky can't see +one hundred yards ahead of him. He has got his bearings and will go as +straight as though he was on a blazed trail; but he won't see the +caribou until he conies to the edge of the open." + +Each minute now added to Rod's excitement. Each of those minutes brought +the old warrior nearer his game. Seldom, thought Rod, had such a scene +been unfolded to the eyes of a white boy. The complete picture--the +playful rompings of the dumb children of the wilderness; the stealthy +approach of the old Indian; every rock, every tree that was to play its +part--all were revealed to their eyes. Not a phase in this drama in wild +life escaped them. Five minutes, ten, fifteen passed. They could see +Mukoki as he stopped and lifted a hand to test the wind. Then he +crouched, advancing foot by foot, yard by yard, so slowly that he seemed +to be on his hands and knees. + +"He can hear them, but he can't see them!" breathed Wabigoon. "See! He +places his ear to the ground! Now he has got his bearings again--as +straight as a die! Good old Muky!" + +The old Indian crept on. In his excitement Rod clenched his hands and he +seemed to live without breathing. Would Mukoki never shoot? Would he +_never_ shoot? He seemed now to be within a stone's throw of the herd. + +"How far, Wabi?" + +"Four hundred yards, perhaps five," replied the Indian. "It's a long +shot! He can't see them yet." + +Rod gripped his companion's arm. + +Mukoki had stopped. Down and down he slunk, until he became only a blot +in the snow. + +"Now!" + +There came a moment of startled silence. In the midst of their play the +animals in the open stood for a single instant paralyzed by a knowledge +of impending danger, and in that instant there came to the young hunters +the report of Mukoki's rifle. + +"No good!" cried Wabi. + +In his excitement he leaped to his feet. The caribou had turned and the +whole eight of them were racing across the open. Another shot, and +another--three in quick succession, and one of the fleeing animals fell, +scrambled to its knees--and plunged on again! A fifth shot--the last in +Mukoki's rifle! Again the wounded animal fell, struggled to its +knees--to its forefeet--and fell again. + +"Good work! Five hundred yards if it was a foot!" exclaimed Wabigoon +with a relieved laugh. "Fresh steak for supper, Rod!" + +Mukoki came out into the open, reloading his rifle. Quickly he moved +across the wilderness playground, now crimson with blood, unsheathed his +knife, and dropped upon his knees close to the throat of the slain +animal. + +"I'll go down and give him a little help, Rod," said Wabi. "Your legs +are pretty sore, and it's a hard climb down there; so if you will keep +up the fire, Mukoki and I will bring back the meat." + +During the next hour Rod busied himself with collecting firewood for the +night and in practising with his snow-shoes. He was astonished to find +how swiftly and easily he could travel in them, and was satisfied that +he could make twenty miles a day even as a tenderfoot. + +Left to his own thoughts he found his mind recurring once more to the +Woongas and Minnetaki. Why was Wabi worried? Inwardly he did not believe +that it was a dream alone that was troubling him. There was still some +cause for fear. Of that he was certain. And why would not the Woongas +penetrate beyond this mountain? He had asked himself this question a +score of times during the last twenty-four hours, in spite of the fact +that both Mukoki and Wabigoon were quite satisfied that they were well +out of the Woonga territory. + +It was growing dusk when Wabi and the old Indian returned with the meat +of the caribou. No time was lost in preparing supper, for the hunters +had decided that the next day's trail would begin with dawn and probably +end with darkness, which meant that they would require all the rest they +could get before then. They were all eager to begin the winter's hunt. +That day Mukoki's eyes had glistened at each fresh track he encountered. +Wabi and Rod were filled with enthusiasm. Even Wolf, now and then +stretching his gaunt self, would nose the air with eager suspicion, as +if longing for the excitement of the tragedies in which he was to play +such an important part. + +"If you can stand it," said Wabi, nodding at Rod over his caribou steak, +"we won't lose a minute from now on. Over that country we ought to make +twenty-five or thirty miles to-morrow. We may strike our hunting-ground +by noon, or it may take us two or three days; but in either event we +haven't any time to waste. Hurrah for the big camp, I say--and our fun +begins!" + +It seemed to Rod as though he had hardly fallen asleep that night when +somebody began tumbling him about in his bed of balsam. Opening his eyes +he beheld Wabi's laughing face, illuminated in the glow of a roaring +fire. + +"Time's up!" he called cheerily. "Hustle out, Rod. Breakfast is sizzling +hot, everything is packed, and here you are still dreaming of--what?" + +"Minnetaki!" shot back Rod with unblushing honesty. + +In another minute he was outside, straightening his disheveled garments +and smoothing his tousled hair. It was still very dark, but Rod assured +himself by his watch that it was nearly four o'clock. Mukoki had already +placed their breakfast on a flat rock beside the fire and, according to +Wabigoon's previous scheme, no time was lost in disposing of it. + +Dawn was just breaking when the little cavalcade of adventurers set out +from the camp. More keenly than ever Rod now felt the loss of his rifle. +They were about to enter upon a hunter's paradise--and he had no gun! +His disappointment was acute and he could not repress a confession of +his feelings to Wabi. The Indian youth at once suggested a happy remedy. +They would take turns in using his gun, Rod to have it one day and he +the next; and Wabi's heavy revolver would also change hands, so that the +one who did not possess the rifle would be armed with the smaller +weapon. This solution of the difficulty lifted a dampening burden from +Rod's heart, and when the little party began its descent into the +wilderness regions under the mountain the city lad carried the rifle, +for Wabi insisted that he have the first "turn." + +Once free of the rock-strewn ridge the two boys joined forces in pulling +the toboggan while Mukoki struck out a trail ahead of them. As it became +lighter Rod found his eyes glued with keen interest to Mukoki's +snow-shoes, and for the first time in his life he realized what it +really meant to "make a trail." The old Indian was the most famous +trailmaker as well as the keenest trailer of his tribe, and in the +comparatively open bottoms through which they were now traveling he was +in his element. His strides were enormous, and with each stride he threw +up showers of snow, leaving a broad level path behind him in which the +snow was packed by his own weight, so that when Wabi and Rod came to +follow him they were not impeded by sinking into a soft surface. + +Half a mile from the mountain Mukoki stopped and waited for the others +to come up to him. + +"Moose!" he called, pointing at a curious track in the snow. + +Rod leaned eagerly over the track. + +"The snow is still crumbling and falling where he stepped," said Wabi. +"Watch that little chunk, Rod. See--it's slipping--down--down--there! It +was an old bull--a big fellow--and he passed here less than an hour +ago." + +Signs of the night carnival of the wild things now became more and more +frequent as the hunters advanced. They crossed and recrossed the trail +of a fox; and farther on they discovered where this little pirate of +darkness had slaughtered a big white rabbit. The snow was covered with +blood and hair and part of the carcass remained uneaten. Again Wabi +forgot his determination to waste no time and paused to investigate. + +"Now, if we only knew what kind of a fox he was!" he exclaimed to Rod. +"But we don't. All we know is that he's a fox. And all fox tracks are +alike, no matter what kind of a fox makes them. If there was only some +difference our fortunes would be made!" + +"How?" asked Rod. + +Mukoki chuckled as if the mere thought of such a possibility filled him +with glee. + +"Well, that fellow may be an ordinary red fox," explained the Indian +youth. "If so, he is only worth from ten to twenty dollars; or he may be +a black fox, worth fifty or sixty; or what we call a 'cross'--a mixture +of silver and black--worth from seventy-five to a hundred. Or--" + +"Heap big silver!" interrupted Mukoki with another chuckle. + +"Yes, or a silver," finished Wabi. "A poor silver is worth two hundred +dollars, and a good one from five hundred to a thousand! Now do you see +why we would like to have a difference in the tracks? If that was a +silver, a black or a 'cross,' we'd follow him; but in all probability he +is red." + +Every hour added to Rod's knowledge of the wilderness and its people. +For the first time in his life he saw the big dog-like tracks made by +wolves, the dainty hoof-prints of the red deer and the spreading +imprints of a traveling lynx; he pictured the hugeness of the moose that +made a track as big as his head, discovered how to tell the difference +between the hoof-print of a small moose and a big caribou, and in almost +every mile learned something new. + +Half a dozen times during the morning the hunters stopped to rest. By +noon Wabi figured that they had traveled twenty miles, and, although +very tired, Rod declared that he was still "game for another ten." After +dinner the aspect of the country changed. The river which they had been +following became narrower and was so swift in places that it rushed +tumultuously between its frozen edges. Forest-clad hills, huge boulders +and masses of rock now began to mingle again with the bottoms, which in +this country are known as plains. Every mile added to the roughness and +picturesque grandeur of the country. A few miles to the east rose +another range of wild and rugged hills; small lakes became more and more +numerous, and everywhere the hunters crossed and recrossed frozen +creeks. + +And each step they took now added to the enthusiasm of Wabi and his +companions. Evidences of game and fur animals were plenty. A thousand +ideal locations for a winter camp were about them, and their progress +became slow and studied. + +A gently sloping hill of considerable height now lay in their path and +Mukoki led the ascent. At the top the three paused in joyful +astonishment. At their feet lay a "dip," or hollow, a dozen acres in +extent, and in the center of this dip was a tiny lake partly surrounded +by a mixed forest of cedar, balsam and birch that swept back over the +hill, and partly inclosed by a meadow-like opening. One might have +traveled through the country a thousand times without discovering this +bit of wilderness paradise hidden in a hilltop. Without speaking Mukoki +threw off his heavy pack. Wabi unbuckled his harness and relieved his +shoulders of their burden. Rod, following their example, dropped his +small pack beside that of the old Indian, and Wolf, straining at his +babeesh thong, gazed with eager eyes into the hollow as though he, too, +knew that it was to be their winter home. + +Wabi broke the silence. + +"How is that, Muky?" he asked. + +Mukoki chuckled with unbounded satisfaction. + +"Ver' fine. No get bad wind--never see smoke--plenty wood--plenty +water." + +Relieved of their burdens, and leaving Wolf tied to the toboggan, the +hunters made their way down to the lake. Hardly had they reached its +edge when Wabi halted with a startled exclamation and pointed into the +forest on the opposite side. + +"Look at that!" + +A hundred yards away, almost concealed among the trees, was a cabin. +Even from where they stood they could see that it was deserted. Snow was +drifted high about it. No chimney surmounted its roof. Nowhere was there +a sign of life. + +Slowly the hunters approached. It was evident that the cabin was very +old. The logs of which it was built were beginning to decay. A mass of +saplings had taken root upon its roof, and everything about it gave +evidence that it had been erected many years before. The door, made of +split timber and opening toward the lake, was closed; the one window, +also opening upon the lake, was tightly barred with lengths of sapling. + +Mukoki tried the door, but it resisted his efforts. Evidently it was +strongly barred from within. + +Curiosity now gave place to astonishment. + +How could the door be locked within, and the window barred from within, +without there being somebody inside? + +For a few moments the three stood speechless, listening. + +"Looks queer, doesn't it?" spoke Wabi softly. + +Mukoki had dropped on his knees beside the door. He could hear no sound. +Then he kicked off his snow-shoes, gripped his belt-ax and stepped to +the window. + +A dozen blows and one of the bars fell. The old Indian sniffed +suspiciously, his ear close to the opening. Damp, stifling air greeted +his nostrils, but still there was no sound. One after another he knocked +off the remaining bars and thrust his head and shoulders inside. +Gradually his eyes became accustomed to the darkness and he pulled +himself in. + +Half-way--and he stopped. + +"Go on, Muky," urged Wabi, who was pressing close behind. + +There came no answer from the old Indian. For a full minute he remained +poised there, as motionless as a stone, as silent as death. + +Then, very slowly--inch by inch, as though afraid of awakening a +sleeping person, he lowered himself to the ground. When he turned toward +the young hunters it was with an expression that Rod had never seen upon +Mukoki's face before. + +"What is it, Mukoki?" + +The old Indian gasped, as if for fresh air. + +"Cabin--she filled with twent' t'ousand dead men!" he replied. + +[Illustration: "Knife--fight--heem killed!"] + + + +CHAPTER VII + +RODERICK DISCOVERS THE BUCKSKIN BAG + + +For one long breath Rod and Wabi stared at their companion, only half +believing, yet startled by the strange look in the old warrior's face. + +"Twent' t'ousand dead men!" he repeated. As he raised his hand, partly +to give emphasis and partly to brush the cobwebs from his face, the boys +saw it trembling in a way that even Wabi had never witnessed before. + +"Ugh!" + +In another instant Wabi was at the window, head and shoulders in, as +Mukoki had been before him. After a little he pulled himself back and as +he glanced at Rod he laughed in an odd thrilling way, as though he had +been startled, but not so much so as Mukoki, who had prepared him for +the sight which had struck his own vision with the unexpectedness of a +shot in the back. + +"Take a look, Rod!" + +With his breath coming in little uneasy jerks Rod approached the black +aperture. A queer sensation seized upon him--a palpitation, not of fear, +but of something; a very unpleasant feeling that seemed to choke his +breath, and made him wish that he had not been asked to peer into that +mysterious darkness. Slowly he thrust his head through the hole. It was +as black as night inside. But gradually the darkness seemed to be +dispelled. He saw, in a little while, the opposite wall of the cabin. A +table outlined itself in deep shadows, and near the table there was a +pile of something that he could not name; and tumbled over that was a +chair, with an object that might have been an old rag half covering it. + +His eyes traveled nearer. Outside Wabi and Mukoki heard a startled, +partly suppressed cry. The boy's hands gripped the sides of the window. +Fascinated, he stared down upon an object almost within arm's reach of +him. + +There, leaning against the cabin wall, was what half a century or more +ago had been a living man! Now it was a mere skeleton, a grotesque, +terrible-looking object, its empty eye-sockets gleaming dully with the +light from the window, its grinning mouth, distorted into ghostly life +by the pallid mixture of light and gloom, turned full up at him! + +Rod fell back, trembling and white. + +"I only saw one," he gasped, remembering Mukoki's excited estimate. + +Wabi, who had regained his composure, laughed as he struck him two or +three playful blows on the back. Mukoki only grunted. + +"You didn't look long enough, Rod!" he cried banteringly. "He got on +your nerves too quick. I don't blame you, though. By George, I'll bet +the shivers went up Muky's back when he first saw 'em! I'm going in to +open the door." + +Without trepidation the young Indian crawled through the window. Rod, +whose nervousness was quickly dispelled, made haste to follow him, while +Mukoki again threw his weight against the door. A few blows of Wabi's +belt-ax and the door shot inward so suddenly that the old Indian went +sprawling after it upon all fours. + +A flood of light filled the interior of the cabin. Instinctively Rod's +eyes sought the skeleton against the wall. It was leaning as if, many +years before, a man had died there in a posture of sleep. Quite near +this ghastly tenant of the cabin, stretched at full length upon the log +floor, was a second skeleton, and near the overturned chair was a small +cluttered heap of bones which were evidently those of some animal. Rod +and Wabi drew nearer the skeleton against the wall and were bent upon +making a closer examination when an exclamation from Mukoki attracted +their attention to the old pathfinder. He was upon his knees beside the +second skeleton, and as the boys approached he lifted eyes to them that +were filled with unbounded amazement, at the same time pointing a long +forefinger to come object among the bones. + +"Knife--fight--heem killed!" + +Plunged to the hilt in what had once been the breast of a living being, +the boys saw a long, heavy-bladed knife, its handle rotting with age, +its edges eaten by rust--but still erect, held there by the murderous +road its owner had cleft for it through the flesh and bone of his +victim. + +Rod, who had fallen upon his knees, gazed up blankly; his jaw dropped, +and he asked the first question that popped into his head. + +"Who--did it?" + +Mukoki chuckled, almost gleefully, and nodded toward the gruesome thing +reclining against the wall. + +"Heem!" + +Moved by a common instinct the three drew near the other skeleton. One +of its long arms was resting across what had once been a pail, but +which, long since, had sunk into total collapse between its hoops. The +finger-bones of this arm were still tightly shut, clutching between them +a roll of something that looked like birch-bark. The remaining arm had +fallen close to the skeleton's side, and it was on this side that +Mukoki's critical eyes searched most carefully, his curiosity being +almost immediately satisfied by the discovery of a short, slant-wise cut +in one of the ribs. + +"This un die here!" he explained. "Git um stuck knife in ribs. Bad way +die! Much hurt--no die quick, sometime. Ver' bad way git stuck!" + +"Ugh!" shuddered Rod. "This cabin hasn't had any fresh air in it for a +century, I'll bet. Let's get out!" + +Mukoki, in passing, picked up a skull from the heap of bones near the +chair. + +"Dog!" he grunted. "Door lock'--window shut--men fight--both kill. Dog +starve!" + +As the three retraced their steps to the spot where Wolf was guarding +the toboggan, Rod's imaginative mind quickly painted a picture of the +terrible tragedy that had occurred long ago in the old cabin. To Mukoki +and Wabigoon the discovery of the skeletons was simply an incident in a +long life of wilderness adventure--something of passing interest, but of +small importance. To Rod it was the most tragic event that had ever come +into his city-bound existence, with the exception of the thrilling +conflict at Wabinosh House. He reconstructed that deadly hour in the +cabin; saw the men in fierce altercation, saw them struggling, and +almost heard the fatal blows as they were struck--the blows that slew +one with the suddenness of a lightning bolt and sent the other, +triumphant but dying, to breathe his last moments with his back propped +against the wall. And the dog! What part had he taken? And after +that--long days of maddening loneliness, days of starvation and of +thirst, until he, too, doubled himself up on the floor and died. It was +a terrible, a thrilling picture that burned in Roderick's brain. But why +had they quarreled? What cause had there been for that sanguinary night +duel? Instinctively Rod accepted it as having occurred at night, for the +door had been locked, the window barred. Just then he would have given a +good deal to have had the mystery solved. + +At the top of the hill Rod awoke to present realities. Wabi, who had +harnessed himself to the toboggan, was in high spirits. + +"That cabin is a dandy!" he exclaimed as Rod joined him. "It would have +taken us at least two weeks to build as good a one. Isn't it luck?" + +"We're going to live in it?" inquired his companion. + +"Live in it! I should say we were. It is three times as big as the shack +we had planned to build. I can't understand why two men like those +fellows should have put up such a large cabin. What do you think, +Mukoki?" + +Mukoki shook his head. Evidently the mystery of the whole thing, beyond +the fact that the tenants of the cabin had killed themselves in battle, +was beyond his comprehension. + +The winter outfit was soon in a heap beside the cabin door. + +"Now for cleaning up," announced Wabi cheerfully. "Muky, you lend me a +hand with the bones, will you? Rod can nose around and fetch out +anything he likes." + +This assignment just suited Rod's curiosity. He was now worked up to a +feverish pitch of expectancy. Might he not discover some clue that would +lead to a solution of the mystery? + +One question alone seemed to ring incessantly in his head. Why had they +fought? _Why had they fought?_ + +He even found himself repeating this under his breath as he began +rummaging about. He kicked over the old chair, which was made of +saplings nailed together, scrutinized a heap of rubbish that crumbled to +dust under his touch, and gave a little cry of exultation when he found +two guns leaning in a corner of the cabin. Their stocks were decaying; +their locks were encased with rust, their barrels, too, were thick with +the accumulated rust of years. Carefully, almost tenderly, he took one +of these relics of a past age in his hands. It was of ancient pattern, +almost as long as he was tall. + +"Hudson Bay gun--the kind they had before my father was born!" said +Wabi. + +With bated breath and eagerly beating heart Rod pursued his search. On +one of the walls he found the remains of what had once been +garments--part of a hat, that fell in a thousand pieces when he touched +it; the dust-rags of a coat and other things that he could not name. On +the table there were rusty pans, a tin pail, an iron kettle, and the +remains of old knives, forks and spoons. On one end of this table there +was an unusual-looking object, and he touched it. Unlike the other rags +it did not crumble, and when he lifted it he found that it was a small +bag, made of buckskin, tied at the end--and heavy! With trembling +fingers he tore away the rotted string and out upon the table there +rattled a handful of greenish-black, pebbly looking objects. + +Rod gave a sharp quick cry for the others. + +Wabi and Mukoki had just come through the door after bearing out one of +their gruesome loads, and the young Indian hurried to his side. He +weighed one of the pieces in the palm of his hand. + +"It's lead, or--" + +"Gold!" breathed Rod. + +He could hear his own heart thumping as Wabi jumped back to the light of +the door, his sheath-knife in his hand. For an instant the keen blade +sank into the age-discolored object, and before Rod could see into the +crease that it made Wabi's voice rose in an excited cry. + +"It's a gold nugget!" + +"And _that's_ why they fought!" exclaimed Rod exultantly. + +He had hoped--and he had discovered the reason. For a few moments this +was of more importance to him than the fact that he had found gold. Wabi +and Mukoki were now in a panic of excitement. The buckskin bag was +turned inside out; the table was cleared of every other object; every +nook and cranny was searched with new enthusiasm. The searchers hardly +spoke. Each was intent upon finding--finding--finding. Thus does +gold--virgin gold--stir up the sparks of that latent, feverish fire +which is in every man's soul. Again Rod joined in the search. Every rag, +every pile of dust, every bit of unrecognizable debris was torn, sifted +and scattered. At the end of an hour the three paused, hopelessly +baffled, even keenly disappointed for the time. + +"I guess that's all there is," said Wabi. + +It was the longest sentence that he had spoken for half an hour. + +"There is only one thing to do, boys. We'll clean out everything there +is in the cabin, and to-morrow we'll tear up the floor. You can't tell +what there might be under it, and we've got to have a new floor anyway. +It is getting dusk, and if we have this place fit to sleep in to-night +we have got to hustle." + +No time was lost in getting the debris of the cabin outside, and by the +time darkness had fallen a mass of balsam boughs had been spread upon +the log floor just inside the door, blankets were out, packs and +supplies stowed away in one corner, and everything "comfortable and +shipshape," as Rod expressed it. A huge fire was built a few feet away +from the open door and the light and heat from this made the interior of +the cabin quite light and warm, and, with the assistance of a couple of +candles, more home-like than any camp they had slept in thus far. +Mukoki's supper was a veritable feast--broiled caribou, cold beans that +the old Indian had cooked at their last camp, meal cakes and hot coffee. +The three happy hunters ate of it as though they had not tasted food for +a week. + +The day, though a hard one, had been fraught with too much excitement +for them to retire to their blankets immediately after this meal, as +they had usually done in other camps. They realized, too, that they had +reached the end of their journey and that their hardest work was over. +There was no long jaunt ahead of them to-morrow. Their new life--the +happiest life in the world to them--had already begun. Their camp was +established, they were ready for their winter's sport, and from this +moment on they felt that their evenings were their own to do with as +they pleased. + +So for many hours that night Rod, Mukoki and Wabigoon sat up and talked +and kept the fire roaring before the door. Twenty times they went over +the tragedy of the old cabin; twenty times they weighed the half-pound +of precious little lumps in the palms of their hands, and bit by bit +they built up that life romance of the days of long ago, when all this +wilderness was still an unopened book to the white man. And that story +seemed very clear to them now. These men had been prospectors. They had +discovered gold. Afterward they had quarreled, probably over some +division of it--perhaps over the ownership of the very nuggets they had +found; and then, in the heat of their anger, had followed the knife +battle. + +But where had they discovered the gold? That was the question of supreme +interest to the hunters, and they debated it until midnight. There were +no mining tools in the camp; no pick, shovel or pan. Then it occurred to +them that the builders of the cabin had been hunters, had discovered +gold by accident and had collected that in the buckskin bag without the +use of a pan. + +There was little sleep in the camp that night, and with the first light +of day the three were at work again. Immediately after breakfast the +task of tearing up the old and decayed floor began. One by one the split +saplings were pried up and carried out for firewood, until the earth +floor lay bare. Every foot of it was now eagerly turned over with a +shovel which had been brought in the equipment; the base-logs were +undermined, and filled in again; the moss that had been packed in the +chinks between the cabin timbers was dug out, and by noon there was not +a square inch of the interior of the camp that had not been searched. + +There was no more gold. + +In a way this fact brought relief with it. Both Wabi and Rod gradually +recovered from their nervous excitement. The thought of gold gradually +faded from their minds; the joy and exhilaration of the "hunt life" +filled them more and more. Mukoki set to work cutting fresh cedars for +the floor; the two boys scoured every log with water from the lake and +afterward gathered several bushels of moss for refilling the chinks. +That evening supper was cooked on the sheet-iron "section stove" which +they had brought on the toboggan, and which was set up where the ancient +stove of flat stones had tumbled into ruin. By candle-light the work of +"rechinking" with moss progressed rapidly. Wabi was constantly bursting +into snatches of wild Indian song, Rod whistled until his throat was +sore and Mukoki chuckled and grunted and talked with constantly +increasing volubility. A score of times they congratulated one another +upon their good luck. Eight wolf-scalps, a fine lynx and nearly two +hundred dollars in gold--all within their first week! It was enough to +fill them with enthusiasm and they made little effort to repress their +joy. + +During this evening Mukoki boiled up a large pot of caribou fat and +bones, and when Rod asked what kind of soup he was making he responded +by picking up a handful of steel traps and dropping them into the +mixture. + +"Make traps smell good for fox--wolf--fisher, an' marten, too; heem +come--all come--like smell," he explained. + +"If you don't dip the traps," added Wabi, "nine fur animals out of ten, +and wolves most of all, will fight shy of the bait. They can smell the +human odor you leave on the steel when you handle it. But the grease +'draws' them." + +When the hunters wrapped themselves in their blankets that night their +wilderness home was complete. All that remained to be done was the +building of three bunks against the ends of the cabin, and this work it +was agreed could be accomplished at odd hours by any one who happened to +be in camp. In the morning, laden with traps, they would strike out +their first hunting-trails, keeping their eyes especially open for signs +of wolves; for Mukoki was the greatest wolf hunter in all the Hudson Bay +region. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +HOW WOLF BECAME THE COMPANION OF MEN + + +Twice that night Rod was awakened by Mukoki opening the cabin door. The +second time he raised himself upon his elbows and quietly watched the +old warrior. It was a brilliantly clear night and a flood of moonlight +was pouring into the camp. He could hear Mukoki chuckling and grunting, +as though communicating with himself, and at last, his curiosity getting +the better of him, he wrapped his blanket about him and joined the +Indian at the door. + +Mukoki was peering up into space. Rod followed his gaze. The moon was +directly above the cabin. The sky was clear of clouds and so bright was +the light that objects on the farther side of the lake were plainly +visible. + +Besides, it was bitter cold--so cold that his face began to tingle as he +stood there. These things he noticed, but he could see nothing to hold +Mukoki's vision in the sky above unless it was the glorious beauty of +the night. + +"What is it, Mukoki?" he asked. + +The old Indian looked silently at him for a moment, some mysterious, +all-absorbing joy revealed in every lineament of his face. + +"Wolf night!" he whispered. + +He looked back to where Wabi was sleeping. + +"Wolf night!" he repeated, and slipped like a shadow to the side of the +unconscious young hunter. Rod regarded his actions with growing wonder. +He saw him bend over Wabi, shake him by the shoulders, and heard him +repeat again, "Wolf night! Wolf night!" + +Wabi awoke and sat up in his blankets, and Mukoki came back to the door. +He had dressed himself before this, and now, with his rifle, slipped out +into the night. The young Indian had joined Rod at the open door and +together they watched Mukoki's gaunt figure as it sped swiftly across +the lake, up the hill and over into the wilderness desolation beyond. + +When Rod looked at Wabi he saw that the Indian boy's eyes were wide and +staring, with an expression in them that was something between fright +and horror. Without speaking he went to the table and lighted the +candles and then dressed. When he was done his face still bore traces of +suppressed excitement. + +He ran back to the door and whistled loudly. From his shelter beside the +cabin the captive wolf responded with a snarling whine. Again he +whistled, a dozen times, twenty, but there came no reply. More swiftly +than Mukoki the Indian youth sped across the lake and to the summit of +the hill. Mukoki had completely disappeared in the white, brilliant +vastness of the wilderness that stretched away at his feet. + +When Wabi returned to the cabin Rod had a fire roaring in the stove. He +seated himself beside it, holding out a pair of hands blue with cold. + +"Ugh! It's an awful night!" he shivered. + +He laughed across at Rod, a little uneasily, but with the old light back +in his eyes. Suddenly he asked: + +"Did Minnetaki ever tell you--anything--queer--about Mukoki, Rod?" + +"Nothing more than you have told me yourself." + +"Well, once in a great while Mukoki has--not exactly a fit, but a little +mad spell! I have never determined to my own satisfaction whether he is +really out of his head or not. Sometimes I think he is and sometimes I +think he is not. But the Indians at the Post believe that at certain +times he goes crazy over wolves." + +"Wolves!" exclaimed Rod. + +"Yes, wolves. And he has good reason. A good many years ago, just about +when you and I were born, Mukoki had a wife and child. My mother and +others at the Post say that he was especially gone over the kid. He +wouldn't hunt like other Indians, but would spend whole days at his +shack playing with it and teaching it to do things; and when he did go +hunting he would often tote it on his back, even when it wasn't much +more than a squalling papoose. He was the happiest Indian at the Post, +and one of the poorest. One day Mukoki came to the Post with a little +bundle of fur, and most of the things he got in exchange for it, mother +says, were for the kid. He reached the store at night and expected to +leave for home the next noon, which would bring him to his camp before +dark. But something delayed him and he didn't get started until the +morning after. Meanwhile, late in the afternoon of the day when he was +to have been home, his wife bundled up the kid and they set out to meet +him. Well--" + +A weird howl from the captive wolf interrupted Wabi for a moment. + +"Well, they went on and on, and of course did not meet him. And then, +the people at the Post say, the mother must have slipped and hurt +herself. Anyway, when Mukoki came over the trail the next day he found +them half eaten by wolves. From that day on Mukoki was a different +Indian. He became the greatest wolf hunter in all these regions. Soon +after the tragedy he came to the Post to live and since then he has not +left Minnetaki and me. Once in a great while when the night is just +right, when the moon is shining and it is bitter cold, Mukoki seems to +go a little mad. He calls this a 'wolf night.' No one can stop him from +going out; no one can get him to talk; he will allow no one to accompany +him when in such a mood. He will walk miles and miles to-night. But he +will come back. And when he returns he will be as sane as you and I, and +if you ask him where he has been he will say that he went out to see if +he could get a shot at something." + +Rod had listened in rapt attention. To him, as Wabi proceeded with his +story of the tragedy in Mukoki's life, the old Indian was transformed +into another being. No longer was he a mere savage reclaimed a little +from the wilderness. There had sprung up in Rod's breast a great, human, +throbbing sympathy for him, and in the dim candle-glow his eyes +glistened with a dampness which he made no attempt to conceal. + +"What does Mukoki mean by 'wolf night'?" he asked. + +"Muky is a wizard when it comes to hunting wolves," Wabi went on. "He +has studied them and thought of them every day of his life for nearly +twenty years. He knows more about wolves than all the rest of the +hunters in this country together. He can catch them in every trap he +sets, which no other trapper in the world can do; he can tell you a +hundred different things about a certain wolf simply by its track, and +because of his wonderful knowledge he can tell, by some instinct that is +almost supernatural, when a 'wolf night' comes. Something in the air +to-night, something in the sky--in the moon--in the very way the +wilderness looks, tells him that stray wolves in the plains and hills +are 'packing' or banding together to-night, and that in the morning the +sun will be shining, and they will be on the sunny sides of the +mountains. See if I am not right. To-morrow night, if Mukoki comes back +by then, we shall have some exciting sport with the wolves, and then you +will see how Wolf out there does his work!" + +There followed several minutes of silence. The fire roared up the +chimney, the stove glowed red hot and the boys sat and looked and +listened. Rod took out his watch. It lacked only ten minutes of +midnight. Yet neither seemed possessed with a desire to return to their +interrupted sleep. + +"Wolf is a curious beast," mused Wabi softly. "You might think he was a +sneaking, traitorous cur of a wolf to turn against his own breed and +lure them to death. But he isn't. Wolf, as well as Mukoki, has good +cause for what he does. You might call it animal vengeance. Did you ever +notice that a half of one of his ears is gone? And if you thrust back +his head you will find a terrible sear in his throat, and from his left +side just back of the fore leg a chunk of flesh half as big as my hand +has been torn away. We caught Wolf in a lynx trap, Mukoki and I. He +wasn't much more than a whelp then--about six months old, Mukoki said. +And while he was in the trap, helpless and unable to defend himself, +three or four of his lovely tribe jumped upon him and tried to kill him +for breakfast. We hove in sight just in time to drive the cannibals off. +We kept Wolf, sewed up his side and throat, tamed him--and to-morrow +night you will see how Mukoki has taught him to get even with his +people." + +It was two hours later when Rod and Wabigoon extinguished the candles +and returned to their blankets. And for another hour after that the +former found it impossible to sleep. He wondered where Mukoki +was--wondered what he was doing, and how in his strange madness he found +his way in the trackless wilderness. + +When he finally fell asleep it was to dream of the Indian mother and her +child; only after a little there was no child, and the woman changed +into Minnetaki, and the ravenous wolves into men. From this unpleasant +picture he was aroused by a series of prods in his side, and opening his +eyes he beheld Wabi in his blankets a yard away, pointing over and +beyond him and nodding his head. Rod looked, and caught his breath. + +There was Mukoki--peeling potatoes! + +"Hello, Muky!" he shouted. + +The old Indian looked up with a grin. His face bore no signs of his mad +night on the trail. He nodded cheerfully and proceeded with the +preparation of breakfast as though he had just risen from his blankets +after a long night's rest. + +"Better get up," he advised. "Big day's hunt. Much fine sunshine to-day. +Find wolves on mountain--plenty wolves!" + +The boys tumbled from their blankets and began dressing. + +"What time did you get in?" asked Wabi. + +"Now," replied Mukoki, pointing to the hot stove and the peeled +potatoes. "Just make fire good." + +Wabi gave Rod a suggestive look as the old Indian bent over the stove. + +"What were you doing last night?" he questioned. + +"Big moon--might get shot," grunted Mukoki. "See lynx on hill. See +wolf-tracks on red deer trail. No shot." + +This was as much of the history of Mukoki's night on the trail as the +boys could secure, but during their breakfast Wabi shot another glance +at Rod, and as Mukoki left the table for a moment to close the damper in +the stove he found an opportunity to whisper: + +"See if I'm not right. He will choose the mountain trail." When their +companion returned, he said: "We had better split up this morning, +hadn't we, Muky? It looks to me as though there are two mighty good +lines for traps--one over the hill, where that creek leads off through +the range of ridges to the east, and the other along the creek which +runs through the hilly plains to the north. What do you think of it?" + +"Good" agreed the old hunter. "You two go north--I take ridges." + +"No, you and I will take the ridges and Wabi will go north alone," +amended Rod quickly. "I'm going with you, Mukoki!" + +Mukoki, who was somewhat flattered by this preference of the white +youth, grinned and chuckled and began to talk more volubly about the +plans which were in his head. It was agreed that they all would return +to the cabin at an early hour in the afternoon, for the old Indian +seemed positive that they would have their first wolf hunt that night. + +Rod noticed that the captive wolf received no breakfast that morning, +and he easily guessed the reason. + +The traps were now divided. Three different sizes had been brought from +the Post--fifty small ones for mink, marten and other small fur animals; +fifteen fox traps, and as many larger ones for lynx and wolves. Wabi +equipped himself with twenty of the small traps and four each of fox and +lynx traps, while Rod and Mukoki took about forty in all. The remainder +of the caribou meat was then cut into chunks and divided equally among +them for bait. + +The sun was just beginning to show itself above the wilderness when the +hunters left camp. As Mukoki had predicted, it was a glorious day, one +of those bitterly cold, cloudless days when, as the Indians believe, the +great Creator robs the rest of the world of the sun that it may shine in +all its glory upon their own savage land. From the top of the hill that +sheltered their home Rod looked out over the glistening forests and +lakes in rapt and speechless admiration; but only for a few moments did +the three pause, then took up their different trails. + +At the foot of this hill Mukoki and his companion struck the creek. They +had not progressed more than fifty rods when the old Indian stopped and +pointed at a fallen log which spanned the stream. The snow on this log +was beaten by tiny footprints. Mukoki gazed a moment, cast an observant +eye along the trail, and at once threw off his pack. + +"Mink!" he explained. He crossed the frozen creek, taking care not to +touch the log. On the opposite side the tracks spread out over a +windfall of trees. "Whole family mink live here," continued Mukoki. +"T'ree--mebby four--mebby five. Build trap-house right here!" + +Never before had Rod seen a trap set as the old Indian now set his. Very +near the end of the log over which the mink made their trail he quickly +built a shelter of sticks which when completed was in the form of a tiny +wigwam. At the back of this was placed a chunk of the caribou meat, and +in front of this bait, so that an animal would have to spring it in +passing, was set a trap, carefully covered with snow and a few leaves. +Within twenty minutes Mukoki had built two of these shelters and had set +two traps. + +"Why do you build those little houses?" asked Rod, as they again took up +their trail. + +"Much snow come in winter," elucidated the Indian. "Build house to keep +snow off traps. No do that, be digging out traps all winter. When +mink--heem smell meat--go in house he got to go over trap. Make house +for all small animal like heem. No good for lynx. He see house--walk +roun' 'n' roun' 'n' roun'--and then go 'way. Smart fellow--lynx. Wolf +and fox, too." + +"Is a mink worth much?" + +"Fi' dollar--no less that. Seven--eight dollar for good one." + +During the next mile six other mink traps were set. The creek now ran +along the edge of a high rocky ridge and Mukoki's eyes began to shine +with a new interest. No longer did he seem entirely absorbed in the +discovery of signs of fur animals. His eyes were constantly scanning the +sun-bathed side of the ridge ahead and his progress was slow and +cautious. He spoke in whispers, and Rod followed his example. Frequently +the two would stop and scan the openings for signs of life. Twice they +set fox traps where there were evident signs of runways; in a wild +ravine, strewn with tumbled trees and masses of rock, they struck a lynx +track and set a trap for him at each end of the ravine; but even during +these operations Mukoki's interest was divided. The hunters now walked +abreast, about fifty yards apart, Rod never forging a foot ahead of the +cautious Mukoki. Suddenly the youth heard a low call and he saw his +companion beckoning to him with frantic enthusiasm. + +"Wolf!" whispered Mukoki as Rod joined him. + +In the snow were a number of tracks that reminded Rod of those made by a +dog. + +"T'ree wolf!" continued the Indian jubilantly. "Travel early this +morning. Somewhere in warm sun on mountain!" + +They followed now in the wolf trail. A little way on Rod found part of +the carcass of a rabbit with fox tracks about it. Here Mukoki set +another trap. A little farther still they came across a fisher trail and +another trap was laid. Caribou and deer tracks crossed and recrossed the +creek, but the Indian paid little attention to them. A fourth wolf +joined the pack, and a fifth, and half an hour later the trail of three +other wolves cut at right angles across the one they were following and +disappeared in the direction of the thickly timbered plains. Mukoki's +face was crinkled with joy. + +"Many wolf near," he exclaimed. "Many wolf off there 'n' off there 'n' +off there. Good place for night hunt." + +Soon the creek swung out from the ridge and cut a circuitous channel +through a small swamp. Here there were signs of wild life which set +Rod's heart thumping and his blood tingling with excitement. In places +the snow was literally packed with deer tracks. Trails ran in every +direction, the bark had been rubbed from scores of saplings, and every +step gave fresh evidence of the near presence of game. The stealth with +which Mukoki now advanced was almost painful. Every twig was pressed +behind him noiselessly, and once when Rod struck his snow-shoe against +the butt of a small tree the old Indian held up his hands in mock +horror. Ten minutes, fifteen--twenty of them passed in this cautious, +breathless trailing of the swamp. + +Suddenly Mukoki stopped, and a hand was held out behind him warningly. +He turned his face back, and Rod knew that he saw game. Inch by inch he +crouched upon his snow-shoes, and beckoned for Rod to approach, slowly, +quietly. When the boy had come near enough he passed back his rifle, and +his lips formed the almost noiseless word, "Shoot!" + +Tremblingly Rod seized the gun and looked into the swamp ahead, Mukoki +doubling down in front of him. What he saw sent him for a moment into +the first nervous tremor of buck fever. Not more than a hundred yards +away stood a magnificent buck browsing the tips of a clump of hazel, and +just beyond him were two does. With a powerful effort Rod steadied +himself. The buck was standing broadside, his head and neck stretched +up, offering a beautiful shot at the vital spot behind his fore leg. At +this the young hunter aimed and fired. With one spasmodic bound the +animal dropped dead. + +Hardly had Rod seen the effect of his shot before Mukoki was traveling +swiftly toward the fallen game, unstrapping his pack as he ran. By the +time the youth reached his quarry the old Indian had produced a large +whisky flask holding about a quart. Without explanation he now proceeded +to thrust his knife into the quivering animal's throat and fill this +flask with blood. When he had finished his task he held it up with an +air of unbounded satisfaction. + +"Blood for wolf. Heem like blood. Smell um--come make big shoot +to-night. No blood, no bait--no wolf shoot!" + +Mukoki no longer maintained his usual quiet, and it was evident to Rod +that the Indian considered his mission for that day practically +accomplished. After taking the heart, liver and one of the hind quarters +of the buck Mukoki drew a long rope of babeesh from his pack, tied one +end of it around the animal's neck, flung the other end over a near +limb, and with his companion's assistance hoisted the carcass until it +was clear of the ground. + +"If somethin' happen we no come back to-night heem safe from wolf," he +explained. + +The two now continued through the swamp. At its farther edge the ground +rose gently from the creek toward the hills, and this sloping plain was +covered with huge boulders and a thin growth of large spruce and birch. +Just beyond the creek was a gigantic rock which immediately caught +Mukoki's attention. All sides except one were too precipitous for +ascent, and even this one could not be climbed without the assistance of +a sapling or two. They could see, however, that the top of the, rock was +flat, and Mukoki called attention to this fact with an exultant chuckle. + +"Fine place for wolf hunt!" he exclaimed. "Many wolf off there in swamp +an' in hill. We call heem here. Shoot from there!" He pointed to a clump +of spruce a dozen rods away. + +By Rod's watch it was now nearly noon and the two sat down to eat the +sandwiches they had brought with them. Only a few minutes were lost in +taking up the home trail. Beyond the swamp Mukoki cut at right angles to +their trap-line until he had ascended to the top of the ridge that had +been on their right and which would take them very near their camp. From +this ridge Rod could look about him upon a wild and rugged scene. On one +side it sloped down to the plains, but on the other it fell in almost +sheer walls, forming at its base five hundred feet below a narrow and +gloomy chasm, through which a small stream found its way. Several times +Mukoki stopped and leaned perilously close to the dizzy edge of the +mountain, peering down with critical eyes, and once when he pulled +himself back cautiously by means of a small sapling he explained his +interest by saying: + +"Plenty bear there in spring!" + +But Rod was not thinking of bears. Once more his head was filled with +the thought of gold. Perhaps that very chasm held the priceless secret +that had died with its owners half a century ago. The dark and gloomy +silence that hung between those two walls of rock, the death-like +desolation, the stealthy windings of the creek--everything in that dim +and mysterious world between the two mountains, unshattered by sound and +impenetrable to the winter sun, seemed in his mind to link itself with +the tragedy of long ago. + +Did that chasm hold the secret of the dead men? + +Again and again Rod found himself asking this question as he followed +Mukoki, and the oftener he asked it the nearer he seemed to an answer, +until at last, with a curious, thrilling certainty that set his blood +tingling he caught Mukoki by the arm and pointing back, said: + +"Mukoki--the gold was found between those mountains!" + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WOLF TAKES VENGEANCE UPON HIS PEOPLE + + +From that hour was born in Roderick Drew's breast a strange, +imperishable desire. Willingly at this moment would he have given up the +winter trapping to have pursued that golden _ignis fatuus_ of all +ages--the lure of gold. To him the story of the old cabin, the skeletons +and the treasure of the buckskin bag was complete. Those skeletons had +once been men. They had found a mine--a place where they had picked up +nuggets with their fingers. And that treasure ground was somewhere near. +No longer was he puzzled by the fact that they had discovered no more +gold in the old log cabin. In a flash he had solved that mystery. The +men had just begun to gather their treasure when they had fought. What +was more logical than that? One day, two, three--and they had quarreled +over division, over rights. That was the time when they were most likely +to quarrel. Perhaps one had discovered the gold and had therefore +claimed a larger share. Anyway, the contents of the buckskin bag +represented but a few days' labor. Rod was sure of that. + +Mukoki had grinned and shrugged his shoulders with an air of stupendous +doubt when Rod had told him that the gold lay between the mountains, so +now the youth kept his thoughts to himself. It was a silent trail home. +Rod's mind was too active in its new channel, and he was too deeply +absorbed in impressing upon his memory certain landmarks which they +passed to ask questions; and Mukoki, with the natural taciturnity of his +race, seldom found occasion to break into conversation unless spoken to +first. Although his eyes were constantly on the alert, Rod could see no +way in which a descent could be made into the chasm from the ridge they +were on. This was a little disappointing, for he had made up his mind to +explore the gloomy, sunless gulch at his first opportunity. He had no +doubt that Wabi would join in the adventure. Or he might take his own +time, and explore it alone. He was reasonably sure that from somewhere +on the opposite ridge a descent could be made into it. + +Wabi was in camp when they arrived. He had set eighteen traps and had +shot two spruce partridges. The birds were already cleaned for their +early supper, and a thick slice of venison steak was added to the menu. +During the preparation of the meal Rod described their discovery of the +chasm and revealed some of his thoughts concerning it, but Wabi betrayed +only passing flashes of interest. At times he seemed strangely +preoccupied and would stand in an idle, contemplative mood, his hands +buried deep in his pockets, while Rod or Mukoki proceeded with the +little duties about the table or the stove. Finally, after arousing +himself from one of these momentary spells, he pulled a brass shell from +his pocket and held it out to the old Indian. + +"See here," he said. "I don't want to stir up any false fears, or +anything of that sort--but I found that on the trail to-day!" + +Mukoki clutched at the shell as though it had been another newly found +nugget of gold. The shell was empty. The lettering on the rim was still +very distinct. He read ".35 Rem." + +"Why, that's--" + +"A shell from Rod's gun!" + +For a few moments Rod and Mukoki stared at the young Indian in blank +amazement. + +"It's a .35 caliber Remington," continued Wabi, "and it's an auto-loading +shell. There are only three guns like that in this country. I've got +one, Mukoki has another--and you lost the third in your fight with the +Woongas!" + +The venison had begun to burn, and Mukoki quickly transferred it to the +table. Without a word the three sat down to their meal. + +"That means the Woongas are on our trail," declared Rod presently. + +"That is what I have been trying to reason out all the afternoon," +replied Wabi. "It certainly is proof that they are, or have been quite +recently, on this side of the mountain. But I don't believe they know we +are here. The trail I struck was about five miles from camp. It was at +least two days old. Three Indians on snow-shoes were traveling north. I +followed back on their trail and found after a time that the Indians had +come from the north, which leads me to believe that they were simply on +a hunting expedition, cut a circle southward, and then returned to their +camp. I don't believe they will come farther south. But we must keep our +eyes open." + +Wabi's description of the manner in which the strange trail turned gave +great satisfaction to Mukoki, who nodded affirmatively when the young +hunter expressed it as his belief that the Woongas would not come so far +as their camp. But the discovery of their presence chilled the buoyant +spirits of the hunters. There was, however, a new spice of adventure +lurking in this possible peril that was not altogether displeasing, and +by the time the meal was at an end something like a plan of campaign had +been formed. The hunters would not wait to be attacked and then act in +self-defense, possibly at a disadvantage. They would be constantly on +the lookout for the Woongas, and if a fresh trail or a camp was found +they would begin the man-hunt themselves. + +The sun was just beginning to sink behind the distant hills in the +southwest when the hunters again left camp. Wolf had received nothing to +eat since the previous night, and with increasing hunger the fiery +impatience lurking in his eyes and the restlessness of his movements +became more noticeable. Mukoki called attention to these symptoms with a +gloating satisfaction. + +The gloom of early evening was enveloping the wilderness by the time the +three wolf hunters reached the swamp in which Rod had slain the buck. +While he carried the guns and packs, Mukoki and Wabigoon dragged the +buck between them to the huge flat-top rock. Now for the first time the +city youth began to understand the old pathfinder's scheme. Several +saplings were cut, and by means of a long rope of babeesh the deer was +dragged up the side of the rock until it rested securely upon the flat +space. From the dead buck's neck the babeesh rope was now stretched +across the intervening space between the rock and the clump of cedars in +which the hunters were to conceal themselves. In two of these cedars, at +a distance of a dozen feet from the ground, were quickly made three +platforms of saplings, upon which the ambushed watchers could +comfortably seat themselves. By the time complete darkness had fallen +the "trap" was finished, with the exception of a detail which Rod +followed with great interest. + +From inside his clothes, where it had been kept warm by his body, Mukoki +produced the flask of blood. A third of this blood he scattered upon the +face of the rock and upon the snow at its base. The remainder he +distributed, drop by drop, in trails running toward the swamp and +plains. + +There still remained three hours before the moon would be up, and the +hunters now joined Wolf, who had been fastened half-way up the ridge. In +the shelter of a big rock a small fire was built, and during their long +wait the hunters passed the time away by broiling and eating chunks of +venison and in going over again the events of the day. + +It was nine o'clock before the moon rose above the edge of the +wilderness. This great orb of the Northern night seemed to hold a +never-ending fascination for Rod. It crept above the forests, a glowing, +throbbing ball of red, quivering and palpitating in an effulgence that +neither cloud nor mist dimmed in this desolation beyond the sphere of +man; and as it rose, almost with visible movement to the eyes, the blood +in it faded, until at last it seemed a great blaze of soft light between +silver and gold. It was then that the whole world was lighted up under +it. It was then that Mukoki, speaking softly, beckoned the others to +follow him, and with Wolf at his side went down the ridge. + +Making a circuit around the back of the rock, Mukoki paused near a small +sapling twenty yards from the dead buck and secured Wolf by his babeesh +thong. Hardly had he done so when the animal began to exhibit signs of +excitement. He trotted about nervously, sniffing the air, gathering the +wind from every direction, and his jaws dropped with a snarling whine. +Then he struck one of the clots of blood in the snow. + +"Come," whispered Wabi, pulling at Rod's sleeve, "come--quietly." + +They slipped back among the shadows of the spruce and watched Wolf in +unbroken silence. The animal now stood rigidly over the blood clot. His +head was level with his quivering back, his ears half aslant, his +nostrils pointing to a strange thrilling scent that came to him from +somewhere out there in the moonlight. Once more the instinct of his +breed was flooding the soul of the captive wolf. There was the odor of +blood in his widening nostrils. It was not the blood of the camp, of the +slaughtered game dragged in by human hands before his eyes. It was the +blood of the chase! + +A flashing memory of his captors turned the animal's head for an instant +in backward inspection. They were gone. He could neither hear nor see +them. He sniffed the sign of human presence, but that sign was always +with him, and was not disturbing. The blood held him--and the strange +scent, the game scent--that was coming to him more clearly every +instant. + +He crunched about cautiously in the snow. He found other spots of blood, +and to the watchers there came a low long whine that seemed about to end +in the wolf song. The blood trails were leading him away toward the game +scent, and he tugged viciously at the babeesh that held him captive, +gnawing at it vainly, like an angry dog, forgetting what experience had +taught him many times before. Each moment added to his excitement He ran +about the sapling, gulped mouthfuls of the bloody snow, and each time he +paused for a moment with his open dripping jaws held toward the dead +buck on the rock. The game was very near. Brute sense told him that. Oh, +the longing that was in him, the twitching, quivering longing to +kill--kill--kill! + +He made another effort, tore up the snow in his frantic endeavors to +free himself, to break loose, to follow in the wild glad cry of freed +savagery in the calling of his people. He failed again, panting, whining +in piteous helplessness. + +Then he settled upon his haunches at the end of his babeesh thong. + +For a moment his head turned to the moonlit sky, his long nose poised at +right angles to the bristling hollows between his shoulders. + +There came then a low, whining wail, like the beginning of the +"death-song" of a husky dog--a wail that grew in length and in strength +and in volume until it rose weirdly among the mountains and swept far +out over the plains--the hunt call of the wolf on the trail, which calls +to him the famished, gray-gaunt outlaws of the wilderness, as the +bugler's notes call his fellows on the field of battle. + +Three times that blood-thrilling cry went up from the captive wolf's +throat, and before those cries had died away the three hunters were +perched upon their platforms among the spruce. + +There followed now the ominous, waiting silence of an awakened +wilderness. Rod could hear his heart throbbing within him. He forgot the +intense cold. His nerves tingled. He looked out over the endless plains, +white and mysteriously beautiful as they lay bathed in the glow of the +moon. And Wabi knew more than he what was happening. All over that wild +desolation the call of the wolf had carried its meaning. Down there, +where a lake lay silent in its winter sleep, a doe started in trembling +and fear; beyond the mountain a huge bull moose lifted his antlered head +with battle-glaring eyes; half a mile away a fox paused for an instant +in its sleuth-like stalking of a rabbit; and here and there in that +world of wild things the gaunt hungry people of Wolf's blood stopped in +their trails and turned their heads toward the signal that was coming in +wailing echoes to their ears. + +And then the silence was broken. From afar--it might have been a mile +away--there came an answering cry; and at that cry the wolf at the end +of his babeesh thong settled upon his haunches again and sent back the +call that comes only when there is blood upon the trail or when near the +killing time. + +There was not the rustle of a bough, not a word spoken, by the silent +watchers in the spruce. Mukoki had slipped back and half lay across his +support in shooting attitude. Wabi had braced a foot, and his rifle was +half to his shoulder, leveled over a knee. It was Rod's turn with the +big revolver, and he had practised aiming through a crotch that gave a +rest to his arm. + +In a few moments there came again the howl of the distant wolf on the +plains, and this time it was joined by another away to the westward. And +after that there came two from the plains instead of one, and then a far +cry to the north and east. For the first time Rod and Wabi heard the +gloating chuckle of Mukoki in his spruce a dozen feet away. + +At the increasing responses of his brethren Wolf became more frantic in +his efforts. The scent of fresh blood and of wounded game was becoming +maddening to the captive. But his frenzy no longer betrayed itself in +futile efforts to escape from the babeesh thong. Wolf knew that his +cries were assembling the hunt-pack. Nearer and nearer came the +responses of the leaders, and there were now only momentary rests +between the deep-throated exhortations which he sent in all directions +into the night. + +Suddenly, almost from the swamp itself, there came a quick, excited, +yelping reply, and Wabi gripped Rod by the arm. + +"He has struck the place where you killed the buck," he whispered. +"There'll be quick work now!" + +Hardly had he spoken when a series of excited howls broke forth from the +swamp, coming nearer and nearer as the hunger-crazed outlaw of the +plains followed over the rich-scented trail made by the two Indians as +they carried the slaughtered deer. Soon he nosed one of the trails of +blood, and a moment later the watchers saw a gaunt shadow form running +swiftly over the snow toward Wolf. + +For an instant, as the two beasts of prey met, there fell a silence; +then both animals joined in the wailing hunt-pack cry, and the wolf that +was free came to the edge of the great rock and stood with his fore feet +on its side, and his cry changed from that of the chase to the still +more thrilling signal that told the gathering pack of game at bay. + +Swiftly the wolves closed in. From over the edge of the mountain one +came and joined the wolf at the rock without the hunters seeing his +approach. From out of the swamp there came a pack of three, and now +about the rock there grew a maddened, yelping horde, clambering and +scrambling and fighting in their efforts to climb up to the game that +was so near and yet beyond their reach. And sixty feet away Wolf +crouched, watching the gathering of his clan, helpless, panting from his +choking efforts to free himself, and quieting, gradually quieting, until +in sullen silence he looked upon the scene, as though he knew the moment +was very near when that thrilling spectacle would be changed into a +scene of direst tragedy. + +And it was Mukoki who had first said that this was the vengeance of Wolf +upon his people. + +From Mukoki there now came a faint hissing warning, and Wabi threw his +rifle to his shoulder. There were at least a score of wolves at the base +of the rock. Gradually the old Indian pulled upon the babeesh rope that +led to the dead buck--pulled until he was putting a half of his strength +into the effort, and could feel the animal slowly slipping from the flat +ledge. A moment more and the buck tumbled down in the midst of the +waiting pack. + +As flies gather upon a lump of sugar the famished animals now crowded +and crushed and fought over the deer's body, and as they came thus +together there sounded the quick sharp signal to fire from Mukoki. + +For five seconds the edge of the spruce was a blaze of death-dealing +flashes, and the deafening reports of the two rifles and the big Colt +drowned the cries and struggles of the animals. When those five seconds +were over fifteen shots had been fired, and five seconds later the vast, +beautiful silence of the wilderness night had fallen again. About the +rock was the silence of death, broken only faintly by the last gasping +throes of the animals that lay dying in the snow. + +In the trees there sounded the metallic clink of loading shells. + +Wabi spoke first. + +"I believe we did a good job, Mukoki!" + +Mukoki's reply was to slip down his tree. The others followed, and +hastened across to the rock. Five bodies lay motionless in the snow. A +sixth was dragging himself around the side of the rock, and Mukoki +attacked it with his belt-ax. Still a seventh had run for a dozen rods, +leaving a crimson trail behind, and when Wabi and Rod came up to it the +animal was convulsed in its last dying struggles. + +"Seven!" exclaimed the Indian youth. "That is one of the best shoots we +ever had. A hundred and five dollars in a night isn't bad, is it?" + +The two came back to the rock, dragging the wolf with them. Mukoki was +standing as rigid as a statue in the moonlight, his face turned into the +north. He pointed one arm far out over the plains, and said, without +turning his head, + +"See!" + +Far out in that silent desolation the hunters saw a lurid flash of +flame. It climbed up and up, until it filled the night above it with a +dull glow--a single unbroken stream of fire that rose far above the +swamps and forests of the plains. + +"That's a burning jackpine!" said Wabigoon. + +"Burning jackpine!" agreed the old warrior. Then he added, "Woonga +signal fire!" + + + +CHAPTER X + +RODERICK EXPLORES THE CHASM + + +To Rod the blazing pine seemed to be but a short distance away--a mile, +perhaps a little more. In the silence of the two Indians as they +contemplated the strange fire he read an ominous meaning. In Mukoki's +eyes was a dull sullen glare, not unlike that which fills the orbs of a +wild beast in a moment of deadly anger. Wabi's face was filled with an +eager flush, and three times, Rod observed, he turned eyes strangely +burning with some unnatural passion upon Mukoki. + +Slowly, even as the instincts of his race had aroused the latent, +brutish love of slaughter and the chase in the tamed wolf, the long +smothered instincts of these human children of the forest began to +betray themselves in their bronzed countenances. Rod watched, and he was +thrilled to the soul. Back at the old cabin they had declared war upon +the Woongas. Both Mukoki and Wabigoon had slipped the leashes that had +long restrained them from meting first vengeance upon their enemies. Now +the opportunity had come. For five minutes the great pine blazed, and +then died away until it was only a smoldering tower of light. Still +Mukoki gazed, speechless and grim, out into the distance of the night. +At last Wabi broke the silence. + +"How far away is it, Muky?" + +"T'ree mile," answered the old warrior without hesitation. + +"We could make it in forty minutes." + +"Yes." + +Wabi turned to Rod. + +"You can find your way back to camp alone, can't you?" he asked. + +"Not if you're going over there!" declared the white boy. "I'm going +with you." + +Mukoki broke in upon them with a harsh disappointed laugh. + +"No go. No go over there." He spoke with emphasis, and shook his head. +"We lose pine in five minutes. No find Woonga camp--make big trail for +Woongas to see in morning. Better wait. Follow um trail in day, then +shoot!" + +Rod found immense relief in the old Indian's decision. He did not fear a +fight; in fact, he was a little too anxious to meet the outlaws who had +stolen his gun, now that they had determined upon opening fire on sight. +But in this instance he was possessed of the cooler judgment of his +race. He believed that as yet the Woongas were not aware of their +presence in this region, and that there was still a large possibility of +the renegades traveling northward beyond their trapping sphere. He hoped +that this would be the case, in spite of his desire to recapture his +gun. A scrimmage with the Woongas just now would spoil the plans he had +made for discovering gold. + +The "Skeleton Mine," as he had come to call it, now absorbed his +thoughts beyond everything else. He felt confident that he would +discover the lost treasure ground if given time, and he was just as +confident that if war was once begun between themselves and the Woongas +it would mean disaster or quick flight from the country. Even Wabi, +worked up more in battle enthusiasm than by gold fever, conceded that if +half of the Woongas were in this country they were much too powerful for +them to cope with successfully, especially as one of them was without a +rifle. + +It was therefore with inward exultation that Rod saw the project of +attack dropped and Mukoki and Wabigoon proceed with their short task of +scalping the seven wolves. During this operation Wolf was allowed to +feast upon the carcass of the buck. + +That night there was but little sleep in the old cabin. It was two +o'clock when the hunters arrived in camp and from that hour until nearly +four they sat about the hot stove making plans for the day that was +nearly at hand. Rod could but contrast the excitement that had now taken +possession of them with the tranquil joy with which they had first taken +up their abode in this dip in the hilltop. And how different were their +plans from those of two or three days ago! Not one of them now but +realized their peril. They were in an ideal hunting range, but it was +evidently very near, if not actually in, the Woonga country. At any +moment they might be forced to fight for their lives or abandon their +camp, and perhaps they would be compelled to do both. + +So the gathering about the stove was in reality a small council of war. +It was decided that the old cabin should immediately be put into a +condition of defense, with a loophole on each side, strong new bars at +the door, and with a thick barricade near at hand that could be quickly +fitted against the window in case of attack. Until the war-clouds +cleared away, if they cleared at all, the camp would be continually +guarded by one of the hunters, and with this garrison would be left both +of the heavy revolvers. At dawn or a little later Mukoki would set out +upon Wabi's trap-line, both to become acquainted with it and to extend +the line of traps, while later in the day the Indian youth would follow +Mukoki's line, visiting the houses already built and setting other +traps. This scheme left to Rod the first day's watch in camp. + +Mukoki aroused himself from his short sleep with the first approach of +dawn but did not awaken his tired companions until breakfast was ready. +When the meal was finished he seized his gun and signified his intention +of visiting the mink traps just beyond the hill before leaving on his +long day's trail. Rod at once joined him, leaving Wabi to wash the +dishes. + +They were shortly within view of the trap-houses near the creek. +Instinctively the eyes of both rested upon these houses and neither gave +very close attention to the country ahead or about them. As a result +both were exceedingly startled when they heard a huge snort and a great +crunching in the deep snow close beside them. From out of a small growth +of alders had dashed a big bull moose, who was now tearing with the +speed of a horse up the hillside toward the hidden camp, evidently +seeking the quick shelter of the dip. + +"Wait heem git top of hill!" shouted Mukoki, swinging his rifle to his +shoulder. "Wait!" + +It was a beautiful shot and Rod was tempted to ignore the old Indian's +advice. But he knew that there was some good reason for it, so he held +his trembling finger. Hardly had the animal's huge antlered head risen +to the sky-line when Mukoki shouted again, and the young hunter pressed +the trigger of his automatic gun three times in rapid succession. It was +a short shot, not more than two hundred yards, and Mukoki fired but once +just as the bull mounted the hilltop. + +The next instant the moose was gone and Rod was just about to dash in +pursuit when his companion caught him by the arm. + +"We got um!" he grinned. "He run downhill, then fall--ver' close to +camp. Ver' good scheme--wait heem git on top hill. No have to carry meat +far!" + +As coolly as though nothing had occurred the Indian turned again in the +direction of the traps. Rod stood as though he had been nailed to the +spot, his mouth half open in astonishment. + +"We go see traps," urged Mukoki. "Find moose dead when we go back." + +But Roderick Drew, who had hunted nothing larger than house rats in his +own city, was not the young man to see the logic of this reasoning, and +before Mukoki could open his mouth again he was hurrying up the hill. On +its summit he saw a huge torn-up blotch in the snow, spattered with +blood, where the moose had fallen first after the shots; and at the foot +of the hill, as the Indian had predicted, the great animal lay dead. + +Wabi was hastening across the lake, attracted by the shots, and both +reached the slain bull at about the same time. Rod quickly perceived +that three shots had taken effect; one, which was undoubtedly Mukoki's +carefully directed ball, in a vital spot behind the fore leg, and two +through the body. The fact that two of his own shots had taken good +effect filled the white youth with enthusiasm, and he was still +gesticulating excitedly in describing the bull's flight to Wabi when the +old Indian came over the hill, grinning broadly, and holding up for +their inspection a magnificent mink. + +The day could not have begun more auspiciously for the hunters, and by +the time Mukoki was ready to leave upon his long trail the adventurers +were in buoyant spirits, the distressing fears of the preceding night +being somewhat dispelled by their present good fortune and the glorious +day which now broke in full splendor upon the wilderness. + +Until their early dinner Wabi remained in camp, securing certain parts +of the moose and assisting Rod in putting the cabin into a state of +defense according to their previous plans. It was not yet noon when he +started over Mukoki's trap-line. + +Left to his own uninterrupted thoughts, Rod's mind was once more +absorbed in his scheme of exploring the mysterious chasm. He had noticed +during his inspection from the top of the ridge that the winter snows +had as yet fallen but little in the gloomy gulch between the mountains, +and he was eager to attempt his adventure before other snows came or the +fierce blizzards of December filled the chasm with drifts. Later in the +afternoon he brought forth the buckskin bag from a niche in the log wall +where it had been concealed, and one after another carefully examined +the golden nuggets. He found, as he had expected, that they were worn to +exceeding smoothness, and that every edge had been dulled and rounded. +Rod's favorite study in school had been a minor branch of geology and +mineralogy, and he knew that only running water could work this +smoothness. He was therefore confident that the nuggets had been +discovered in or on the edge of a running stream. And that stream, he +was sure, was the one in the chasm. + +But Rod's plans for an early investigation were doomed to +disappointment. Late that day both Mukoki and Wabi returned, the latter +with a red fox and another mink, the former with a fisher, which +reminded Rod of a dog just growing out of puppyhood, and another story +of strange trails that renewed their former apprehensions. The old +Indian had discovered the remnants of the burned jackpine, and about it +were the snow-shoe tracks of three Indians. One of these trails came +from the north and two from the west, which led him to believe that the +pine had been fired as a signal to call the two. At the very end of +their trap-line, which extended about four miles from camp, a single +snow-shoe trail had cut across at right angles, also swinging into the +north. + +These discoveries necessitated a new arrangement of the plans that had +been made the preceding night. Hereafter, it was agreed, only one +trap-line would be visited each day, and by two of the hunters in +company, both armed with rifles. Rod saw that this meant the abandonment +of his scheme for exploring the chasm, at least for the present. + +Day after day now passed without evidences of new trails, and each day +added to the hopes of the adventurers that they were at last to be left +alone in the country. Never had Mukoki or Wabigoon been in a better +trapping ground, and every visit to their lines added to their hoard of +furs. If left unmolested it was plainly evident that they would take a +small fortune back to Wabinosh House with them early in the spring. +Besides many mink, several fisher, two red foxes and a lynx, they added +two fine "cross" foxes and three wolf scalps to their treasure during +the next three weeks. Rod began to think occasionally of the joy their +success would bring to the little home hundreds of miles away, where he +knew that the mother was waiting and praying for him every day of her +life; and there were times, too, when he found himself counting the days +that must still elapse before he returned to Minnetaki and the Post. + +But at no time did he give up his determination to explore the chasm. +From the first Mukoki and Wabigoon had regarded this project with little +favor, declaring the impossibility of discovering gold under snow, even +though gold was there; so Rod waited and watched for an opportunity to +make the search alone, saying nothing about his plans. + +On a beautiful day late in December, when the sun rose with dazzling +brightness, his opportunity came. Wabi was to remain in camp, and +Mukoki, who was again of the belief that they were safe from the +Woongas, was to follow one of the trap-lines alone. Supplying himself +well with food, taking Wabi's rifle, a double allowance of cartridges, a +knife, belt-ax, and a heavy blanket in his pack, Rod set out for the +chasm. Wabi laughed as he stood in the doorway to see him off. + +"Good luck to you, Rod; hope you find gold," he cried gaily, waving a +final good-by with his hand. + +"If I don't return to-night don't you fellows worry about me," called +back the youth. "If things look promising I may camp in the chasm and +take up the hunt again in the morning." + +He now passed quickly to the second ridge, knowing from previous +experience that it would be impossible to make a descent into the gulch +from the first mountain. This range, a mile south of the camp, had not +been explored by the hunters, but Rod was sure that there was no danger +of losing himself as long as he followed along the edge of the chasm +which was in itself a constant and infallible guide. Much to his +disappointment he found that the southern walls of this mysterious break +between the mountains were as precipitous as those on the opposite side, +and for two hours he looked in vain for a place where he might climb +down. The country was now becoming densely wooded and he was constantly +encountering signs of big game. But he paid little attention to these. +Finally he came to a point where the forest swept over and down the +steep side of the mountain, and to his great joy he saw that by +strapping his snow-shoes to his back and making good use of his hands it +was possible for him to make a descent. + +Fifteen minutes later, breathless but triumphant, he stood at the bottom +of the chasm. On his right rose the strip of cedar forest; on his left +he was shut in by towering walls of black and shattered rock. At his +feet was the little stream which had played such an important part in +his golden dreams, frozen in places, and in others kept clear of ice by +the swiftness of its current. A little ahead of him was that gloomy, +sunless part of the chasm into which he had peered so often from the top +of the ridge on the north. As he advanced step by step into its +mysterious silence, his eyes alert, his nerves stretched to a tension of +the keenest expectancy, there crept over him a feeling that he was +invading that enchanted territory which, even at this moment, might be +guarded by the spirits of the two mortals who had died because of the +treasure it held. + +Narrower and narrower became the walls high over his head. Not a ray of +sunlight penetrated into the soundless gloom. Not a leaf shivered in the +still air. The creek gurgled and spattered among its rocks, without the +note of a bird or the chirp of a squirrel to interrupt its monotony. +Everything was dead. Now and then Rod could hear the wind whispering +over the top of the chasm. But not a breath of it came down to him. +Under his feet was only sufficient snow to deaden his own footsteps, and +he still carried his snow-shoes upon his back. + +Suddenly, from the thick gloom that hung under one of the cragged walls, +there came a thundering, unearthly sound that made him stop, his rifle +swung half to shoulder. He saw that he had disturbed a great owl, and +passed on. Now and then he paused beside the creek and took up handful +after handful of its pebbles, his heart beating high with hope at every +new gleam he caught among them, and never sinking to disappointment +though he found no gold. The gold was here--somewhere. He was as certain +of that as he was of the fact that he was living, and searching for it. +Everything assured him of that; the towering masses of cleft rock, whole +walls seeming about to crumble into ruin, the broad margins of pebbles +along the creek--everything, to the very stillness and mystery in the +air, spoke this as the abode of the skeletons' secret. + +It was this inexplicable _something_--this unseen, mysterious element +hovering in the air that caused the white youth to advance step by step, +silently, cautiously, as though the slightest sound under his feet might +awaken the deadliest of enemies. And it was because of this stealth in +his progress that he came very close upon something that was living, and +without startling it. Less than fifty yards ahead of him he saw an +object moving slowly among the rocks. It was a fox. Even before the +animal had detected his presence he had aimed and fired. + +Thunderous echoes rose up about him. They rolled down the chasm, volume +upon volume, until in the ghostly gloom between the mountain walls he +stood and listened, a nervous shiver catching him once or twice. Not +until the last echo had died away did he approach where the fox lay upon +the snow. It was not red. It was not black. It was not-- + +His heart gave a big excited thump. The bleeding creature at his feet +was the most beautiful animal he had ever seen--and the tip of its thick +black fur was silver gray. + +Then, in that lonely chasm, there went up a great human whoop of joy. + +"A silver fox!" + +Rod spoke the words aloud. For five minutes he stood and looked upon his +prize. He held it up and stroked it, and from what Wabi and Mukoki had +told him he knew that the silken pelt of this creature was worth more to +them than all the furs at the camp together. + +He made no effort to skin it, but put the animal in his pack and resumed +his slow, noiseless exploration of the gulch. + +He had now passed beyond those points in the range from which he had +looked down into this narrow, shut-in world. Ever more wild and gloomy +became the chasm. At times the two walls of rock seemed almost to meet +far above his head; under gigantic, overhanging crags there lurked the +shadows of night. Fascinated by the grandeur and loneliness of the +scenes through which he was passing Rod forgot the travel of time. Mile +after mile he continued his tireless trail. He had no inclination to +eat. He stopped only once at the creek to drink. And when he looked at +his watch he was astonished to find that it was three o'clock in the +afternoon. + +It was now too late to think of returning to camp. Within an hour the +day gloom of the chasm would be thickening into that of night. So Rod +stopped at the first good camp site, threw off his pack, and proceeded +with the building of a cedar shelter. Not until this was completed and a +sufficient supply of wood for the night's fire was at hand did he begin +getting supper. He had brought a pail with him and soon the appetizing +odors of boiling coffee and broiling moose sirloin filled the air. + +Night had fallen between the mountain walls by the time Rod sat down to +his meal. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +RODERICK'S DREAM + + +A chilling loneliness now crept over the young adventurer. Even as he +ate he tried to peer out into the mysterious darkness. A sound from up +the chasm, made by some wild prowler of the night, sent a nervous tremor +through him. He was not afraid; he would not have confessed to that. But +still, the absolute, almost gruesome silence between the two mountains, +the mere knowledge that he was alone in a place where the foot of man +had not trod for more than half a century, was not altogether quieting +to his nerves. What mysteries might not these grim walls hold? What +might not happen here, where everything was so strange, so weird, and so +different from the wilderness world just over the range? + +Rod tried to laugh away his nervousness, but the very sound of his own +voice was distressing. It rose in unnatural shivering echoes--a low, +hollow mockery of a laugh beating itself against the walls; a ghost of a +laugh, Rod thought, and that very thought made him hunch closer to the +fire. The young hunter was not superstitious, or at least he was not +unnaturally so; but what man or boy is there in this whole wide world of +ours who does not, at some time, inwardly cringe from something in the +air--something that does not exist and never did exist, but which holds +a peculiar and nameless fear for the soul of a human being? + +And Rod, as he piled his fire high with wood and shrank in the warmth of +his cedar shelter, felt that nameless dread; and there came to him no +thought of sleep, no feeling of fatigue, but only that he was alone, +absolutely alone, in the mystery and almost unending silence of the +chasm. Try as he would he could not keep from his mind the vision of the +skeletons as he had first seen them in the old cabin. + +Many, many years ago, even before his own mother was born, those +skeletons had trod this very chasm. They had drunk from the same creek +as he, they had clambered over the same rocks, they had camped perhaps +where he was camping now! They, too, in flesh and life, had strained +their ears in the grim silence, they had watched the flickering light of +their camp-fire on the walls of rock--and they had found gold! + +Just now, if Rod could have moved himself by magic, he would have been +safely back in camp. He listened. From far back over the trail he had +followed there came a lonely, plaintive, almost pleading cry. + +"'Ello--'ello--'ello!" + +It sounded like a distant human greeting, but Rod knew that it was the +awakening night cry of what Wabi called the "man owl." It was weirdly +human-like; and the echoes came softly, and more softly, until ghostly +voices seemed to be whispering in the blackness about him. + +"'Ello--'ello--'ello!" + +The boy shivered and laid his rifle across his knees. There was +tremendous comfort in the rifle. Rod fondled it with his fingers, and +two or three times he felt as though he would almost like to talk to it. +Only those who have gone far into the silence and desolation of the +unblazed wilderness know just how human a good rifle becomes to its +owner. It is a friend every hour of the night and day, faithful to its +master's desires, keeping starvation at bay and holding death for his +enemies; a guaranty of safety at his bedside by night, a sharp-fanged +watch-dog by day, never treacherous and never found wanting by the one +who bestows upon it the care of a comrade and friend. Thus had Rod come +to look upon his rifle. He rubbed the barrel now with his mittens; he +polished the stock as he sat in his loneliness, and long afterward, +though he had determined to remain awake during the night, he fell +asleep with it clasped tightly in his hands. + +It was an uneasy, troubled slumber in which the young adventurer's +visions and fears took a more realistic form. He half sat, half lay, +upon his cedar boughs; his head fell forward upon his breast, his feet +were stretched out to the fire. Now and then unintelligible sounds fell +from his lips, and he would start suddenly as if about to awaken, but +each time would sink back into his restless sleep, still clutching the +gun. + +The visions in his head began to take a more definite form. Once more he +was on the trail, and had come to the old cabin. But this time he was +alone. The window of the cabin was wide open, but the door was tightly +closed, just as the hunters had found it when they first came down into +the dip. He approached cautiously. When very near the window he heard +sounds--strange sounds--like the clicking of bones! + +Step by step in his dream he approached the window and looked in. And +there he beheld a sight that froze him to the marrow. Two huge skeletons +were struggling in deadly embrace. He could hear no sound but the +click-click-click of their bones. He saw the gleam of knives held +between fleshless fingers, and he saw now that both were struggling for +the possession of something that was upon the table. Now one almost +reached it, now the other, but neither gained possession. + +The clicking of the bones became louder, the struggle fiercer, the +knives of the skeleton combatants rose and fell. Then one staggered back +and sank in a heap on the floor. + +For a moment the victor swayed, tottered to the table, and gripped the +mysterious object in its bony fingers. + +As it stumbled weakly against the cabin wall the gruesome creature held +the object up, and Rod saw that it was a roll of birch-bark! + +An ember in the dying fire snapped with a sound like the report of a +small pistol and Rod sat bolt upright, awake, staring, trembling. What a +horrible dream! He drew in his cramped legs and approached the fire on +his knees, holding his rifle in one hand while he piled on wood with the +other. + +What a horrible dream! + +He shuddered and ran his eyes around the impenetrable wall of blackness +that shut him in, the thought constantly flashing through his mind, what +a horrible dream--what a horrible dream! + +He sat down again and watched the flames of his fire as they climbed +higher and higher. The light and the heat cheered him, and after a +little he allowed his mind to dwell upon the adventure of his slumber. +It had made him sweat. He took off his cap and found that the hair about +his forehead was damp. + +All the different phases of a dream return to one singly when awake, and +it was with the suddenness of a shot that there came to Rod a +remembrance of the skeleton hand held aloft, clutching between its +gleaming fleshless fingers the roll of birch-bark. And with that memory +of his dream there came another--the skeleton in the cabin was clutching +a piece of birch-bark when they had buried it! + +Could that crumpled bit of bark hold the secret of the lost mine? + +Was it for the possession of that bark instead of the buckskin bag that +the men had fought and died? + +As the minutes passed Rod forgot his loneliness, forgot his nervousness +and only thought of the possibilities of the new clue that had come to +him in a dream. Wabi and Mukoki had seen the bark clutched in the +skeleton fingers, but they as well as he had given it no special +significance, believing that it had been caught up in some terrible part +of the struggle when both combatants were upon the floor, or perhaps in +the dying agonies of the wounded man against the wall. Rod remembered +now that they had found no more birch-bark upon the floor, which they +would have done if a supply had been kept there for kindling fires. Step +by step he went over the search they had made in the old cabin, and more +and more satisfied did he become that the skeleton hand held something +of importance for them. + +He replenished his fire and waited impatiently for dawn. At four +o'clock, before day had begun to dispel the gloom of night, he cooked +his breakfast and prepared his pack for the homeward journey. Soon +afterward a narrow rim of light broke through the rift in the chasm. +Slowly it crept downward, until the young hunter could make out objects +near him and the walls of the mountains. + +Thick shadows still defied his vision when he began retracing his steps +over the trail he had made the day before. He returned with the same +caution that he had used in his advance. Even more carefully, if +possible, did he scrutinize the rocks and the creek ahead. He had +already found life in the chasm, and he might find more. + +The full light of day came quickly now, and with it the youth's progress +became more rapid. He figured that if he lost no time in further +investigation of the creek he would arrive at camp by noon, and they +would dig up the skeleton without delay. There was little snow in the +chasm, in spite of the lateness of the season, and if the roll of bark +held the secret of the lost gold it would be possible for them to locate +the treasure before other snows came to baffle them. + +At the spot where he had killed the silver fox Rod paused for a moment. +He wondered if foxes ever traveled in pairs, and regretted that he had +not asked Wabi or Mukoki that question. He could see where the fox had +come straight from the black wall of the mountain. Curiosity led him +over the trail. He had not followed it more than two hundred yards when +he stopped in sudden astonishment. Plainly marked in the snow before him +was the trail of a pair of snow-shoes! Whoever had been there had passed +since he shot the fox, for the imprints of the animal's feet were buried +under those of the snow-shoes. + +Who was the other person in the chasm? + +Was it Wabi? + +Had Mukoki or he come to join him? Or-- + +He looked again at the snow-shoe trail. It was a peculiar trail, unlike +the one made by his own shoes. The imprints were a foot longer than his +own, and narrower. Neither Wabi nor Mukoki wore shoes that would make +that trail! + +At this point the strange trail had turned and disappeared among the +rocks along the wall of the mountain, and it occurred to Rod that +perhaps the stranger had not discovered his presence in the chasm. There +was some consolation in this thought, but it was doomed to quick +disappointment. Very cautiously the youth advanced, his rifle held in +readiness and his eyes searching every place of concealment ahead of +him. A hundred yards farther on the stranger had stopped, and from the +way in which the snow was packed Rod knew that he had stood in a +listening and watchful attitude for some time. From this point the trail +took another turn and came down until, from behind a huge rock, the +stranger had cautiously peered out upon the path made by the white +youth. + +It was evident that he was extremely anxious to prevent the discovery of +his own trail, for now the mysterious spy threaded his way behind rocks +until he had again come to the shelter of the mountain wall. + +Rod was perplexed. He realized the peril of his dilemma, and yet he knew +not what course to take to evade it. He had little doubt that the trail +was made by one of the treacherous Woongas, and that the Indian not only +knew of his presence, but was somewhere in the rocks ahead of him, +perhaps even now waiting behind some ambuscade to shoot him. Should he +follow the trail, or would it be safer to steal along among the rocks of +the opposite wall of the chasm? + +He had decided upon the latter course when his eyes caught a narrow +horizontal slit cleaving the face of the mountain on his left, toward +which the snow-shoe tracks seemed to lead. With his rifle ready for +instant use the youth slowly approached the fissure, and was surprised +to find that it was a complete break in the wall of rock, not more than +four feet wide, and continuing on a steady incline to the summit of the +ridge. At the mouth of this fissure his mysterious watcher had taken off +his snow-shoes and Rod could see where he had climbed up the narrow exit +from the chasm. + +With a profound sense of relief the young hunter hurried along the base +of the mountain, keeping well within its shelter so that eyes that might +be spying from above could not see his movements. He now felt no fear of +danger. The stranger's flight up the cleft in the chasm wall and his +careful attempts to conceal his trail among the rocks assured Rod that +he had no designs upon his life. His chief purpose had seemed to be to +keep secret his own presence in the gorge, and this fact in itself added +to the mystification of the white youth. For a long time he had been +secretly puzzled, and had evolved certain ideas of his own because of +the movements of the Woongas. Contrary to the opinions of Mukoki and +Wabigoon, he believed that the red outlaws were perfectly conscious of +their presence in the dip. From the first their actions had been +unaccountable, but not once had one of their snow-shoe trails crossed +their trap-lines. + +Was this fact in itself not significant? Rod was of a contemplative +theoretical turn of mind, one of those wide-awake, interesting young +fellows who find food for conjecture in almost every incident that +occurs, and his suspicions were now aroused to an unusual pitch. A chief +fault, however, was that he kept most of his suspicions to himself, for +he believed that Mukoki and Wabigoon, born and taught in the life of the +wilderness, were infallible in their knowledge of the ways and the laws +and the perils of the world they were in. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE SECRET OF THE SKELETON'S HAND + + +A little before noon Rod arrived at the top of the hill from which he +could look down on their camp. He was filled with pleasurable +anticipation, and with an unbounded swelling satisfaction that caused +him to smile as he proceeded into the dip. He had found a fortune in the +mysterious chasm. The burden of the silver fox upon his shoulders was a +most pleasing reminder of that, and he pictured the moment when the +good-natured raillery of Mukoki and Wabigoon would be suddenly turned +into astonishment and joy. + +As he approached the cabin the young hunter tried to appear disgusted +and half sick, and his effort was not bad in spite of his decided +inclination to laugh. Wabi met him in the doorway, grinning broadly, and +Mukoki greeted him with a throatful of his inimitable chuckles. + +"Aha, here's Rod with a packful of gold!" cried the young Indian, +striking an expectant attitude. "Will you let us see the treasure?" In +spite of his banter there was gladness in his face at Rod's arrival. + +The youth threw off his pack with a spiritless effort and flopped into a +chair as though in the last stage of exhaustion. + +"You'll have to undo the pack," he replied. "I'm too tired and hungry." + +Wabi's manner changed at once to one of real sympathy. + +"I'll bet you're tired, Rod, and half starved. We'll have dinner in a +hurry. Ho, Muky, put on the steak, will you?" + +There followed a rattle of kettles and tin pans and the Indian youth +gave Rod a glad slap on the back as he hurried to the table. He was +evidently in high spirits, and burst into a snatch of song as he cut up +a loaf of bread. + +"I'm tickled to see you back," he admitted, "for I was getting a little +bit nervous. We had splendid luck on our lines yesterday. Brought in +another 'cross' and three mink. Did you see anything?" + +"Aren't you going to look in the pack?" + +Wabi turned and gazed at his companion with a half-curious hesitating +smile. + +"Anything in it?" he asked suspiciously. + +"See here, boys," cried Rod, forgetting himself in his suppressed +enthusiasm. "I said there was a treasure in that chasm, and there was. I +found it. You are welcome to look into that pack if you wish!" + +Wabi dropped the knife with which he was cutting the bread and went to +the pack. He touched it with the toe of his boot, lifted it in his +hands, and glanced at Rod again. + +"It isn't a joke?" he asked. + +"No." + +Rod turned his back upon the scene and began to take off his coat as +coolly as though it were the commonest thing in the world for him to +bring silver foxes into camp. Only when Wabi gave a suppressed yell did +he turn about, and then he found the Indian standing erect and holding +out the silver to the astonished gaze of Mukoki. + +"Is it a good one?" he asked. + +"A beauty!" gasped Wabi. + +Mukoki had taken the animal and was examining it with the critical eyes +of a connoisseur. + +"Ver' fine!" he said. "At Post heem worth fi' hundred dollars--at +Montreal t'ree hundred more!" + +Wabi strode across the cabin and thrust out his hand. + +"Shake, Rod!" + +As the two gripped hands he turned to Mukoki. + +"Bear witness, Mukoki, that this young gentleman is no longer a +tenderfoot. He has shot a silver fox. He has done a whole winter's work +in one day. I take off my hat to you, Mr. Drew!" + +Roderick's face reddened with a flush of pleasure. + +"And that isn't all, Wabi," he said. His eyes were filled with a sudden +intense earnestness, and in the strangeness of the change Wabi forgot to +loosen the grip of his fingers about his companion's hand. + +"You don't mean that you found--" + +"No, I didn't find gold," anticipated Rod. "But the gold is there! I +know it. And I think I have found a clue. You remember that when you and +I examined the skeleton against the wall we saw that it clutched +something that looked like birch-bark in its hand? Well, I believe that +birch-bark holds the key to the lost mine!" + +Mukoki had come beside them and stood listening to Rod, his face alive +with keen interest. In Wabi's eyes there was a look half of doubt, half +of belief. + +"It might," he said slowly. "It wouldn't do any harm to see." + +He stepped to the stove and took off the partly cooked steak. Rod +slipped on his coat and hat and Mukoki seized his belt-ax and the +shovel. No words were spoken, but there was a mutual understanding that +the investigation was to precede dinner. Wabi was silent and thoughtful +and Rod could see that his suggestion had at least made a deep +impression upon him. Mukoki's eyes began to gleam again with the old +fire with which he had searched the cabin for gold. + +The skeletons were buried only a few inches deep in the frozen earth in +the edge of the cedar forest, and Mukoki soon exposed them to view. +Almost the first object that met their eyes was the skeleton hand +clutching its roll of birch-bark. It was Rod who dropped upon his knees +to the gruesome task. + +With a shudder at the touch of the cold bones he broke the fingers back. +One of them snapped with a sharp sound, and as he rose with the bark in +his hand his face was bloodlessly white. The bones were covered again +and the three returned to the cabin. + +Still silent, they gathered about the table. With age the bark of the +birch hardens and rolls itself tightly, and the piece Rod held was +almost like thin steel. Inch by inch it was spread out, cracking and +snapping in brittle protest. The hunters could see that the bark was in +a single unbroken strip about ten inches long by six in width. Two +inches, three, four were unrolled--and still the smooth surface was +blank. Another half-inch, and the bark refused to unroll farther. + +"Careful!" whispered Wabi. + +With the point of his knife he loosened the cohesion. + +"I guess--there's--nothing--" began Rod. + +Even as he spoke he caught his breath. A mark had appeared on the bark, +a black, meaningless mark with a line running down from it into the +scroll. + +Another fraction of an inch and the line was joined by a second, and +then with an unexpectedness that was startling the remainder of the roll +released itself like a spring--and to the eyes of the three wolf hunters +was revealed the secret of the skeleton hand. + +Spread out before them was a map, or at least what they at once accepted +as a map, though in reality it was more of a crude diagram of straight +and crooked lines, with here and there a partly obliterated word to give +it meaning. In several places there were mere evidences of words, now +entirely illegible. But what first held the attention of Rod and his +companions were several lines in writing under the rough sketch on the +bark, still quite plain, which formed the names of three men. Roderick +read them aloud. + +"John Ball, Henri Langlois, Peter Plante." + +Through the name of John Ball had been drawn a broad black line which +had almost destroyed the letters, and at the end of this line, in +brackets, was printed a word in French which Wabi quickly translated. + +"Dead!" he breathed. "The Frenchmen killed him!" + +The words shot from him in hot excitement. + +Rod did not reply. Slowly he drew a trembling finger over the map. The +first word he encountered was unintelligible. Of the next he could only +make out one letter, which gave him no clue. Evidently the map had been +made with a different and less durable substance than that with which +the names had been written. He followed down the first straight black +line, and where this formed a junction with a wider crooked line were +two words quite distinct: + +"Second waterfall." + +Half an inch below this Rod could make out the letters T, D and L, +widely scattered. + +"That's the third waterfall," he exclaimed eagerly. + +At this point the crude lines of the diagram stopped, and immediately +below, between the map and the three names, it was evident that there +had been considerable writing. But not a word of it could the young +hunters make out. That writing, without doubt, had given the key to the +lost gold. Rod looked up, his face betraying the keenness of his +disappointment. He knew that under his hand he held all that was left of +the secret of a great treasure. But he was more baffled than ever. +Somewhere in this vast desolation there were three waterfalls, and +somewhere near the third waterfall the Englishman and the two Frenchmen +had found their gold. That was all he knew. He had not found a waterfall +in the chasm; they had not discovered one in all their trapping and +hunting excursions. + +Wabi was looking down into his face in silent thought. Suddenly he +reached out and seized the sheet of bark and examined it closely. As he +looked there came a deeper flush in his face, his eyes brightened and he +gave a cry of excitement. + +"By George, I believe we can peel this!" he cried. "See here, Muky!" He +thrust the birch under the old Indian's eyes. Even Mukoki's hands were +trembling. + +"Birch-bark is made up of a good many layers, each as thin as the +thinnest paper," he explained to Rod as Mukoki continued his +examination. "If we can peel off that first layer, and then hold it up +to the light, we shall be able to see the impression of every word that +was ever made on it--even though they were written a hundred years ago!" + +Mukoki had gone to the door, and now he turned, grinning exultantly. + +"She peel!" + +He showed them where he had stripped back a corner of the film-like +layer. Then he sat down in the light, his head bent over, and for many +minutes he worked at his tedious task while Wabi and Rod hung back in +soundless suspense. Half an hour later Mukoki straightened himself, rose +to his feet and held out the precious film to Rod. + +As tenderly as though his own life depended upon its care, Rod held the +piece of birch, now a silken, almost transparent sheet, between himself +and the light. A cry welled up into his throat. It was repeated by Wabi. +And then there was silence--a silence broken only by their bated breaths +and the excited thumpings of their hearts. + +As though they had been written but yesterday, the mysterious words on +the map were disclosed to their eyes. Where Rod had made out only three +letters there were now plainly discernible the two words "third +waterfall," and very near to these was the word "cabin." Below them were +several lines, clearly impressed in the birch film. Slowly, his voice +trembling, Rod read them to his companions. + +"We, John Ball, Henri Langlois, and Peter Plante, having discovered gold +at this fall, do hereby agree to joint partnership in the same, and do +pledge ourselves to forget our past differences and work in mutual good +will and honesty, so help us God. Signed, + +"JOHN BALL, HENRI LANGLOIS, PETER PLANTE." + +At the very top of the map the impression of several other words caught +Rod's eyes. They were more indistinct than any of the others, but one by +one he made them out. A hot blurring film seemed to fall over his eyes +and he felt as though his heart had suddenly come up into his throat. +Wabi's breath was burning against his cheek, and it was Wabi who spoke +the words aloud. + +"Cabin and head of chasm." + +Rod went back to the table and sat down, the precious bit of birch-bark +under his hand. Mukoki, standing mute, had listened and heard, and was +as if stunned by their discovery. But now his mind returned to the moose +steak, and he placed it on the stove. Wabi stood with his hands in his +pockets, and after a little he laughed a trembling, happy laugh. + +"Well, Rod, you've found your mine. You are as good as rich!" + +"You mean that we have found our mine," corrected the white youth. "We +are three, and we just naturally fill the places of John Ball, Henri +Langlois and Peter Plante. They are all dead. The gold is ours!" + +Wabi had taken up the map. + +"I can't see the slightest possibility of our not finding it," he said. +"The directions are as plain as day. We follow the chasm, and somewhere +in that chasm we come to a waterfall. A little beyond this the creek +that runs through the gorge empties into a larger stream, and we follow +this second creek or river until we come to the third fall. The cabin is +there, and the gold can not be far away." + +He had carried the map to the door again, and Rod joined him. + +"There is nothing that gives us an idea of distance on the map," he +continued. "How far did you travel down the chasm?" + +"Ten miles, at least," replied Rod. + +"And you discovered no fall?" + +"No." + +With a splinter picked up from the floor Wabi measured the distances +between the different points on the diagram. + +"There is no doubt but what this map was drawn by John Ball," he said +after a few moments of silent contemplation. "Everything points to that +fact. Notice that all of the writing is in one hand, except the +signatures of Langlois and Plante, and you could hardly decipher the +letters in those signatures if you did not already know their names from +this writing below. Ball wrote a good hand, and from the construction of +the agreement over the signatures he was a man of pretty fair education. +Don't you think so? Well, he must have drawn this map with some idea of +distance in his mind. The second fall is only half as far from the first +fall as the third fall is from the second, which seems to me conclusive +evidence of this. If he had not had distance in mind he would not have +separated the falls in this way on the map." + +"Then if we can find the first fall we can figure pretty nearly how far +the last fall is from the head of the chasm," said Rod. + +"Yes. I believe the distance from here to the first fall will give us a +key to the whole thing." + +Rod had produced a pencil from one of his pockets and was figuring on +the smooth side of a chip. + +"The gold is a long way from here at the best, Wabi. I explored the +chasm for ten miles. Say that we find the first fall within fifteen +miles. Then, according to the map, the second fall would be about twenty +miles from the first, and the third forty miles from the second. If the +first fall is within fifteen miles of this cabin the third fall is at +least seventy-five miles away." + +Wabi nodded. + +"But we may not find the first fall within that distance," he said. "By +George--" He stopped and looked at Rod with an odd look of doubt in his +face. "If the gold is seventy-five or a hundred miles away, why were +those men here, and with only a handful of nuggets in their possession? +Is it possible that the gold played out--that they found only what was +in the buckskin bag?" + +"If that were so, why should they have fought to the death for the +possession of the map?" argued Rod. + +Mukoki was turning the steak. He had not spoken, but now he said: + +"Mebby going to Post for supplies." + +"That's exactly what they were doing!" shouted the Indian youth. "Muky, +you have solved the whole problem. They were going for supplies. And +they didn't fight for the map--not for the map alone!" + +His face flushed with new excitement. + +"Perhaps I am wrong, but it all seems clear to me now," he continued. +"Ball and the two Frenchmen worked their find until they ran out of +supplies. Wabinosh House is over a hundred years old, and fifty years +ago that was the nearest point where they could get more. In some way it +fell to the Frenchmen to go. They had probably accumulated a hoard of +gold, and before they left they murdered Ball. They brought with them +only enough gold to pay for their supplies, for it was their purpose not +to arouse the suspicion of any adventurers who happened to be at the +Post. They could easily have explained their possession of those few +nuggets. In this cabin either Langlois or Plante tried to kill his +companion, and thus become the sole possessor of the treasure, and the +fight, fatal to both, ensued. I may be wrong, but--by George, I believe +that is what happened!" + +"And that they buried the bulk of their gold somewhere back near the +third fall?" + +"Yes; or else they brought the gold here and buried it somewhere near +this very cabin!" + +They were interrupted by Mukoki. + +"Dinner ready!" he called. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SNOWED IN + + +Until the present moment Rod had forgotten to speak of the mysterious +man-trail he had encountered in the chasm. The excitement of the past +hour had made him oblivious to all other things, but now as they ate +their dinner he described the strange maneuvers of the spying Woonga. He +did not, however, voice those fears which had come to him in the gorge, +preferring to allow Mukoki and Wabigoon to draw their own conclusions. +By this time the two Indians were satisfied that the Woongas were not +contemplating attack, but that for some unaccountable reason they were +as anxious to evade the hunters as the hunters were to evade them. +Everything that had passed seemed to give evidence of this. The outlaw +in the chasm, for instance, could easily have waylaid Rod; a dozen times +the almost defenseless camp could have been attacked, and there were +innumerable places where ambushes might have been laid for them along +the trap-lines. + +So Rod's experience with the Woonga trail between the mountains +occasioned little uneasiness, and instead of forming a scheme for the +further investigation of this trail on the south, plans were made for +locating the first fall. Mukoki was the swiftest and most tireless +traveler on snow-shoes, and it was he who volunteered to make the first +search. He would leave the following morning, taking with him a supply +of food, and during his absence Rod and Wabigoon would attend to the +traps. + +"We must have the location of the first fall before we return to the +Post," declared Wabi. "If from that we find that the third fall is not +within a hundred miles of our present camp it will be impossible for us +to go in search of our gold during this trip. In that event we shall +have to go back to Wabinosh House and form a new expedition, with fresh +supplies and the proper kind of tools. We can not do anything until the +spring freshets are over, anyway." + +"I have been thinking of that," replied Rod, his eyes softening. "You +know mother is alone, and--her--" + +"I understand," interrupted the Indian boy, laying a hand fondly across +his companion's arm. + +"--her funds are small, you know," Rod finished. "If she has been +sick--or--anything like that--" + +"Yes, we've got to get back with our furs," helped Wabi, a tremor of +tenderness in his own voice. "And if you don't mind, Rod, I might take a +little run down to Detroit with you. Do you suppose she would care?" + +"Care!" shouted Rod, bringing his free hand down upon Wabi's arm with a +force that hurt. "Care! Why, she thinks as much of you as she does of +me, Wabi! She'd be tickled to death! Do you mean it?" + +Wabi's bronzed face flushed a deeper red at his friend's enthusiasm. + +"I won't promise--for sure," he said. "But I'd like to see her--almost +as much as you, I guess. If I can, I'll go." + +Rod's face was suffused with a joyful glow. + +"And I'll come back with you early in the summer and we'll start out for +the gold," he cried. He jumped to his feet and slapped Mukoki on the +back in the happy turn his mind had taken. "Will you come, too, Mukoki? +I'll give you the biggest 'city time' you ever had in your life!" + +The old Indian grinned and chuckled and grunted, but did not reply in +words. Wabi laughed, and answered for him. + +"He is too anxious to become Minnetaki's slave again, Rod. No, Muky +won't go, I'll wager that. He will stay at the Post to see that she +doesn't get lost, or hurt, or stolen by the Woongas. Eh, Mukoki?" Mukoki +nodded, grinning good-humoredly. He went to the door, opened it and +looked out. + +"Devil--she snow!" he cried. "She snow like twent' t'ousand--like +devil!" + +This was the strongest English in the old warrior's vocabulary, and it +meant something more than usual. Wabi and Rod quickly joined him. Never +in his life had the city youth seen a snow-storm like that which he now +gazed out into. The great north storm had arrived--a storm which comes +just once each year in the endless Arctic desolation. For days and weeks +the Indians had expected it and wondered at its lateness. It fell +softly, silently, without a breath of air to stir it; a smothering, +voiceless sea of white, impenetrable to human vision, so thick that it +seemed as though it might stifle one's breath. Rod held out the palm of +his hand and in an instant it was covered with a film of white. He +walked out into it, and a dozen yards away he became a ghostly, almost +invisible shadow. + +When he came back a minute later he brought a load of snow into the +cabin with him. + +All that afternoon the snow fell like this, and all that night the storm +continued. When he awoke in the morning Rod heard the wind whistling and +howling through the trees and around the ends of the cabin. He rose and +built the fire while the others were still sleeping. He attempted to +open the door, but it was blocked. He lowered the barricade at the +window, and a barrel of snow tumbled in about his feet. He could see no +sign of day, and when he turned he saw Wabi sitting up in his blankets, +laughing silently at his wonder and consternation. + +"What in the world--" he gasped. + +"We're snowed in," grinned Wabi. "Does the stove smoke?" + +"No," replied Rod, throwing a bewildered glance at the roaring fire. +"You don't mean to say--" + +"Then we are not completely, buried," interrupted the other. "At least +the top of the chimney is sticking out!" + +Mukoki sat up and stretched himself. + +"She blow," he said, as a tremendous howl of wind swept over the cabin. +"Bime-by she blow some more!" + +Rod shoveled the snow into a corner and replaced the barricade while his +companions dressed. + +"This means a week's work digging out traps," declared Wabi. "And only +Mukoki's Great Spirit, who sends all blessings to this country, knows +when the blizzard is going to stop. It may last a week. There is no +chance of finding our waterfall in this." + +"We can play dominoes," suggested Rod cheerfully. "You remember we +haven't finished that series we began at the Post. But you don't expect +me to believe that it snowed enough yesterday afternoon and last night +to cover this cabin, do you?" + +"It didn't exactly _snow_ enough to cover it," explained his comrade. +"But we're covered for all of that. The cabin is on the edge of an open, +and of course the snow just naturally drifts around us, blown there by +the wind. If this blizzard keeps up we shall be under a small mountain +by night." + +"Won't it--smother us?" faltered Rod. + +Wabi gave a joyous whoop of merriment at the city-bred youth's +half-expressed fear and a volley of Mukoki's chuckles came from where he +was slicing moose-steak on the table. + +"Snow mighty nice thing live under," he asserted with emphasis. + +"If you were under a mountain of snow you could live, if you weren't +crushed to death," said Wabi. "Snow is filled with air. Mukoki was +caught under a snow-slide once and was buried under thirty feet for ten +hours. He had made a nest about as big as a barrel and was nice and +comfortable when we dug him out. We won't have to burn much wood to keep +warm now." + +After breakfast the boys again lowered the barricade at the window and +Wabi began to bring small avalanches of snow down into the cabin with +his shovel. At the third or fourth upward thrust a huge mass plunged +through the window, burying them to the waist, and when they looked out +they could see the light of day and the whirling blizzard above their +heads. + +"It's up to the roof," gasped Rod. "Great Scott, what a snow-storm!" + +"Now for some fun!" cried the Indian youth. "Come on, Rod, if you want +to be in it." + +He crawled through the window into the cavity he had made in the drift, +and Rod followed. Wabi waited, a mischievous smile on his face, and no +sooner had his companion joined him than he plunged his shovel deep into +the base of the drift. Half a dozen quick thrusts and there tumbled down +upon their heads a mass of light snow that for a few moments completely +buried them. The suddenness of it knocked Rod to his knees, where he +floundered, gasped and made a vain effort to yell. Struggling like a +fish he first kicked his feet free, and Wabi, who had thrust out his +head and shoulders, shrieked with laughter as he saw only Rod's boots +sticking out of the snow. + +"You're going the wrong way, Rod!" he shouted. "Wow--wow!" + +He seized his companion's legs and helped to drag him out, and then +stood shaking, the tears streaming down his face, and continued to laugh +until he leaned back in the drift, half exhausted. Rod was a curious and +ludicrous-looking object. His eyes were wide and blinking; the snow was +in his ears, his mouth, and in his floundering he had packed his coat +collar full of it. Slowly he recovered from his astonishment, saw Wabi +and Mukoki quivering with laughter, grinned--and then joined them in +their merriment. + +It was not difficult now for the boys to force their way through the +drift and they were soon standing waist-deep in the snow twenty yards +from the cabin. + +"The snow is only about four feet deep in the open," said Wabi. "But +look at that!" + +He turned and gazed at the cabin, or rather at the small part of it +which still rose triumphant above the huge drift which had almost +completely buried it. Only a little of the roof, with the smoking +chimney rising out of it, was to be seen. Rod now turned in all +directions to survey the wild scene about him. There had come a brief +lull in the blizzard, and his vision extended beyond the lake and to the +hilltop. There was not a spot of black to meet his eyes; every rock was +hidden; the trees hung silent and lifeless under their heavy mantles and +even their trunks were beaten white with the clinging volleys of the +storm. There came to him then a thought of the wild things in this +seemingly uninhabitable desolation. How could they live in this endless +desert of snow? What could they find to eat? Where could they find water +to drink? He asked Wabi these questions after they had returned to the +cabin. + +"Just now, if you traveled from here to the end of this storm zone you +wouldn't find a living four-legged creature," said Wabigoon. "Every +moose in this country, every deer and caribou, every fox and wolf, is +buried in the snow. And as the snow falls deeper about them the warmer +and more comfortable do they become, so that even as the blizzard +increases in fury the kind Creator makes it easier for them to bear. +When the storm ceases the wilderness will awaken into life again. The +moose and deer and caribou will rise from their snow-beds and begin to +eat the boughs of trees and saplings; a crust will have formed on the +snow, and all the smaller animals, like foxes, lynx and wolves, will +begin to travel again, and to prey upon others for food. Until they find +running water again snow and ice take the place of liquid drink; warm +caverns dug in the snow give refuge in place of thick swamp moss and +brush and leaves. All the big animals, like moose, deer and caribou, +will soon make 'yards' for themselves by trampling down large areas of +snow, and in these yards they will gather in big herds, eating their way +through the forests, fighting the wolves and waiting for spring. Oh, +life isn't altogether bad for the animals in a deep winter like this!" + +Until noon the hunters were busy cleaning away the snow from the cabin +door. As the day advanced the blizzard increased in its fury, until, +with the approach of night, it became impossible for the hunters to +expose themselves to it. For three days the storm continued with only +intermittent lulls, but with the dawn of the fourth day the sky was +again cloudless, and the sun rose with a blinding effulgence. Rod now +found himself suffering from that sure affliction of every tenderfoot in +the far North--snow-blindness. For only a few minutes at a time could he +stand the dazzling reflections of the snow-waste where nothing but +white, flashing, scintillating white, seemingly a vast sea of burning +electric points in the sunlight, met his aching eyes. On the second day +after the storm, while Wabi was still inuring Rod to the changed world +and teaching him how to accustom his eyes to it gradually, Mukoki left +the cabin to follow the chasm in his search for the first waterfall. + +That same day Wabi began his work of digging out and resetting the +traps, but it was not until the day following that Rod's eyes would +allow him to assist. The task was a most difficult one; rocks and other +landmarks were completely hidden, and the lost traps averaged one out of +four. It was not until the end of the second day after Mukoki's +departure that the young hunters finished the mountain trap-line, and +when they turned their faces toward camp just at the beginning of dusk +it was with the expectant hope that they would find the old Indian +awaiting them. But Mukoki had not returned. The next day came and +passed, and a fourth dawned without his arrival. Hope now gave way to +fear. In three days Mukoki could travel nearly a hundred miles. Was it +possible that something had happened to him? Many times there recurred +to Rod a thought of the Woonga in the chasm. Had the mysterious spy, or +some of his people, waylaid and killed him? + +Neither of the hunters had a desire to leave camp during the fourth day. +Trapping was exceptionally good now on account of the scarcity of animal +food and since the big storm they had captured a wolf, two lynx, a red +fox and eight mink. But as Mukoki's absence lengthened their enthusiasm +grew less. + +In the afternoon, as they were watching, they saw a figure climb wearily +to the summit of the hill. + +It was Mukoki. + +With shouts of greeting both youths hurried through the snow toward him, +not taking time to strap on their snow-shoes. The old Indian was at +their side a couple of minutes later. He smiled in a tired good-natured +way, and answered the eagerness in their eyes with a nod of his head. + +"Found fall. Fift' mile down mountain." + +Once in the cabin he dropped into a chair, exhausted, and both Rod and +Wabigoon joined in relieving him of his boots and outer garments. It was +evident that Mukoki had been traveling hard, for only once or twice +before in his life had Wabi seen him so completely fatigued. Quickly the +young Indian had a huge steak broiling over the fire, and Rod put an +extra handful of coffee in the pot. + +"Fifty miles!" ejaculated Wabi for the twentieth time. "It was an awful +jaunt, wasn't it, Muky?" + +"Rough--rough like devil th'ough mountains," replied Mukoki. "Not like +that!" He swung an arm in the direction of the chasm. + +Rod stood silent, open-eyed with wonder. Was it possible that the old +warrior had discovered a wilder country than that through which he had +passed in the chasm? + +"She little fall," went on Mukoki, brightening as the odor of coffee and +meat filled his nostrils. "No bigger than--that!" He pointed to the roof +of the cabin. + +Rod was figuring on the table. Soon he looked up. + +"According to Mukoki and the map we are at least two hundred and fifty +miles from the third fall," he said. + +Mukoki shrugged his shoulders and his face was crinkled in a suggestive +grimace. + +"Hudson Bay," he grunted. + +Wabi turned from his steak in sudden astonishment. + +"Doesn't the chasm continue east?" he almost shouted. + +"No. She turn--straight north." + +Rod could not understand the change that came over Wabi's face. + +"Boys," he said finally, "if that is the case I can tell you where the +gold is. If the stream in the chasm turns northward it is bound for just +one place--the Albany River, and the Albany River empties into James +Bay! The third waterfall, where our treasure in gold is waiting for us, +is in the very heart of the wildest and most savage wilderness in North +America. It is safe. No other man has ever found it. But to get it means +one of the longest and most adventurous expeditions we ever planned in +all our lives!" + +"Hurrah!" shouted Rod. "Hurrah--" + +He had leaped to his feet, forgetful of everything but that their gold +was safe, and that their search for it would lead them even to the last +fastnesses of the snow-bound and romantic North. + +"Next spring, Wabi!" He held out his hand and the two boys joined their +pledge in a hearty grip. + +"Next spring!" reiterated Wabi. + +"And we go in canoe," joined Mukoki. "Creek grow bigger. We make +birch-bark canoe at first fall." + +"That is better still," added Wabi. "It will be a glorious trip! We'll +take a little vacation at the third fall and run up to James Bay." + +"James Bay is practically the same as Hudson Bay, isn't it?" asked Rod. + +"Yes. I could never see a good reason for calling it James Bay. It is in +reality the lower end, or tail, of Hudson Bay." + +There was no thought of visiting any of the traps that day, and the next +morning Mukoki insisted upon going with Rod, in spite of his four days +of hard travel. If he remained in camp his joints would get stiff, he +said, and Wabigoon thought he was right. This left the young Indian to +care for the trap-line leading into the north. + +Two weeks of ideal trapping weather now followed. It had been more than +two months since the hunters had left Wabinosh House, and Rod now began +to count the days before they would turn back over the homeward trail. +Wabi had estimated that they had sixteen hundred dollars' worth of furs +and scalps and two hundred dollars in gold, and the white youth was +satisfied to return to his mother with his share of six hundred dollars, +which was as much as he would have earned in a year at his old position +in the city. Neither did he attempt to conceal from Wabi his desire to +see Minnetaki; and his Indian friend, thoroughly pleased at Rod's liking +for his sister, took much pleasure in frequent good-natured banter on +the subject. In fact, Rod possessed a secret hope that he might induce +the princess mother to allow her daughter to accompany himself and Wabi +to Detroit, where he knew that his own mother would immediately fall in +love with the beautiful little maiden from the North. + +In the third week after the great storm Rod and Mukoki had gone over the +mountain trap-line, leaving Wabi in camp. They had decided that the +following week would see them headed for Wabinosh House, where they +would arrive about the first of February, and Roderick was in high +spirits. + +On this day they had started toward camp early in the afternoon, and +soon after they had passed through the swamp Rod expressed his intention +of ascending the ridge, hoping to get a shot at game somewhere along the +mountain trail home. Mukoki, however, decided not to accompany him, but +to take the nearer and easier route. + +On the top of the mountain Rod paused to take a survey of the country +about him. He could see Mukoki, now hardly more than a moving speck on +the edge of the plain; northward the same fascinating, never-ending +wilderness rolled away under his eyes; eastward, two miles away, he saw +a moving object which he knew was a moose or a caribou; and westward-- + +Instinctively his eyes sought the location of their camp. Instantly the +expectant light went out of his face. He gave an involuntary cry of +horror, and there followed it a single, unheard shriek for Mukoki. + +Over the spot where he knew their camp to be now rose a huge volume of +smoke. The sky was black with it, and in the terrible moment that +followed his piercing cry for Mukoki he fancied that he heard the sound +of rifle-shots. + +"Mukoki! Mukoki!" he shouted. + +The old Indian was beyond hearing. Quickly it occurred to Rod that early +in their trip they had arranged rifle signals for calling help--two +quick shots, and then, after a moment's interval, three others in rapid +succession. + +He threw his rifle to his shoulder and fired into the air; once, +twice--and then three times as fast as he could press the trigger. + +As he watched Mukoki he reloaded. He saw the Indian pause, turn about +and look back toward the mountain. + +Again the thrilling signals for help went echoing over the plains. In a +few seconds the sounds had reached Mukoki's ears and the old warrior +came swinging back at running speed. + +Rod darted along the ridge to meet him, firing a single shot now and +then to let him know where he was, and in fifteen minutes Mukoki came +panting up the mountain. + +"The Woongas!" shouted Rod. "They've attacked the camp! See!" He pointed +to the cloud of smoke. "I heard shots--I heard shots--" + +For an instant the grim pathfinder gazed in the direction of the burning +camp, and then without a word he started at terrific speed down the +mountain. + +The half-hour race that followed was one of the most exciting +experiences of Rod's life. How he kept up with Mukoki was more than he +ever could explain afterward. But from the time they struck the old +trail he was close at the Indian's heels. When they reached the hill +that sheltered the dip his face was scratched and bleeding from contact +with swinging bushes; his heart seemed ready to burst from its +tremendous exertion; his breath came in an audible hissing, rattling +sound, and he could not speak. But up the hill he plunged behind Mukoki, +his rifle cocked and ready. At the top they paused. + +The camp was a smoldering mass of ruins. Not a sign of life was about +it. But-- + +With a gasping, wordless cry Rod caught Mukoki's arm and pointed to an +object lying in the snow a dozen yards from where the cabin had been. +The warrior had seen it. He turned one look upon the white youth, and it +was a look that Rod had never thought could come into the face of a +human being. If that was Wabi down there--if Wabi had been killed--what +would Mukoki's vengeance be! His companion was no longer Mukoki--as he +had known him; he was the savage. There was no mercy, no human instinct, +no suggestion of the human soul in that one terrible look. If it was +Wabi-- + +They plunged down the hill, into the dip, across the lake, and Mukoki +was on his knees beside the figure in the snow. He turned it over--and +rose without a sound, his battle-glaring eyes peering into the smoking +ruins. + +Rod looked, and shuddered. + +The figure in the snow was not Wabi. + +It was a strange, terrible-looking object--a giant Indian, distorted in +death--and a half of his head was shot away! + +When he again looked at Mukoki the old Indian was in the midst of the +hot ruins, kicking about with his booted feet and poking with the butt +of his rifle. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE RESCUE OF WABIGOON + + +Rod had sunk into the snow close to the dead man. His endurance was gone +and he was as weak as a child. He watched every movement Mukoki made; +saw every start, every glance, and became almost sick with fear whenever +the warrior bent down to examine some object. + +Was Wabi dead--and burned in those ruins? + +Foot by foot Mukoki searched. His feet became hot; the smell of burning +leather filled his nostrils; glowing coals burned through to his feet. +But the old Indian was beyond pain. Only two things filled his soul. One +of these was love for Minnetaki; the other was love for Wabigoon. And +there was only one other thing that could take the place of these, and +that was merciless, undying, savage passion--passion at any wrong or +injury that might be done to them. The Woongas had sneaked upon Wabi. He +knew that. They had caught him unaware, like cowards; and perhaps he was +dead--and in those ruins! + +He searched until his feet were scorched and burned in a score of +places, and then he came out, smoke-blackened, but with some of the +terrible look gone out of his face. + +"He no there!" he said, speaking for the first time. + +Again he crouched beside the dead man, and grimaced at Rod with a +triumphant, gloating chuckle. + +"Much dead!" he grinned. + +In a moment the grimace had gone from his face, and while Rod still +rested he continued his examination of the camp. Close around it the +snow was beaten down with human tracks. Mukoki saw where the outlaws had +stolen up behind the cabin from the forest and he saw where they had +gone away after the attack. + +Five had come down from the cedars, only four had gone away! + +Where was Wabi? + +If he had been captured, and taken with the Indians, there would have +been five trails. Rod understood this as well as Mukoki, and he also +understood why his companion went back to make another investigation of +the smoldering ruins. This second search, however, convinced the Indian +that Wabi's body had not been thrown into the fire. There was only one +conclusion to draw. The youth had made a desperate fight, had killed one +of the outlaws, and after being wounded in the conflict had been carried +off bodily. Wabi and his captors could not be more than two or three +miles away. A quick pursuit would probably overtake them within an hour. + +Mukoki came to Rod's side. + +"Me follow--kill!" he said. "Me kill so many quick!" He pointed toward +the four trails. "You stay--" + +Rod clambered to his feet. + +"You mean we'll kill 'em, Muky," he broke in. "I can follow you again. +Set the pace!" + +There came the click of the safety on Mukoki's rifle, and Rod, following +suit, cocked his own. + +"Much quiet," whispered the Indian when they had come to the farther +side of the dip. "No noise--come up still--shoot!" + +The snow-shoe trail of the outlaws turned from the dip into the timbered +bottoms to the north, and Mukoki, partly crouched, his rifle always to +the front, followed swiftly. They had not progressed a hundred yards +into the plain when the old hunter stopped, a puzzled look in his face. +He pointed to one of the snow-shoe trails which was much deeper than the +others. + +"Heem carry Wabi," he spoke softly. "But--" His eyes gleamed in sudden +excitement. "They go slow! They no hurry! Walk very slow! Take much +time!" + +Rod now observed for the first time that the individual tracks made by +the outlaws were much shorter than their own, showing that instead of +being in haste they were traveling quite slowly. This was a mystery +which was not easy to explain. Did the Woongas not fear pursuit? Was it +possible that they believed the hunters would not hasten to give them +battle? Or were they relying upon the strength of their numbers, or, +perhaps, planning some kind of ambush? + +Mukoki's advance now became slower and more cautious. His keen eyes took +in every tree and clump of bushes ahead. Only when he could see the +trail leading straight away for a considerable distance did he hasten +the pursuit. Never for an instant did he turn his head to Rod. But +suddenly he caught sight of something that brought from him a guttural +sound of astonishment. A fifth track had joined the trail! Without +questioning Rod knew what it meant. Wabi had been lowered from the back +of his captor and was now walking. He was on snow-shoes and his strides +were quite even and of equal length with the others. Evidently he was +not badly wounded. + +Half a mile ahead of them was a high hill and between them and this hill +was a dense growth of cedar, filled with tangled windfalls. It was an +ideal place for an ambush, but the old warrior did not hesitate. The +Woongas had followed a moose trail, with which they were apparently well +acquainted, and in this traveling was easy. But Rod gave an involuntary +shudder as he gazed ahead into the chaotic tangle through which it led. +At any moment he expected to hear the sharp crack of a rifle and to see +Mukoki tumble forward upon his face. Or there might be a fusillade of +shots and he himself might feel the burning sting that comes with rifle +death. At the distance from which they would shoot the outlaws could not +miss. Did not Mukoki realize this? Maddened by the thought that his +beloved Wabi was in the hands of merciless enemies, was the old +pathfinder becoming reckless? + +But when he looked into his companion's face and saw the cool deadly +resolution glittering in his eyes, the youth's confidence was restored. +For some reason Mukoki knew that there would not be an ambush. + +Over the moose-run the two traveled more swiftly and soon they came to +the foot of the high hill. Up this the Woongas had gone, their trail +clearly defined and unswerving in its direction. Mukoki now paused with +a warning gesture to Rod, and pointed down at one of the snow-shoe +tracks. The snow was still crumbling and falling about the edges of this +imprint. + +"Ver' close!" whispered the Indian. + +It was not the light of the game hunt in Mukoki's eyes now; there was a +trembling, terrible tenseness in his whispered words. He crept up the +hill with Rod so near that he could have touched him. At the summit of +that hill he dragged himself up like an animal, and then, crouching, ran +swiftly to the opposite side, his rifle within six inches of his +shoulder. In the plain below them was unfolded to their eyes a scene +which, despite his companion's warning, wrung an exclamation of dismay +from Roderick's lips. + +[Illustration: The leader stopped in his snow-shoes] + +Plainly visible to them in the edge of the plain were the outlaw Woongas +and their captive. They were in single file, with Wabi following the +leader, and the hunters perceived that their comrade's arms were tied +behind him. + +But it was another sight that caused Rod's dismay. + +From an opening beside a small lake half a mile beyond the Indians below +there rose the smoke of two camp-fires, and Mukoki and he could make out +at least a score of figures about these fires. + +Within rifle-shot of them, almost within shouting distance, there was +not only the small war party that had attacked the camp, but a third of +the fighting men of the Woonga tribe! Rod understood their terrible +predicament. To attack the outlaws in an effort to rescue Wabi meant +that an overwhelming force would be upon them within a few minutes; to +allow Wabi to remain a captive meant--he shuddered at the thought of +what it might mean, for he knew of the merciless vengeance of the +Woongas upon the House of Wabinosh. + +And while he was thinking of these things the faithful old warrior +beside him had already formed his plan of attack. He would die with +Wabi, gladly--a fighting, terrible slave to devotion to the last; but he +would not see Wabi die alone. A whispered word, a last look at his +rifle, and Mukoki hurried down into the plains. + +At the foot of the hill he abandoned the outlaw trail and Rod realized +that his plan was to sweep swiftly in a semicircle, surprising the +Woongas from the front or side instead of approaching from the rear. +Again he was taxed to his utmost to keep pace with the avenging Mukoki. +Less than ten minutes later the Indian peered cautiously from behind a +clump of hazel, and then looked back at Rod, a smile of satisfaction on +his face. + +"They come," he breathed, just loud enough to hear. "They come!" + +Rod peered over his shoulder, and his heart smote mightily within him. +Unconscious of their peril the Woongas were approaching two hundred +yards away. Mukoki gazed into his companion's face and his eyes were +almost pleading as he laid a bronzed crinkled hand upon the white boy's +arm. + +"You take front man--ahead of Wabi," he whispered. "I take other t'ree. +See that tree--heem birch, with bark off? Shoot heem there. You no +tremble? You no miss?" + +"No," replied Rod. He gripped the red hand in his own. "I'll kill, +Mukoki. I'll kill him dead--in one shot!" + +They could hear the voices of the outlaws now, and soon they saw that +Wabi's face was disfigured with blood. + +Step by step, slowly and carelessly, the Woongas approached. They were +fifty yards from the marked birch now--forty--thirty--now only ten. +Roderick's rifle was at his shoulder. Already it held a deadly bead on +the breast of the leader. + +Five yards more-- + +The outlaw passed behind the tree; he came out, and the young hunter +pressed the trigger. The leader stopped in his snow-shoes. Even before +he had crumpled down into a lifeless heap in the snow a furious volley +of shots spat forth from Mukoki's gun, and when Rod swung his own rifle +to join again in the fray he found that only one of the four was +standing, and he with his hands to his breast as he tottered about to +fall. But from some one of those who had fallen there had gone out a +wild, terrible cry, and even as Rod and Makoki rushed out to free +Wabigoon there came an answering yell from the direction of the Woonga +camp. + +Mukoki's knife was in his hand by the time he reached Wabi, and with one +or two slashes he had released his hands. + +"You hurt--bad?" he asked. + +"No--no!" replied Wabi. "I knew you'd come, boys--dear old friends!" + +As he spoke he turned to the fallen leader and Rod saw him take +possession of the rifle and revolver which he had lost in their fight +with the Woongas weeks before. Mukoki had already spied their precious +pack of furs on one of the outlaw's backs, and he flung it over his own. + +"You saw the camp?" queried Wabi excitedly. + +"Yes." + +"They will be upon us in a minute! Which way, Mukoki?" + +"The chasm!" half shouted Rod. "The chasm! If we can reach the chasm--" + +"The chasm!" reiterated Wabigoon. + +Mukoki had fallen behind and motioned for Wabi and Rod to take the lead. +Even now he was determined to take the brunt of danger by bringing up +the rear. + +There was no time for argument and Wabigoon set off at a rapid pace. +From behind there came the click of shells as the Indian loaded his +rifle on the run. While the other two had been busy at the scene of the +ambush Rod had replaced his empty shell, and now, as he led, Wabi +examined the armament that had been stolen from them by the outlaws. + +"How many shells have you got, Rod?" he asked over his shoulder. + +"Forty-nine." + +"There's only four left in this belt besides five in the gun," called +back the Indian youth. "Give me--some." + +Without halting Rod plucked a dozen cartridges from his belt and passed +them on. + +Now they had reached the hill. At its summit they paused to recover +their breath and take a look at the camp. + +The fires were deserted. A quarter of a mile out on the plain they saw +half a dozen of their pursuers speeding toward the hill. The rest were +already concealed in the nearer thickets of the bottom. + +"We must beat them to the chasm!" said the young Indian. + +As he spoke Wabi turned and led the way again. + +Rod's heart fell like a lump within him. We must beat them to the chasm! +Those words of Wabi's brought him to the terrible realization that his +own powers of endurance were rapidly ebbing. His race behind Mukoki to +the burning cabin had seemed to rob the life from the muscles of his +limbs, and each step now added to his weakness. And the chasm was a mile +beyond the dip, and the entrance into that chasm still two miles +farther. Three miles! Could he hold out? + +He heard Mukoki thumping along behind him; ahead of him Wabi was +unconsciously widening the distance between them. He made a powerful +effort to close the breach, but it was futile. Then from close in his +rear there came a warning halloo from the old Indian, and Wabi turned. + +"He run t'ree mile to burning cabin," said Mukoki. "He no make chasm!" + +Rod was deathly white and breathing so hard that he could not speak. The +quick-witted Wabi at once realized their situation. + +"There is just one thing for us to do, Muky. We must stop the Woongas at +the dip. We'll fire down upon them from the top of the hill beyond the +lake. We can drop three or four of them and they won't dare to come +straight after us then. They will think we are going to fight them from +there and will take time to sneak around us. Meanwhile we'll get a good +lead in the direction of the chasm." + +He led off again, this time a little slower. Three minutes later they +entered into the dip, crossed it safely, and were already at the foot of +the hill, when from the opposite side of the hollow there came a +triumphant blood-curdling yell. + +"Hurry!" shouted Wabi. "They see us!" Even as he spoke there came the +crack of a rifle. + +Bzzzzzzz-inggggg! + +For the first time in his life Rod heard that terrible death-song of a +bullet close to his head and saw the snow fly up a dozen feet beyond the +young Indian. + +For an interval of twenty seconds there was silence; then there came +another shot, and after that three others in quick succession. Wabi +stumbled. + +"Not hit!" he called, scrambling to his feet. "Confound--that rock!" + +He rose to the hilltop with Rod close behind him, and from the opposite +side of the lake there came a fusillade of half a dozen shots. +Instinctively Rod dropped upon his face. And in that instant, as he lay +in the snow, he heard the sickening thud of a bullet and a sharp sudden +cry of pain from Mukoki. But the old warrior came up beside him and they +passed into the shelter of the hilltop together. + +"Is it bad? Is it bad, Mukoki? Is it bad--" Wabi was almost sobbing as +he turned and threw an arm around the old Indian. "Are you hit--bad?" + +Mukoki staggered, but caught himself. + +"In here," he said, putting a hand to his left shoulder. "She--no--bad." +He smiled, courage gleaming with pain in his eyes, and swung off the +light pack of furs. "We give 'em--devil--here!" + +Crouching, they peered over the edge of the hill. Half a dozen Woongas +had already left the cedars and were following swiftly across the open. +Others broke from the cover, and Wabi saw that a number of them were +without snow-shoes. He exultantly drew Mukoki's attention to this fact, +but the latter did not lift his eyes. In a few moments he spoke. + +"Now we give 'em--devil!" + +Eight pursuers on snow-shoes were in the open of the dip. Six of them +had reached the lake. Rod held his fire. He knew that it was now more +important for him to recover his wind than to fight, and he drew great +drafts of air into his lungs while his two comrades leveled their +rifles. He could fire after they were done if it was necessary. + +There was slow deadly deliberation in the way Mukoki and Wabigoon +sighted along their rifle-barrels. Mukoki fired first; one shot, +two--with a second's interval between--and an outlaw half-way across the +lake pitched forward into the snow. As he fell, Wabi fired once, and +there came to their ears shriek after shriek of agony as a second +pursuer fell with a shattered leg. At the cries and shots of battle the +hot blood rushed through Rod's veins, and with an excited shout of +defiance he brought his rifle to his shoulder and in unison the three +guns sent fire and death into the dip below. + +Only three of the eight Woongas remained and they had turned and were +running toward the shelter of the cedars. + +"Hurrah!" shouted Rod. + +In his excitement he got upon his feet and sent his fifth and last shot +after the fleeing outlaws. "Hurrah! Wow! Let's go after 'em!" + +"Get down!" commanded Wabi. "Load in a hurry!" + +Clink--clink--clink sounded the new shells as Mukoki and Wabigoon thrust +them into their magazines. Five seconds more and they were sending a +terrific fusillade of shots into the edge of the cedars--ten in all--and +by the time he had reloaded his own gun Rod could see nothing to shoot +at. + +"That will hold them for a while," spoke Wabi. "Most of them came in too +big a hurry, and without their snow-shoes, Muky. We'll beat them to the +chasm--easy!" He put an arm around the shoulders of the old Indian, who +was still lying upon his face in the snow. "Let me see, Muky--let me +see--" + +"Chasm first," replied Mukoki. "She no bad. No hit bone. No +bleed--much." + +From behind Rod could see that Mukoki's coat was showing a growing +blotch of red. + +"Are you sure--you can reach the chasm?" + +"Yes." + +In proof of his assertion the wounded Indian rose to his feet and +approached the pack of furs. Wabi was ahead of him, and placed it upon +his own shoulders. + +"You and Rod lead the way," he said. "You two know where to find the +opening into the chasm. I've never been there." + +Mukoki started down the hill, and Rod, close behind, could hear him +breathing heavily; there was no longer fear for himself in his soul, but +for that grim faithful warrior ahead, who would die in his tracks +without a murmur and with a smile of triumph and fearlessness on his +lips. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +RODERICK HOLDS THE WOONGAS AT BAY + + +They traveled more slowly now and Rod found his strength returning. When +they reached the second ridge he took Mukoki by the arm and assisted him +up, and the old Indian made no demur. This spoke more strongly of his +hurt than words. There was still no sign of their enemies behind. From +the top of the second ridge they could look back upon a quarter of a +mile of the valley below, and it was here that Rod suggested that he +remain on watch for a few minutes while Wabigoon went on with Mukoki. +The young hunters could see that the Indian was becoming weaker at every +step, and Mukoki could no longer conceal this weakness in spite of the +tremendous efforts he made to appear natural. + +"I believe it is bad," whispered Wabi to Rod, his face strangely white. +"I believe it is worse than we think. He is bleeding hard. Your idea is +a good one. Watch here, and if the Woongas show up in the valley open +fire on them. I'll leave you my gun, too, so they'll think we are going +to give them another fight. That will keep them back for a time. I'm +going to stop Muky up here a little way and dress his wound. He will +bleed to death if I don't." + +"And then go on," added Rod. "Don't stop if you hear me fire, but hurry +on to the chasm. I know the way and will join you. I'm as strong as I +ever was now, and can catch up with you easily with Mukoki traveling as +slowly as he does." + +During this brief conversation Mukoki had continued his way along the +ridge and Wabi hurried to overtake him. Meanwhile Rod concealed himself +behind a rock, from which vantage-point he could see the whole of that +part of the valley across which they had come. + +He looked at his watch and in tense anxiety counted every minute after +that. He allowed ten minutes for the dressing of Mukoki's wound. Every +second gained from then on would be priceless. For a quarter of an hour +he kept his eyes with ceaseless vigilance upon their back trail. Surely +the Woongas had secured their snow-shoes by this time! Was it possible +that they had given up the pursuit--that their terrible experience in +the dip had made them afraid of further battle? Rod answered this +question in the negative. He was sure that the Woongas knew that Wabi +was the son of the factor of Wabinosh House. Therefore they would make +every effort to recapture him, even though they had to follow far and a +dozen lives were lost before that feat was accomplished. + +A movement in the snow across the valley caught Rod's eyes. He +straightened himself, and his breath came quickly. Two figures had +appeared in the open. Another followed close behind, and after that +there came others, until the waiting youth had counted sixteen. They +were all on snow-shoes, following swiftly over the trail of the +fugitives. + +The young hunter looked at his watch again. Twenty-five minutes had +passed. Mukoki and Wabigoon had secured a good start. If he could only +hold the outlaws in the valley for a quarter of an hour more--just +fifteen short minutes--they would almost have reached the entrance into +the chasm. + +Alone, with his own life and those of his comrades depending upon him, +the boy was cool. There was no tremble in his hands to destroy the +accuracy of his rifle-fire, no blurring excitement or fear in his brain +to trouble his judgment of distance and range. He made up his mind that +he would not fire until they had come within four hundred yards. Between +that distance and three hundred he was sure he could drop at least one +or two of them. + +He measured his range by a jackpine stub, and when two of the Woongas +had reached and passed that stub he fired. He saw the snow thrown up six +feet in front of the leader. He fired again, and again, and one of the +shots, a little high, struck the second outlaw. The leader had darted +back to the shelter of the stub and Rod sent another bullet whizzing +past his ears. His fifth he turned into the main body of the pursuers, +and then, catching up Wabi's rifle, he poured a hail of five bullets +among them in as many seconds. + +The effect was instantaneous. The outlaws scattered in retreat and Rod +saw that a second figure was lying motionless in the snow. He began to +reload his rifles and by the time he had finished the Woongas had +separated and were running to the right and the left of him. For the +last time he looked at his watch. Wabi and Mukoki had been gone +thirty-five minutes. + +The boy crept back from his rock, straightened himself, and followed in +their trail. He mentally calculated that it would be ten minutes before +the Woongas, coming up from the sides and rear, would discover his +flight, and by that time he would have nearly a mile the start of them. +He saw, without stopping, where Wabi had dressed Mukoki's wound. There +were spots of blood and a red rag upon the snow. Half a mile farther on +the two had paused again, and this time he knew that Mukoki had stopped +to rest. From now on they had rested every quarter of a mile or so, and +soon Roderick saw them toiling slowly through the snow ahead of him. + +He ran up, panting, anxious. + +"How--" he began. + +Wabi looked at him grimly. + +"How much farther, Rod?" he asked. + +"Not more than half a mile." + +Wabi motioned for him to take Mukoki's other arm. + +"He has bled a good deal," he said. There was a hardness in his voice +that made Rod shudder, and he caught his breath as Wabi shot him a +meaning glance behind the old warrior's doubled shoulders. + +They went faster now, almost carrying their wounded comrade between +them. Suddenly, Wabi paused, threw his rifle to his shoulder, and fired. +A few yards ahead a huge white rabbit kicked in his death struggles in +the snow. + +"If we do reach the chasm Mukoki must have something to eat," he said. + +"We'll reach it!" gasped Rod. "We'll reach it! There's the woods. We go +down there!" + +They almost ran, with Mukoki's snow-shod feet dragging between them, and +five minutes later they were carrying the half-unconscious Indian down +the steep side of the mountain. At its foot Wabi turned, and his eyes +flashed with vengeful hatred. + +"Now, you devils!" he shouted up defiantly. "Now!" + +Mukoki aroused himself for a few moments and Rod helped him back to the +shelter of the chasm wall. He found a nook between great masses of rock, +almost clear of snow, and left him there while he hurried back to +Wabigoon. + +"You stand on guard here, Rod," said the latter. "We must cook that +rabbit and get some life back into Mukoki. I think he has stopped +bleeding, but I am going to look again. The wound isn't fatal, but it +has weakened him. If we can get something hot into him I believe he will +be able to walk again. Did you have anything left over from your dinner +on the trail to-day?" + +Rod unstrapped the small pack in which the hunters carried their food +while on the trail, and which had been upon his shoulders since noon. + +"There is a double handful of coffee, a cupful of tea, plenty of salt +and a little bread," he said. + +"Good! Few enough supplies for three people in this kind of a +wilderness--but they'll save Mukoki!" + +Wabi went back, while Rod, sheltered behind a rock, watched the narrow +incline into the chasm. He almost hoped the Woongas would dare to +attempt a descent, for he was sure that he and Wabi would have them at a +terrible disadvantage and with their revolvers and three rifles could +inflict a decisive blow upon them before they reached the bottom. But he +saw no sign of their enemies. He heard no sound from above, yet he knew +that the outlaws were very near--only waiting for the protecting +darkness of night. + +He heard the crackling of Wabi's fire and the odor of coffee came to +him; and Wabi, assured that their presence was known to the Woongas, +began whistling cheerily. In a few minutes he rejoined Rod behind the +rock. + +"They will attack us as soon as it gets good and dark," he said coolly. +"That is, if they can find us. As soon as they are no longer able to see +down into the chasm we will find some kind of a hiding-place. Mukoki +will be able to travel then." + +A memory of the cleft in the chasm wall came to Rod and he quickly +described it to his companion. It was an ideal hiding-place at night, +and if Mukoki was strong enough they could steal up out of the chasm and +secure a long start into the south before the Woongas discovered their +flight in the morning. There was just one chance of failure. If the spy +whose trail had revealed the break in the mountain to Rod was not among +the outlaws' wounded or dead the cleft might be guarded, or the Woongas +themselves might employ it in making a descent upon them. + +"It's worth the risk anyway," said Wabi. "The chances are even that your +outlaw ran across the fissure by accident and that his companions are +not aware of its existence. And they'll not follow our trail down the +chasm to-night, I'll wager. In the cover of darkness they will steal +down among the rocks and then wait for daylight. Meanwhile we can be +traveling southward and when they catch up with us we will give them +another fight if they want it." + +"We can start pretty soon?" + +"Within an hour." + +For some time the two stood in silent watchfulness. Suddenly Rod asked: + +"Where is Wolf?" + +Wabi laughed, softly, exultantly. + +"Gone back to his people, Rod. He will be crying in the wild hunt-pack +to-night. Good old Wolf!" The laugh left his lips and there was a +tremble of regret in his voice. "The Woongas came from the back of the +cabin--took me by surprise--and we had it hot and heavy for a few +minutes. We fell back where Wolf was tied and just as I knew they'd got +me sure I cut his babeesh with the knife I had in my hand." + +"Didn't he show fight?" + +"For a minute. Then one of the Indians shot, at him and he hiked off +into the woods." + +"Queer they didn't wait for Mukoki and me," mused Rod. "Why didn't they +ambush us?" + +"Because they didn't want you, and they were sure they'd reach their +camp before you took up the trail. I was their prize. With me in their +power they figured on communicating with you and Mukoki and sending you +back to the Post with their terms. They would have bled father to his +last cent--and then killed me. Oh, they talked pretty plainly to me when +they thought they had me!" + +There came a noise from above them and the young hunters held their +rifles in readiness. Nearer and nearer came the crashing sound, until a +small boulder shot past them into the chasm. + +"They're up there," grinned Wabi, lowering his gun. "That was an +accident, but you'd better keep your eyes open. I'll bet the whole tribe +feel like murdering the fellow who rolled over that stone!" + +He crept cautiously back to Mukoki, and Rod crouched with his face to +the narrow trail leading down from the top of the mountain. Deep shadows +were beginning to lurk among the trees and he was determined that any +movement there would draw his fire. Fifteen minutes later Wabi returned, +eating ravenously at a big hind quarter of broiled rabbit. + +"I've had my coffee," he greeted. "Go back and eat and drink, and build +the fire up high. Don't mind me when I shoot. I am going to fire just to +let the Woongas know we are on guard, and after that we'll hustle for +that break in the mountain." + +Rod found Mukoki with a chunk of rabbit in one hand and a cup of coffee +in the other. The wounded Indian smiled with something like the old +light in his eyes and a mighty load was lifted from Rod's heart. + +"You're better?" he asked. + +"Fine!" replied Mukoki. "No much hurt. Good fight some more. Wabi say, +'No, you stay.'" His face became a map of grimaces to show his +disapproval of Wabi's command. + +Rod helped himself to the meat and coffee. He was hungry, but after he +was done there remained some of the rabbit and a biscuit and these he +placed in his pack for further use. Soon after this there came two shots +from the rock and before the echoes had died away down the chasm Wabi +approached through the gathering gloom. + +It was easy for the hunters to steal along the concealment of the +mountain wall, and even if there had been prying eyes on the opposite +ridge they could not have penetrated the thickening darkness in the +bottom of the gulch. For some time the flight was continued with extreme +caution, no sound being made to arouse the suspicion of any outlaw who +might be patrolling the edge of the precipice. At the end of half an +hour Mukoki, who was in the lead that he might set a pace according to +his strength, quickened his steps. Rod was close beside him now, his +eyes ceaselessly searching the chasm wall for signs that would tell him +when they were nearing the rift. Suddenly Wabi halted in his tracks and +gave a low hiss that stopped them. + +"It's snowing!" he whispered. + +Mukoki lifted his face. Great solitary flakes of snow fell upon it. + +"She snow hard--soon. Mebby cover snow-shoe trails!" + +"And if it does--we're safe!" There was a vibrant joy in Wabi's voice. + +For a full minute Mukoki held his face to the sky. + +"Hear small wind over chasm," he said. + +"She come from south. She snow hard--now--up there!" + +They went on, stirred by new hope. Rod could feel that the flakes were +coming thicker. The three now kept close to the chasm wall in their +search for the rift. How changed all things were at night! Rod's heart +throbbed now with hope, now with doubt, now with actual fear. Was it +possible that he could not find it? Had they passed it among some of the +black shadows behind? He saw no rock that he recognized, no overhanging +crag, no sign to guide him. He stopped, and his voice betrayed his +uneasiness as he asked: + +"How far do you think we have come?" + +Mukoki had gone a few steps ahead, and before Wabi answered he called +softly to them from close up against the chasm wall. They hurried to him +and found him standing beside the rift. + +"Here!" + +Wabi handed his rifle to Rod. + +"I'm going up first," he announced. "If the coast is clear I'll whistle +down." + +For a few moments Mukoki and Rod could hear him as he crawled up the +fissure. Then all was silent. A quarter of an hour passed, and a low +whistle came to their ears. Another ten minutes and the three stood +together at the top of the mountain, Rod and the wounded Mukoki +breathing hard from their exertions. + +For a time the three sat down in the snow and waited, watched, listened; +and from Rod's heart there went up something that was almost a prayer, +for it was snowing--snowing hard, and it seemed to him that the storm +was something which God had specially directed should fall in their path +that it might shield them and bring them safely home. + +And when he rose to his feet Wabi was still silent, and the three +gripped hands in mute thankfulness at their deliverance. + +Still speechless, they turned instinctively for a moment back to the +dark desolation beyond the chasm--the great, white wilderness in which +they had passed so many adventurous yet happy weeks; and as they gazed +into the chaos beyond the second mountain there came to them the lonely, +wailing howl of a wolf. + +"I wonder," said Wabi softly. "I wonder--if that--is Wolf?" + +And then, Indian file, they trailed into the south. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE SURPRISE AT THE POST + + +From the moment that the adventurers turned their backs upon the Woonga +country Mukoki was in command. With the storm in their favor everything +else now depended upon the craft of the old pathfinder. There was +neither moon nor wind to guide them, and even Wabi felt that he was not +competent to strike a straight trail in a strange country and a night +storm. But Mukoki, still a savage in the ways of the wilderness, seemed +possessed of that mysterious sixth sense which is known as the sense of +orientation--that almost supernatural instinct which guides the carrier +pigeon as straight as a die to its home-cote hundreds of miles away. +Again and again during that thrilling night's flight Wabi or Rod would +ask the Indian where Wabinosh House lay, and he would point out its +direction to them without hesitation. And each time it seemed to the +city youth that he pointed a different way, and it proved to him how +easy it was to become hopelessly lost in the wilderness. + +Not until midnight did they pause to rest. They had traveled slowly but +steadily and Wabi figured that they had covered fifteen miles. Five +miles behind them their trail was completely obliterated by the falling +snow. Morning would betray to the Woongas no sign of the direction taken +by the fugitives. + +"They will believe that we have struck directly westward for the Post," +said Wabi. "To-morrow night we'll be fifty miles apart." + +During this stop a small fire was built behind a fallen log and the +hunters refreshed themselves with a pot of strong coffee and what little +remained of the rabbit and biscuits. The march was then resumed. + +It seemed to Rod that they had climbed an interminable number of ridges +and had picked their way through an interminable number of swampy +bottoms between them, and he, even more than Mukoki, was relieved when +they struck the easier traveling of open plains. In fact, Mukoki seemed +scarcely to give a thought to his wound and Roderick was almost ready to +drop in his tracks by the time a halt was called an hour before dawn. +The old warrior was confident that they were now well out of danger and +a rousing camp-fire was built in the shelter of a thick growth of +spruce. + +"Spruce partridge in mornin'," affirmed Mukoki. "Plenty here for +breakfast." + +"How do you know?" asked Rod, whose hunger was ravenous. + +"Fine thick spruce, all in shelter of dip," explained the Indian. "Birds +winter here." + +Wabi had unpacked the furs, and the larger of these, including six lynx +and three especially fine wolf skins, he divided into three piles. + +"They'll make mighty comfortable beds if you keep close enough to the +fire," he explained. "Get a few spruce boughs, Rod, and cover them over +with one of the wolf skins. The two lynx pelts will make the warmest +blankets you ever had." + +Rod quickly availed himself of this idea, and within half an hour he was +sleeping soundly. Mukoki and Wabigoon, more inured to the hardships of +the wilderness, took only brief snatches of slumber, one or both +awakening now and then to replenish the fire. As soon as it was light +enough the two Indians went quietly out into the spruce with their guns, +and their shots a little later awakened Rod. When they returned they +brought three partridges with them. + +"There are dozens of them among the spruce," said Wabi, "but just now we +do not want to shoot any oftener than is absolutely necessary. Have you +noticed our last night's trail?" + +Rod rubbed his eyes, thus confessing that as yet he had not been out +from between his furs. + +"Well, if you go out there in the open for a hundred yards you won't +find it," finished his comrade. "The snow has covered it completely." + +Although they lacked everything but meat, this breakfast in the spruce +thicket was one of the happiest of the entire trip, and when the three +hunters were done each had eaten of his partridge until only the bones +were left. There was now little cause for fear, for it was still snowing +and their enemies were twenty-five miles to the north of them. This fact +did not deter the adventurers from securing an early start, however, and +they traveled southward through the storm until noon, when they built a +camp of spruce and made preparations to rest until the following day. + +"We must be somewhere near the Kenogami trail," Wabi remarked to Mukoki. +"We may have passed it." + +"No pass it," replied Mukoki. "She off there." He pointed to the south. + +"You see the Kenogami trail is a sled trail leading from the little town +of Nipigon, on the railroad, to Kenogami House, which is a Hudson Bay +Post at the upper end of Long Lake," explained Wabi to his white +companion. "The factor of Kenogami is a great friend of ours and we have +visited back and forth often, but I've been over the Kenogami trail only +once. Mukoki has traveled it many times." + +Several rabbits were killed before dinner. No other hunting was done +during the afternoon, most of which was passed in sleep by the exhausted +adventurers. When Rod awoke he found that it had stopped snowing and was +nearly dark. + +Mukoki's wound was beginning to trouble him again, and it was decided +that at least a part of the next day should be passed in camp, and that +both Rod and Wabigoon should make an effort to kill some animal that +would furnish them with the proper kind of oil to dress it with, the fat +of almost any species of animal except mink or rabbit being valuable for +this purpose. With dawn the two started out, while Mukoki, much against +his will, was induced to remain in camp. A short distance away the +hunters separated, Rod striking to the eastward and Wabi into the south. + +For an hour Roderick continued without seeing game, though there were +plenty of signs of deer and caribou about him. At last he determined to +strike for a ridge a mile to the south, from the top of which he was +more likely to get a shot than in the thick growth of the plains. He had +not traversed more than a half of the distance when much to his surprise +he came upon a well-beaten trail running slightly diagonally with his +own, almost due north. Two dog-teams had passed since yesterday's storm, +and on either side of the sleds were the snow-shoe trails of men. Rod +saw that there were three of these, and at least a dozen dogs in the two +teams. It at once occurred to him that this was the Kenogami trail, and +impelled by nothing more than curiosity he began to follow it. + +Half a mile farther on he found where the party had stopped to cook a +meal. The remains of their camp-fire lay beside a huge log, which was +partly burned away, and about it were scattered bones and bits of bread. +But what most attracted Rod's attention were other tracks which joined +those of the three people on snow-shoes. He was sure that these tracks +had been made by women, for the footprints made by one of them were +unusually small. Close to the log he found a single impression in the +snow that caused his heart to give a sudden unexpected thump within him. +In this spot the snow had been packed by one of the snow-shoes, and in +this comparatively hard surface the footprint was clearly defined. It +had been made by a moccasin. Rod knew that. And the moccasin wore a +slight heel! He remembered, now, that thrilling day in the forest near +Wabinosh House when he had stopped to look at Minnetaki's footprints in +the soft earth through which she had been driven by her Woonga +abductors, and he remembered, too, that she was the only person at the +Post who wore heels on her moccasins. It was a queer coincidence! Could +Minnetaki have been here? Had she made that footprint in the snow? +Impossible, declared the young hunter's better sense. And yet his blood +ran a little faster as he touched the delicate impression with his bare +fingers. It reminded him of Minnetaki, anyway; her foot would have made +just such a trail, and he wondered if the girl who had stepped there was +as pretty as she. + +He followed now a little faster than before, and ten minutes later he +came to where a dozen snow-shoe trails had come in from the north and +had joined the three. After meeting, the two parties had evidently +joined forces and had departed over the trail made by those who had +appeared from the direction of the Post. + +"Friends from Kenogami House came down to meet them," mused Rod, and as +he turned back in the direction of the camp he formed a picture of that +meeting in the heart of the wilderness, of the glad embraces of husband +and wife, and the joy of the pretty girl with the tiny feet as she +kissed her father, and perhaps her big brother; for no girl could +possess feet just like Minnetaki's and not be pretty! + +He found that Wabi had preceded him when he returned. The young Indian +had shot a small doe, and that noon witnessed a feast in camp. For his +lack of luck Rod had his story to tell of the people on the trail. The +passing of this party formed the chief topic of conversation during the +rest of the day, for after weeks of isolation in the wilderness even +this momentary nearness of living civilized men and women was a great +event to them. But there was one fact which Rod dwelt but slightly upon. +He did not emphasize the similarity of the pretty footprint and that +made by Minnetaki's moccasin, for he knew that a betrayal of his +knowledge and admiration of the Indian maiden's feet would furnish Wabi +with fun-making ammunition for a week. He did say, however, that the +footprint in the snow struck him as being just about the size that +Minnetaki would make. + +All that day and night the hunters remained in camp, sleeping, eating +and taking care of Mukoki's wound, but the next morning saw them ready +for their homeward journey with the coming of dawn. They struck due +westward now, satisfied that they were well beyond the range of the +outlaw Woongas. + +As the boys talked over their adventure on the long journey back toward +the Post, Wabi thought with regret of the moose head which he had left +buried in the "Indian ice-box," and even wished, for a moment, to go +home by the northern trail, despite the danger from the hostile Woongas, +in order to recover the valuable antlers. But Mukoki shook his head. + +"Woonga make good fight. What for go again into wolf trap?" + +And so they reluctantly gave up the notion of carrying the big head of +the bull moose back to the Post. + +A little before noon of the second day they saw Lake Nipigon from the +top of a hill. Columbus when he first stepped upon the shore of his +newly discovered land was not a whit happier than Roderick Drew when +that joyous youth, running out upon the snow-covered ice, attempted to +turn a somersault with his snow-shoes on! + +Just over there, thought Rod--just over there--a hundred miles or so, is +Minnetaki and the Post! Happy visions filled his mind all that afternoon +as they traveled across the foot of the lake. Three weeks more and he +would see his mother--and home. And Wabi was going with him! He seemed +tireless; his spirits were never exhausted; he laughed, whistled, even +attempted to sing. He wondered if Minnetaki would be very glad to see +him. He knew that she would be glad--but how glad? + +Two days more were spent in circling the lower end of the lake. Then +their trail turned northward, and on the second evening after this, as +the cold red sun was sinking in all that heatless glory of the great +North's day-end, they came out upon a forest-clad ridge and looked down +upon the House of Wabinosh. + +And as they looked--and as the burning disk of the sun, falling down and +down behind forest, mountain and plain, bade its last adieu to the land +of the wild, there came to them, strangely clear and beautiful, the +notes of a bugle. + +And Wabi, listening, grew rigid with wonder. As the last notes died away +the cheers that had been close to his lips gave way to the question, +"What does that mean?" + +"A bugle!" said Rod. + +As he spoke there came to their ears the heavy, reverberating boom of a +big gun. + +"If I'm not mistaken," he added, "that is a sunset salute. I didn't know +you had--soldiers--at the Post!" + +"We haven't," replied the Indian youth. "By George, what do you suppose +it means?" + +He hurried down the ridge, the others close behind him. Fifteen minutes +later they trailed out into the open near the Post. A strange change had +occurred since Rod and his companions had last seen Wabinosh House. In +the open half a dozen rude log shelters had been erected, and about +these were scores of soldiers in the uniform of his Majesty, the King of +England. Shouts of greeting died on the hunters' lips. They hastened to +the dwelling of the factor, and while Wabi rushed in to meet his mother +and father Rod cut across to the Company's store. He had often found +Minnetaki there. But his present hope was shattered, and after looking +in he turned back to the house. By the time he had reached the steps a +second time the princess mother, with Wabi close behind her, came out to +welcome him. + +Wabi's face was flushed with excitement. His eyes sparkled. + +"Rod, what do you think!" he exclaimed, after his mother had gone back +to see to the preparation of their supper. "The government has declared +war on the Woongas and has sent up a company of regulars to wipe 'em out! +They have been murdering and robbing as never before during the last two +months. The regulars start after them to-morrow!" + +He was breathing hard and excitedly. + +"Can't you stay--and join in the campaign?" he pleaded. + +"I can't," replied Rod. "I can't, Wabi; I've got to go home. You know +that. And you're going with me. The regulars can get along without you. +Go back to Detroit with me--and get your mother to let Minnetaki go with +us." + +"Not now, Rod," said the Indian youth, taking his friend's hand. "I +won't be able to go--now. Nor Minnetaki either. They have been having +such desperate times here that father has sent her away. He wanted +mother to go, but she wouldn't." + +"Sent Minnetaki away?" gasped Rod. + +"Yes. She started for Kenogami House four days ago in company with an +Indian woman and three guides. That was undoubtedly their trail you +found." + +"And the footprint--" + +"Was hers," laughed Wabi, putting an arm affectionately around his +chum's shoulders. "Won't you stay, Rod?" + +"It is impossible." + +He went to his old room, and until suppertime sat alone in silent +dejection. Two great disappointments had fallen upon him. Wabi could not +go home with him--and he had missed Minnetaki. The young girl had left a +note in her mother's care for him, and he read it again and again. She +had written it believing that she would return to Wabinosh House before +the hunters, but at the end she had added a paragraph in which she said +that if she did not do this Rod must make the Post a second visit very +soon, and bring his mother with him. + +At supper the princess mother several times pressed Minnetaki's +invitation upon the young hunter. She read to him parts of certain +letters which she had received from Mrs. Drew during the winter, and Rod +was overjoyed to find that his mother was not only in good health, but +that she had given her promise to visit Wabinosh House the following +summer. Wabi broke all table etiquette by giving vent to a warlike whoop +of joy at this announcement, and once more Rod's spirits rose high above +his temporary disappointments. + +That night the furs were appraised and purchased by the factor for his +Company, and Rod's share, including his third of the gold, was nearly +seven hundred dollars. The next morning the bi-monthly sled party, was +leaving for civilization, and he prepared to go with it, after writing a +long letter to Minnetaki, which was to be carried to her by the faithful +Mukoki. Most of that night Wabi and his friend sat up and talked, and +made plans. It was believed that the campaign against the Woongas would +be a short and decisive one. By spring all trouble would be over. + +"And you'll come back as soon as you can?" pleaded Wabi for the +hundredth time. "You'll come back by the time the ice breaks up?" + +"If I am alive!" pledged the city youth. + +"And you'll bring your mother?" + +"She has promised." + +"And then--for the gold!" + +"For the gold!" + +Wabi held out his hand and the two gripped heartily. + +"And Minnetaki will be here then--I swear it!" said the Indian youth, +laughing. + +Rod blushed. + +And that night alone he slipped quietly out into the still, white night; +and he looked, longingly, far into the southeast where he had found the +footprint in the snow; and he turned to the north, and the east, and the +west, and lastly to the south, and his eyes seemed to travel through the +distance of a thousand miles to where a home and a mother lay sleeping +in a great city. And as he turned back to the House of Wabinosh, where +all the lights were out, he spoke softly to himself: + +"It's home--to-morrow!" + +And then he added: + +"But you bet I'll be back by the time the ice breaks up!" + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Wolf Hunters, by James Oliver Curwood + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12170 *** diff --git a/12170-h.zip b/12170-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..15c9fd9 --- /dev/null +++ b/12170-h.zip diff --git a/12170-h/12170-h.htm b/12170-h/12170-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb67934 --- /dev/null +++ b/12170-h/12170-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6308 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= + "text/html; charset=us-ascii"> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Wolf Hunters, by James Oliver Curwood. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-left: 1em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem .caesura {vertical-align: -200%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wolf Hunters, by James Oliver Curwood + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Wolf Hunters + A Tale of Adventure in the Wilderness + +Author: James Oliver Curwood + +Release Date: April 27, 2004 [EBook #12170] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOLF HUNTERS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Dave Macfarlane and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<center> +<a name="Illus_0"></a><img src="whfront.jpg" width="450" height="728" alt="" title="With his rifle ready Rob approached the fissure"> +</center> + +<h1>THE WOLF HUNTERS</h1> + +<h4>A Tale of Adventure in the Wilderness</h4> + +<h3>BY</h3> +<h2>JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD</h2> + +<h3>1908</h3> + +<h4>To my comrades of the great northern wilderness, those faithful +companions with whom I have shared the joys and hardships of the "long +silent trail," and especially to Mukoki, my red guide and beloved +friend, does the writer gratefully dedicate this volume</h4> +<br> + +<p>CONTENTS:</p> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> + +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + +<ul> + + +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I. The Fight in the Forest</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II. How Wabigoon Became a White Man</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III. Roderick Sees the Footprint</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV. Roderick's First Taste of the Hunter's Life</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V. Shots in the Wilderness</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI. Mukoki Disturbs the Ancient Skeletons</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII. Roderick Discovers the Buckskin Bag</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII. How Wolf Became the Companion of Men</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX. Wolf Takes Vengeance Upon His People</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X. Roderick Explores the Chasm</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI. Roderick's Dream</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII. The Secret of the Skeleton's Hand</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII. Snowed In</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV. The Rescue of Wabigoon</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV. Roderick Holds the Woongas at Bay</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI. The Surprise at the Post</a></li> +</ul> +<br> + +<p>ILLUSTRATIONS:</p> + +<ul> +<li><a href="#Illus_0">With his rifle ready Rob approached the fissure (Frontispiece)</a></li> +<li><a href="#Illus_1">Knife—fight—heem killed!</a></li> +<li><a href="#Illus_2">The leader stopped in his snow-shoes</a></li> +</ul> +<br> + +<p>THE WOLF HUNTERS</p> + + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</p> + +<p>THE FIGHT IN THE FOREST</p> +<br> + +<p>Cold winter lay deep in the Canadian wilderness. Over it the moon was +rising, like a red pulsating ball, lighting up the vast white silence of +the night in a shimmering glow. Not a sound broke the stillness of the +desolation. It was too late for the life of day, too early for the +nocturnal roamings and voices of the creatures of the night. Like the +basin of a great amphitheater the frozen lake lay revealed in the light +of the moon and a billion stars. Beyond it rose the spruce forest, black +and forbidding. Along its nearer edges stood hushed walls of tamarack, +bowed in the smothering clutch of snow and ice, shut in by impenetrable +gloom.</p> + +<p>A huge white owl flitted out of this rim of blackness, then back again, +and its first quavering hoot came softly, as though the mystic hour of +silence had not yet passed for the night-folk. The snow of the day had +ceased, hardly a breath of air stirred the ice-coated twigs of the +trees. Yet it was bitter cold—so cold that a man, remaining motionless, +would have frozen to death within an hour.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there was a break in the silence, a weird, thrilling sound, +like a great sigh, but not human—a sound to make one's blood run faster +and fingers twitch on rifle-stock. It came from the gloom of the +tamaracks. After it there fell a deeper silence than before, and the +owl, like a noiseless snowflake, drifted out over the frozen lake. After +a few moments it came again, more faintly than before. One versed in +woodcraft would have slunk deeper into the rim of blackness, and +listened, and wondered, and watched; for in the sound he would have +recognized the wild, half-conquered note of a wounded beast's suffering +and agony.</p> + +<p>Slowly, with all the caution born of that day's experience, a huge bull +moose walked out into the glow of the moon. His magnificent head, +drooping under the weight of massive antlers, was turned inquisitively +across the lake to the north. His nostrils were distended, his eyes +glaring, and he left behind a trail of blood. Half a mile away he caught +the edge of the spruce forest. There something told him he would find +safety. A hunter would have known that he was wounded unto death as he +dragged himself out into the foot-deep snow of the lake.</p> + +<p>A dozen rods out from the tamaracks he stopped, head thrown high, long +ears pitched forward, and nostrils held half to the sky. It is in this +attitude that a moose listens when he hears a trout splash +three-quarters of a mile away. Now there was only the vast, unending +silence, broken only by the mournful hoot of the snow owl on the other +side of the lake. Still the great beast stood immovable, a little pool +of blood growing upon the snow under his forward legs. What was the +mystery that lurked in the blackness of yonder forest? Was it danger? +The keenest of human hearing would have detected nothing. Yet to those +long slender ears of the bull moose, slanting beyond the heavy plates of +his horns, there came a sound. The animal lifted his head still higher +to the sky, sniffed to the east, to the west, and back to the shadows of +the tamaracks. But it was the north that held him.</p> + +<p>From beyond that barrier of spruce there soon came a sound that man +might have heard—neither the beginning nor the end of a wail, but +something like it. Minute by minute it came more clearly, now growing in +volume, now almost dying away, but every instant approaching—the +distant hunting call of the wolf-pack! What the hangman's noose is to +the murderer, what the leveled rifles are to the condemned spy, that +hunt-cry of the wolves is to the wounded animal of the forests.</p> + +<p>Instinct taught this to the old bull. His head dropped, his huge antlers +leveled themselves with his shoulders, and he set off at a slow trot +toward the east. He was taking chances in thus crossing the open, but to +him the spruce forest was home, and there he might find refuge. In his +brute brain he reasoned that he could get there before the wolves broke +cover. And then—</p> + +<p>Again he stopped, so suddenly that his forward legs doubled under him +and he pitched into the snow. This time, from the direction of the +wolf-pack, there came the ringing report of a rifle! It might have been +a mile or two miles away, but distance did not lessen the fear it +brought to the dying king of the North. That day he had heard the same +sound, and it had brought mysterious and weakening pain in his vitals. +With a supreme effort he brought himself to his feet, once more sniffed +into the north, the east, and the west, then turned and buried himself +in the black and frozen wilderness of tamarack.</p> + +<p>Stillness fell again with the sound of the rifle-shot. It might have +lasted five minutes or ten, when a long, solitary howl floated from +across the lake. It ended in the sharp, quick yelp of a wolf on the +trail, and an instant later was taken up by others, until the pack was +once more in full cry. Almost simultaneously a figure darted out upon +the ice from the edge of the forest. A dozen paces and it paused and +turned back toward the black wall of spruce.</p> + +<p>"Are you coming, Wabi?"</p> + +<p>A voice answered from the woods. "Yes. Hurry up—run!"</p> + +<p>Thus urged, the other turned his face once more across the lake. He was +a youth of not more than eighteen. In his right hand he carried a club. +His left arm, as if badly injured, was done up in a sling improvised +from a lumberman's heavy scarf. His face was scratched and bleeding, and +his whole appearance showed that he was nearing complete exhaustion. For +a few moments he ran through the snow, then halted to a staggering walk. +His breath came in painful gasps. The club slipped from his nerveless +fingers, and conscious of the deathly weakness that was overcoming him +he did not attempt to regain it. Foot by foot he struggled on, until +suddenly his knees gave way under him and he sank down into the snow.</p> + +<p>From the edge of the spruce forest a young Indian now ran out upon the +surface of the lake. His breath was coming quickly, but with excitement +rather than fatigue. Behind him, less than half a mile away, he could +hear the rapidly approaching cry of the hunt-pack, and for an instant he +bent his lithe form close to the snow, measuring with the acuteness of +his race the distance of the pursuers. Then he looked for his white +companion, and failed to see the motionless blot that marked where the +other had fallen. A look of alarm shot into his eyes, and resting his +rifle between his knees he placed his hands, trumpet fashion, to his +mouth and gave a signal call which, on a still night like this, carried +for a mile.</p> + +<p>"Wa-hoo-o-o-o-o-o! Wa-hoo-o-o-o-o-o!"</p> + +<p>At that cry the exhausted boy in the snow staggered to his feet, and +with an answering shout which came but faintly to the ears of the +Indian, resumed his flight across the lake. Two or three minutes later +Wabi came up beside him.</p> + +<p>"Can you make it, Rod?" he cried.</p> + +<p>The other made an effort to answer, but his reply was hardly more than a +gasp. Before Wabi could reach out to support him he had lost his little +remaining strength and fallen for a second time into the snow.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid—I—can't do it—Wabi," he whispered. "I'm—bushed—"</p> + +<p>The young Indian dropped his rifle and knelt beside the wounded boy, +supporting his head against his own heaving shoulders.</p> + +<p>"It's only a little farther, Rod," he urged. "We can make it, and take +to a tree. We ought to have taken to a tree back there, but I didn't +know that you were so far gone; and there was a good chance to make +camp, with three cartridges left for the open lake."</p> + +<p>"Only three!"</p> + +<p>"That's all, but I ought to make two of them count in this light. Here, +take hold of my shoulders! Quick!"</p> + +<p>He doubled himself like a jack-knife in front of his half-prostrate +companion. From behind them there came a sudden chorus of the wolves, +louder and clearer than before.</p> + +<p>"They've hit the open and we'll have them on the lake inside of two +minutes," he cried. "Give me your arms, Rod! There! Can you hold the +gun?"</p> + +<p>He straightened himself, staggering under the other's weight, and set +off on a half-trot for the distant tamaracks. Every muscle in his +powerful young body was strained to its utmost tension. Even more fully +than his helpless burden did he realize the peril at their backs.</p> + +<p>Three minutes, four minutes more, and then—</p> + +<p>A terrible picture burned in Wabi's brain, a picture he had carried from +boyhood of another child, torn and mangled before his very eyes by these +outlaws of the North, and he shuddered. Unless he sped those three +remaining bullets true, unless that rim of tamaracks was reached in +time, he knew what their fate would be. There flashed into his mind one +last resource. He might drop his wounded companion and find safety for +himself. But it was a thought that made Wabi smile grimly. This was not +the first time that these two had risked their lives together, and that +very day Roderick had fought valiantly for the other, and had been the +one to suffer. If they died, it would be in company. Wabi made up his +mind to that and clutched the other's arms in a firmer grip. He was +pretty certain that death faced them both. They might escape the wolves, +but the refuge of a tree, with the voracious pack on guard below, meant +only a more painless end by cold. Still, while there was life there was +hope, and he hurried on through the snow, listening for the wolves +behind him and with each moment feeling more keenly that his own powers +of endurance were rapidly reaching an end.</p> + +<p>For some reason that Wabi could not explain the hunt-pack had ceased to +give tongue. Not only the allotted two minutes, but five of them, passed +without the appearance of the animals on the lake. Was it possible that +they! had lost the trail? Then it occurred to the Indian that perhaps he +had wounded one of the pursuers, and that the others, discovering his +injury, had set upon him and were now participating in one of the +cannibalistic feasts that had saved them thus far. Hardly had he thought +of this possibility when he was thrilled by a series of long howls, and +looking back he discerned a dozen or more dark objects moving swiftly +over their trail.</p> + +<p>Not an eighth of a mile ahead was the tamarack forest. Surely Rod could +travel that distance!</p> + +<p>"Run for it, Rod!" he cried. "You're rested now. I'll stay here and +stop 'em!"</p> + +<p>He loosened the other's arms, and as he did so his rifle fell from the +white boy's nerveless grip and buried itself in the snow. As he relieved +himself of his burden he saw for the first time the deathly pallor and +partly closed eyes of his companion. With a new terror filling his own +faithful heart he knelt beside the form which lay so limp and lifeless, +his blazing eyes traveling from the ghastly face to the oncoming wolves, +his rifle ready in his hands. He could now discern the wolves trailing +out from the spruce forest like ants. A dozen of them were almost within +rifle-shot. Wabi knew that it was with this vanguard of the pack that he +must deal if he succeeded in stopping the scores behind. Nearer and +nearer he allowed them to come, until the first were scarce two hundred +feet away. Then, with a sudden shout, the Indian leaped to his feet and +dashed fearlessly toward them. This unexpected move, as he had intended, +stopped the foremost wolves in a huddled group for an instant, and in +this opportune moment Wabi leveled his gun and fired. A long howl of +pain testified to the effect of the shot. Hardly had it begun when Wabi +fired again, this time with such deadly precision that one of the +wolves, springing high into the air, tumbled back lifeless among the +pack without so much as making a sound.</p> + +<p>Running to the prostrate Roderick, Wabi drew him quickly upon his back, +clutched his rifle in the grip of his arm, and started again for the +tamaracks. Only once did he look back, and then he saw the wolves +gathering in a snarling, fighting crowd about their slaughtered +comrades. Not until he had reached the shelter of the tamaracks did the +Indian youth lay down his burden, and then in his own exhaustion he fell +prone upon the snow, his black eyes fixed cautiously upon the feasting +pack. A few minutes later he discerned dark spots appearing here and +there upon the whiteness of the snow, and at these signs of the +termination of the feast he climbed up into the low branches of a spruce +and drew Roderick after him. Not until then did the wounded boy show +visible signs of life. Slowly he recovered from the faintness which had +overpowered him, and after a little, with some assistance from Wabi, was +able to place himself safely on a higher limb.</p> + +<p>"That's the second time, Wabi," he said, reaching a hand down +affectionately to the other's shoulder. "Once from drowning, once from +the wolves. I've got a lot to even up with you!"</p> + +<p>"Not after what happened to-day!"</p> + +<p>The Indian's dusky face was raised until the two were looking into each +other's eyes, with a gaze of love, and trust. Only a moment thus, and +instinctively their glance turned toward the lake. The wolf-pack was in +plain view. It was the biggest pack that Wabi, in all his life in the +wilderness, had ever seen, and he mentally figured that there were at +least half a hundred animals in it. Like ravenous dogs after having a +few scraps of meat flung among them, the wolves were running about, +nosing here and there, as if hoping to find a morsel that might have +escaped discovery. Then one of them stopped on the trail and, throwing +himself half on his haunches, with his head turned to the sky like a +baying hound, started the hunt-cry.</p> + +<p>"There's two packs. I thought it was too big for one," exclaimed the +Indian. "See! Part of them are taking up the trail and the others are +lagging behind gnawing the bones of the dead wolf. Now if we only had +our ammunition and the other gun those murderers got away from us, we'd +make a fortune. What—"</p> + +<p>Wabi stopped with a suddenness that spoke volumes, and the supporting +arm that he had thrown around Rod's waist tightened until it caused the +wounded youth to flinch. Both boys stared in rigid silence. The wolves +were crowding around a spot in the snow half-way between the tamarack +refuge and the scene of the recent feast. The starved animals betrayed +unusual excitement. They had struck the pool of blood and red trail made +by the dying moose!</p> + +<p>"What is it, Wabi?" whispered Rod.</p> + +<p>The Indian did not answer. His black eyes gleamed with a new fire, his +lips were parted in anxious anticipation, and he seemed hardly to +breathe in his tense interest. The wounded boy repeated his question, +and as if in reply the pack swerved to the west and in a black silent +mass swept in a direction that would bring them into the tamaracks a +hundred yards from the young hunters.</p> + +<p>"A new trail!" breathed Wabi. "A new trail, and a hot one! Listen! They +make no sound. It is always that way when they are close to a kill!"</p> + +<p>As they looked the last of the wolves disappeared in the forest. For a +few moments there was silence, then a chorus of howls came from deep in +the woods behind them.</p> + +<p>"Now is our chance," cried the Indian. "They've broken again, and their +game—"</p> + +<p>He had partly slipped from his limb, withdrawing his supporting arm from +Rod's waist, and was about to descend to the ground when the pack again +turned in their direction. A heavy crashing in the underbrush not a +dozen rods away sent Wabi in a hurried scramble for his perch.</p> + +<p>"Quick—higher up!" he warned excitedly. "They're coming out here—right +under us! If we can get up so that they can't see us, or smell us—"</p> + +<p>The words were scarcely out of his mouth when a huge shadowy bulk rushed +past them not more than fifty feet from the spruce in which they had +sought refuge. Both of the boys recognized it as a bull moose, though it +did not occur to either of them that it was the same animal at which +Wabi had taken a long shot that same day a couple of miles back. In +close pursuit came the ravenous pack. Their heads hung close to the +bloody trail, hungry, snarling cries coming from between their gaping +jaws, they swept across the little opening almost at the young hunters' +feet. It was a sight which Rod had never expected to see, and one which +held even the more experienced Wabi fascinated. Not a sound fell from +either of the youths' lips as they stared down upon the fierce, hungry +outlaws of the wilderness. To Wabi this near view of the pack told a +fateful story; to Rod it meant nothing more than the tragedy about to be +enacted before his eyes. The Indian's keen vision saw in the white +moonlight long, thin bodies, starved almost to skin and bone; to his +companion the onrushing pack seemed filled only with agile, powerful +beasts, maddened to almost fiendish exertions by the nearness of their +prey.</p> + +<p>In a flash they were gone, but in that moment of their passing there was +painted a picture to endure a lifetime in the memory of Roderick Drew. +And it was to be followed by one even more tragic, even more thrilling. +To the dazed, half-fainting young hunter it seemed but another instant +before the pack overhauled the old bull. He saw the doomed monster turn, +in the stillness heard the snapping of jaws, the snarling of +hunger-crazed animals, and a sound that might have been a great, heaving +moan or a dying bellow. In Wabi's veins the blood danced with the +excitement that stirred his forefathers to battle. Not a line of the +tragedy that was being enacted before his eyes escaped this native son +of the wilderness. It was a magnificent fight! He knew that the old bull +would die by inches in the one-sided duel, and that when it was over +there would be more than one carcass for the survivors to gorge +themselves upon. Quietly he reached up and touched his companion.</p> + +<p>"Now is our time," he said. "Come on—still—and on this side of the +tree!"</p> + +<p>He slipped down, foot by foot, assisting Rod as he did so, and when both +had reached the ground he bent over as before, that the other might get +upon his back.</p> + +<p>"I can make it alone, Wabi," whispered the wounded boy. "Give me a lift +on the arm, will you?"</p> + +<p>With the Indian's arm about his waist, the two set off into the +tamaracks. Fifteen minutes later they came to the bank of a small frozen +river. On the opposite side of this, a hundred yards down, was a sight +which both, as if by a common impulse, welcomed with a glad cry. Close +to the shore, sheltered by a dense growth of spruce, was a bright +camp-fire. In response to Wabi's far-reaching whoop a shadowy figure +appeared in the glow and returned the shout.</p> + +<p>"Mukoki!" cried the Indian.</p> + +<p>"Mukoki!" laughed Rod, happy that the end was near.</p> + +<p>Even as he spoke he swayed dizzily, and Wabi dropped his gun that he +might keep his companion from falling into the snow.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</p> + +<p>HOW WABIGOON BECAME A WHITE MAN</p> +<br> + +<p>Had the young hunters the power of looking into the future, their +camp-fire that night on the frozen Ombabika might have been one of their +last, and a few days later would have seen them back on the edges of +civilization. Possibly, could they have foreseen the happy culmination +of the adventures that lay before them, they would still have gone on, +for the love of excitement is strong in the heart of robust youth. But +this power of discernment was denied them, and only in after years, with +the loved ones of their own firesides close about them, was the whole +picture revealed. And in those days, when they would gather with their +families about the roaring logs of winter and live over again their +early youth, they knew that all the gold in the world would not induce +them to part with their memories of the life that had gone before.</p> + +<p>A little less than thirty years previous to the time of which we write, +a young man named John Newsome left the great city of London for the New +World. Fate had played a hard game with young Newsome—had first robbed +him of both parents, and then in a single fitful turn of her wheel +deprived him of what little property he had inherited. A little later he +came to Montreal, and being a youth of good education and considerable +ambition, he easily secured a position and worked himself into the +confidence of his employers, obtaining an appointment as factor at +Wabinosh House, a Post deep in the wilderness of Lake Nipigon.</p> + +<p>In the second year of his reign at Wabinosh—a factor is virtually king +in his domain—there came to the Post an Indian chief named Wabigoon, +and with him his daughter, Minnetaki, in honor of whose beauty and +virtue a town was named in after years. Minnetaki was just budding into +the early womanhood of her race, and possessed a beauty seldom seen +among Indian maidens. If there is such a thing as love at first sight, +it sprang into existence the moment John Newsome's eyes fell upon this +lovely princess. Thereafter his visits to Wabigoon's village, thirty +miles deeper in the wilderness, were of frequent occurrence. From the +beginning Minnetaki returned the young factor's affections, but a most +potent reason prevented their marriage. For a long time Minnetaki had +been ardently wooed by a powerful young chief named Woonga, whom she +cordially detested, but upon whose favor and friendship depended the +existence of her father's sway over his hunting-grounds.</p> + +<p>With the advent of the young factor the bitterest rivalry sprang up +between the two suitors, which resulted in two attempts upon Newsome's +life, and an ultimatum sent by Woonga to Minnetaki's father. Minnetaki +herself replied to this ultimatum. It was a reply that stirred the fires +of hatred and revenge to fever heat in Woonga's breast. One dark night, +at the head of a score of his tribe, he fell upon Wabigoon's camp, his +object being the abduction of the princess. While the attack was +successful in a way, its main purpose failed. Wabigoon and a dozen of +his tribesmen were slain, but in the end Woonga was driven off.</p> + +<p>A swift messenger brought news of the attack and of the old chief's +death to Wabinosh House, and with a dozen men Newsome hastened to the +assistance of his betrothed and her people. A counter attack was made +upon Woonga and he was driven deep into the wilderness with great loss. +Three days later Minnetaki became Newsome's wife at the Hudson Bay Post.</p> + +<p>From that hour dated one of the most sanguinary feuds in the history of +the great trading company; a feud which, as we shall see, was destined +to live even unto the second generation.</p> + +<p>Woonga and his tribe now became no better than outlaws, and preyed so +effectively upon the remnants of the dead Wabigoon's people that the +latter were almost exterminated. Those who were left moved to the +vicinity of the Post. Hunters from Wabinosh House were ambushed and +slain. Indians who came to the Post to trade were regarded as enemies, +and the passing of years seemed to make but little difference. The feud +still existed. The outlaws came to be spoken of as "Woongas," and a +Woonga was regarded as a fair target for any man's rifle.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile two children came to bless the happy union of Newsome and his +lovely Indian wife. One of these, the eldest, was a boy, and in honor of +the old chief he was named Wabigoon, and called Wabi for short. The +other was a girl, three years younger, and Newsome insisted that she be +called Minnetaki. Curiously enough, the blood of Wabi ran almost pure to +his Indian forefathers, while Minnetaki, as she became older, developed +less of the wild beauty of her mother and more of the softer loveliness +of the white race, her wealth of soft, jet black hair and her great dark +eyes contrasting with the lighter skin of her father's blood. Wabi, on +the other hand, was an Indian in appearance from his moccasins to the +crown of his head, swarthy, sinewy, as agile as a lynx, and with every +instinct in him crying for the life of the wild. Yet born in him was a +Caucasian shrewdness and intelligence that reached beyond the factor +himself.</p> + +<p>One of Newsome's chief pleasures in life had been the educating of his +woodland bride, and it was the ambition of both that the little +Minnetaki and her brother be reared in the ways of white children. +Consequently both mother and father began their education at the Post; +they were sent to the factor's school and two winters were passed in +Port Arthur that they might have the advantage of thoroughly equipped +schools. The children proved themselves unusually bright pupils, and by +the time Wabi was sixteen and Minnetaki twelve one would not have known +from their manner of speech that Indian blood ran in their veins. Yet +both, by the common desire of their parents, were familiar with the life +of the Indian and could talk fluently the tongue of their mother's +people.</p> + +<p>It was at about this time in their lives that the Woongas became +especially daring in their depredations. These outlaws no longer +pretended to earn their livelihood by honest means, but preyed upon +trappers and other Indians without discrimination, robbing and killing +whenever safe opportunities offered themselves. The hatred for the +people of Wabinosh House became hereditary, and the Woonga children grew +up with it in their hearts. The real cause of the feud had been +forgotten by many, though not by Woonga himself. At last so daring did +he become that the provincial government placed a price upon his head +and upon those of a number of his most notorious followers. For a time +the outlaws were driven from the country, but the bloodthirsty chief +himself could not be captured.</p> + +<p>When Wabi was seventeen years of age it was decided that he should be +sent to some big school in the States for a year. Against this plan the +young Indian—nearly all people regarded him as an Indian, and Wabi was +proud of the fact—fought with all of the arguments at his command. He +loved the wilds with the passion of his mother's race. His nature +revolted at the thoughts of a great city with its crowded streets, its +noise, and bustle, and dirt. It was then that Minnetaki pleaded with +him, begged him to go for just one year, and to come back and tell her +of all he had seen and teach her what he had learned. Wabi loved his +beautiful little sister beyond anything else on earth, and it was she +more than his parents who finally induced him to go.</p> + +<p>For three months Wabi devoted himself faithfully to his studies in +Detroit. But each week added to his loneliness and his longings for +Minnetaki and his forests. The passing of each day became a painful task +to him. To Minnetaki he wrote three times each week, and three times +each week the little maiden at Wabinosh House wrote long, cheering +letters to her brother—though they came to Wabi only about twice a +month, because only so often did the mail-carrier go out from the Post.</p> + +<p>It was at this time in his lonely school life that Wabigoon became +acquainted with Roderick Drew. Roderick, even as Wabi fancied himself to +be just at this time, was a child of misfortune. His father had died +before he could remember, and the property he had left had dwindled +slowly away during the passing of years. Rod was spending his last week +in school when he met Wabigoon. Necessity had become his grim master, +and the following week he was going to work. As the boy described the +situation to his Indian friend, his mother "had fought to the last ditch +to keep him in school, but now his time was up." Wabi seized upon the +white youth as an oasis in a vast desert. After a little the two became +almost inseparable, and their friendship culminated in Wabi's going to +live in the Drew home. Mrs. Drew was a woman of education and +refinement, and her interest in Wabigoon was almost that of a mother. In +this environment the ragged edges were smoothed away from the Indian +boy's deportment, and his letters to Minnetaki were more and more filled +with enthusiastic descriptions of his new friends. After a little Mrs. +Drew received a grateful letter of thanks from the princess mother at +Wabinosh House, and thus a pleasant correspondence sprang up between the +two.</p> + +<p>There were now few lonely hours for the two boys. During the long winter +evenings, when Roderick was through with his day's work and Wabi had +completed his studies, they would sit before the fire and the Indian +youth would describe the glorious life of the vast northern wilderness; +and day by day, and week by week, there steadily developed within Rod's +breast a desire to see and live that life. A thousand plans were made, a +thousand adventures pictured, and the mother would smile and laugh and +plan with them.</p> + +<p>But in time the end of it all came, and Wabi went back to the princess +mother, to Minnetaki, and to his forests. There were tears in the boys' +eyes when they parted, and the mother cried for the Indian boy who was +returning to his people. Many of the days that followed were painful to +Roderick Drew. Eight months had bred a new nature in him, and when Wabi +left it was as if a part of his own life had gone with him. Spring came +and passed, and then summer. Every mail from Wabinosh House brought +letters for the Drews, and never did an Indian courier drop a pack at +the Post that did not carry a bundle of letters for Wabigoon.</p> + +<p>Then in the early autumn, when September frosts were turning the leaves +of the North to red and gold, there came the long letter from Wabi which +brought joy, excitement and misgiving into the little home of the mother +and her son. It was accompanied by one from the factor himself, another +from the princess mother, and by a tiny note from Minnetaki, who pleaded +with the others that Roderick and Mrs. Drew might spend the winter with +them at Wabinosh House.</p> + +<p>"You need not fear about losing your position." wrote Wabigoon. "We +shall make more money up here this winter than you could earn in Detroit +in three years. We will hunt wolves. The country is alive with them, and +the government gives a bounty of fifteen dollars for every scalp taken. +Two winters ago I killed forty and I did not make a business of it at +that. I have a tame wolf which we use as a decoy. Don't bother about a +gun or anything like that. We have everything here."</p> + +<p>For several days Mrs. Drew and her son deliberated upon the situation +before a reply was sent to the Newsomes. Roderick pleaded, pictured the +glorious times they would have, the health that it would give them, and +marshaled in a dozen different ways his arguments in favor of accepting +the invitation. On the other hand, his mother was filled with doubt. +Their finances were alarmingly low, and Rod would be giving up a sure +though small income, which was now supporting them comfortably. His +future was bright, and that winter would see him promoted to ten dollars +a week in the mercantile house where he was employed. In the end they +came to an understanding. Mrs. Drew would not go to Wabinosh House, but +she would allow Roderick to spend the winter there—and word to this +effect was sent off into the wilderness.</p> + +<p>Three weeks later came Wabigoon's reply. On the tenth of October he +would meet Rod at Sprucewood, on the Black Sturgeon River. Thence they +would travel by canoe up the Sturgeon River to Sturgeon Lake, take +portage to Lake Nipigon, and arrive at Wabinosh House before the ice of +early winter shut them in. There was little time to lose in making +preparations, and the fourth day following the receipt of Wabi's letter +found Rod and his mother waiting for the train which was to whirl the +boy into his new life. Not until the eleventh did he arrive at +Sprucewood. Wabi was there to meet him, accompanied by an Indian from +the Post; and that same afternoon the journey up Black Sturgeon River +was begun.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</p> + +<p>RODERICK SEES THE FOOTPRINT</p> +<br> + +<p>Rod was now plunged for the first time in his life into the heart of the +wilderness. Seated in the bow of the birch-bark canoe which was carrying +them up the Sturgeon, with Wabi close behind him, he drank in the wild +beauties of the forests and swamps through which they slipped almost as +noiselessly as shadows, his heart thumping in joyous excitement, his +eyes constantly on the alert for signs of the big game which Wabi told +him was on all sides of them. Across his knees, ready for instant use, +was Wabi's repeating rifle. The air was keen with the freshness left by +night frosts. At times deep masses of gold and crimson forests shut them +in, at others, black forests of spruce came down to the river's edge; +again they would pass silently through great swamps of tamaracks. In +this vast desolation there was a mysterious quiet, except for the +occasional sounds of wild life. Partridges drummed back in the woods, +flocks of ducks got up with a great rush of wings at almost every turn, +and once, late in the morning of the first day out, Rod was thrilled by +a crashing in the undergrowth scarcely a stone's throw from the canoe. +He could see saplings twisting and bending, and heard Wabi whisper +behind him:</p> + +<p>"A moose!"</p> + +<p>They were words to set his hands trembling and his whole body quivering +with anticipation. There was in him now none of the old hunter's +coolness, none of the almost stoical indifference with which the men of +the big North hear these sounds of the wild things about them. Rod had +yet to see his first big game.</p> + +<p>That moment came in the afternoon. The canoe had skimmed lightly around +a bend in the river. Beyond this bend a mass of dead driftwood had +wedged against the shore, and this driftwood, as the late sun sank +behind the forests, was bathed in a warm yellow glow. And basking in +this glow, as he loves to do at the approach of winter nights, was an +animal, the sight of which drew a sharp, excited cry from between Rod's +lips. In an instant he had recognized it as a bear. The animal was taken +completely by surprise and was less than half a dozen rods away. Quick +as a flash, and hardly realizing what he was doing, the boy drew his +rifle to his shoulder, took quick aim and fired. The bear was already +clambering up the driftwood, but stopped suddenly at the report, slipped +as if about to fall back—then continued his retreat.</p> + +<p>"You hit 'im!" shouted Wabi. "Quick-try 'im again!"</p> + +<p>Rod's second shot seemed to have no effect In his excitement he jumped +to his feet, forgetting that he was in a frail canoe, and took a last +shot at the big black beast that was just about to disappear over the +edge of the driftwood. Both Wabi and his Indian companion flung +themselves on the shore side of their birch and dug their paddles deep +into the water, but their efforts were unavailing to save their reckless +comrade. Unbalanced by the concussion of his gun, Rod plunged backward +into the river, but before he had time to sink, Wabi reached over and +grabbed him by the arm.</p> + +<p>"Don't make a move—and hang on to the gun!" he warned. "If we try to +get you in here we'll all go over!" He made a sign to the Indian, who +swung the canoe slowly inshore. Then he grinned down into Rod's +dripping, unhappy face.</p> + +<p>"By George, that last shot was a dandy for a tenderfoot! You got your +bear!"</p> + +<p>Despite his uncomfortable position, Rod gave a whoop of joy, and no +sooner did his feet touch solid bottom than he loosened himself from +Wabi's grip and plunged toward the driftwood. On its very top he found +the bear, as dead as a bullet through its side and another through its +head could make it. Standing there beside his first big game, dripping +and shivering, he looked down upon the two who were pulling their canoe +ashore and gave, a series of triumphant whoops that could have been +heard half a mile away.</p> + +<p>"It's camp and a fire for you," laughed Wabi, hurrying up to him. "This +is better luck than I thought you'd have, Rod. We'll have a glorious +feast to-night, and a fire of this driftwood that will show you what +makes life worth the living up here in the North. Ho, Muky," he called +to the old Indian, "cut this fellow up, will you? I'll make camp."</p> + +<p>"Can we keep the skin?" asked Rod. "It's my first, you know, and—"</p> + +<p>"Of course we can. Give us a hand with the fire, Rod; it will keep you +from catching cold."</p> + +<p>In the excitement of making their first camp, Rod almost forgot that he +was soaked to the skin, and that night was falling about them. The first +step was the building of a fire, and soon a great, crackling, almost +smokeless blaze was throwing its light and heat for thirty feet around. +Wabi now brought blankets from the canoe, stripped off a part of his own +clothes, made Rod undress, and soon had that youth swathed in dry togs, +while his wet ones were hung close up to the fire. For the first time +Rod saw the making of a wilderness shelter. Whistling cheerily, Wabi got +an ax from the canoe, went into the edge of the cedars and cut armful +after armful of saplings and boughs. Tying his blankets about himself, +Rod helped to carry these, a laughable and grotesque figure as he +stumbled about clumsily in his efforts. Within half an hour the cedar +shelter was taking form. Two crotched saplings were driven into the +ground eight feet apart, and from one to the other, resting in the +crotches, was placed another sapling, which formed the ridge-pole; and +from this pole there ran slantwise to the earth half a dozen others, +making a framework upon which the cedar boughs were piled. By the time +the old Indian had finished his bear the home was completed, and with +its beds of sweet-smelling boughs, the great camp-fire in front and the +dense wilderness about them growing black with the approach of night, +Rod thought that nothing in picture-book or story could quite equal the +reality of that moment. And when, a few moments later, great bear-steaks +were broiling over a mass of coals, and the odor of coffee mingled with +that of meal-cakes sizzling on a heated stone, he knew that his dearest +dreams had come true.</p> + +<p>That night in the glow of the camp-fire Rod listened to the thrilling +stories of Wabi and the old Indian, and lay awake until nearly dawn, +listening to the occasional howl of a wolf, mysterious splashings in the +river and the shrill notes of the night birds. There were varied +experiences in the following three days: one frosty morning before the +others were awake he stole out from the camp with Wabi's rifle and shot +twice at a red deer—which he missed both times; there was an exciting +but fruitless race with a swimming caribou in Sturgeon Lake, at which +Wabi himself took three long-range shots without effect.</p> + +<p>It was on a glorious autumn afternoon that Wabi's keen eyes first +descried the log buildings of the Post snuggled in the edge of the +seemingly unending forest. As they approached he joyfully pointed out +the different buildings to Rod—the Company store, the little cluster of +employees' homes and the factor's house, where Rod was to meet his +welcome. At least Roderick himself had thought it would be there. But as +they came nearer a single canoe shot out suddenly from the shore and the +young hunters could see a white handkerchief waving them greeting. Wabi +replied with a whoop of pleasure and fired his gun into the air.</p> + +<p>"It's Minnetaki!" he cried. "She said she would watch for us and come +out to meet us!"</p> + +<p>Minnetaki! A little nervous thrill shot through Rod. Wabi had described +her to him a thousand times in those winter evenings at home; with a +brother's love and pride he had always brought her into their talks and +plans, and somehow, little by little, Rod had grown to like her very +much without ever having seen her.</p> + +<p>The two canoes swiftly approached each other, and in a few minutes more +were alongside. With a glad laughing cry Minnetaki leaned over and +kissed her brother, while at the same time her dark eyes shot a curious +glance at the youth of whom she had read and heard so much.</p> + +<p>At this time Minnetaki was fifteen. Like her mother's race she was +slender, of almost woman's height, and unconsciously as graceful as a +fawn in her movements. A slightly waving wealth of raven hair framed +what Rod thought to be one of the prettiest faces he had ever seen, and +entwined in the heavy silken braid that fell over her shoulder were a +number of red autumn leaves. As she straightened herself in her canoe +she looked at Rod and smiled, and he in making a polite effort to lift +his cap in civilized style, lost that article of apparel in a sudden +gust of wind. In an instant there was a general laugh of merriment in +which even the old Indian joined. The little incident did more toward +making comradeship than anything else that might have happened, and +laughing again into Rod's face Minnetaki urged her canoe toward the +floating cap.</p> + +<p>"You shouldn't wear such things until it gets cold," she said, after +retrieving the cap and handing it to him. "Wabi does—but I don't!"</p> + +<p>"Then I won't," replied Rod gallantly, and at Wabi's burst of laughter +both blushed.</p> + +<p>That first night at the Post Rod found that Wabi had already made all +plans for the winter's hunting, and the white youth's complete equipment +was awaiting him in the room assigned to him in the factor's house—a +deadly looking five-shot Remington, similar to Wabi's, a long-barreled, +heavy-caliber revolver, snow-shoes, and a dozen other articles necessary +to one about to set out upon a long expedition in the wilderness. Wabi +had also mapped out their hunting-grounds. Wolves in the immediate +neighborhood of the Post, where they were being constantly sought by the +Indians and the factor's men, had become exceedingly cautious and were +not numerous, but in the almost untraveled wilderness a hundred miles to +the north and east they were literally overrunning the country, killing +moose, caribou and deer in great numbers.</p> + +<p>In this region Wabi planned to make their winter quarters. And no time +was to be lost in taking up the trail, for the log house in which they +would pass the bitterly cold months should be built before the heavy +snows set in. It was therefore decided that the young hunters should +start within a week, accompanied by Mukoki, the old Indian, a cousin of +the slain Wabigoon, whom Wabi had given the nickname of Muky and who had +been a faithful comrade to him from his earliest childhood.</p> + +<p>Rod made the most of the six days which were allotted to him at the +Post, and while Wabi helped to handle the affairs of the Company's store +during a short absence of his father at Port Arthur, the lovely little +Minnetaki gave our hero his first lessons in woodcraft. In canoe, with +the rifle, and in reading the signs of forest life Wabi's sister +awakened constantly increasing admiration in Rod. To see her bending +over some freshly made trail, her cheeks flushed, her eyes sparkling +with excitement, her rich hair filled with the warmth of the sun, was a +picture to arouse enthusiasm even in the heart of a youngster of +eighteen, and a hundred times the boy mentally vowed that "she was a +brick" from the tips of her pretty moccasined feet to the top of her +prettier head. Half a dozen times at least he voiced this sentiment to +Wabi, and Wabi agreed with great enthusiasm. In fact, by the time the +week was almost gone Minnetaki and Rod had become great chums, and it +was not without some feeling of regret that the young wolf hunter +greeted the dawn of the day that was to see them begin their journey +deeper into the wilds.</p> + +<p>Minnetaki was one of the earliest risers at the Post. Rod was seldom +behind her. But on this particular morning he was late and heard the +girl whistling outside half an hour before he was dressed—for Minnetaki +could whistle in a manner that often filled him with envy. By the time +he came down she had disappeared in the edge of the forest, and Wabi, +who was also ahead of him, was busy with Mukoki tying up their equipment +in packs. It was a glorious morning, clear and frosty, and Rod noticed +that a thin shell of ice had formed on the lake during the night. Once +or twice Wabi turned toward the forest and gave his signal whoop, but +received no reply.</p> + +<p>"I don't see why Minnetaki doesn't come back," he remarked carelessly, +as he fastened a shoulder-strap about a bundle. "Breakfast will be ready +in a jiffy. Hunt her up, will you, Rod?"</p> + +<p>Nothing loath, Rod started out on a brisk run along the path which he +knew to be a favorite with Minnetaki and shortly it brought him down to +a pebbly stretch of the beach where she frequently left her canoe. That +she had been here a few minutes before he could tell by the fact that +the ice about the birch-bark was broken, as though the girl had tested +its thickness by shoving the light craft out into it for a few feet. Her +footsteps led plainly up the shelving shore and into the forest.</p> + +<p>"O Minnetaki—Minnetaki!"</p> + +<p>Rod called loudly and listened. There was no response. As if impelled by +some presentiment which he himself could not explain, the boy hurried +deeper into the forest along the narrow path which Minnetaki must have +taken. Five minutes—ten minutes—and he called again. Still there was +no answer. Possibly the girl had not gone so far, or she might have left +the path for the thick woods. A little farther on there was a soft spot +in the path where a great tree-trunk had rotted half a century before, +leaving a rich black soil. Clearly traced in this were the imprints of +Minnetaki's moccasins. For a full minute Rod stopped and listened, +making not a sound. Why he maintained silence he could not have +explained. But he knew that he was half a mile from the Post, and that +Wabi's sister should not be here at breakfast time. In this minute's +quiet he unconsciously studied the tracks in the ground. How small the +pretty Indian maiden's feet were! And he noticed, too, that her +moccasins, unlike most moccasins, had a slight heel.</p> + +<p>But in a moment more his inspection was cut short. Was that a cry he +heard far ahead? His heart seemed to stop beating, his blood +thrilled—and in another instant he was running down the path like a +deer. Twenty rods beyond this point the path entered an opening in the +forest made by a great fire, and half-way across this opening the youth +saw a sight which chilled him to the marrow. There was Minnetaki, her +long hair tumbling loosely down her back, a cloth tied around her +head—and on either side an Indian dragging her swiftly toward the +opposite forest!</p> + +<p>For as long as he might have drawn three breaths Rod stood transfixed +with horror. Then his senses returned to him, and every muscle in his +body seemed to bound with action. For days he had been practising with +his revolver and it was now in the holster at his side. Should he use +it? Or might he hit Minnetaki? At his feet he saw a club and snatching +this up he sped across the opening, the soft earth holding the sound of +his steps. When he was a dozen feet behind the Indians Minnetaki +stumbled in a sudden effort to free herself, and as one of her captors +half turned to drag her to her feet he saw the enraged youth, club +uplifted, bearing down upon them like a demon. A terrific yell from Rod, +a warning cry from the Indian, and the fray began. With crushing force, +the boy's club fell upon the shoulder of the second Indian, and before +he could recover from the delivery of this blow the youth was caught in +a choking, deadly grip by the other from behind.</p> + +<p>Freed by the sudden attack, Minnetaki tore away the cloth that bound her +eyes and mouth. As quick as a flash she took in the situation. At her +feet the wounded Indian was half rising, and upon the ground near him, +struggling in close embrace, were Rod and the other. She saw the +Indian's fatal grip upon her preserver's throat, the whitening face and +wide-open eyes, and with a great, sobbing cry she caught up the fallen +club and brought it down with all her strength upon the redskin's head. +Twice, three times the club rose and fell, and the grip on Rod's throat +relaxed. A fourth time it rose, but this time was caught from behind, +and a huge hand clutched the brave girl's throat so that the cry on her +lips died in a gasp. But the relief gave Rod his opportunity. With a +tremendous effort he reached his pistol holster, drew out the gun, and +pressed it close up against his assailant's body. There was a muffled +report and with a shriek of agony the Indian pitched backward. Hearing +the shot and seeing the effect upon his comrade, the second Indian +released his hold on Minnetaki and ran for the forest. Rod, seeing +Minnetaki fall in a sobbing, frightened heap, forgot all else but to run +to her, smooth back her hair and comfort her with all of the assurances +at his boyish command.</p> + +<p>It was here that Wabi and the old Indian guide found them five minutes +later. Hearing Rod's first piercing yell of attack, they had raced into +the forest, afterward guided by the two or three shrill screams which +Minnetaki had unconsciously emitted during the struggle. Close behind +them, smelling trouble, followed two of the Post employees.</p> + +<p>The attempted abduction of Wabi's sister, Rod's heroic rescue and the +death of one of the captors, who was recognized as one of Woonga's men, +caused a seven-day sensation at the Post.</p> + +<p>There was now no thought of leaving on the part of the young wolf +hunters. It was evident that Woonga was again in the neighborhood, and +Wabi and Rod, together with a score of Indians and hunters, spent days +in scouring the forests and swamps. But the Woongas disappeared as +suddenly as they came. Not until Wabi had secured a promise from +Minnetaki that she would no longer go into the forests unaccompanied did +the Indian youth again allow himself to take up their interrupted plans.</p> + +<p>Minnetaki had been within easy calling distance of help when the +Woongas, without warning, sprang upon her, smothered her attempted cries +and dragged her away, compelling her to walk alone over the soft earth +where Rod had seen her footsteps, so that any person who followed might +suppose she was alone and safe. This fact stirred the dozen white +families at the Post into aggressive action, and four of the most +skillful Indian track-hunters in the service were detailed to devote +themselves exclusively to hunting down the outlaws, their operations not +to include a territory extending more than twenty miles from Wabinosh +House in any direction. With these precautions it was believed that no +harm could come to Minnetaki or other young girls of the Post.</p> + +<p>It was, therefore, on a Monday, the fourth day of November, that Rod, +Wabi and Mukoki turned their faces at last to the adventures that +awaited them in the great North.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</p> + +<p>RODERICK'S FIRST TASTE OF THE HUNTER'S LIFE</p> +<br> + +<p>By this time it was bitter cold. The lakes and rivers were frozen deep +and a light snow covered the ground. Already two weeks behind their +plans, the young wolf hunters and the old Indian made forced marches +around the northern extremity of Lake Nipigon and on the sixth day found +themselves on the Ombabika River, where they were compelled to stop on +account of a dense snow-storm. A temporary camp was made, and it was +while constructing this camp that Mukoki discovered signs of wolves. It +was therefore decided to remain for a day or two and investigate the +hunting-grounds. On the morning of the second day Wabi shot at and +wounded the old bull moose which met such a tragic end a few hours +later, and that same morning the two boys made a long tour to the north +in the hope of finding that they were in a good game country, which +would mean also that there were plenty of wolves.</p> + +<p>This left Mukoki alone in camp. Thus far, in their desire to cover as +much ground as possible before the heavy snows came, Wabi and his +companions had not stopped to hunt for game and for six days their only +meat had been bacon and jerked venison. Mukoki, whose prodigious +appetite was second only to the shrewdness with which he stalked game to +satisfy it, determined to add to their larder if possible during the +others' absence, and with this object in view he left camp late in the +afternoon to be gone, as he anticipated, not longer than an hour or so.</p> + +<p>With him he carried two powerful wolf-traps slung over his shoulders. +Stealing cautiously along the edge of the river, his eyes and ears alert +for game, Mukoki suddenly came upon the frozen and half-eaten carcass of +a red deer. It was evident that the animal had been killed by wolves +either the day or night before, and from the tracks in the snow the +Indian concluded that not more than four wolves had participated in the +slaughter and feast. That these wolves would return to continue their +banquet, probably that night, Mukoki's many experiences as a wolf hunter +assured him; and he paused long enough to set his traps, afterward +covering them over with three or four inches of snow.</p> + +<p>Continuing his hunt, the old Indian soon struck the fresh spoor of a +deer. Believing that the animal would not travel for any great distance +in the deep snow, he swiftly took up the trail. Half a mile farther on +he stopped abruptly with a grunt of unbounded surprise. Another hunter +had taken up the trail!</p> + +<p>With increased caution Mukoki now advanced. Two hundred feet more and a +second pair of moccasined feet joined in the pursuit, and a little later +still a third!</p> + +<p>Led on by curiosity more than by the hope of securing a partnership +share in the quarry, the Indian slipped silently and swiftly through the +forest. As he emerged from a dense growth of spruce through which the +tracks led him Mukoki was treated to another surprise by almost +stumbling over the carcass of the deer he had been following. A brief +examination satisfied him that the doe had been shot at least two hours +before. The three hunters had cut out her heart, liver and tongue and +had also taken the hind quarters, leaving the remainder of the carcass +and the skin! Why had they neglected this most valuable part of their +spoils? With a new gleam of interest in his eyes Mukoki carefully +scrutinized the moccasin trails. He soon discovered that the Indians +ahead of him were in great haste, and that after cutting the choicest +meat from the doe they had started off to make up for lost time by +running!</p> + +<p>With another grunt of astonishment the old Indian returned to the +carcass, quickly stripped off the skin, wrapped in it the fore quarters +and ribs of the doe, and thus loaded, took up the home trail. It was +dark when he reached camp. Wabi and Rod had not yet returned. Building a +huge fire and hanging the ribs of the doe on a spit before it, he +anxiously awaited their appearance.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later he heard the shout which brought him quickly to where +Wabi was holding the partly unconscious form of Rod in his arms.</p> + +<p>It took but a few moments to carry the injured youth to camp, and not +until Rod was resting upon a pile of blankets in their shack, with the +warmth of the fire reviving him, did Wabi vouchsafe an explanation to +the old Indian.</p> + +<p>"I guess he's got a broken arm, Muky," he said. "Have you any hot +water?"</p> + +<p>"Shot?" asked the old hunter, paying no attention to the question. He +dropped upon his knees beside Rod, his long brown fingers reaching out +anxiously. "Shot?"</p> + +<p>"No—hit with a club. We met three Indian hunters who were in camp and +who invited us to eat with them. While we were eating they jumped upon +our backs. Rod got that—and lost his rifle!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki quickly stripped the wounded boy of his garments, baring his left +arm and side. The arm was swollen and almost black and there was a great +bruise on Rod's body a little above the waist. Mukoki was a surgeon by +necessity, a physician such as one finds only in the vast unblazed +wildernesses, where Nature is the teacher. Crudely he made his +examination, pinching and twisting the flesh and bones until Rod cried +out in pain, but in the end there was a glad triumph in his voice as he +said:</p> + +<p>"No bone broke—hurt most here!" and he touched the bruise. "Near broke +rib—not quite. Took wind out and made great deal sick. Want good +supper, hot coffee—rub in bear's grease, then be better!"</p> + +<p>Rod, who had opened his eyes, smiled faintly and Wabi gave a half-shout +of delight.</p> + +<p>"Not so bad as we thought, eh, Rod?" he cried. "You can't fool Muky! If +he says your arm isn't broken—why, it <i>isn't</i>, and that's all there is +to it. Let me bolster you up in these blankets and we'll soon have a +supper that will sizzle the aches out of you. I smell meat—fresh meat!"</p> + +<p>With a chuckle of pleasure Mukoki jumped to his feet and ran out to +where the ribs of the doe were slowly broiling over the fire. They were +already done to a rich brown and their dripping juice filled the +nostrils with an appetizing odor. By the time Wabi had applied Mukoki's +prescription to his comrade's wounds, and had done them up in bandages, +the tempting feast was spread before them.</p> + +<p>As a liberal section of the ribs was placed before him, together with +corn-meal cakes and a cup of steaming coffee, Rod could not suppress a +happy though somewhat embarrassed laugh.</p> + +<p>"I'm ashamed of myself, Wabi," he said. "Here I've been causing so much +bother, like some helpless kid; and now I find I haven't even the excuse +of a broken arm, and that I'm as hungry as a bear! Looks pretty yellow, +doesn't it? Just as though I was scared to death! So help me, I almost +wish my arm <i>was</i> broken!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki had buried his teeth in a huge chunk of fat rib, but he lowered +it with a great chuckling grunt, half of his face smeared with the first +results of his feast.</p> + +<p>"Whole lot sick," he explained. "Be sick some more—mighty sick! Maybe +vomit lots!"</p> + +<p>"Waugh!" shrieked Wabi. "How is that for cheerful news, Rod?" His +merriment echoed far out into the night. Suddenly he caught himself and +peered suspiciously into the gloom beyond the circle of firelight.</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose they would follow?" he asked.</p> + +<p>A more cautious silence followed, and the Indian youth quickly related +the adventures of the day to Mukoki—how, in the heart of the forest +several miles beyond the lake, they had come upon the Indian hunters, +had accepted of their seemingly honest hospitality, and in the midst of +their meal had suffered an attack from them. So sudden and unexpected +had been the assault that one of the Indians got away with Rod's rifle, +ammunition belt and revolver before any effort could be made to stop +him. Wabi was under the other two Indians when Rod came to his +assistance, with the result that the latter was struck two heavy blows, +either with a club or a gun-stock. So tenaciously had the Indian boy +clung to his own weapon that his assailants, after a brief struggle, +darted into the dense underbrush, evidently satisfied with the white +boy's equipment.</p> + +<p>"They were of Woonga's people, without a doubt," finished Wabi. "It +puzzles me why they didn't kill us. They had half a dozen chances to +shoot us, but didn't seem to want to do us any great injury. Either the +measures taken at the Post are making them reform, or—"</p> + +<p>He paused, a troubled look in his eyes. Immediately Mukoki told of his +own experience and of the mysterious haste of the three Indians who had +slain the doe.</p> + +<p>"It is certainly curious," rejoined the young Indian. "They couldn't +have been the ones we met, but I'll wager they belong to the same gang. +I wouldn't be surprised if we had hit upon one of Woonga's retreats. +We've always thought he was in the Thunder Bay regions to the west, and +that is where father is watching for him now. We've hit the hornets' +nest, Muky, and the only thing for us to do is to get out of this +country as fast as we can!"</p> + +<p>"We'd make a nice pot-shot just at this moment," volunteered Rod, +looking across to the dense blackness on the opposite side of the river, +where the moonlight seemed to make even more impenetrable the wall of +gloom.</p> + +<p>As he spoke there came a slight sound from behind him, the commotion of +a body moving softly beyond the wall of spruce boughs, then a curious, +suspicious sniffing, and after that a low whine.</p> + +<p>"Listen!"</p> + +<p>Wabi's command came in a tense whisper. He leaned close against the +boughs, stealthily parted them, and slowly thrust his head through the +aperture.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Wolf!" he whispered. "What's up?"</p> + +<p>An arm's length away, tied before a smaller shelter of spruce, a gaunt, +dog-like animal stood in a rigid listening attitude. An instant's +glance, however, would have assured one that it was not a dog, but a +full-grown wolf. From the days of its puppyhood Wabi had taught it in +the ways of dogdom, yet had the animal perversely clung to its wild +instincts. A weakness in that thong, a slip of the collar, and Wolf +would have bounded joyously into the forests to seek for ever the packs +of his fathers. Now the babeesh rope was taut, Wolf's muzzle was turned +half to the sky, his ears were alert, half-sounding notes rattled in his +throat.</p> + +<p>"There is something near our camp!" announced the Indian boy, drawing +himself back quickly. "Muky—"</p> + +<p>He was interrupted by a long mournful howl from the captive wolf.</p> + +<p>Mukoki had jumped to his feet with the alertness of a cat, and now with +his gun in his hand slunk around the edge of the shelter and buried +himself in the gloom. Roderick lay quiet while Wabi, seizing the +remaining rifle, followed him.</p> + +<p>"Lie over there in the dark, Rod, where the firelight doesn't show you +up," he cautioned in a low voice. "Probably it is only some animal that +has stumbled on to our camp, but we want to make sure."</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later the young hunter returned alone.</p> + +<p>"False alarm!" he laughed cheerfully. "There's a part of a carcass of a +red deer up the creek a bit. It has been killed by wolves, and Wolf +smells some of his own blood coming in to the feast. Muky has set traps +there and we may have our first scalp in the morning."</p> + +<p>"Where is Mukoki?"</p> + +<p>"On watch. He is going to keep guard until a little after midnight, and +then I'll turn out. We can't be too careful, with the Woongas in the +neighborhood."</p> + +<p>Rod shifted himself uneasily.</p> + +<p>"What shall we do—to-morrow?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Get out!" replied Wabi with emphasis. "That is, if you are able to +travel. From what Mukoki tells me, and from what you and I already know, +Woonga's people must be in the forests beyond the lake. We'll cut a +trail up the Ombabika for two or three days before we strike camp. You +and Muky can start out as soon as it is light enough."</p> + +<p>"And you—" began Rod.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm going to take a run back over our old wolf-trail and collect +the scalps we shot to-day. There's a month's salary back there for you, +Rod! Now, let's turn in. Good night—sleep tight—and be sure to wake up +early in the morning."</p> + +<p>The boys, exhausted by the adventures of the day, were soon in profound +slumber. And though midnight came, and hour after hour passed between +then and dawn, the faithful Mukoki did not awaken them. Never for a +moment neglecting his caution the old Indian watched tirelessly over the +camp. With the first appearance of day he urged the fire into a roaring +blaze, raked out a great mass of glowing coals, and proceeded to get +breakfast. Wabi discovered him at this task when he awoke from his +slumber.</p> + +<p>"I didn't think you would play this trick on me, Muky," he said, a flush +of embarrassment gathering in his brown face. "It's awfully good of you, +and all that, but I wish you wouldn't treat me as if I were a child any +longer, old friend!"</p> + +<p>He placed his hand affectionately upon the kneeling Mukoki's shoulder, +and the old hunter looked up at him with a happy, satisfied grin on his +weather-beaten visage, wrinkled and of the texture of leather by nearly +fifty years of life in the wilderness. It was Mukoki who had first +carried the baby Wabi about the woods upon his shoulders; it was he who +had played with him, cared for him, and taught him in the ways of the +wild in early childhood, and it was he who had missed him most, with +little Minnetaki, when he went away to school. All the love in the grim +old redskin's heart was for the Indian youth and his sister, and to them +Mukoki was a second father, a silent, watchful guardian and comrade. +This one loving touch of Wabi's hand was ample reward for the long +night's duty, and his pleasure expressed itself in two or three low +chuckling grunts.</p> + +<p>"Had heap bad day," he replied. "Very much tired. Me feel good—better +than sleep!" He rose to his feet and handed Wabi the long fork with +which he manipulated the meat on the spits. "You can tend to that," he +added. "I go see traps."</p> + +<p>Rod, who had awakened and overheard these last remarks, called out from +the shack:</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute, Mukoki. I'm going with you. If you've got a wolf, I want +to see him."</p> + +<p>"Got one sure 'nuff," grinned the old Indian.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes Rod came out, fully dressed and with a much healthier +color in his face than when he went to bed the preceding night. He stood +before the fire, stretched one arm then the other, gave a slight grimace +of pain, and informed his anxious comrades that he seemed to be as well +as ever, except that his arm and side were very sore.</p> + +<p>Walking slowly, that Rod might "find himself," as Wabi expressed it, the +two went up the river. It was a dull gray morning and occasionally large +flakes of snow fell, giving evidence that before the day was far +advanced another storm would set in. Mukoki's traps were not more than +an eighth of a mile from camp, and as the two rounded a certain bend in +the river the old hunter suddenly stopped with a huge grant of +satisfaction. Following the direction in which he pointed Rod saw a dark +object lying in the snow a short distance away.</p> + +<p>"That's heem!" exclaimed the Indian.</p> + +<p>As they approached, the object became animate, pulling and tearing in +the snow as though in the agonies of death. A few moments more and they +were close up to the captive.</p> + +<p>"She wolf!" explained Mukoki.</p> + +<p>He gripped the ax he had brought with him and approached within a few +feet of the crouching animal. Rod could see that one of the big steel +traps had caught the wolf on the forward leg and that the other had +buried its teeth in one of the hind legs. Thus held the doomed animal +could make little effort to protect itself and crouched in sullen quiet, +its white fangs gleaming in a noiseless, defiant snarl, its eyes shining +with pain and anger, and with only its thin starved body, which jerked +and trembled as the Indian came nearer, betraying signs of fear. To Rod +it might have been a pitiful sight had not there come to him a thought +of the preceding night and of his own and Wabi's narrow escape from the +pack.</p> + +<p>Two or three quick blows of the ax and the wolf was dead. With a skill +which can only be found among those of his own race, Mukoki drew his +knife, cut deftly around the wolf's head just below the ears, and with +one downward, one upward, and two sidewise jerks tore off the scalp.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, without giving a thought to his speech, there shot from Rod,</p> + +<p>"Is that the way you scalp people?"</p> + +<p>Mukoki looked up, his jaw fell—and then he gave the nearest thing to a +real laugh that Rod ever heard come from between his lips. When Mukoki +laughed it was usually in a half-chuckle, a half-gurgle—something that +neither Rod nor Wabi could have imitated if they had tried steadily for +a month.</p> + +<p>"Never scalped white people," the old Indian shot back. "Father did +when—young man. Did great scalp business!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki had not done chuckling to himself even when they reached camp.</p> + +<p>Scarcely ten minutes were taken in eating breakfast. Snow was already +beginning to fall, and if the hunters took up their trail at once their +tracks would undoubtedly be entirely obliterated by midday, which was +the best possible thing that could happen for them in the Woonga +country. On the other hand, Wabi was anxious to follow back over the +wolf-trail before the snow shut it in. There was no danger of their +becoming separated and lost, for it was agreed that Rod and Mukoki +should travel straight up the frozen river. Wabi would overtake them +before nightfall.</p> + +<p>Arming himself with his rifle, revolver, knife, and a keen-edged +belt-ax, the Indian boy lost no time in leaving camp. A quarter of an +hour later Wabi came out cautiously on the end of the lake where had +occurred the unequal duel between the old bull moose and the wolves. A +single glance told him what the outcome of that duel had been. Twenty +rods out upon the snow he saw parts of a great skeleton, and a huge pair +of antlers.</p> + +<p>As he stood on the arena of the mighty battle, Wabi would have given a +great deal if Rod could have been with him. There lay the heroic old +moose, now nothing more than a skeleton. But the magnificent head and +horns still remained—the largest head that the Indian youth, in all his +wilderness life, had ever seen—and it occurred to him that if this head +could be preserved and taken back to civilization it would be worth a +hundred dollars or more. That the old bull had put up a magnificent +fight was easily discernible. Fifty feet away were the bones of a wolf, +and almost under the skeleton of the moose were those of another. The +heads of both still remained, and Wabi, after taking their scalps, +hurried on over the trail.</p> + +<p>Half-way across the lake, where he had taken his last two shots, were +the skeletons of two more wolves, and in the edge of the spruce forest +he found another. This animal had evidently been wounded farther back +and had later been set upon by some of the pack and killed. Half a mile +deeper in the forest he came upon a spot where he had emptied five +shells into the pack and here he found the bones of two more wolves. He +had seven scalps in his possession when he turned back over the home +trail.</p> + +<p>Beside the remains of the old bull Wabi paused again. He knew that the +Indians frequently preserved moose and caribou heads through the winter +by keeping them frozen, and the head at his feet was a prize worth some +thought. But how could he keep it preserved until their return, months +later? He could not suspend it from the limb of a tree, as was the +custom when in camp, for it would either be stolen by some passing +hunter or spoiled by the first warm days of spring. Suddenly an idea +came to him. Why could it not be preserved in what white hunters called +an "Indian ice-box"? In an instant he was acting upon this inspiration. +It was not a small task to drag the huge head to the shelter of the +tamaracks, where, safely hidden from view, he made a closer examination. +The head was gnawed considerably by the wolves, but Wabi had seen worse +ones skillfully repaired by the Indians at the Post.</p> + +<p>Under a dense growth of spruce, where the rays of the sun seldom +penetrated, the Indian boy set to work with his belt-ax. For an hour and +a half he worked steadily, and at the end of that time had dug a hole in +the frozen earth three feet deep and four feet square. This hole he now +lined with about two inches of snow, packed as tight as he could jam it +with the butt of his gun. Then placing in the head he packed snow +closely about it and afterward filled in the earth, stamping upon the +hard chunks with his feet. When all was done he concealed the signs of +his work under a covering of snow, blazed two trees with his ax, and +resumed his journey.</p> + +<p>"There is thirty dollars for each of us if there's a cent," he mused +softly, as he hurried toward the Ombabika. "That ground won't thaw out +until June. A moose-head and eight scalps at fifteen dollars each isn't +bad for one day's work, Rod, old boy!"</p> + +<p>He had been absent for three hours. It had been snowing steadily and by +the time he reached their old camp the trail left by Rod and Mukoki was +already partly obliterated, showing that they had secured an early start +up the river.</p> + +<p>Bowing his head in the white clouds falling silently about him, Wabi +started in swift pursuit. He could not see ten rods ahead of him, so +dense was the storm, and at times one side or the other of the river was +lost to view. Conditions could not have been better for their flight out +of the Woonga country, thought the young hunter. By nightfall they would +be many miles up the river, and no sign would be left behind to reveal +their former presence or to show in which direction they had gone. For +two hours he followed tirelessly over the trail, which became more and +more distinct as he proceeded, showing that he was rapidly gaining on +his comrades. But even now, though the trail was fresher and deeper, so +disguised had it become by falling snow that a passing hunter might have +thought a moose or caribou had passed that way.</p> + +<p>At the end of the third hour, by which time he figured that he had made +at least ten miles, Wabi sat down to rest, and to refresh himself with +the lunch which he had taken from the camp that morning. He was +surprised at Rod's endurance. That Mukoki and the white boy were still +three or four miles ahead of him he did not doubt, unless they, too, had +stopped for dinner. This, on further thought, he believed was highly +probable.</p> + +<p>The wilderness about him was intensely still. Not even the twitter of a +snow-bird marred its silence. For a long time Wabi sat as immovable as +the log upon which he had seated himself, resting and listening. Such a +day as this held a peculiar and unusual fascination for him. It was as +if the whole world was shut out, and that even the wild things of the +forest dared not go abroad in this supreme moment of Nature's handiwork, +when with lavish hand she spread the white mantle that was to stretch +from the border to Hudson Bay.</p> + +<p>As he listened there came to him suddenly a sound that forced from +between his lips a half-articulate cry. It was the clear, ringing report +of a rifle! And following it there came another, and another, until in +quick succession he had counted five!</p> + +<p>What did it mean? He sprang to his feet, his heart thumping, every nerve +in him prepared for action. He would have sworn it was Mukoki's +rifle—yet Mukoki would not have fired at game! They had agreed upon +that.</p> + +<p>Had Rod and the old Indian been attacked? In another instant Wabi was +bounding over the trail with the speed of a deer.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</p> + +<p>MYSTERIOUS SHOTS IN THE WILDERNESS</p> +<br> + +<p>As the Indian youth sped over the trail in the direction of the +rifle-shots he flung his usual caution to the winds. His blood thrilled +with the knowledge that there was not a moment to lose—that even now, +in all probability, he would be too late to assist his friends. This +fear was emphasized by the absolute silence which followed the five +shots. Eagerly, almost prayerfully, he listened as he ran for other +sounds of battle—for the report of Mukoki's revolver, or the whoops of +the victors. If there had been an ambush it was all over now. Each +moment added to his conviction, and as he thrust the muzzle of his gun +ahead of him, his finger hovering near the trigger and his snow-blinded +eyes staring ahead into the storm, something like a sob escaped his +lips.</p> + +<p>Ahead of him the stream narrowed until it almost buried itself under a +mass of towering cedars. The closeness of the forest walls now added to +the general gloom, intensified by the first gray pallor of the Northern +dusk, which begins to fall in these regions early in the afternoon of +November days. For a moment, just before plunging into the gloomy trail +between the cedars, Wabi stopped and listened. He heard nothing but the +beating of his own heart, which worked like a trip-hammer within his +breast. The stillness was oppressive. And the longer he listened the +more some invisible power seemed to hold him back. It was not fear, it +was not lack of courage, but—</p> + +<p>What was there just beyond those cedars, lurking cautiously in the snow +gloom?</p> + +<p>With instinct that was almost animal in its unreasonableness Wabi sank +upon his knees. He had seen nothing, he had heard nothing; but he +crouched close, until he was no larger than a waiting wolf, and there +was a deadly earnestness in the manner in which he turned his rifle into +the deeper gloom of those close-knit walls of forest. Something was +approaching, cautiously, stealthily, and with extreme slowness. The +Indian boy felt that this was so, and yet if his life had depended upon +it he could not have told why. He huddled himself lower in the snow. His +eyes gleamed with excitement. Minute after minute passed, and still +there came no sound. Then, from far up that dusky avenue of cedars, +there came the sudden startled chatter of a moose-bird. It was a warning +which years of experience had taught Wabi always to respect. Perhaps a +roving fox had frightened it, perhaps the bird had taken to noisy flight +at the near tread of a moose, a caribou, or a deer. But—</p> + +<p>To Wabi the soft, quick notes of the moose-bird spelled man! In an +instant he was upon his feet, darting quickly into the sheltering cedars +of the shore. Through these he now made his way with extreme caution, +keeping close to the bank of the frozen stream. After a little he paused +again and concealed himself behind the end of a fallen log. Ahead of him +he could look into the snow gloom between the cedars, and whatever was +coming through that gloom would have to pass within a dozen yards of +him. Each moment added to his excitement. He heard the chatter of a red +squirrel, much nearer than the moose-bird. Once he fancied that he heard +the striking of two objects, as though a rifle barrel had accidentally +come into contact with the dead limb of a tree.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the Indian youth imagined that he saw something—an indistinct +shadow that came in the snow gloom, then disappeared, and came again. He +brushed the water and snow from his eyes with one of his mittened hands +and stared hard and steadily. Once more the shadow disappeared, then +came again, larger and more distinct than before. There was no doubt +now. Whatever had startled the moose-bird was coming slowly, +noiselessly.</p> + +<p>Wabi brought his rifle to his shoulder. Life and death hovered with his +anxious, naked finger over the gun trigger. But he was too well trained +in the ways of the wilderness to fire just yet. Yard by yard the shadow +approached, and divided itself into two shadows. Wabi could now see that +they were men. They were advancing in a cautious, crouching attitude, as +though they expected to meet enemies somewhere ahead of them. Wabi's +heart thumped with joy. There could be no surer sign that Mukoki and Rod +were still among the living, for why should the Woongas employ this +caution if they had already successfully ambushed the hunters? With the +chill of a cold hand at his throat the answer flashed into Wabigoon's +brain. His friends had been ambushed, and these two Woongas were +stealing back over the trail to slay him!</p> + +<p>Very slowly, very gently, the young Indian's finger pressed against the +trigger of his rifle. A dozen feet more, and then—</p> + +<p>The shadows had stopped, and now drew together as if in consultation. +They were not more than twenty yards away, and for a moment Wabi lowered +his rifle and listened hard. He could hear the low unintelligible +mutterings of their conversation. Then there came to him a single +incautious reply from one of the shadows.</p> + +<p>"All right!"</p> + +<p>Surely that was not the English of a Woonga! It sounded like—</p> + +<p>In a flash Wabi had called softly.</p> + +<p>"Ho, Muky—Muky—Rod!"</p> + +<p>In another moment the three wolf hunters were together, silently +wringing one another's hands, the death-like pallor of Rod's face and +the tense lines in the bronzed countenances of Mukoki and Wabigoon +plainly showing the tremendous strain they had been under.</p> + +<p>"You shoot?" whispered Mukoki.</p> + +<p>"No!" replied Wabi, his eyes widening in surprise. "Didn't <i>you</i> shoot?"</p> + +<p>"No!"</p> + +<p>Only the one word fell from the old Indian, but it was filled with a new +warning. Who had fired the five shots? The hunters gazed blankly at one +another, mute questioning in their eyes. Without speaking, Mukoki +pointed suggestively to the clearer channel of the river beyond the +cedars. Evidently he thought the shots had come from there. Wabi shook +his head.</p> + +<p>"There was no trail," he whispered. "Nobody has crossed the river."</p> + +<p>"I thought they were there!" breathed Rod. He pointed into the forest. +"But Mukoki said no."</p> + +<p>For a long time the three stood and listened. Half a mile back in the +forest they heard the howl of a single wolf, and Wabi flashed a curious +glance into the eyes of the old Indian.</p> + +<p>"That's a man's cry," he whispered. "The wolf has struck a human trail. +It isn't mine!"</p> + +<p>"Nor ours," replied Rod.</p> + +<p>This one long howl of the wolf was the only sound that broke the +stillness of approaching night. Mukoki turned, and the others followed +in his trail. A quarter of a mile farther on the stream became still +narrower and plunged between great masses of rock which rose into wild +and precipitous hills that were almost mountains a little way back. No +longer could the hunters now follow the channel of the rushing torrent. +Through a break in a gigantic wall of rock and huge boulders led the +trail of Rod and Mukoki. Ten minutes more and the three had clambered to +the top of the ridge where, in the lee of a great rock, the remains of a +fire were still burning. Here the old Indian and his companion had +struck camp and were waiting for Wabigoon when they heard the shots +which they, too, believed were those of an ambush.</p> + +<p>A comfortable shelter of balsam had already been erected against the +rock, and close beside the fire, where Mukoki had dropped it at the +sound of the shots, was a large piece of spitted venison. The situation +was ideal for a camp and after the hard day's tramp through the snow the +young wolf hunters regarded it with expressions of pleasure, in spite of +the enemies whom they knew might be lurking near them. Both Wabi and Rod +had accepted the place as their night's home, and were stirring up the +fire, when their attention was drawn to the singular attitude of Mukoki. +The old warrior stood leaning on his rifle, speechless and motionless, +his eyes regarding the process of rekindling the fire with mute +disapprobation. Wabi, poised on one knee, looked at him questioningly.</p> + +<p>"No make more fire," said the old Indian, shaking his head. "No dare +stay here. Go on—beyond mountain!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki straightened himself and stretched a long arm toward the north.</p> + +<p>"River go like much devil 'long edge of mountain," he continued. "Make +heap noise through rock, then make swamp thick for cow moose—then run +through mountain and make wide, smooth river once more. We go over +mountain. Snow all night. Morning come—no trail for Woonga. We stay +here—make big trail in morning. Woonga follow like devil, ver' plain to +see!"</p> + +<p>Wabi rose to his feet, his face showing the keenness of his +disappointment. Since early morning he had been traveling, even running +at times, and he was tired enough to risk willingly a few dangers for +the sake of sleep and supper. Rod was in even worse condition, though +his trail had been much shorter. For a few moments the two boys looked +at each other in silence, neither attempting to conceal the lack of +favor with which Mukoki's suggestion was received. But Wabi was too wise +openly to oppose the old pathfinder. If Mukoki said that it was +dangerous for them to remain where they were during the night—well, it +was dangerous, and it would be foolish of him to dispute it. He knew +Mukoki to be the greatest hunter of his tribe, a human bloodhound on the +trail, and what he said was law. So with a cheerful grin at Rod, who +needed all the encouragement that could be given to him, Wabi began the +readjustment of the pack which he had flung from his shoulders a few +minutes before.</p> + +<p>"Mountain not ver' far. Two—t'ree mile, then camp," encouraged Mukoki. +"Walk slow—have big supper."</p> + +<p>Only a few articles had been taken from the toboggan-sled on which the +hunters were dragging the greater part of their equipment into the +wilderness, and Mukoki soon had these packed again. The three +adventurers now took up the new trail along the top of one of those wild +and picturesque ridges which both the Indians and white hunters of this +great Northland call mountains. Wabigoon led, weighted under his pack, +selecting the clearest road for the toboggan and clipping down +obstructing saplings with his keen-edged belt-ax. A dozen feet behind +him followed Mukoki, dragging the sled; and behind the sled, securely +tied with a thong of babeesh, or moose-skin rope, slunk the wolf. Rod, +less experienced in making a trail and burdened with a lighter pack, +formed the rear of the little cavalcade.</p> + +<p>Darkness was now falling rapidly. Though Wabigoon was not more than a +dozen yards ahead, Rod could only now and then catch a fleeting vision +of him through the gloom. Mukoki, doubled over in his harness, was +hardly more than a blotch in the early night. Only the wolf was near +enough to offer companionship to the tired and down-spirited youth. +Rod's enthusiasm was not easily cooled, but just now he mentally wished +that, for this one night at least, he was back at the Post, with the +lovely little Minnetaki relating to him some legend of bird or beast +they had encountered that day. How much pleasanter that would be! The +vision of the bewitching little maiden was suddenly knocked out of his +head in a most unexpected and startling way. Mukoki had paused for a +moment and Rod, unconscious of the fact, continued on his journey until +he tumbled in a sprawling heap over the sled, knocking Mukoki's legs +completely from under him in his fall. When Wabi ran back he found Rod +flattened out, face downward, and Mukoki entangled in his site harness +on top of him.</p> + +<p>In a way this accident was fortunate. Wabi, who possessed a Caucasian +sense of humor, shook with merriment as he gave his assistance, and Rod, +after he had dug the snow from his eyes and ears and had emptied a +handful of it from his neck, joined with him.</p> + +<p>The ridge now became narrower as the trio advanced. On one side, far +down, could be heard the thunderous rush of the river, and from the +direction of the sound Rod knew they were near a precipice. Great beds +of boulders and broken rock, thrown there by some tumultuous upheaval of +past ages, now impeded their progress, and every step was taken with +extreme caution. The noise of the torrent became louder and louder as +they advanced and on one side of him Rod now thought that he could +distinguish a dim massive shadow towering above them, like the +precipitous side of a mountain. A few steps farther and Mukoki exchanged +places with Wabigoon.</p> + +<p>"Muky has been here before," cried Wabi close up to Rod's ear. His voice +was almost drowned by the tumult below. "That's where the river rushes +through the mountain!"</p> + +<p>Rod forgot his fatigue in the new excitement. Never in his wildest +dreams of adventure had he foreseen an hour like this. Each step seemed +to bring them nearer the edge of the vast chasm through which the river +plunged, and yet not a sign of it could he see. He strained his eyes and +ears, each moment expecting to hear the warning voice of the old +warrior. With a suddenness that chilled him he saw the great shadow +close in upon them from the opposite side, and for the first time he +realized their position. On their left was the precipice—on their right +the sheer wall of the mountain! How wide was the ledge along which they +were traveling? His foot struck a stick under the snow. Catching it up +he flung it out into space. For a single instant he paused to listen, +but there came no sound of the falling object. The precipice was very +near—a little chill ran up his spine. It was a sensation he had never +experienced in walking the streets of a city!</p> + +<p>Though he could not see, he knew that the ledge was now leading them up. +He could hear Wabigoon straining ahead of the toboggan and he began to +assist by pushing on the rear of the loaded sled. For half an hour this +upward climb continued, until the sound of the river had entirely died +away. No longer was the mountain on the right. Five minutes later Mukoki +called a halt.</p> + +<p>"On top mountain," he said briefly. "Camp here!"</p> + +<p>Rod could not repress an exclamation of joy, and Wabigoon, as he threw +off his harness, gave a suppressed whoop. Mukoki, who seemed tireless, +began an immediate search for a site for their camp and after a short +breathing-spell Rod and Wabi joined him. The spot chosen was in the +shelter of a huge rock, and while Mukoki cleaned away the snow the young +hunters set to work with their axes in a near growth of balsam, cutting +armful after armful of the soft odorous boughs. Inside of an hour a +comfortable camp was completed, with an exhilarating fire throwing its +crackling flames high up into the night before it.</p> + +<p>For the first time since leaving the abandoned camp at the other end of +the ridge the hunters fully realized how famished they were, and Mukoki +was at once delegated to prepare supper while Wabi and Rod searched in +the darkness for their night's supply of wood. Fortunately quite near at +hand they discovered several dead poplars, the best fuel in the world +for a camp-fire, and by the time the venison and coffee were ready they +had collected a huge pile of this, together with several good-sized +backlogs.</p> + +<p>Mukoki had spread the feast in the opening of the shelter where the heat +of the fire, reflected from the face of the rock, fell upon them in +genial warmth, suffusing their faces with a most comfortable glow. The +heat, together with the feast, were almost overpowering in their +effects, and hardly was his supper completed when Rod felt creeping over +him a drowsiness which he attempted in vain to fight off a little +longer. Dragging himself back in the shelter he wrapped himself in his +blanket, burrowed into the mass of balsam boughs, and passed quickly +into oblivion. His last intelligible vision was Mukoki piling logs upon +the fire, while the flames shot up a dozen feet into the air, illumining +to his drowsy eyes for an instant a wild chaos of rock, beyond which lay +the mysterious and impenetrable blackness of the wilderness.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</p> + +<p>MUKOKI DISTURBS THE ANCIENT SKELETONS</p> +<br> + +<p>Completely exhausted, every muscle in his aching body still seeming to +strain with exertion, the night was one of restless and uncomfortable +dreams for Roderick Drew. While Wabi and the old Indian, veterans in +wilderness hardship, slept in peace and tranquillity, the city boy found +himself in the most unusual and thrilling situations from which he would +extricate himself with a grunt or sharp cry, several times sitting bolt +upright in his bed of balsam until he realized where he was, and that +his adventures were only those of dreamland.</p> + +<p>From one of these dreams Rod had aroused himself into drowsy +wakefulness. He fancied that he had heard steps. For the tenth time he +raised himself upon an elbow, stretched, rubbed his eyes, glanced at the +dark, inanimate forms of his sleeping companions, and snuggled down into +his balsam boughs again. A few moments later he sat bolt upright. He +could have sworn that he heard real steps this time—a soft cautious +crunching in the snow very near his head. Breathlessly he listened. Not +a sound broke the silence except the snapping of a dying ember in the +fire. Another dream! Once more he settled back, drawing his blanket +closely about him. Then, for a full breath, the very beating of his +heart seemed to cease.</p> + +<p>What was that!</p> + +<p>He was awake now, wide awake, with every faculty in him striving to +arrange itself. He had heard—a step! Slowly, very cautiously this time, +he raised himself. There came distinctly to his ears a light crunching +in the snow. It seemed back of the shelter—then was moving away, then +stopped. The flickering light of the dying fire still played on the face +of the great rock. Suddenly, at the very end of that rock, something +moved.</p> + +<p>Some object was creeping cautiously upon the sleeping camp!</p> + +<p>For a moment his thrilling discovery froze the young hunter into +inaction. But in a moment the whole situation flashed upon him. The +Woongas had followed them! They were about to fall upon the helpless +camp! Unexpectedly one of his hands came in contact with the barrel of +Wabi's rifle. The touch of the cold steel aroused him. There was no time +to awaken his companions. Even as he drew the gun to him he saw the +object grow larger and larger at the end of the rock, until it stood +crouching, as if about to spring.</p> + +<p>One bated breath—a thunderous report—a snarling scream of pain, and +the camp was awake!</p> + +<p>"We're attacked!" cried Rod. "Quick—Wabi—Mukoki!"</p> + +<p>The white boy was on his knees now, the smoking rifle still leveled +toward the rocks. Out there, in the thick shadows beyond the fire, a +body was groveling and kicking in death agonies. In another instant the +gaunt form of the old warrior was beside Rod, his rifle at his shoulder, +and over their heads reached Wabigoon's arm, the barrel of his heavy +revolver glinting in the firelight.</p> + +<p>For a full minute they crouched there, breathless, waiting.</p> + +<p>"They've gone!" broke Wabi in a tense whisper.</p> + +<p>"I got one of them!" replied Rod, his voice trembling with excitement.</p> + +<p>Mukoki slipped back and burrowed a hole through the side of the shelter. +He could see nothing. Slowly he slipped out, his rifle ready. The others +could hear him as he went. Foot by foot the old warrior slunk along in +the deep gloom toward the end of the rock. Now he was almost there, +now—</p> + +<p>The young hunters saw him suddenly straighten. There came to them a low +chuckling grunt. He bent over, seized an object, and flung it in the +light of the fire.</p> + +<p>"Heap big Woonga! Kill nice fat lynx!"</p> + +<p>With a wail, half feigned, half real, Rod flung himself back upon the +balsam while Wabi set up a roar that made the night echo. Mukoki's face +was creased in a broad grin.</p> + +<p>"Heap big Woonga—heem!" he repeated, chuckling. "Nice fat lynx shot +well in face. No look like bad man Woonga to Mukoki!"</p> + +<p>When Rod finally emerged from his den to join the others his face was +flushed and wore what Wabi described as a "sheepish grin."</p> + +<p>"It's all right for you fellows to make fun of me," he declared. "But +what if they had been Woongas? By George, if we're ever attacked again I +won't do a thing. I'll let you fellows fight 'em off!"</p> + +<p>In spite of the general merriment at his expense, Rod was immensely +proud of his first lynx. It was an enormous creature of its kind, drawn +by hunger to the scraps of the camp-fire feast; and it was this animal, +as it cautiously inspected the camp, that the young hunter had heard +crunching in the snow. Wolf, whose instinct had told him what a mix-up +would mean, had slunk into his shelter without betraying his whereabouts +to this arch-enemy of his tribe.</p> + +<p>With the craft of his race, Mukoki was skinning the animal while it was +still warm.</p> + +<p>"You go back bed," he said to his companions. "I build big fire +again—then sleep."</p> + +<p>The excitement of his adventure at least freed Rod from the +unpleasantness of further dreams, and it was late the following morning +before he awoke again. He was astonished to find that a beautiful sun +was shining. Wabi and the old Indian were already outside preparing +breakfast, and the cheerful whistling of the former assured Rod that +there was now little to be feared from the Woongas. Without lingering to +take a beauty nap he joined them.</p> + +<p>Everywhere about them lay white winter. The rocks, the trees, and the +mountain behind them were covered with two feet of snow and upon it the +sun shone with dazzling brilliancy. But it was not until Rod looked into +the north that he saw the wilderness in all of its grandeur. The camp +had been made at the extreme point of the ridge, and stretching away +under his eyes, mile after mile, was the vast white desolation that +reached to Hudson Bay. In speechless wonder he gazed down upon the +unblazed forests, saw plains and hills unfold themselves as his vision +gained distance, followed a river until it was lost in the bewildering +picture, and let his eyes rest here and there upon the glistening, +snow-smothered bosoms of lakes, rimmed in by walls of black forest. This +was not the wilderness as he had expected it to be, nor as he had often +read of it in books. It was beautiful! It was magnificent! His heart +throbbed with pleasure as he gazed down on it, the blood rose to his +face in an excited flush, and he seemed hardly to breathe in his tense +interest.</p> + +<p>Mukoki had come up beside him softly, and spoke in his low guttural +voice.</p> + +<p>"Twent' t'ousand moose down there—twent' t'ousand caribou-oo! No +man—no house—more twent' t'ousand miles!"</p> + +<p>Roderick, even trembling in his new emotion, looked into the old +warrior's face. In Mukoki's eyes there was a curious, thrilling gleam. +He stared straight out into the unending distance as though his keen +vision would penetrate far beyond the last of that visible +desolation—on and on, even to the grim and uttermost fastnesses of +Hudson Bay. Wabi came up and placed his hand on Rod's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Muky was born off there," he said. "Away beyond where we can see. Those +were his hunting-grounds when a boy. See that mountain yonder? You might +take it for a cloud. It's thirty miles from here! And that lake down +there—you might think a rifle-shot would reach it—is five miles away! +If a moose or a caribou or a wolf should cross it how you could see +him."</p> + +<p>For a few moments longer the three stood silent, then Wabi and the old +Indian returned to the fire to finish the preparation of breakfast, +leaving Rod alone in his enchantment. What unsolved mysteries, what +unwritten tragedies, what romance, what treasure of gold that vast North +must hold! For a thousand, perhaps a million centuries, it had lain thus +undisturbed in the embrace of nature; few white men had broken its +solitudes, and the wild things still lived there as they had lived in +the winters of ages and ages ago.</p> + +<p>The call to breakfast came almost as an unpleasant interruption to Rod. +But it did not shock his appetite as it had his romantic fancies, and he +performed his part at the morning meal with considerable credit. Wabi +and Mukoki had already decided that they would not take up the trail +again that day but would remain in their present camp until the +following morning. There were several reasons for this delay.</p> + +<p>"We can't travel without snow-shoes now," explained Wabi to Rod, "and +we've got to take a day off to teach you how to use them. Then, all the +wild things are lying low. Moose, deer, caribou, and especially wolves +and fur animals, won't begin traveling much until this afternoon and +to-night, and if we took up the trail now we would have no way of +telling what kind of a game country we were in. And that is the +important thing just now. If we strike a first-rate game country during +the next couple days we'll stop and build our winter camp."</p> + +<p>"Then you believe we are far enough away from the Woongas?" asked Rod.</p> + +<p>Mukoki grunted.</p> + +<p>"No believe Woongas come over mountain. Heap good game country back +there. They stay."</p> + +<p>During the meal the white boy asked a hundred questions about the vast +wilderness which lay stretched out before them in a great panorama, and +in which they were soon to bury themselves, and every answer added to +his enthusiasm. Immediately after they had finished eating Rod expressed +a desire to begin his study in snow-shoeing, and for an hour after that +Wabi and Mukoki piloted him back and forth along the ridge, instructing +him in this and in that, applauding when he made an especially good dash +and enjoying themselves immensely when he took one of his frequent +tumbles into the snow. By noon Rod secretly believed that he was +becoming quite an adept.</p> + +<p>Although the day in camp was an exceedingly pleasant one for Rod, he +could not but observe that at times something seemed to be troubling +Wabi. Twice he discovered the Indian youth alone within the shelter +sitting in silent and morose dejection, and finally he insisted upon an +explanation.</p> + +<p>"I want you to tell me what the trouble is, Wabi," he demanded. "What +has gone wrong?"</p> + +<p>Wabi jumped to his feet with a little laugh.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever have a dream that bothered you, Rod?" he asked. "Well, I +had one last night, and since then—somehow—I can't keep from worrying +about the people back at the Post, and especially about Minnetaki. It's +all—what do you call it—bosh? Listen! Wasn't that Mukoki's whistle?"</p> + +<p>As he paused Mukoki came running around the end of the rock.</p> + +<p>"See fun!" he cried softly. "Quick—see heem quick!"</p> + +<p>He turned and darted toward the precipitous edge of the ridge, closely +followed by the two boys.</p> + +<p>"Cari-boo-oo!" he whispered excitedly as they came up beside him. +"Cari-boo-oo—making big play!"</p> + +<p>He pointed down into the snowy wilderness. Three-quarters of a mile +away, though to Rod apparently not more than a third of that distance +from where they stood, half a dozen animals were disporting themselves +in a singular fashion in a meadow-like opening between the mountain and +a range of forest. It was Rod's first real glimpse of that wonderful +animal of the North of which he had read so much, the caribou—commonly +known beyond the Sixtieth Degree as the reindeer; and at this moment +those below him were indulging in the queer play known in the Hudson Bay +regions as the "caribou dance."</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with them?" he asked, his voice quivering with +excitement. "What—"</p> + +<p>"Making big fun!" chuckled Mukoki, drawing the boy closer to the rock +that concealed them.</p> + +<p>Wabi had thrust a finger in his mouth and now held it above his head, +the Indian's truest guide for discovering the direction of the wind. The +lee side of his finger remained cold and damp, while that side upon +which the breeze fell was quickly dried.</p> + +<p>"The wind is toward us, Muky," he announced. "There's a fine chance for +a shot. You go! Rod and I will stay here and watch you."</p> + +<p>Roderick heard—knew that Mukoki was creeping back to the camp for his +rifle, but not for an instant did his spellbound eyes leave the +spectacle below him. Two other animals had joined those in the open. He +could see the sun glistening on their long antlers as they tossed their +heads in their amazing antics. Now three or four of them would dash away +with the speed of the wind, as though the deadliest of enemies were +close behind them. Two or three hundred yards away they would stop with +equal suddenness, whirl about in a circle, as though flight were +interrupted on all sides of them, then tear back with lightning speed to +rejoin the herd. In twos and threes and fours they performed these +evolutions again and again. But there was another antic that held Rod's +eyes, and if it had not been so new and wonderful to him he would have +laughed, as Wabi was doing—silently—behind him. From out of the herd +would suddenly dash one of the agile creatures, whirl about, jump and +kick, and finally bounce up and down on all four feet, as though +performing a comedy sketch in pantomime for the amusement of its +companions; and when this was done it would start out in another mad +flight, with others of the herd at its heels.</p> + +<p>"They are the funniest, swiftest, and shrewdest animals in the North," +said Wabi. "They can smell you over a mountain if the wind is right, and +hear you for half a mile. Look!"</p> + +<p>He pointed downward over Rod's shoulder. Mukoki had already reached the +base of the ridge and was stealing straight out in the direction of the +caribou. Rod gave a surprised gasp.</p> + +<p>"Great Scott! They'll see him, won't they?" he cried.</p> + +<p>"Not if Mukoki knows himself," smiled the Indian youth. "Remember that +we are looking down on things. Everything seems clear and open to us, +while in reality it's quite thick down there. I'll bet Muky can't see +one hundred yards ahead of him. He has got his bearings and will go as +straight as though he was on a blazed trail; but he won't see the +caribou until he conies to the edge of the open."</p> + +<p>Each minute now added to Rod's excitement. Each of those minutes brought +the old warrior nearer his game. Seldom, thought Rod, had such a scene +been unfolded to the eyes of a white boy. The complete picture—the +playful rompings of the dumb children of the wilderness; the stealthy +approach of the old Indian; every rock, every tree that was to play its +part—all were revealed to their eyes. Not a phase in this drama in wild +life escaped them. Five minutes, ten, fifteen passed. They could see +Mukoki as he stopped and lifted a hand to test the wind. Then he +crouched, advancing foot by foot, yard by yard, so slowly that he seemed +to be on his hands and knees.</p> + +<p>"He can hear them, but he can't see them!" breathed Wabigoon. "See! He +places his ear to the ground! Now he has got his bearings again—as +straight as a die! Good old Muky!"</p> + +<p>The old Indian crept on. In his excitement Rod clenched his hands and he +seemed to live without breathing. Would Mukoki never shoot? Would he +<i>never</i> shoot? He seemed now to be within a stone's throw of the herd.</p> + +<p>"How far, Wabi?"</p> + +<p>"Four hundred yards, perhaps five," replied the Indian. "It's a long +shot! He can't see them yet."</p> + +<p>Rod gripped his companion's arm.</p> + +<p>Mukoki had stopped. Down and down he slunk, until he became only a blot +in the snow.</p> + +<p>"Now!"</p> + +<p>There came a moment of startled silence. In the midst of their play the +animals in the open stood for a single instant paralyzed by a knowledge +of impending danger, and in that instant there came to the young hunters +the report of Mukoki's rifle.</p> + +<p>"No good!" cried Wabi.</p> + +<p>In his excitement he leaped to his feet. The caribou had turned and the +whole eight of them were racing across the open. Another shot, and +another—three in quick succession, and one of the fleeing animals fell, +scrambled to its knees—and plunged on again! A fifth shot—the last in +Mukoki's rifle! Again the wounded animal fell, struggled to its +knees—to its forefeet—and fell again.</p> + +<p>"Good work! Five hundred yards if it was a foot!" exclaimed Wabigoon +with a relieved laugh. "Fresh steak for supper, Rod!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki came out into the open, reloading his rifle. Quickly he moved +across the wilderness playground, now crimson with blood, unsheathed his +knife, and dropped upon his knees close to the throat of the slain +animal.</p> + +<p>"I'll go down and give him a little help, Rod," said Wabi. "Your legs +are pretty sore, and it's a hard climb down there; so if you will keep +up the fire, Mukoki and I will bring back the meat."</p> + +<p>During the next hour Rod busied himself with collecting firewood for the +night and in practising with his snow-shoes. He was astonished to find +how swiftly and easily he could travel in them, and was satisfied that +he could make twenty miles a day even as a tenderfoot.</p> + +<p>Left to his own thoughts he found his mind recurring once more to the +Woongas and Minnetaki. Why was Wabi worried? Inwardly he did not believe +that it was a dream alone that was troubling him. There was still some +cause for fear. Of that he was certain. And why would not the Woongas +penetrate beyond this mountain? He had asked himself this question a +score of times during the last twenty-four hours, in spite of the fact +that both Mukoki and Wabigoon were quite satisfied that they were well +out of the Woonga territory.</p> + +<p>It was growing dusk when Wabi and the old Indian returned with the meat +of the caribou. No time was lost in preparing supper, for the hunters +had decided that the next day's trail would begin with dawn and probably +end with darkness, which meant that they would require all the rest they +could get before then. They were all eager to begin the winter's hunt. +That day Mukoki's eyes had glistened at each fresh track he encountered. +Wabi and Rod were filled with enthusiasm. Even Wolf, now and then +stretching his gaunt self, would nose the air with eager suspicion, as +if longing for the excitement of the tragedies in which he was to play +such an important part.</p> + +<p>"If you can stand it," said Wabi, nodding at Rod over his caribou steak, +"we won't lose a minute from now on. Over that country we ought to make +twenty-five or thirty miles to-morrow. We may strike our hunting-ground +by noon, or it may take us two or three days; but in either event we +haven't any time to waste. Hurrah for the big camp, I say—and our fun +begins!"</p> + +<p>It seemed to Rod as though he had hardly fallen asleep that night when +somebody began tumbling him about in his bed of balsam. Opening his eyes +he beheld Wabi's laughing face, illuminated in the glow of a roaring +fire.</p> + +<p>"Time's up!" he called cheerily. "Hustle out, Rod. Breakfast is sizzling +hot, everything is packed, and here you are still dreaming of—what?"</p> + +<p>"Minnetaki!" shot back Rod with unblushing honesty.</p> + +<p>In another minute he was outside, straightening his disheveled garments +and smoothing his tousled hair. It was still very dark, but Rod assured +himself by his watch that it was nearly four o'clock. Mukoki had already +placed their breakfast on a flat rock beside the fire and, according to +Wabigoon's previous scheme, no time was lost in disposing of it.</p> + +<p>Dawn was just breaking when the little cavalcade of adventurers set out +from the camp. More keenly than ever Rod now felt the loss of his rifle. +They were about to enter upon a hunter's paradise—and he had no gun! +His disappointment was acute and he could not repress a confession of +his feelings to Wabi. The Indian youth at once suggested a happy remedy. +They would take turns in using his gun, Rod to have it one day and he +the next; and Wabi's heavy revolver would also change hands, so that the +one who did not possess the rifle would be armed with the smaller +weapon. This solution of the difficulty lifted a dampening burden from +Rod's heart, and when the little party began its descent into the +wilderness regions under the mountain the city lad carried the rifle, +for Wabi insisted that he have the first "turn."</p> + +<p>Once free of the rock-strewn ridge the two boys joined forces in pulling +the toboggan while Mukoki struck out a trail ahead of them. As it became +lighter Rod found his eyes glued with keen interest to Mukoki's +snow-shoes, and for the first time in his life he realized what it +really meant to "make a trail." The old Indian was the most famous +trailmaker as well as the keenest trailer of his tribe, and in the +comparatively open bottoms through which they were now traveling he was +in his element. His strides were enormous, and with each stride he threw +up showers of snow, leaving a broad level path behind him in which the +snow was packed by his own weight, so that when Wabi and Rod came to +follow him they were not impeded by sinking into a soft surface.</p> + +<p>Half a mile from the mountain Mukoki stopped and waited for the others +to come up to him.</p> + +<p>"Moose!" he called, pointing at a curious track in the snow.</p> + +<p>Rod leaned eagerly over the track.</p> + +<p>"The snow is still crumbling and falling where he stepped," said Wabi. +"Watch that little chunk, Rod. See—it's slipping—down—down—there! It +was an old bull—a big fellow—and he passed here less than an hour +ago."</p> + +<p>Signs of the night carnival of the wild things now became more and more +frequent as the hunters advanced. They crossed and recrossed the trail +of a fox; and farther on they discovered where this little pirate of +darkness had slaughtered a big white rabbit. The snow was covered with +blood and hair and part of the carcass remained uneaten. Again Wabi +forgot his determination to waste no time and paused to investigate.</p> + +<p>"Now, if we only knew what kind of a fox he was!" he exclaimed to Rod. +"But we don't. All we know is that he's a fox. And all fox tracks are +alike, no matter what kind of a fox makes them. If there was only some +difference our fortunes would be made!"</p> + +<p>"How?" asked Rod.</p> + +<p>Mukoki chuckled as if the mere thought of such a possibility filled him +with glee.</p> + +<p>"Well, that fellow may be an ordinary red fox," explained the Indian +youth. "If so, he is only worth from ten to twenty dollars; or he may be +a black fox, worth fifty or sixty; or what we call a 'cross'—a mixture +of silver and black—worth from seventy-five to a hundred. Or—"</p> + +<p>"Heap big silver!" interrupted Mukoki with another chuckle.</p> + +<p>"Yes, or a silver," finished Wabi. "A poor silver is worth two hundred +dollars, and a good one from five hundred to a thousand! Now do you see +why we would like to have a difference in the tracks? If that was a +silver, a black or a 'cross,' we'd follow him; but in all probability he +is red."</p> + +<p>Every hour added to Rod's knowledge of the wilderness and its people. +For the first time in his life he saw the big dog-like tracks made by +wolves, the dainty hoof-prints of the red deer and the spreading +imprints of a traveling lynx; he pictured the hugeness of the moose that +made a track as big as his head, discovered how to tell the difference +between the hoof-print of a small moose and a big caribou, and in almost +every mile learned something new.</p> + +<p>Half a dozen times during the morning the hunters stopped to rest. By +noon Wabi figured that they had traveled twenty miles, and, although +very tired, Rod declared that he was still "game for another ten." After +dinner the aspect of the country changed. The river which they had been +following became narrower and was so swift in places that it rushed +tumultuously between its frozen edges. Forest-clad hills, huge boulders +and masses of rock now began to mingle again with the bottoms, which in +this country are known as plains. Every mile added to the roughness and +picturesque grandeur of the country. A few miles to the east rose +another range of wild and rugged hills; small lakes became more and more +numerous, and everywhere the hunters crossed and recrossed frozen +creeks.</p> + +<p>And each step they took now added to the enthusiasm of Wabi and his +companions. Evidences of game and fur animals were plenty. A thousand +ideal locations for a winter camp were about them, and their progress +became slow and studied.</p> + +<p>A gently sloping hill of considerable height now lay in their path and +Mukoki led the ascent. At the top the three paused in joyful +astonishment. At their feet lay a "dip," or hollow, a dozen acres in +extent, and in the center of this dip was a tiny lake partly surrounded +by a mixed forest of cedar, balsam and birch that swept back over the +hill, and partly inclosed by a meadow-like opening. One might have +traveled through the country a thousand times without discovering this +bit of wilderness paradise hidden in a hilltop. Without speaking Mukoki +threw off his heavy pack. Wabi unbuckled his harness and relieved his +shoulders of their burden. Rod, following their example, dropped his +small pack beside that of the old Indian, and Wolf, straining at his +babeesh thong, gazed with eager eyes into the hollow as though he, too, +knew that it was to be their winter home.</p> + +<p>Wabi broke the silence.</p> + +<p>"How is that, Muky?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Mukoki chuckled with unbounded satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Ver' fine. No get bad wind—never see smoke—plenty wood—plenty +water."</p> + +<p>Relieved of their burdens, and leaving Wolf tied to the toboggan, the +hunters made their way down to the lake. Hardly had they reached its +edge when Wabi halted with a startled exclamation and pointed into the +forest on the opposite side.</p> + +<p>"Look at that!"</p> + +<p>A hundred yards away, almost concealed among the trees, was a cabin. +Even from where they stood they could see that it was deserted. Snow was +drifted high about it. No chimney surmounted its roof. Nowhere was there +a sign of life.</p> + +<p>Slowly the hunters approached. It was evident that the cabin was very +old. The logs of which it was built were beginning to decay. A mass of +saplings had taken root upon its roof, and everything about it gave +evidence that it had been erected many years before. The door, made of +split timber and opening toward the lake, was closed; the one window, +also opening upon the lake, was tightly barred with lengths of sapling.</p> + +<p>Mukoki tried the door, but it resisted his efforts. Evidently it was +strongly barred from within.</p> + +<p>Curiosity now gave place to astonishment.</p> + +<p>How could the door be locked within, and the window barred from within, +without there being somebody inside?</p> + +<p>For a few moments the three stood speechless, listening.</p> + +<p>"Looks queer, doesn't it?" spoke Wabi softly.</p> + +<p>Mukoki had dropped on his knees beside the door. He could hear no sound. +Then he kicked off his snow-shoes, gripped his belt-ax and stepped to +the window.</p> + +<p>A dozen blows and one of the bars fell. The old Indian sniffed +suspiciously, his ear close to the opening. Damp, stifling air greeted +his nostrils, but still there was no sound. One after another he knocked +off the remaining bars and thrust his head and shoulders inside. +Gradually his eyes became accustomed to the darkness and he pulled +himself in.</p> + +<p>Half-way—and he stopped.</p> + +<p>"Go on, Muky," urged Wabi, who was pressing close behind.</p> + +<p>There came no answer from the old Indian. For a full minute he remained +poised there, as motionless as a stone, as silent as death.</p> + +<p>Then, very slowly—inch by inch, as though afraid of awakening a +sleeping person, he lowered himself to the ground. When he turned toward +the young hunters it was with an expression that Rod had never seen upon +Mukoki's face before.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Mukoki?"</p> + +<p>The old Indian gasped, as if for fresh air.</p> + +<p>"Cabin—she filled with twent' t'ousand dead men!" he replied.</p> + +<center> +<a name="Illus_1"></a><img src="wh001.jpg" width="450" height="730" alt="" title="Knife—fight—heem killed!"> +</center> + +<br> + + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</p> + +<p>RODERICK DISCOVERS THE BUCKSKIN BAG</p> +<br> + +<p>For one long breath Rod and Wabi stared at their companion, only half +believing, yet startled by the strange look in the old warrior's face.</p> + +<p>"Twent' t'ousand dead men!" he repeated. As he raised his hand, partly +to give emphasis and partly to brush the cobwebs from his face, the boys +saw it trembling in a way that even Wabi had never witnessed before.</p> + +<p>"Ugh!"</p> + +<p>In another instant Wabi was at the window, head and shoulders in, as +Mukoki had been before him. After a little he pulled himself back and as +he glanced at Rod he laughed in an odd thrilling way, as though he had +been startled, but not so much so as Mukoki, who had prepared him for +the sight which had struck his own vision with the unexpectedness of a +shot in the back.</p> + +<p>"Take a look, Rod!"</p> + +<p>With his breath coming in little uneasy jerks Rod approached the black +aperture. A queer sensation seized upon him—a palpitation, not of fear, +but of something; a very unpleasant feeling that seemed to choke his +breath, and made him wish that he had not been asked to peer into that +mysterious darkness. Slowly he thrust his head through the hole. It was +as black as night inside. But gradually the darkness seemed to be +dispelled. He saw, in a little while, the opposite wall of the cabin. A +table outlined itself in deep shadows, and near the table there was a +pile of something that he could not name; and tumbled over that was a +chair, with an object that might have been an old rag half covering it.</p> + +<p>His eyes traveled nearer. Outside Wabi and Mukoki heard a startled, +partly suppressed cry. The boy's hands gripped the sides of the window. +Fascinated, he stared down upon an object almost within arm's reach of +him.</p> + +<p>There, leaning against the cabin wall, was what half a century or more +ago had been a living man! Now it was a mere skeleton, a grotesque, +terrible-looking object, its empty eye-sockets gleaming dully with the +light from the window, its grinning mouth, distorted into ghostly life +by the pallid mixture of light and gloom, turned full up at him!</p> + +<p>Rod fell back, trembling and white.</p> + +<p>"I only saw one," he gasped, remembering Mukoki's excited estimate.</p> + +<p>Wabi, who had regained his composure, laughed as he struck him two or +three playful blows on the back. Mukoki only grunted.</p> + +<p>"You didn't look long enough, Rod!" he cried banteringly. "He got on +your nerves too quick. I don't blame you, though. By George, I'll bet +the shivers went up Muky's back when he first saw 'em! I'm going in to +open the door."</p> + +<p>Without trepidation the young Indian crawled through the window. Rod, +whose nervousness was quickly dispelled, made haste to follow him, while +Mukoki again threw his weight against the door. A few blows of Wabi's +belt-ax and the door shot inward so suddenly that the old Indian went +sprawling after it upon all fours.</p> + +<p>A flood of light filled the interior of the cabin. Instinctively Rod's +eyes sought the skeleton against the wall. It was leaning as if, many +years before, a man had died there in a posture of sleep. Quite near +this ghastly tenant of the cabin, stretched at full length upon the log +floor, was a second skeleton, and near the overturned chair was a small +cluttered heap of bones which were evidently those of some animal. Rod +and Wabi drew nearer the skeleton against the wall and were bent upon +making a closer examination when an exclamation from Mukoki attracted +their attention to the old pathfinder. He was upon his knees beside the +second skeleton, and as the boys approached he lifted eyes to them that +were filled with unbounded amazement, at the same time pointing a long +forefinger to come object among the bones.</p> + +<p>"Knife—fight—heem killed!"</p> + +<p>Plunged to the hilt in what had once been the breast of a living being, +the boys saw a long, heavy-bladed knife, its handle rotting with age, +its edges eaten by rust—but still erect, held there by the murderous +road its owner had cleft for it through the flesh and bone of his +victim.</p> + +<p>Rod, who had fallen upon his knees, gazed up blankly; his jaw dropped, +and he asked the first question that popped into his head.</p> + +<p>"Who—did it?"</p> + +<p>Mukoki chuckled, almost gleefully, and nodded toward the gruesome thing +reclining against the wall.</p> + +<p>"Heem!"</p> + +<p>Moved by a common instinct the three drew near the other skeleton. One +of its long arms was resting across what had once been a pail, but +which, long since, had sunk into total collapse between its hoops. The +finger-bones of this arm were still tightly shut, clutching between them +a roll of something that looked like birch-bark. The remaining arm had +fallen close to the skeleton's side, and it was on this side that +Mukoki's critical eyes searched most carefully, his curiosity being +almost immediately satisfied by the discovery of a short, slant-wise cut +in one of the ribs.</p> + +<p>"This un die here!" he explained. "Git um stuck knife in ribs. Bad way +die! Much hurt—no die quick, sometime. Ver' bad way git stuck!"</p> + +<p>"Ugh!" shuddered Rod. "This cabin hasn't had any fresh air in it for a +century, I'll bet. Let's get out!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki, in passing, picked up a skull from the heap of bones near the +chair.</p> + +<p>"Dog!" he grunted. "Door lock'—window shut—men fight—both kill. Dog +starve!"</p> + +<p>As the three retraced their steps to the spot where Wolf was guarding +the toboggan, Rod's imaginative mind quickly painted a picture of the +terrible tragedy that had occurred long ago in the old cabin. To Mukoki +and Wabigoon the discovery of the skeletons was simply an incident in a +long life of wilderness adventure—something of passing interest, but of +small importance. To Rod it was the most tragic event that had ever come +into his city-bound existence, with the exception of the thrilling +conflict at Wabinosh House. He reconstructed that deadly hour in the +cabin; saw the men in fierce altercation, saw them struggling, and +almost heard the fatal blows as they were struck—the blows that slew +one with the suddenness of a lightning bolt and sent the other, +triumphant but dying, to breathe his last moments with his back propped +against the wall. And the dog! What part had he taken? And after +that—long days of maddening loneliness, days of starvation and of +thirst, until he, too, doubled himself up on the floor and died. It was +a terrible, a thrilling picture that burned in Roderick's brain. But why +had they quarreled? What cause had there been for that sanguinary night +duel? Instinctively Rod accepted it as having occurred at night, for the +door had been locked, the window barred. Just then he would have given a +good deal to have had the mystery solved.</p> + +<p>At the top of the hill Rod awoke to present realities. Wabi, who had +harnessed himself to the toboggan, was in high spirits.</p> + +<p>"That cabin is a dandy!" he exclaimed as Rod joined him. "It would have +taken us at least two weeks to build as good a one. Isn't it luck?"</p> + +<p>"We're going to live in it?" inquired his companion.</p> + +<p>"Live in it! I should say we were. It is three times as big as the shack +we had planned to build. I can't understand why two men like those +fellows should have put up such a large cabin. What do you think, +Mukoki?"</p> + +<p>Mukoki shook his head. Evidently the mystery of the whole thing, beyond +the fact that the tenants of the cabin had killed themselves in battle, +was beyond his comprehension.</p> + +<p>The winter outfit was soon in a heap beside the cabin door.</p> + +<p>"Now for cleaning up," announced Wabi cheerfully. "Muky, you lend me a +hand with the bones, will you? Rod can nose around and fetch out +anything he likes."</p> + +<p>This assignment just suited Rod's curiosity. He was now worked up to a +feverish pitch of expectancy. Might he not discover some clue that would +lead to a solution of the mystery?</p> + +<p>One question alone seemed to ring incessantly in his head. Why had they +fought? <i>Why had they fought?</i></p> + +<p>He even found himself repeating this under his breath as he began +rummaging about. He kicked over the old chair, which was made of +saplings nailed together, scrutinized a heap of rubbish that crumbled to +dust under his touch, and gave a little cry of exultation when he found +two guns leaning in a corner of the cabin. Their stocks were decaying; +their locks were encased with rust, their barrels, too, were thick with +the accumulated rust of years. Carefully, almost tenderly, he took one +of these relics of a past age in his hands. It was of ancient pattern, +almost as long as he was tall.</p> + +<p>"Hudson Bay gun—the kind they had before my father was born!" said +Wabi.</p> + +<p>With bated breath and eagerly beating heart Rod pursued his search. On +one of the walls he found the remains of what had once been +garments—part of a hat, that fell in a thousand pieces when he touched +it; the dust-rags of a coat and other things that he could not name. On +the table there were rusty pans, a tin pail, an iron kettle, and the +remains of old knives, forks and spoons. On one end of this table there +was an unusual-looking object, and he touched it. Unlike the other rags +it did not crumble, and when he lifted it he found that it was a small +bag, made of buckskin, tied at the end—and heavy! With trembling +fingers he tore away the rotted string and out upon the table there +rattled a handful of greenish-black, pebbly looking objects.</p> + +<p>Rod gave a sharp quick cry for the others.</p> + +<p>Wabi and Mukoki had just come through the door after bearing out one of +their gruesome loads, and the young Indian hurried to his side. He +weighed one of the pieces in the palm of his hand.</p> + +<p>"It's lead, or—"</p> + +<p>"Gold!" breathed Rod.</p> + +<p>He could hear his own heart thumping as Wabi jumped back to the light of +the door, his sheath-knife in his hand. For an instant the keen blade +sank into the age-discolored object, and before Rod could see into the +crease that it made Wabi's voice rose in an excited cry.</p> + +<p>"It's a gold nugget!"</p> + +<p>"And <i>that's</i> why they fought!" exclaimed Rod exultantly.</p> + +<p>He had hoped—and he had discovered the reason. For a few moments this +was of more importance to him than the fact that he had found gold. Wabi +and Mukoki were now in a panic of excitement. The buckskin bag was +turned inside out; the table was cleared of every other object; every +nook and cranny was searched with new enthusiasm. The searchers hardly +spoke. Each was intent upon finding—finding—finding. Thus does +gold—virgin gold—stir up the sparks of that latent, feverish fire +which is in every man's soul. Again Rod joined in the search. Every rag, +every pile of dust, every bit of unrecognizable debris was torn, sifted +and scattered. At the end of an hour the three paused, hopelessly +baffled, even keenly disappointed for the time.</p> + +<p>"I guess that's all there is," said Wabi.</p> + +<p>It was the longest sentence that he had spoken for half an hour.</p> + +<p>"There is only one thing to do, boys. We'll clean out everything there +is in the cabin, and to-morrow we'll tear up the floor. You can't tell +what there might be under it, and we've got to have a new floor anyway. +It is getting dusk, and if we have this place fit to sleep in to-night +we have got to hustle."</p> + +<p>No time was lost in getting the debris of the cabin outside, and by the +time darkness had fallen a mass of balsam boughs had been spread upon +the log floor just inside the door, blankets were out, packs and +supplies stowed away in one corner, and everything "comfortable and +shipshape," as Rod expressed it. A huge fire was built a few feet away +from the open door and the light and heat from this made the interior of +the cabin quite light and warm, and, with the assistance of a couple of +candles, more home-like than any camp they had slept in thus far. +Mukoki's supper was a veritable feast—broiled caribou, cold beans that +the old Indian had cooked at their last camp, meal cakes and hot coffee. +The three happy hunters ate of it as though they had not tasted food for +a week.</p> + +<p>The day, though a hard one, had been fraught with too much excitement +for them to retire to their blankets immediately after this meal, as +they had usually done in other camps. They realized, too, that they had +reached the end of their journey and that their hardest work was over. +There was no long jaunt ahead of them to-morrow. Their new life—the +happiest life in the world to them—had already begun. Their camp was +established, they were ready for their winter's sport, and from this +moment on they felt that their evenings were their own to do with as +they pleased.</p> + +<p>So for many hours that night Rod, Mukoki and Wabigoon sat up and talked +and kept the fire roaring before the door. Twenty times they went over +the tragedy of the old cabin; twenty times they weighed the half-pound +of precious little lumps in the palms of their hands, and bit by bit +they built up that life romance of the days of long ago, when all this +wilderness was still an unopened book to the white man. And that story +seemed very clear to them now. These men had been prospectors. They had +discovered gold. Afterward they had quarreled, probably over some +division of it—perhaps over the ownership of the very nuggets they had +found; and then, in the heat of their anger, had followed the knife +battle.</p> + +<p>But where had they discovered the gold? That was the question of supreme +interest to the hunters, and they debated it until midnight. There were +no mining tools in the camp; no pick, shovel or pan. Then it occurred to +them that the builders of the cabin had been hunters, had discovered +gold by accident and had collected that in the buckskin bag without the +use of a pan.</p> + +<p>There was little sleep in the camp that night, and with the first light +of day the three were at work again. Immediately after breakfast the +task of tearing up the old and decayed floor began. One by one the split +saplings were pried up and carried out for firewood, until the earth +floor lay bare. Every foot of it was now eagerly turned over with a +shovel which had been brought in the equipment; the base-logs were +undermined, and filled in again; the moss that had been packed in the +chinks between the cabin timbers was dug out, and by noon there was not +a square inch of the interior of the camp that had not been searched.</p> + +<p>There was no more gold.</p> + +<p>In a way this fact brought relief with it. Both Wabi and Rod gradually +recovered from their nervous excitement. The thought of gold gradually +faded from their minds; the joy and exhilaration of the "hunt life" +filled them more and more. Mukoki set to work cutting fresh cedars for +the floor; the two boys scoured every log with water from the lake and +afterward gathered several bushels of moss for refilling the chinks. +That evening supper was cooked on the sheet-iron "section stove" which +they had brought on the toboggan, and which was set up where the ancient +stove of flat stones had tumbled into ruin. By candle-light the work of +"rechinking" with moss progressed rapidly. Wabi was constantly bursting +into snatches of wild Indian song, Rod whistled until his throat was +sore and Mukoki chuckled and grunted and talked with constantly +increasing volubility. A score of times they congratulated one another +upon their good luck. Eight wolf-scalps, a fine lynx and nearly two +hundred dollars in gold—all within their first week! It was enough to +fill them with enthusiasm and they made little effort to repress their +joy.</p> + +<p>During this evening Mukoki boiled up a large pot of caribou fat and +bones, and when Rod asked what kind of soup he was making he responded +by picking up a handful of steel traps and dropping them into the +mixture.</p> + +<p>"Make traps smell good for fox—wolf—fisher, an' marten, too; heem +come—all come—like smell," he explained.</p> + +<p>"If you don't dip the traps," added Wabi, "nine fur animals out of ten, +and wolves most of all, will fight shy of the bait. They can smell the +human odor you leave on the steel when you handle it. But the grease +'draws' them."</p> + +<p>When the hunters wrapped themselves in their blankets that night their +wilderness home was complete. All that remained to be done was the +building of three bunks against the ends of the cabin, and this work it +was agreed could be accomplished at odd hours by any one who happened to +be in camp. In the morning, laden with traps, they would strike out +their first hunting-trails, keeping their eyes especially open for signs +of wolves; for Mukoki was the greatest wolf hunter in all the Hudson Bay +region.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</p> + +<p>HOW WOLF BECAME THE COMPANION OF MEN</p> +<br> + +<p>Twice that night Rod was awakened by Mukoki opening the cabin door. The +second time he raised himself upon his elbows and quietly watched the +old warrior. It was a brilliantly clear night and a flood of moonlight +was pouring into the camp. He could hear Mukoki chuckling and grunting, +as though communicating with himself, and at last, his curiosity getting +the better of him, he wrapped his blanket about him and joined the +Indian at the door.</p> + +<p>Mukoki was peering up into space. Rod followed his gaze. The moon was +directly above the cabin. The sky was clear of clouds and so bright was +the light that objects on the farther side of the lake were plainly +visible.</p> + +<p>Besides, it was bitter cold—so cold that his face began to tingle as he +stood there. These things he noticed, but he could see nothing to hold +Mukoki's vision in the sky above unless it was the glorious beauty of +the night.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Mukoki?" he asked.</p> + +<p>The old Indian looked silently at him for a moment, some mysterious, +all-absorbing joy revealed in every lineament of his face.</p> + +<p>"Wolf night!" he whispered.</p> + +<p>He looked back to where Wabi was sleeping.</p> + +<p>"Wolf night!" he repeated, and slipped like a shadow to the side of the +unconscious young hunter. Rod regarded his actions with growing wonder. +He saw him bend over Wabi, shake him by the shoulders, and heard him +repeat again, "Wolf night! Wolf night!"</p> + +<p>Wabi awoke and sat up in his blankets, and Mukoki came back to the door. +He had dressed himself before this, and now, with his rifle, slipped out +into the night. The young Indian had joined Rod at the open door and +together they watched Mukoki's gaunt figure as it sped swiftly across +the lake, up the hill and over into the wilderness desolation beyond.</p> + +<p>When Rod looked at Wabi he saw that the Indian boy's eyes were wide and +staring, with an expression in them that was something between fright +and horror. Without speaking he went to the table and lighted the +candles and then dressed. When he was done his face still bore traces of +suppressed excitement.</p> + +<p>He ran back to the door and whistled loudly. From his shelter beside the +cabin the captive wolf responded with a snarling whine. Again he +whistled, a dozen times, twenty, but there came no reply. More swiftly +than Mukoki the Indian youth sped across the lake and to the summit of +the hill. Mukoki had completely disappeared in the white, brilliant +vastness of the wilderness that stretched away at his feet.</p> + +<p>When Wabi returned to the cabin Rod had a fire roaring in the stove. He +seated himself beside it, holding out a pair of hands blue with cold.</p> + +<p>"Ugh! It's an awful night!" he shivered.</p> + +<p>He laughed across at Rod, a little uneasily, but with the old light back +in his eyes. Suddenly he asked:</p> + +<p>"Did Minnetaki ever tell you—anything—queer—about Mukoki, Rod?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing more than you have told me yourself."</p> + +<p>"Well, once in a great while Mukoki has—not exactly a fit, but a little +mad spell! I have never determined to my own satisfaction whether he is +really out of his head or not. Sometimes I think he is and sometimes I +think he is not. But the Indians at the Post believe that at certain +times he goes crazy over wolves."</p> + +<p>"Wolves!" exclaimed Rod.</p> + +<p>"Yes, wolves. And he has good reason. A good many years ago, just about +when you and I were born, Mukoki had a wife and child. My mother and +others at the Post say that he was especially gone over the kid. He +wouldn't hunt like other Indians, but would spend whole days at his +shack playing with it and teaching it to do things; and when he did go +hunting he would often tote it on his back, even when it wasn't much +more than a squalling papoose. He was the happiest Indian at the Post, +and one of the poorest. One day Mukoki came to the Post with a little +bundle of fur, and most of the things he got in exchange for it, mother +says, were for the kid. He reached the store at night and expected to +leave for home the next noon, which would bring him to his camp before +dark. But something delayed him and he didn't get started until the +morning after. Meanwhile, late in the afternoon of the day when he was +to have been home, his wife bundled up the kid and they set out to meet +him. Well—"</p> + +<p>A weird howl from the captive wolf interrupted Wabi for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Well, they went on and on, and of course did not meet him. And then, +the people at the Post say, the mother must have slipped and hurt +herself. Anyway, when Mukoki came over the trail the next day he found +them half eaten by wolves. From that day on Mukoki was a different +Indian. He became the greatest wolf hunter in all these regions. Soon +after the tragedy he came to the Post to live and since then he has not +left Minnetaki and me. Once in a great while when the night is just +right, when the moon is shining and it is bitter cold, Mukoki seems to +go a little mad. He calls this a 'wolf night.' No one can stop him from +going out; no one can get him to talk; he will allow no one to accompany +him when in such a mood. He will walk miles and miles to-night. But he +will come back. And when he returns he will be as sane as you and I, and +if you ask him where he has been he will say that he went out to see if +he could get a shot at something."</p> + +<p>Rod had listened in rapt attention. To him, as Wabi proceeded with his +story of the tragedy in Mukoki's life, the old Indian was transformed +into another being. No longer was he a mere savage reclaimed a little +from the wilderness. There had sprung up in Rod's breast a great, human, +throbbing sympathy for him, and in the dim candle-glow his eyes +glistened with a dampness which he made no attempt to conceal.</p> + +<p>"What does Mukoki mean by 'wolf night'?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Muky is a wizard when it comes to hunting wolves," Wabi went on. "He +has studied them and thought of them every day of his life for nearly +twenty years. He knows more about wolves than all the rest of the +hunters in this country together. He can catch them in every trap he +sets, which no other trapper in the world can do; he can tell you a +hundred different things about a certain wolf simply by its track, and +because of his wonderful knowledge he can tell, by some instinct that is +almost supernatural, when a 'wolf night' comes. Something in the air +to-night, something in the sky—in the moon—in the very way the +wilderness looks, tells him that stray wolves in the plains and hills +are 'packing' or banding together to-night, and that in the morning the +sun will be shining, and they will be on the sunny sides of the +mountains. See if I am not right. To-morrow night, if Mukoki comes back +by then, we shall have some exciting sport with the wolves, and then you +will see how Wolf out there does his work!"</p> + +<p>There followed several minutes of silence. The fire roared up the +chimney, the stove glowed red hot and the boys sat and looked and +listened. Rod took out his watch. It lacked only ten minutes of +midnight. Yet neither seemed possessed with a desire to return to their +interrupted sleep.</p> + +<p>"Wolf is a curious beast," mused Wabi softly. "You might think he was a +sneaking, traitorous cur of a wolf to turn against his own breed and +lure them to death. But he isn't. Wolf, as well as Mukoki, has good +cause for what he does. You might call it animal vengeance. Did you ever +notice that a half of one of his ears is gone? And if you thrust back +his head you will find a terrible sear in his throat, and from his left +side just back of the fore leg a chunk of flesh half as big as my hand +has been torn away. We caught Wolf in a lynx trap, Mukoki and I. He +wasn't much more than a whelp then—about six months old, Mukoki said. +And while he was in the trap, helpless and unable to defend himself, +three or four of his lovely tribe jumped upon him and tried to kill him +for breakfast. We hove in sight just in time to drive the cannibals off. +We kept Wolf, sewed up his side and throat, tamed him—and to-morrow +night you will see how Mukoki has taught him to get even with his +people."</p> + +<p>It was two hours later when Rod and Wabigoon extinguished the candles +and returned to their blankets. And for another hour after that the +former found it impossible to sleep. He wondered where Mukoki +was—wondered what he was doing, and how in his strange madness he found +his way in the trackless wilderness.</p> + +<p>When he finally fell asleep it was to dream of the Indian mother and her +child; only after a little there was no child, and the woman changed +into Minnetaki, and the ravenous wolves into men. From this unpleasant +picture he was aroused by a series of prods in his side, and opening his +eyes he beheld Wabi in his blankets a yard away, pointing over and +beyond him and nodding his head. Rod looked, and caught his breath.</p> + +<p>There was Mukoki—peeling potatoes!</p> + +<p>"Hello, Muky!" he shouted.</p> + +<p>The old Indian looked up with a grin. His face bore no signs of his mad +night on the trail. He nodded cheerfully and proceeded with the +preparation of breakfast as though he had just risen from his blankets +after a long night's rest.</p> + +<p>"Better get up," he advised. "Big day's hunt. Much fine sunshine to-day. +Find wolves on mountain—plenty wolves!"</p> + +<p>The boys tumbled from their blankets and began dressing.</p> + +<p>"What time did you get in?" asked Wabi.</p> + +<p>"Now," replied Mukoki, pointing to the hot stove and the peeled +potatoes. "Just make fire good."</p> + +<p>Wabi gave Rod a suggestive look as the old Indian bent over the stove.</p> + +<p>"What were you doing last night?" he questioned.</p> + +<p>"Big moon—might get shot," grunted Mukoki. "See lynx on hill. See +wolf-tracks on red deer trail. No shot."</p> + +<p>This was as much of the history of Mukoki's night on the trail as the +boys could secure, but during their breakfast Wabi shot another glance +at Rod, and as Mukoki left the table for a moment to close the damper in +the stove he found an opportunity to whisper:</p> + +<p>"See if I'm not right. He will choose the mountain trail." When their +companion returned, he said: "We had better split up this morning, +hadn't we, Muky? It looks to me as though there are two mighty good +lines for traps—one over the hill, where that creek leads off through +the range of ridges to the east, and the other along the creek which +runs through the hilly plains to the north. What do you think of it?"</p> + +<p>"Good" agreed the old hunter. "You two go north—I take ridges."</p> + +<p>"No, you and I will take the ridges and Wabi will go north alone," +amended Rod quickly. "I'm going with you, Mukoki!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki, who was somewhat flattered by this preference of the white +youth, grinned and chuckled and began to talk more volubly about the +plans which were in his head. It was agreed that they all would return +to the cabin at an early hour in the afternoon, for the old Indian +seemed positive that they would have their first wolf hunt that night.</p> + +<p>Rod noticed that the captive wolf received no breakfast that morning, +and he easily guessed the reason.</p> + +<p>The traps were now divided. Three different sizes had been brought from +the Post—fifty small ones for mink, marten and other small fur animals; +fifteen fox traps, and as many larger ones for lynx and wolves. Wabi +equipped himself with twenty of the small traps and four each of fox and +lynx traps, while Rod and Mukoki took about forty in all. The remainder +of the caribou meat was then cut into chunks and divided equally among +them for bait.</p> + +<p>The sun was just beginning to show itself above the wilderness when the +hunters left camp. As Mukoki had predicted, it was a glorious day, one +of those bitterly cold, cloudless days when, as the Indians believe, the +great Creator robs the rest of the world of the sun that it may shine in +all its glory upon their own savage land. From the top of the hill that +sheltered their home Rod looked out over the glistening forests and +lakes in rapt and speechless admiration; but only for a few moments did +the three pause, then took up their different trails.</p> + +<p>At the foot of this hill Mukoki and his companion struck the creek. They +had not progressed more than fifty rods when the old Indian stopped and +pointed at a fallen log which spanned the stream. The snow on this log +was beaten by tiny footprints. Mukoki gazed a moment, cast an observant +eye along the trail, and at once threw off his pack.</p> + +<p>"Mink!" he explained. He crossed the frozen creek, taking care not to +touch the log. On the opposite side the tracks spread out over a +windfall of trees. "Whole family mink live here," continued Mukoki. +"T'ree—mebby four—mebby five. Build trap-house right here!"</p> + +<p>Never before had Rod seen a trap set as the old Indian now set his. Very +near the end of the log over which the mink made their trail he quickly +built a shelter of sticks which when completed was in the form of a tiny +wigwam. At the back of this was placed a chunk of the caribou meat, and +in front of this bait, so that an animal would have to spring it in +passing, was set a trap, carefully covered with snow and a few leaves. +Within twenty minutes Mukoki had built two of these shelters and had set +two traps.</p> + +<p>"Why do you build those little houses?" asked Rod, as they again took up +their trail.</p> + +<p>"Much snow come in winter," elucidated the Indian. "Build house to keep +snow off traps. No do that, be digging out traps all winter. When +mink—heem smell meat—go in house he got to go over trap. Make house +for all small animal like heem. No good for lynx. He see house—walk +roun' 'n' roun' 'n' roun'—and then go 'way. Smart fellow—lynx. Wolf +and fox, too."</p> + +<p>"Is a mink worth much?"</p> + +<p>"Fi' dollar—no less that. Seven—eight dollar for good one."</p> + +<p>During the next mile six other mink traps were set. The creek now ran +along the edge of a high rocky ridge and Mukoki's eyes began to shine +with a new interest. No longer did he seem entirely absorbed in the +discovery of signs of fur animals. His eyes were constantly scanning the +sun-bathed side of the ridge ahead and his progress was slow and +cautious. He spoke in whispers, and Rod followed his example. Frequently +the two would stop and scan the openings for signs of life. Twice they +set fox traps where there were evident signs of runways; in a wild +ravine, strewn with tumbled trees and masses of rock, they struck a lynx +track and set a trap for him at each end of the ravine; but even during +these operations Mukoki's interest was divided. The hunters now walked +abreast, about fifty yards apart, Rod never forging a foot ahead of the +cautious Mukoki. Suddenly the youth heard a low call and he saw his +companion beckoning to him with frantic enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"Wolf!" whispered Mukoki as Rod joined him.</p> + +<p>In the snow were a number of tracks that reminded Rod of those made by a +dog.</p> + +<p>"T'ree wolf!" continued the Indian jubilantly. "Travel early this +morning. Somewhere in warm sun on mountain!"</p> + +<p>They followed now in the wolf trail. A little way on Rod found part of +the carcass of a rabbit with fox tracks about it. Here Mukoki set +another trap. A little farther still they came across a fisher trail and +another trap was laid. Caribou and deer tracks crossed and recrossed the +creek, but the Indian paid little attention to them. A fourth wolf +joined the pack, and a fifth, and half an hour later the trail of three +other wolves cut at right angles across the one they were following and +disappeared in the direction of the thickly timbered plains. Mukoki's +face was crinkled with joy.</p> + +<p>"Many wolf near," he exclaimed. "Many wolf off there 'n' off there 'n' +off there. Good place for night hunt."</p> + +<p>Soon the creek swung out from the ridge and cut a circuitous channel +through a small swamp. Here there were signs of wild life which set +Rod's heart thumping and his blood tingling with excitement. In places +the snow was literally packed with deer tracks. Trails ran in every +direction, the bark had been rubbed from scores of saplings, and every +step gave fresh evidence of the near presence of game. The stealth with +which Mukoki now advanced was almost painful. Every twig was pressed +behind him noiselessly, and once when Rod struck his snow-shoe against +the butt of a small tree the old Indian held up his hands in mock +horror. Ten minutes, fifteen—twenty of them passed in this cautious, +breathless trailing of the swamp.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Mukoki stopped, and a hand was held out behind him warningly. +He turned his face back, and Rod knew that he saw game. Inch by inch he +crouched upon his snow-shoes, and beckoned for Rod to approach, slowly, +quietly. When the boy had come near enough he passed back his rifle, and +his lips formed the almost noiseless word, "Shoot!"</p> + +<p>Tremblingly Rod seized the gun and looked into the swamp ahead, Mukoki +doubling down in front of him. What he saw sent him for a moment into +the first nervous tremor of buck fever. Not more than a hundred yards +away stood a magnificent buck browsing the tips of a clump of hazel, and +just beyond him were two does. With a powerful effort Rod steadied +himself. The buck was standing broadside, his head and neck stretched +up, offering a beautiful shot at the vital spot behind his fore leg. At +this the young hunter aimed and fired. With one spasmodic bound the +animal dropped dead.</p> + +<p>Hardly had Rod seen the effect of his shot before Mukoki was traveling +swiftly toward the fallen game, unstrapping his pack as he ran. By the +time the youth reached his quarry the old Indian had produced a large +whisky flask holding about a quart. Without explanation he now proceeded +to thrust his knife into the quivering animal's throat and fill this +flask with blood. When he had finished his task he held it up with an +air of unbounded satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Blood for wolf. Heem like blood. Smell um—come make big shoot +to-night. No blood, no bait—no wolf shoot!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki no longer maintained his usual quiet, and it was evident to Rod +that the Indian considered his mission for that day practically +accomplished. After taking the heart, liver and one of the hind quarters +of the buck Mukoki drew a long rope of babeesh from his pack, tied one +end of it around the animal's neck, flung the other end over a near +limb, and with his companion's assistance hoisted the carcass until it +was clear of the ground.</p> + +<p>"If somethin' happen we no come back to-night heem safe from wolf," he +explained.</p> + +<p>The two now continued through the swamp. At its farther edge the ground +rose gently from the creek toward the hills, and this sloping plain was +covered with huge boulders and a thin growth of large spruce and birch. +Just beyond the creek was a gigantic rock which immediately caught +Mukoki's attention. All sides except one were too precipitous for +ascent, and even this one could not be climbed without the assistance of +a sapling or two. They could see, however, that the top of the, rock was +flat, and Mukoki called attention to this fact with an exultant chuckle.</p> + +<p>"Fine place for wolf hunt!" he exclaimed. "Many wolf off there in swamp +an' in hill. We call heem here. Shoot from there!" He pointed to a clump +of spruce a dozen rods away.</p> + +<p>By Rod's watch it was now nearly noon and the two sat down to eat the +sandwiches they had brought with them. Only a few minutes were lost in +taking up the home trail. Beyond the swamp Mukoki cut at right angles to +their trap-line until he had ascended to the top of the ridge that had +been on their right and which would take them very near their camp. From +this ridge Rod could look about him upon a wild and rugged scene. On one +side it sloped down to the plains, but on the other it fell in almost +sheer walls, forming at its base five hundred feet below a narrow and +gloomy chasm, through which a small stream found its way. Several times +Mukoki stopped and leaned perilously close to the dizzy edge of the +mountain, peering down with critical eyes, and once when he pulled +himself back cautiously by means of a small sapling he explained his +interest by saying:</p> + +<p>"Plenty bear there in spring!"</p> + +<p>But Rod was not thinking of bears. Once more his head was filled with +the thought of gold. Perhaps that very chasm held the priceless secret +that had died with its owners half a century ago. The dark and gloomy +silence that hung between those two walls of rock, the death-like +desolation, the stealthy windings of the creek—everything in that dim +and mysterious world between the two mountains, unshattered by sound and +impenetrable to the winter sun, seemed in his mind to link itself with +the tragedy of long ago.</p> + +<p>Did that chasm hold the secret of the dead men?</p> + +<p>Again and again Rod found himself asking this question as he followed +Mukoki, and the oftener he asked it the nearer he seemed to an answer, +until at last, with a curious, thrilling certainty that set his blood +tingling he caught Mukoki by the arm and pointing back, said:</p> + +<p>"Mukoki—the gold was found between those mountains!"</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</p> + +<p>WOLF TAKES VENGEANCE UPON HIS PEOPLE</p> +<br> + +<p>From that hour was born in Roderick Drew's breast a strange, +imperishable desire. Willingly at this moment would he have given up the +winter trapping to have pursued that golden <i>ignis fatuus</i> of all +ages—the lure of gold. To him the story of the old cabin, the skeletons +and the treasure of the buckskin bag was complete. Those skeletons had +once been men. They had found a mine—a place where they had picked up +nuggets with their fingers. And that treasure ground was somewhere near. +No longer was he puzzled by the fact that they had discovered no more +gold in the old log cabin. In a flash he had solved that mystery. The +men had just begun to gather their treasure when they had fought. What +was more logical than that? One day, two, three—and they had quarreled +over division, over rights. That was the time when they were most likely +to quarrel. Perhaps one had discovered the gold and had therefore +claimed a larger share. Anyway, the contents of the buckskin bag +represented but a few days' labor. Rod was sure of that.</p> + +<p>Mukoki had grinned and shrugged his shoulders with an air of stupendous +doubt when Rod had told him that the gold lay between the mountains, so +now the youth kept his thoughts to himself. It was a silent trail home. +Rod's mind was too active in its new channel, and he was too deeply +absorbed in impressing upon his memory certain landmarks which they +passed to ask questions; and Mukoki, with the natural taciturnity of his +race, seldom found occasion to break into conversation unless spoken to +first. Although his eyes were constantly on the alert, Rod could see no +way in which a descent could be made into the chasm from the ridge they +were on. This was a little disappointing, for he had made up his mind to +explore the gloomy, sunless gulch at his first opportunity. He had no +doubt that Wabi would join in the adventure. Or he might take his own +time, and explore it alone. He was reasonably sure that from somewhere +on the opposite ridge a descent could be made into it.</p> + +<p>Wabi was in camp when they arrived. He had set eighteen traps and had +shot two spruce partridges. The birds were already cleaned for their +early supper, and a thick slice of venison steak was added to the menu. +During the preparation of the meal Rod described their discovery of the +chasm and revealed some of his thoughts concerning it, but Wabi betrayed +only passing flashes of interest. At times he seemed strangely +preoccupied and would stand in an idle, contemplative mood, his hands +buried deep in his pockets, while Rod or Mukoki proceeded with the +little duties about the table or the stove. Finally, after arousing +himself from one of these momentary spells, he pulled a brass shell from +his pocket and held it out to the old Indian.</p> + +<p>"See here," he said. "I don't want to stir up any false fears, or +anything of that sort—but I found that on the trail to-day!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki clutched at the shell as though it had been another newly found +nugget of gold. The shell was empty. The lettering on the rim was still +very distinct. He read ".35 Rem."</p> + +<p>"Why, that's—"</p> + +<p>"A shell from Rod's gun!"</p> + +<p>For a few moments Rod and Mukoki stared at the young Indian in blank +amazement.</p> + +<p>"It's a .35 caliber Remington," continued Wabi, "and it's an auto-loading +shell. There are only three guns like that in this country. I've got +one, Mukoki has another—and you lost the third in your fight with the +Woongas!"</p> + +<p>The venison had begun to burn, and Mukoki quickly transferred it to the +table. Without a word the three sat down to their meal.</p> + +<p>"That means the Woongas are on our trail," declared Rod presently.</p> + +<p>"That is what I have been trying to reason out all the afternoon," +replied Wabi. "It certainly is proof that they are, or have been quite +recently, on this side of the mountain. But I don't believe they know we +are here. The trail I struck was about five miles from camp. It was at +least two days old. Three Indians on snow-shoes were traveling north. I +followed back on their trail and found after a time that the Indians had +come from the north, which leads me to believe that they were simply on +a hunting expedition, cut a circle southward, and then returned to their +camp. I don't believe they will come farther south. But we must keep our +eyes open."</p> + +<p>Wabi's description of the manner in which the strange trail turned gave +great satisfaction to Mukoki, who nodded affirmatively when the young +hunter expressed it as his belief that the Woongas would not come so far +as their camp. But the discovery of their presence chilled the buoyant +spirits of the hunters. There was, however, a new spice of adventure +lurking in this possible peril that was not altogether displeasing, and +by the time the meal was at an end something like a plan of campaign had +been formed. The hunters would not wait to be attacked and then act in +self-defense, possibly at a disadvantage. They would be constantly on +the lookout for the Woongas, and if a fresh trail or a camp was found +they would begin the man-hunt themselves.</p> + +<p>The sun was just beginning to sink behind the distant hills in the +southwest when the hunters again left camp. Wolf had received nothing to +eat since the previous night, and with increasing hunger the fiery +impatience lurking in his eyes and the restlessness of his movements +became more noticeable. Mukoki called attention to these symptoms with a +gloating satisfaction.</p> + +<p>The gloom of early evening was enveloping the wilderness by the time the +three wolf hunters reached the swamp in which Rod had slain the buck. +While he carried the guns and packs, Mukoki and Wabigoon dragged the +buck between them to the huge flat-top rock. Now for the first time the +city youth began to understand the old pathfinder's scheme. Several +saplings were cut, and by means of a long rope of babeesh the deer was +dragged up the side of the rock until it rested securely upon the flat +space. From the dead buck's neck the babeesh rope was now stretched +across the intervening space between the rock and the clump of cedars in +which the hunters were to conceal themselves. In two of these cedars, at +a distance of a dozen feet from the ground, were quickly made three +platforms of saplings, upon which the ambushed watchers could +comfortably seat themselves. By the time complete darkness had fallen +the "trap" was finished, with the exception of a detail which Rod +followed with great interest.</p> + +<p>From inside his clothes, where it had been kept warm by his body, Mukoki +produced the flask of blood. A third of this blood he scattered upon the +face of the rock and upon the snow at its base. The remainder he +distributed, drop by drop, in trails running toward the swamp and +plains.</p> + +<p>There still remained three hours before the moon would be up, and the +hunters now joined Wolf, who had been fastened half-way up the ridge. In +the shelter of a big rock a small fire was built, and during their long +wait the hunters passed the time away by broiling and eating chunks of +venison and in going over again the events of the day.</p> + +<p>It was nine o'clock before the moon rose above the edge of the +wilderness. This great orb of the Northern night seemed to hold a +never-ending fascination for Rod. It crept above the forests, a glowing, +throbbing ball of red, quivering and palpitating in an effulgence that +neither cloud nor mist dimmed in this desolation beyond the sphere of +man; and as it rose, almost with visible movement to the eyes, the blood +in it faded, until at last it seemed a great blaze of soft light between +silver and gold. It was then that the whole world was lighted up under +it. It was then that Mukoki, speaking softly, beckoned the others to +follow him, and with Wolf at his side went down the ridge.</p> + +<p>Making a circuit around the back of the rock, Mukoki paused near a small +sapling twenty yards from the dead buck and secured Wolf by his babeesh +thong. Hardly had he done so when the animal began to exhibit signs of +excitement. He trotted about nervously, sniffing the air, gathering the +wind from every direction, and his jaws dropped with a snarling whine. +Then he struck one of the clots of blood in the snow.</p> + +<p>"Come," whispered Wabi, pulling at Rod's sleeve, "come—quietly."</p> + +<p>They slipped back among the shadows of the spruce and watched Wolf in +unbroken silence. The animal now stood rigidly over the blood clot. His +head was level with his quivering back, his ears half aslant, his +nostrils pointing to a strange thrilling scent that came to him from +somewhere out there in the moonlight. Once more the instinct of his +breed was flooding the soul of the captive wolf. There was the odor of +blood in his widening nostrils. It was not the blood of the camp, of the +slaughtered game dragged in by human hands before his eyes. It was the +blood of the chase!</p> + +<p>A flashing memory of his captors turned the animal's head for an instant +in backward inspection. They were gone. He could neither hear nor see +them. He sniffed the sign of human presence, but that sign was always +with him, and was not disturbing. The blood held him—and the strange +scent, the game scent—that was coming to him more clearly every +instant.</p> + +<p>He crunched about cautiously in the snow. He found other spots of blood, +and to the watchers there came a low long whine that seemed about to end +in the wolf song. The blood trails were leading him away toward the game +scent, and he tugged viciously at the babeesh that held him captive, +gnawing at it vainly, like an angry dog, forgetting what experience had +taught him many times before. Each moment added to his excitement He ran +about the sapling, gulped mouthfuls of the bloody snow, and each time he +paused for a moment with his open dripping jaws held toward the dead +buck on the rock. The game was very near. Brute sense told him that. Oh, +the longing that was in him, the twitching, quivering longing to +kill—kill—kill!</p> + +<p>He made another effort, tore up the snow in his frantic endeavors to +free himself, to break loose, to follow in the wild glad cry of freed +savagery in the calling of his people. He failed again, panting, whining +in piteous helplessness.</p> + +<p>Then he settled upon his haunches at the end of his babeesh thong.</p> + +<p>For a moment his head turned to the moonlit sky, his long nose poised at +right angles to the bristling hollows between his shoulders.</p> + +<p>There came then a low, whining wail, like the beginning of the +"death-song" of a husky dog—a wail that grew in length and in strength +and in volume until it rose weirdly among the mountains and swept far +out over the plains—the hunt call of the wolf on the trail, which calls +to him the famished, gray-gaunt outlaws of the wilderness, as the +bugler's notes call his fellows on the field of battle.</p> + +<p>Three times that blood-thrilling cry went up from the captive wolf's +throat, and before those cries had died away the three hunters were +perched upon their platforms among the spruce.</p> + +<p>There followed now the ominous, waiting silence of an awakened +wilderness. Rod could hear his heart throbbing within him. He forgot the +intense cold. His nerves tingled. He looked out over the endless plains, +white and mysteriously beautiful as they lay bathed in the glow of the +moon. And Wabi knew more than he what was happening. All over that wild +desolation the call of the wolf had carried its meaning. Down there, +where a lake lay silent in its winter sleep, a doe started in trembling +and fear; beyond the mountain a huge bull moose lifted his antlered head +with battle-glaring eyes; half a mile away a fox paused for an instant +in its sleuth-like stalking of a rabbit; and here and there in that +world of wild things the gaunt hungry people of Wolf's blood stopped in +their trails and turned their heads toward the signal that was coming in +wailing echoes to their ears.</p> + +<p>And then the silence was broken. From afar—it might have been a mile +away—there came an answering cry; and at that cry the wolf at the end +of his babeesh thong settled upon his haunches again and sent back the +call that comes only when there is blood upon the trail or when near the +killing time.</p> + +<p>There was not the rustle of a bough, not a word spoken, by the silent +watchers in the spruce. Mukoki had slipped back and half lay across his +support in shooting attitude. Wabi had braced a foot, and his rifle was +half to his shoulder, leveled over a knee. It was Rod's turn with the +big revolver, and he had practised aiming through a crotch that gave a +rest to his arm.</p> + +<p>In a few moments there came again the howl of the distant wolf on the +plains, and this time it was joined by another away to the westward. And +after that there came two from the plains instead of one, and then a far +cry to the north and east. For the first time Rod and Wabi heard the +gloating chuckle of Mukoki in his spruce a dozen feet away.</p> + +<p>At the increasing responses of his brethren Wolf became more frantic in +his efforts. The scent of fresh blood and of wounded game was becoming +maddening to the captive. But his frenzy no longer betrayed itself in +futile efforts to escape from the babeesh thong. Wolf knew that his +cries were assembling the hunt-pack. Nearer and nearer came the +responses of the leaders, and there were now only momentary rests +between the deep-throated exhortations which he sent in all directions +into the night.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, almost from the swamp itself, there came a quick, excited, +yelping reply, and Wabi gripped Rod by the arm.</p> + +<p>"He has struck the place where you killed the buck," he whispered. +"There'll be quick work now!"</p> + +<p>Hardly had he spoken when a series of excited howls broke forth from the +swamp, coming nearer and nearer as the hunger-crazed outlaw of the +plains followed over the rich-scented trail made by the two Indians as +they carried the slaughtered deer. Soon he nosed one of the trails of +blood, and a moment later the watchers saw a gaunt shadow form running +swiftly over the snow toward Wolf.</p> + +<p>For an instant, as the two beasts of prey met, there fell a silence; +then both animals joined in the wailing hunt-pack cry, and the wolf that +was free came to the edge of the great rock and stood with his fore feet +on its side, and his cry changed from that of the chase to the still +more thrilling signal that told the gathering pack of game at bay.</p> + +<p>Swiftly the wolves closed in. From over the edge of the mountain one +came and joined the wolf at the rock without the hunters seeing his +approach. From out of the swamp there came a pack of three, and now +about the rock there grew a maddened, yelping horde, clambering and +scrambling and fighting in their efforts to climb up to the game that +was so near and yet beyond their reach. And sixty feet away Wolf +crouched, watching the gathering of his clan, helpless, panting from his +choking efforts to free himself, and quieting, gradually quieting, until +in sullen silence he looked upon the scene, as though he knew the moment +was very near when that thrilling spectacle would be changed into a +scene of direst tragedy.</p> + +<p>And it was Mukoki who had first said that this was the vengeance of Wolf +upon his people.</p> + +<p>From Mukoki there now came a faint hissing warning, and Wabi threw his +rifle to his shoulder. There were at least a score of wolves at the base +of the rock. Gradually the old Indian pulled upon the babeesh rope that +led to the dead buck—pulled until he was putting a half of his strength +into the effort, and could feel the animal slowly slipping from the flat +ledge. A moment more and the buck tumbled down in the midst of the +waiting pack.</p> + +<p>As flies gather upon a lump of sugar the famished animals now crowded +and crushed and fought over the deer's body, and as they came thus +together there sounded the quick sharp signal to fire from Mukoki.</p> + +<p>For five seconds the edge of the spruce was a blaze of death-dealing +flashes, and the deafening reports of the two rifles and the big Colt +drowned the cries and struggles of the animals. When those five seconds +were over fifteen shots had been fired, and five seconds later the vast, +beautiful silence of the wilderness night had fallen again. About the +rock was the silence of death, broken only faintly by the last gasping +throes of the animals that lay dying in the snow.</p> + +<p>In the trees there sounded the metallic clink of loading shells.</p> + +<p>Wabi spoke first.</p> + +<p>"I believe we did a good job, Mukoki!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki's reply was to slip down his tree. The others followed, and +hastened across to the rock. Five bodies lay motionless in the snow. A +sixth was dragging himself around the side of the rock, and Mukoki +attacked it with his belt-ax. Still a seventh had run for a dozen rods, +leaving a crimson trail behind, and when Wabi and Rod came up to it the +animal was convulsed in its last dying struggles.</p> + +<p>"Seven!" exclaimed the Indian youth. "That is one of the best shoots we +ever had. A hundred and five dollars in a night isn't bad, is it?"</p> + +<p>The two came back to the rock, dragging the wolf with them. Mukoki was +standing as rigid as a statue in the moonlight, his face turned into the +north. He pointed one arm far out over the plains, and said, without +turning his head,</p> + +<p>"See!"</p> + +<p>Far out in that silent desolation the hunters saw a lurid flash of +flame. It climbed up and up, until it filled the night above it with a +dull glow—a single unbroken stream of fire that rose far above the +swamps and forests of the plains.</p> + +<p>"That's a burning jackpine!" said Wabigoon.</p> + +<p>"Burning jackpine!" agreed the old warrior. Then he added, "Woonga +signal fire!"</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</p> + +<p>RODERICK EXPLORES THE CHASM</p> +<br> + +<p>To Rod the blazing pine seemed to be but a short distance away—a mile, +perhaps a little more. In the silence of the two Indians as they +contemplated the strange fire he read an ominous meaning. In Mukoki's +eyes was a dull sullen glare, not unlike that which fills the orbs of a +wild beast in a moment of deadly anger. Wabi's face was filled with an +eager flush, and three times, Rod observed, he turned eyes strangely +burning with some unnatural passion upon Mukoki.</p> + +<p>Slowly, even as the instincts of his race had aroused the latent, +brutish love of slaughter and the chase in the tamed wolf, the long +smothered instincts of these human children of the forest began to +betray themselves in their bronzed countenances. Rod watched, and he was +thrilled to the soul. Back at the old cabin they had declared war upon +the Woongas. Both Mukoki and Wabigoon had slipped the leashes that had +long restrained them from meting first vengeance upon their enemies. Now +the opportunity had come. For five minutes the great pine blazed, and +then died away until it was only a smoldering tower of light. Still +Mukoki gazed, speechless and grim, out into the distance of the night. +At last Wabi broke the silence.</p> + +<p>"How far away is it, Muky?"</p> + +<p>"T'ree mile," answered the old warrior without hesitation.</p> + +<p>"We could make it in forty minutes."</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>Wabi turned to Rod.</p> + +<p>"You can find your way back to camp alone, can't you?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Not if you're going over there!" declared the white boy. "I'm going +with you."</p> + +<p>Mukoki broke in upon them with a harsh disappointed laugh.</p> + +<p>"No go. No go over there." He spoke with emphasis, and shook his head. +"We lose pine in five minutes. No find Woonga camp—make big trail for +Woongas to see in morning. Better wait. Follow um trail in day, then +shoot!"</p> + +<p>Rod found immense relief in the old Indian's decision. He did not fear a +fight; in fact, he was a little too anxious to meet the outlaws who had +stolen his gun, now that they had determined upon opening fire on sight. +But in this instance he was possessed of the cooler judgment of his +race. He believed that as yet the Woongas were not aware of their +presence in this region, and that there was still a large possibility of +the renegades traveling northward beyond their trapping sphere. He hoped +that this would be the case, in spite of his desire to recapture his +gun. A scrimmage with the Woongas just now would spoil the plans he had +made for discovering gold.</p> + +<p>The "Skeleton Mine," as he had come to call it, now absorbed his +thoughts beyond everything else. He felt confident that he would +discover the lost treasure ground if given time, and he was just as +confident that if war was once begun between themselves and the Woongas +it would mean disaster or quick flight from the country. Even Wabi, +worked up more in battle enthusiasm than by gold fever, conceded that if +half of the Woongas were in this country they were much too powerful for +them to cope with successfully, especially as one of them was without a +rifle.</p> + +<p>It was therefore with inward exultation that Rod saw the project of +attack dropped and Mukoki and Wabigoon proceed with their short task of +scalping the seven wolves. During this operation Wolf was allowed to +feast upon the carcass of the buck.</p> + +<p>That night there was but little sleep in the old cabin. It was two +o'clock when the hunters arrived in camp and from that hour until nearly +four they sat about the hot stove making plans for the day that was +nearly at hand. Rod could but contrast the excitement that had now taken +possession of them with the tranquil joy with which they had first taken +up their abode in this dip in the hilltop. And how different were their +plans from those of two or three days ago! Not one of them now but +realized their peril. They were in an ideal hunting range, but it was +evidently very near, if not actually in, the Woonga country. At any +moment they might be forced to fight for their lives or abandon their +camp, and perhaps they would be compelled to do both.</p> + +<p>So the gathering about the stove was in reality a small council of war. +It was decided that the old cabin should immediately be put into a +condition of defense, with a loophole on each side, strong new bars at +the door, and with a thick barricade near at hand that could be quickly +fitted against the window in case of attack. Until the war-clouds +cleared away, if they cleared at all, the camp would be continually +guarded by one of the hunters, and with this garrison would be left both +of the heavy revolvers. At dawn or a little later Mukoki would set out +upon Wabi's trap-line, both to become acquainted with it and to extend +the line of traps, while later in the day the Indian youth would follow +Mukoki's line, visiting the houses already built and setting other +traps. This scheme left to Rod the first day's watch in camp.</p> + +<p>Mukoki aroused himself from his short sleep with the first approach of +dawn but did not awaken his tired companions until breakfast was ready. +When the meal was finished he seized his gun and signified his intention +of visiting the mink traps just beyond the hill before leaving on his +long day's trail. Rod at once joined him, leaving Wabi to wash the +dishes.</p> + +<p>They were shortly within view of the trap-houses near the creek. +Instinctively the eyes of both rested upon these houses and neither gave +very close attention to the country ahead or about them. As a result +both were exceedingly startled when they heard a huge snort and a great +crunching in the deep snow close beside them. From out of a small growth +of alders had dashed a big bull moose, who was now tearing with the +speed of a horse up the hillside toward the hidden camp, evidently +seeking the quick shelter of the dip.</p> + +<p>"Wait heem git top of hill!" shouted Mukoki, swinging his rifle to his +shoulder. "Wait!"</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful shot and Rod was tempted to ignore the old Indian's +advice. But he knew that there was some good reason for it, so he held +his trembling finger. Hardly had the animal's huge antlered head risen +to the sky-line when Mukoki shouted again, and the young hunter pressed +the trigger of his automatic gun three times in rapid succession. It was +a short shot, not more than two hundred yards, and Mukoki fired but once +just as the bull mounted the hilltop.</p> + +<p>The next instant the moose was gone and Rod was just about to dash in +pursuit when his companion caught him by the arm.</p> + +<p>"We got um!" he grinned. "He run downhill, then fall—ver' close to +camp. Ver' good scheme—wait heem git on top hill. No have to carry meat +far!"</p> + +<p>As coolly as though nothing had occurred the Indian turned again in the +direction of the traps. Rod stood as though he had been nailed to the +spot, his mouth half open in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"We go see traps," urged Mukoki. "Find moose dead when we go back."</p> + +<p>But Roderick Drew, who had hunted nothing larger than house rats in his +own city, was not the young man to see the logic of this reasoning, and +before Mukoki could open his mouth again he was hurrying up the hill. On +its summit he saw a huge torn-up blotch in the snow, spattered with +blood, where the moose had fallen first after the shots; and at the foot +of the hill, as the Indian had predicted, the great animal lay dead.</p> + +<p>Wabi was hastening across the lake, attracted by the shots, and both +reached the slain bull at about the same time. Rod quickly perceived +that three shots had taken effect; one, which was undoubtedly Mukoki's +carefully directed ball, in a vital spot behind the fore leg, and two +through the body. The fact that two of his own shots had taken good +effect filled the white youth with enthusiasm, and he was still +gesticulating excitedly in describing the bull's flight to Wabi when the +old Indian came over the hill, grinning broadly, and holding up for +their inspection a magnificent mink.</p> + +<p>The day could not have begun more auspiciously for the hunters, and by +the time Mukoki was ready to leave upon his long trail the adventurers +were in buoyant spirits, the distressing fears of the preceding night +being somewhat dispelled by their present good fortune and the glorious +day which now broke in full splendor upon the wilderness.</p> + +<p>Until their early dinner Wabi remained in camp, securing certain parts +of the moose and assisting Rod in putting the cabin into a state of +defense according to their previous plans. It was not yet noon when he +started over Mukoki's trap-line.</p> + +<p>Left to his own uninterrupted thoughts, Rod's mind was once more +absorbed in his scheme of exploring the mysterious chasm. He had noticed +during his inspection from the top of the ridge that the winter snows +had as yet fallen but little in the gloomy gulch between the mountains, +and he was eager to attempt his adventure before other snows came or the +fierce blizzards of December filled the chasm with drifts. Later in the +afternoon he brought forth the buckskin bag from a niche in the log wall +where it had been concealed, and one after another carefully examined +the golden nuggets. He found, as he had expected, that they were worn to +exceeding smoothness, and that every edge had been dulled and rounded. +Rod's favorite study in school had been a minor branch of geology and +mineralogy, and he knew that only running water could work this +smoothness. He was therefore confident that the nuggets had been +discovered in or on the edge of a running stream. And that stream, he +was sure, was the one in the chasm.</p> + +<p>But Rod's plans for an early investigation were doomed to +disappointment. Late that day both Mukoki and Wabi returned, the latter +with a red fox and another mink, the former with a fisher, which +reminded Rod of a dog just growing out of puppyhood, and another story +of strange trails that renewed their former apprehensions. The old +Indian had discovered the remnants of the burned jackpine, and about it +were the snow-shoe tracks of three Indians. One of these trails came +from the north and two from the west, which led him to believe that the +pine had been fired as a signal to call the two. At the very end of +their trap-line, which extended about four miles from camp, a single +snow-shoe trail had cut across at right angles, also swinging into the +north.</p> + +<p>These discoveries necessitated a new arrangement of the plans that had +been made the preceding night. Hereafter, it was agreed, only one +trap-line would be visited each day, and by two of the hunters in +company, both armed with rifles. Rod saw that this meant the abandonment +of his scheme for exploring the chasm, at least for the present.</p> + +<p>Day after day now passed without evidences of new trails, and each day +added to the hopes of the adventurers that they were at last to be left +alone in the country. Never had Mukoki or Wabigoon been in a better +trapping ground, and every visit to their lines added to their hoard of +furs. If left unmolested it was plainly evident that they would take a +small fortune back to Wabinosh House with them early in the spring. +Besides many mink, several fisher, two red foxes and a lynx, they added +two fine "cross" foxes and three wolf scalps to their treasure during +the next three weeks. Rod began to think occasionally of the joy their +success would bring to the little home hundreds of miles away, where he +knew that the mother was waiting and praying for him every day of her +life; and there were times, too, when he found himself counting the days +that must still elapse before he returned to Minnetaki and the Post.</p> + +<p>But at no time did he give up his determination to explore the chasm. +From the first Mukoki and Wabigoon had regarded this project with little +favor, declaring the impossibility of discovering gold under snow, even +though gold was there; so Rod waited and watched for an opportunity to +make the search alone, saying nothing about his plans.</p> + +<p>On a beautiful day late in December, when the sun rose with dazzling +brightness, his opportunity came. Wabi was to remain in camp, and +Mukoki, who was again of the belief that they were safe from the +Woongas, was to follow one of the trap-lines alone. Supplying himself +well with food, taking Wabi's rifle, a double allowance of cartridges, a +knife, belt-ax, and a heavy blanket in his pack, Rod set out for the +chasm. Wabi laughed as he stood in the doorway to see him off.</p> + +<p>"Good luck to you, Rod; hope you find gold," he cried gaily, waving a +final good-by with his hand.</p> + +<p>"If I don't return to-night don't you fellows worry about me," called +back the youth. "If things look promising I may camp in the chasm and +take up the hunt again in the morning."</p> + +<p>He now passed quickly to the second ridge, knowing from previous +experience that it would be impossible to make a descent into the gulch +from the first mountain. This range, a mile south of the camp, had not +been explored by the hunters, but Rod was sure that there was no danger +of losing himself as long as he followed along the edge of the chasm +which was in itself a constant and infallible guide. Much to his +disappointment he found that the southern walls of this mysterious break +between the mountains were as precipitous as those on the opposite side, +and for two hours he looked in vain for a place where he might climb +down. The country was now becoming densely wooded and he was constantly +encountering signs of big game. But he paid little attention to these. +Finally he came to a point where the forest swept over and down the +steep side of the mountain, and to his great joy he saw that by +strapping his snow-shoes to his back and making good use of his hands it +was possible for him to make a descent.</p> + +<p>Fifteen minutes later, breathless but triumphant, he stood at the bottom +of the chasm. On his right rose the strip of cedar forest; on his left +he was shut in by towering walls of black and shattered rock. At his +feet was the little stream which had played such an important part in +his golden dreams, frozen in places, and in others kept clear of ice by +the swiftness of its current. A little ahead of him was that gloomy, +sunless part of the chasm into which he had peered so often from the top +of the ridge on the north. As he advanced step by step into its +mysterious silence, his eyes alert, his nerves stretched to a tension of +the keenest expectancy, there crept over him a feeling that he was +invading that enchanted territory which, even at this moment, might be +guarded by the spirits of the two mortals who had died because of the +treasure it held.</p> + +<p>Narrower and narrower became the walls high over his head. Not a ray of +sunlight penetrated into the soundless gloom. Not a leaf shivered in the +still air. The creek gurgled and spattered among its rocks, without the +note of a bird or the chirp of a squirrel to interrupt its monotony. +Everything was dead. Now and then Rod could hear the wind whispering +over the top of the chasm. But not a breath of it came down to him. +Under his feet was only sufficient snow to deaden his own footsteps, and +he still carried his snow-shoes upon his back.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, from the thick gloom that hung under one of the cragged walls, +there came a thundering, unearthly sound that made him stop, his rifle +swung half to shoulder. He saw that he had disturbed a great owl, and +passed on. Now and then he paused beside the creek and took up handful +after handful of its pebbles, his heart beating high with hope at every +new gleam he caught among them, and never sinking to disappointment +though he found no gold. The gold was here—somewhere. He was as certain +of that as he was of the fact that he was living, and searching for it. +Everything assured him of that; the towering masses of cleft rock, whole +walls seeming about to crumble into ruin, the broad margins of pebbles +along the creek—everything, to the very stillness and mystery in the +air, spoke this as the abode of the skeletons' secret.</p> + +<p>It was this inexplicable <i>something</i>—this unseen, mysterious element +hovering in the air that caused the white youth to advance step by step, +silently, cautiously, as though the slightest sound under his feet might +awaken the deadliest of enemies. And it was because of this stealth in +his progress that he came very close upon something that was living, and +without startling it. Less than fifty yards ahead of him he saw an +object moving slowly among the rocks. It was a fox. Even before the +animal had detected his presence he had aimed and fired.</p> + +<p>Thunderous echoes rose up about him. They rolled down the chasm, volume +upon volume, until in the ghostly gloom between the mountain walls he +stood and listened, a nervous shiver catching him once or twice. Not +until the last echo had died away did he approach where the fox lay upon +the snow. It was not red. It was not black. It was not—</p> + +<p>His heart gave a big excited thump. The bleeding creature at his feet +was the most beautiful animal he had ever seen—and the tip of its thick +black fur was silver gray.</p> + +<p>Then, in that lonely chasm, there went up a great human whoop of joy.</p> + +<p>"A silver fox!"</p> + +<p>Rod spoke the words aloud. For five minutes he stood and looked upon his +prize. He held it up and stroked it, and from what Wabi and Mukoki had +told him he knew that the silken pelt of this creature was worth more to +them than all the furs at the camp together.</p> + +<p>He made no effort to skin it, but put the animal in his pack and resumed +his slow, noiseless exploration of the gulch.</p> + +<p>He had now passed beyond those points in the range from which he had +looked down into this narrow, shut-in world. Ever more wild and gloomy +became the chasm. At times the two walls of rock seemed almost to meet +far above his head; under gigantic, overhanging crags there lurked the +shadows of night. Fascinated by the grandeur and loneliness of the +scenes through which he was passing Rod forgot the travel of time. Mile +after mile he continued his tireless trail. He had no inclination to +eat. He stopped only once at the creek to drink. And when he looked at +his watch he was astonished to find that it was three o'clock in the +afternoon.</p> + +<p>It was now too late to think of returning to camp. Within an hour the +day gloom of the chasm would be thickening into that of night. So Rod +stopped at the first good camp site, threw off his pack, and proceeded +with the building of a cedar shelter. Not until this was completed and a +sufficient supply of wood for the night's fire was at hand did he begin +getting supper. He had brought a pail with him and soon the appetizing +odors of boiling coffee and broiling moose sirloin filled the air.</p> + +<p>Night had fallen between the mountain walls by the time Rod sat down to +his meal.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</p> + +<p>RODERICK'S DREAM</p> +<br> + +<p>A chilling loneliness now crept over the young adventurer. Even as he +ate he tried to peer out into the mysterious darkness. A sound from up +the chasm, made by some wild prowler of the night, sent a nervous tremor +through him. He was not afraid; he would not have confessed to that. But +still, the absolute, almost gruesome silence between the two mountains, +the mere knowledge that he was alone in a place where the foot of man +had not trod for more than half a century, was not altogether quieting +to his nerves. What mysteries might not these grim walls hold? What +might not happen here, where everything was so strange, so weird, and so +different from the wilderness world just over the range?</p> + +<p>Rod tried to laugh away his nervousness, but the very sound of his own +voice was distressing. It rose in unnatural shivering echoes—a low, +hollow mockery of a laugh beating itself against the walls; a ghost of a +laugh, Rod thought, and that very thought made him hunch closer to the +fire. The young hunter was not superstitious, or at least he was not +unnaturally so; but what man or boy is there in this whole wide world of +ours who does not, at some time, inwardly cringe from something in the +air—something that does not exist and never did exist, but which holds +a peculiar and nameless fear for the soul of a human being?</p> + +<p>And Rod, as he piled his fire high with wood and shrank in the warmth of +his cedar shelter, felt that nameless dread; and there came to him no +thought of sleep, no feeling of fatigue, but only that he was alone, +absolutely alone, in the mystery and almost unending silence of the +chasm. Try as he would he could not keep from his mind the vision of the +skeletons as he had first seen them in the old cabin.</p> + +<p>Many, many years ago, even before his own mother was born, those +skeletons had trod this very chasm. They had drunk from the same creek +as he, they had clambered over the same rocks, they had camped perhaps +where he was camping now! They, too, in flesh and life, had strained +their ears in the grim silence, they had watched the flickering light of +their camp-fire on the walls of rock—and they had found gold!</p> + +<p>Just now, if Rod could have moved himself by magic, he would have been +safely back in camp. He listened. From far back over the trail he had +followed there came a lonely, plaintive, almost pleading cry.</p> + +<p>"'Ello—'ello—'ello!"</p> + +<p>It sounded like a distant human greeting, but Rod knew that it was the +awakening night cry of what Wabi called the "man owl." It was weirdly +human-like; and the echoes came softly, and more softly, until ghostly +voices seemed to be whispering in the blackness about him.</p> + +<p>"'Ello—'ello—'ello!"</p> + +<p>The boy shivered and laid his rifle across his knees. There was +tremendous comfort in the rifle. Rod fondled it with his fingers, and +two or three times he felt as though he would almost like to talk to it. +Only those who have gone far into the silence and desolation of the +unblazed wilderness know just how human a good rifle becomes to its +owner. It is a friend every hour of the night and day, faithful to its +master's desires, keeping starvation at bay and holding death for his +enemies; a guaranty of safety at his bedside by night, a sharp-fanged +watch-dog by day, never treacherous and never found wanting by the one +who bestows upon it the care of a comrade and friend. Thus had Rod come +to look upon his rifle. He rubbed the barrel now with his mittens; he +polished the stock as he sat in his loneliness, and long afterward, +though he had determined to remain awake during the night, he fell +asleep with it clasped tightly in his hands.</p> + +<p>It was an uneasy, troubled slumber in which the young adventurer's +visions and fears took a more realistic form. He half sat, half lay, +upon his cedar boughs; his head fell forward upon his breast, his feet +were stretched out to the fire. Now and then unintelligible sounds fell +from his lips, and he would start suddenly as if about to awaken, but +each time would sink back into his restless sleep, still clutching the +gun.</p> + +<p>The visions in his head began to take a more definite form. Once more he +was on the trail, and had come to the old cabin. But this time he was +alone. The window of the cabin was wide open, but the door was tightly +closed, just as the hunters had found it when they first came down into +the dip. He approached cautiously. When very near the window he heard +sounds—strange sounds—like the clicking of bones!</p> + +<p>Step by step in his dream he approached the window and looked in. And +there he beheld a sight that froze him to the marrow. Two huge skeletons +were struggling in deadly embrace. He could hear no sound but the +click-click-click of their bones. He saw the gleam of knives held +between fleshless fingers, and he saw now that both were struggling for +the possession of something that was upon the table. Now one almost +reached it, now the other, but neither gained possession.</p> + +<p>The clicking of the bones became louder, the struggle fiercer, the +knives of the skeleton combatants rose and fell. Then one staggered back +and sank in a heap on the floor.</p> + +<p>For a moment the victor swayed, tottered to the table, and gripped the +mysterious object in its bony fingers.</p> + +<p>As it stumbled weakly against the cabin wall the gruesome creature held +the object up, and Rod saw that it was a roll of birch-bark!</p> + +<p>An ember in the dying fire snapped with a sound like the report of a +small pistol and Rod sat bolt upright, awake, staring, trembling. What a +horrible dream! He drew in his cramped legs and approached the fire on +his knees, holding his rifle in one hand while he piled on wood with the +other.</p> + +<p>What a horrible dream!</p> + +<p>He shuddered and ran his eyes around the impenetrable wall of blackness +that shut him in, the thought constantly flashing through his mind, what +a horrible dream—what a horrible dream!</p> + +<p>He sat down again and watched the flames of his fire as they climbed +higher and higher. The light and the heat cheered him, and after a +little he allowed his mind to dwell upon the adventure of his slumber. +It had made him sweat. He took off his cap and found that the hair about +his forehead was damp.</p> + +<p>All the different phases of a dream return to one singly when awake, and +it was with the suddenness of a shot that there came to Rod a +remembrance of the skeleton hand held aloft, clutching between its +gleaming fleshless fingers the roll of birch-bark. And with that memory +of his dream there came another—the skeleton in the cabin was clutching +a piece of birch-bark when they had buried it!</p> + +<p>Could that crumpled bit of bark hold the secret of the lost mine?</p> + +<p>Was it for the possession of that bark instead of the buckskin bag that +the men had fought and died?</p> + +<p>As the minutes passed Rod forgot his loneliness, forgot his nervousness +and only thought of the possibilities of the new clue that had come to +him in a dream. Wabi and Mukoki had seen the bark clutched in the +skeleton fingers, but they as well as he had given it no special +significance, believing that it had been caught up in some terrible part +of the struggle when both combatants were upon the floor, or perhaps in +the dying agonies of the wounded man against the wall. Rod remembered +now that they had found no more birch-bark upon the floor, which they +would have done if a supply had been kept there for kindling fires. Step +by step he went over the search they had made in the old cabin, and more +and more satisfied did he become that the skeleton hand held something +of importance for them.</p> + +<p>He replenished his fire and waited impatiently for dawn. At four +o'clock, before day had begun to dispel the gloom of night, he cooked +his breakfast and prepared his pack for the homeward journey. Soon +afterward a narrow rim of light broke through the rift in the chasm. +Slowly it crept downward, until the young hunter could make out objects +near him and the walls of the mountains.</p> + +<p>Thick shadows still defied his vision when he began retracing his steps +over the trail he had made the day before. He returned with the same +caution that he had used in his advance. Even more carefully, if +possible, did he scrutinize the rocks and the creek ahead. He had +already found life in the chasm, and he might find more.</p> + +<p>The full light of day came quickly now, and with it the youth's progress +became more rapid. He figured that if he lost no time in further +investigation of the creek he would arrive at camp by noon, and they +would dig up the skeleton without delay. There was little snow in the +chasm, in spite of the lateness of the season, and if the roll of bark +held the secret of the lost gold it would be possible for them to locate +the treasure before other snows came to baffle them.</p> + +<p>At the spot where he had killed the silver fox Rod paused for a moment. +He wondered if foxes ever traveled in pairs, and regretted that he had +not asked Wabi or Mukoki that question. He could see where the fox had +come straight from the black wall of the mountain. Curiosity led him +over the trail. He had not followed it more than two hundred yards when +he stopped in sudden astonishment. Plainly marked in the snow before him +was the trail of a pair of snow-shoes! Whoever had been there had passed +since he shot the fox, for the imprints of the animal's feet were buried +under those of the snow-shoes.</p> + +<p>Who was the other person in the chasm?</p> + +<p>Was it Wabi?</p> + +<p>Had Mukoki or he come to join him? Or—</p> + +<p>He looked again at the snow-shoe trail. It was a peculiar trail, unlike +the one made by his own shoes. The imprints were a foot longer than his +own, and narrower. Neither Wabi nor Mukoki wore shoes that would make +that trail!</p> + +<p>At this point the strange trail had turned and disappeared among the +rocks along the wall of the mountain, and it occurred to Rod that +perhaps the stranger had not discovered his presence in the chasm. There +was some consolation in this thought, but it was doomed to quick +disappointment. Very cautiously the youth advanced, his rifle held in +readiness and his eyes searching every place of concealment ahead of +him. A hundred yards farther on the stranger had stopped, and from the +way in which the snow was packed Rod knew that he had stood in a +listening and watchful attitude for some time. From this point the trail +took another turn and came down until, from behind a huge rock, the +stranger had cautiously peered out upon the path made by the white +youth.</p> + +<p>It was evident that he was extremely anxious to prevent the discovery of +his own trail, for now the mysterious spy threaded his way behind rocks +until he had again come to the shelter of the mountain wall.</p> + +<p>Rod was perplexed. He realized the peril of his dilemma, and yet he knew +not what course to take to evade it. He had little doubt that the trail +was made by one of the treacherous Woongas, and that the Indian not only +knew of his presence, but was somewhere in the rocks ahead of him, +perhaps even now waiting behind some ambuscade to shoot him. Should he +follow the trail, or would it be safer to steal along among the rocks of +the opposite wall of the chasm?</p> + +<p>He had decided upon the latter course when his eyes caught a narrow +horizontal slit cleaving the face of the mountain on his left, toward +which the snow-shoe tracks seemed to lead. With his rifle ready for +instant use the youth slowly approached the fissure, and was surprised +to find that it was a complete break in the wall of rock, not more than +four feet wide, and continuing on a steady incline to the summit of the +ridge. At the mouth of this fissure his mysterious watcher had taken off +his snow-shoes and Rod could see where he had climbed up the narrow exit +from the chasm.</p> + +<p>With a profound sense of relief the young hunter hurried along the base +of the mountain, keeping well within its shelter so that eyes that might +be spying from above could not see his movements. He now felt no fear of +danger. The stranger's flight up the cleft in the chasm wall and his +careful attempts to conceal his trail among the rocks assured Rod that +he had no designs upon his life. His chief purpose had seemed to be to +keep secret his own presence in the gorge, and this fact in itself added +to the mystification of the white youth. For a long time he had been +secretly puzzled, and had evolved certain ideas of his own because of +the movements of the Woongas. Contrary to the opinions of Mukoki and +Wabigoon, he believed that the red outlaws were perfectly conscious of +their presence in the dip. From the first their actions had been +unaccountable, but not once had one of their snow-shoe trails crossed +their trap-lines.</p> + +<p>Was this fact in itself not significant? Rod was of a contemplative +theoretical turn of mind, one of those wide-awake, interesting young +fellows who find food for conjecture in almost every incident that +occurs, and his suspicions were now aroused to an unusual pitch. A chief +fault, however, was that he kept most of his suspicions to himself, for +he believed that Mukoki and Wabigoon, born and taught in the life of the +wilderness, were infallible in their knowledge of the ways and the laws +and the perils of the world they were in.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</p> + +<p>THE SECRET OF THE SKELETON'S HAND</p> +<br> + +<p>A little before noon Rod arrived at the top of the hill from which he +could look down on their camp. He was filled with pleasurable +anticipation, and with an unbounded swelling satisfaction that caused +him to smile as he proceeded into the dip. He had found a fortune in the +mysterious chasm. The burden of the silver fox upon his shoulders was a +most pleasing reminder of that, and he pictured the moment when the +good-natured raillery of Mukoki and Wabigoon would be suddenly turned +into astonishment and joy.</p> + +<p>As he approached the cabin the young hunter tried to appear disgusted +and half sick, and his effort was not bad in spite of his decided +inclination to laugh. Wabi met him in the doorway, grinning broadly, and +Mukoki greeted him with a throatful of his inimitable chuckles.</p> + +<p>"Aha, here's Rod with a packful of gold!" cried the young Indian, +striking an expectant attitude. "Will you let us see the treasure?" In +spite of his banter there was gladness in his face at Rod's arrival.</p> + +<p>The youth threw off his pack with a spiritless effort and flopped into a +chair as though in the last stage of exhaustion.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to undo the pack," he replied. "I'm too tired and hungry."</p> + +<p>Wabi's manner changed at once to one of real sympathy.</p> + +<p>"I'll bet you're tired, Rod, and half starved. We'll have dinner in a +hurry. Ho, Muky, put on the steak, will you?"</p> + +<p>There followed a rattle of kettles and tin pans and the Indian youth +gave Rod a glad slap on the back as he hurried to the table. He was +evidently in high spirits, and burst into a snatch of song as he cut up +a loaf of bread.</p> + +<p>"I'm tickled to see you back," he admitted, "for I was getting a little +bit nervous. We had splendid luck on our lines yesterday. Brought in +another 'cross' and three mink. Did you see anything?"</p> + +<p>"Aren't you going to look in the pack?"</p> + +<p>Wabi turned and gazed at his companion with a half-curious hesitating +smile.</p> + +<p>"Anything in it?" he asked suspiciously.</p> + +<p>"See here, boys," cried Rod, forgetting himself in his suppressed +enthusiasm. "I said there was a treasure in that chasm, and there was. I +found it. You are welcome to look into that pack if you wish!"</p> + +<p>Wabi dropped the knife with which he was cutting the bread and went to +the pack. He touched it with the toe of his boot, lifted it in his +hands, and glanced at Rod again.</p> + +<p>"It isn't a joke?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>Rod turned his back upon the scene and began to take off his coat as +coolly as though it were the commonest thing in the world for him to +bring silver foxes into camp. Only when Wabi gave a suppressed yell did +he turn about, and then he found the Indian standing erect and holding +out the silver to the astonished gaze of Mukoki.</p> + +<p>"Is it a good one?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"A beauty!" gasped Wabi.</p> + +<p>Mukoki had taken the animal and was examining it with the critical eyes +of a connoisseur.</p> + +<p>"Ver' fine!" he said. "At Post heem worth fi' hundred dollars—at +Montreal t'ree hundred more!"</p> + +<p>Wabi strode across the cabin and thrust out his hand.</p> + +<p>"Shake, Rod!"</p> + +<p>As the two gripped hands he turned to Mukoki.</p> + +<p>"Bear witness, Mukoki, that this young gentleman is no longer a +tenderfoot. He has shot a silver fox. He has done a whole winter's work +in one day. I take off my hat to you, Mr. Drew!"</p> + +<p>Roderick's face reddened with a flush of pleasure.</p> + +<p>"And that isn't all, Wabi," he said. His eyes were filled with a sudden +intense earnestness, and in the strangeness of the change Wabi forgot to +loosen the grip of his fingers about his companion's hand.</p> + +<p>"You don't mean that you found—"</p> + +<p>"No, I didn't find gold," anticipated Rod. "But the gold is there! I +know it. And I think I have found a clue. You remember that when you and +I examined the skeleton against the wall we saw that it clutched +something that looked like birch-bark in its hand? Well, I believe that +birch-bark holds the key to the lost mine!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki had come beside them and stood listening to Rod, his face alive +with keen interest. In Wabi's eyes there was a look half of doubt, half +of belief.</p> + +<p>"It might," he said slowly. "It wouldn't do any harm to see."</p> + +<p>He stepped to the stove and took off the partly cooked steak. Rod +slipped on his coat and hat and Mukoki seized his belt-ax and the +shovel. No words were spoken, but there was a mutual understanding that +the investigation was to precede dinner. Wabi was silent and thoughtful +and Rod could see that his suggestion had at least made a deep +impression upon him. Mukoki's eyes began to gleam again with the old +fire with which he had searched the cabin for gold.</p> + +<p>The skeletons were buried only a few inches deep in the frozen earth in +the edge of the cedar forest, and Mukoki soon exposed them to view. +Almost the first object that met their eyes was the skeleton hand +clutching its roll of birch-bark. It was Rod who dropped upon his knees +to the gruesome task.</p> + +<p>With a shudder at the touch of the cold bones he broke the fingers back. +One of them snapped with a sharp sound, and as he rose with the bark in +his hand his face was bloodlessly white. The bones were covered again +and the three returned to the cabin.</p> + +<p>Still silent, they gathered about the table. With age the bark of the +birch hardens and rolls itself tightly, and the piece Rod held was +almost like thin steel. Inch by inch it was spread out, cracking and +snapping in brittle protest. The hunters could see that the bark was in +a single unbroken strip about ten inches long by six in width. Two +inches, three, four were unrolled—and still the smooth surface was +blank. Another half-inch, and the bark refused to unroll farther.</p> + +<p>"Careful!" whispered Wabi.</p> + +<p>With the point of his knife he loosened the cohesion.</p> + +<p>"I guess—there's—nothing—" began Rod.</p> + +<p>Even as he spoke he caught his breath. A mark had appeared on the bark, +a black, meaningless mark with a line running down from it into the +scroll.</p> + +<p>Another fraction of an inch and the line was joined by a second, and +then with an unexpectedness that was startling the remainder of the roll +released itself like a spring—and to the eyes of the three wolf hunters +was revealed the secret of the skeleton hand.</p> + +<p>Spread out before them was a map, or at least what they at once accepted +as a map, though in reality it was more of a crude diagram of straight +and crooked lines, with here and there a partly obliterated word to give +it meaning. In several places there were mere evidences of words, now +entirely illegible. But what first held the attention of Rod and his +companions were several lines in writing under the rough sketch on the +bark, still quite plain, which formed the names of three men. Roderick +read them aloud.</p> + +<p>"John Ball, Henri Langlois, Peter Plante."</p> + +<p>Through the name of John Ball had been drawn a broad black line which +had almost destroyed the letters, and at the end of this line, in +brackets, was printed a word in French which Wabi quickly translated.</p> + +<p>"Dead!" he breathed. "The Frenchmen killed him!"</p> + +<p>The words shot from him in hot excitement.</p> + +<p>Rod did not reply. Slowly he drew a trembling finger over the map. The +first word he encountered was unintelligible. Of the next he could only +make out one letter, which gave him no clue. Evidently the map had been +made with a different and less durable substance than that with which +the names had been written. He followed down the first straight black +line, and where this formed a junction with a wider crooked line were +two words quite distinct:</p> + +<p>"Second waterfall."</p> + +<p>Half an inch below this Rod could make out the letters T, D and L, +widely scattered.</p> + +<p>"That's the third waterfall," he exclaimed eagerly.</p> + +<p>At this point the crude lines of the diagram stopped, and immediately +below, between the map and the three names, it was evident that there +had been considerable writing. But not a word of it could the young +hunters make out. That writing, without doubt, had given the key to the +lost gold. Rod looked up, his face betraying the keenness of his +disappointment. He knew that under his hand he held all that was left of +the secret of a great treasure. But he was more baffled than ever. +Somewhere in this vast desolation there were three waterfalls, and +somewhere near the third waterfall the Englishman and the two Frenchmen +had found their gold. That was all he knew. He had not found a waterfall +in the chasm; they had not discovered one in all their trapping and +hunting excursions.</p> + +<p>Wabi was looking down into his face in silent thought. Suddenly he +reached out and seized the sheet of bark and examined it closely. As he +looked there came a deeper flush in his face, his eyes brightened and he +gave a cry of excitement.</p> + +<p>"By George, I believe we can peel this!" he cried. "See here, Muky!" He +thrust the birch under the old Indian's eyes. Even Mukoki's hands were +trembling.</p> + +<p>"Birch-bark is made up of a good many layers, each as thin as the +thinnest paper," he explained to Rod as Mukoki continued his +examination. "If we can peel off that first layer, and then hold it up +to the light, we shall be able to see the impression of every word that +was ever made on it—even though they were written a hundred years ago!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki had gone to the door, and now he turned, grinning exultantly.</p> + +<p>"She peel!"</p> + +<p>He showed them where he had stripped back a corner of the film-like +layer. Then he sat down in the light, his head bent over, and for many +minutes he worked at his tedious task while Wabi and Rod hung back in +soundless suspense. Half an hour later Mukoki straightened himself, rose +to his feet and held out the precious film to Rod.</p> + +<p>As tenderly as though his own life depended upon its care, Rod held the +piece of birch, now a silken, almost transparent sheet, between himself +and the light. A cry welled up into his throat. It was repeated by Wabi. +And then there was silence—a silence broken only by their bated breaths +and the excited thumpings of their hearts.</p> + +<p>As though they had been written but yesterday, the mysterious words on +the map were disclosed to their eyes. Where Rod had made out only three +letters there were now plainly discernible the two words "third +waterfall," and very near to these was the word "cabin." Below them were +several lines, clearly impressed in the birch film. Slowly, his voice +trembling, Rod read them to his companions.</p> + +<p>"We, John Ball, Henri Langlois, and Peter Plante, having discovered gold +at this fall, do hereby agree to joint partnership in the same, and do +pledge ourselves to forget our past differences and work in mutual good +will and honesty, so help us God. Signed,</p> + +<p>"JOHN BALL, HENRI LANGLOIS, PETER PLANTE."</p> + +<p>At the very top of the map the impression of several other words caught +Rod's eyes. They were more indistinct than any of the others, but one by +one he made them out. A hot blurring film seemed to fall over his eyes +and he felt as though his heart had suddenly come up into his throat. +Wabi's breath was burning against his cheek, and it was Wabi who spoke +the words aloud.</p> + +<p>"Cabin and head of chasm."</p> + +<p>Rod went back to the table and sat down, the precious bit of birch-bark +under his hand. Mukoki, standing mute, had listened and heard, and was +as if stunned by their discovery. But now his mind returned to the moose +steak, and he placed it on the stove. Wabi stood with his hands in his +pockets, and after a little he laughed a trembling, happy laugh.</p> + +<p>"Well, Rod, you've found your mine. You are as good as rich!"</p> + +<p>"You mean that we have found our mine," corrected the white youth. "We +are three, and we just naturally fill the places of John Ball, Henri +Langlois and Peter Plante. They are all dead. The gold is ours!"</p> + +<p>Wabi had taken up the map.</p> + +<p>"I can't see the slightest possibility of our not finding it," he said. +"The directions are as plain as day. We follow the chasm, and somewhere +in that chasm we come to a waterfall. A little beyond this the creek +that runs through the gorge empties into a larger stream, and we follow +this second creek or river until we come to the third fall. The cabin is +there, and the gold can not be far away."</p> + +<p>He had carried the map to the door again, and Rod joined him.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing that gives us an idea of distance on the map," he +continued. "How far did you travel down the chasm?"</p> + +<p>"Ten miles, at least," replied Rod.</p> + +<p>"And you discovered no fall?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>With a splinter picked up from the floor Wabi measured the distances +between the different points on the diagram.</p> + +<p>"There is no doubt but what this map was drawn by John Ball," he said +after a few moments of silent contemplation. "Everything points to that +fact. Notice that all of the writing is in one hand, except the +signatures of Langlois and Plante, and you could hardly decipher the +letters in those signatures if you did not already know their names from +this writing below. Ball wrote a good hand, and from the construction of +the agreement over the signatures he was a man of pretty fair education. +Don't you think so? Well, he must have drawn this map with some idea of +distance in his mind. The second fall is only half as far from the first +fall as the third fall is from the second, which seems to me conclusive +evidence of this. If he had not had distance in mind he would not have +separated the falls in this way on the map."</p> + +<p>"Then if we can find the first fall we can figure pretty nearly how far +the last fall is from the head of the chasm," said Rod.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I believe the distance from here to the first fall will give us a +key to the whole thing."</p> + +<p>Rod had produced a pencil from one of his pockets and was figuring on +the smooth side of a chip.</p> + +<p>"The gold is a long way from here at the best, Wabi. I explored the +chasm for ten miles. Say that we find the first fall within fifteen +miles. Then, according to the map, the second fall would be about twenty +miles from the first, and the third forty miles from the second. If the +first fall is within fifteen miles of this cabin the third fall is at +least seventy-five miles away."</p> + +<p>Wabi nodded.</p> + +<p>"But we may not find the first fall within that distance," he said. "By +George—" He stopped and looked at Rod with an odd look of doubt in his +face. "If the gold is seventy-five or a hundred miles away, why were +those men here, and with only a handful of nuggets in their possession? +Is it possible that the gold played out—that they found only what was +in the buckskin bag?"</p> + +<p>"If that were so, why should they have fought to the death for the +possession of the map?" argued Rod.</p> + +<p>Mukoki was turning the steak. He had not spoken, but now he said:</p> + +<p>"Mebby going to Post for supplies."</p> + +<p>"That's exactly what they were doing!" shouted the Indian youth. "Muky, +you have solved the whole problem. They were going for supplies. And +they didn't fight for the map—not for the map alone!"</p> + +<p>His face flushed with new excitement.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I am wrong, but it all seems clear to me now," he continued. +"Ball and the two Frenchmen worked their find until they ran out of +supplies. Wabinosh House is over a hundred years old, and fifty years +ago that was the nearest point where they could get more. In some way it +fell to the Frenchmen to go. They had probably accumulated a hoard of +gold, and before they left they murdered Ball. They brought with them +only enough gold to pay for their supplies, for it was their purpose not +to arouse the suspicion of any adventurers who happened to be at the +Post. They could easily have explained their possession of those few +nuggets. In this cabin either Langlois or Plante tried to kill his +companion, and thus become the sole possessor of the treasure, and the +fight, fatal to both, ensued. I may be wrong, but—by George, I believe +that is what happened!"</p> + +<p>"And that they buried the bulk of their gold somewhere back near the +third fall?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; or else they brought the gold here and buried it somewhere near +this very cabin!"</p> + +<p>They were interrupted by Mukoki.</p> + +<p>"Dinner ready!" he called.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</p> + +<p>SNOWED IN</p> +<br> + +<p>Until the present moment Rod had forgotten to speak of the mysterious +man-trail he had encountered in the chasm. The excitement of the past +hour had made him oblivious to all other things, but now as they ate +their dinner he described the strange maneuvers of the spying Woonga. He +did not, however, voice those fears which had come to him in the gorge, +preferring to allow Mukoki and Wabigoon to draw their own conclusions. +By this time the two Indians were satisfied that the Woongas were not +contemplating attack, but that for some unaccountable reason they were +as anxious to evade the hunters as the hunters were to evade them. +Everything that had passed seemed to give evidence of this. The outlaw +in the chasm, for instance, could easily have waylaid Rod; a dozen times +the almost defenseless camp could have been attacked, and there were +innumerable places where ambushes might have been laid for them along +the trap-lines.</p> + +<p>So Rod's experience with the Woonga trail between the mountains +occasioned little uneasiness, and instead of forming a scheme for the +further investigation of this trail on the south, plans were made for +locating the first fall. Mukoki was the swiftest and most tireless +traveler on snow-shoes, and it was he who volunteered to make the first +search. He would leave the following morning, taking with him a supply +of food, and during his absence Rod and Wabigoon would attend to the +traps.</p> + +<p>"We must have the location of the first fall before we return to the +Post," declared Wabi. "If from that we find that the third fall is not +within a hundred miles of our present camp it will be impossible for us +to go in search of our gold during this trip. In that event we shall +have to go back to Wabinosh House and form a new expedition, with fresh +supplies and the proper kind of tools. We can not do anything until the +spring freshets are over, anyway."</p> + +<p>"I have been thinking of that," replied Rod, his eyes softening. "You +know mother is alone, and—her—"</p> + +<p>"I understand," interrupted the Indian boy, laying a hand fondly across +his companion's arm.</p> + +<p>"—her funds are small, you know," Rod finished. "If she has been +sick—or—anything like that—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, we've got to get back with our furs," helped Wabi, a tremor of +tenderness in his own voice. "And if you don't mind, Rod, I might take a +little run down to Detroit with you. Do you suppose she would care?"</p> + +<p>"Care!" shouted Rod, bringing his free hand down upon Wabi's arm with a +force that hurt. "Care! Why, she thinks as much of you as she does of +me, Wabi! She'd be tickled to death! Do you mean it?"</p> + +<p>Wabi's bronzed face flushed a deeper red at his friend's enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"I won't promise—for sure," he said. "But I'd like to see her—almost +as much as you, I guess. If I can, I'll go."</p> + +<p>Rod's face was suffused with a joyful glow.</p> + +<p>"And I'll come back with you early in the summer and we'll start out for +the gold," he cried. He jumped to his feet and slapped Mukoki on the +back in the happy turn his mind had taken. "Will you come, too, Mukoki? +I'll give you the biggest 'city time' you ever had in your life!"</p> + +<p>The old Indian grinned and chuckled and grunted, but did not reply in +words. Wabi laughed, and answered for him.</p> + +<p>"He is too anxious to become Minnetaki's slave again, Rod. No, Muky +won't go, I'll wager that. He will stay at the Post to see that she +doesn't get lost, or hurt, or stolen by the Woongas. Eh, Mukoki?" Mukoki +nodded, grinning good-humoredly. He went to the door, opened it and +looked out.</p> + +<p>"Devil—she snow!" he cried. "She snow like twent' t'ousand—like +devil!"</p> + +<p>This was the strongest English in the old warrior's vocabulary, and it +meant something more than usual. Wabi and Rod quickly joined him. Never +in his life had the city youth seen a snow-storm like that which he now +gazed out into. The great north storm had arrived—a storm which comes +just once each year in the endless Arctic desolation. For days and weeks +the Indians had expected it and wondered at its lateness. It fell +softly, silently, without a breath of air to stir it; a smothering, +voiceless sea of white, impenetrable to human vision, so thick that it +seemed as though it might stifle one's breath. Rod held out the palm of +his hand and in an instant it was covered with a film of white. He +walked out into it, and a dozen yards away he became a ghostly, almost +invisible shadow.</p> + +<p>When he came back a minute later he brought a load of snow into the +cabin with him.</p> + +<p>All that afternoon the snow fell like this, and all that night the storm +continued. When he awoke in the morning Rod heard the wind whistling and +howling through the trees and around the ends of the cabin. He rose and +built the fire while the others were still sleeping. He attempted to +open the door, but it was blocked. He lowered the barricade at the +window, and a barrel of snow tumbled in about his feet. He could see no +sign of day, and when he turned he saw Wabi sitting up in his blankets, +laughing silently at his wonder and consternation.</p> + +<p>"What in the world—" he gasped.</p> + +<p>"We're snowed in," grinned Wabi. "Does the stove smoke?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Rod, throwing a bewildered glance at the roaring fire. +"You don't mean to say—"</p> + +<p>"Then we are not completely, buried," interrupted the other. "At least +the top of the chimney is sticking out!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki sat up and stretched himself.</p> + +<p>"She blow," he said, as a tremendous howl of wind swept over the cabin. +"Bime-by she blow some more!"</p> + +<p>Rod shoveled the snow into a corner and replaced the barricade while his +companions dressed.</p> + +<p>"This means a week's work digging out traps," declared Wabi. "And only +Mukoki's Great Spirit, who sends all blessings to this country, knows +when the blizzard is going to stop. It may last a week. There is no +chance of finding our waterfall in this."</p> + +<p>"We can play dominoes," suggested Rod cheerfully. "You remember we +haven't finished that series we began at the Post. But you don't expect +me to believe that it snowed enough yesterday afternoon and last night +to cover this cabin, do you?"</p> + +<p>"It didn't exactly <i>snow</i> enough to cover it," explained his comrade. +"But we're covered for all of that. The cabin is on the edge of an open, +and of course the snow just naturally drifts around us, blown there by +the wind. If this blizzard keeps up we shall be under a small mountain +by night."</p> + +<p>"Won't it—smother us?" faltered Rod.</p> + +<p>Wabi gave a joyous whoop of merriment at the city-bred youth's +half-expressed fear and a volley of Mukoki's chuckles came from where he +was slicing moose-steak on the table.</p> + +<p>"Snow mighty nice thing live under," he asserted with emphasis.</p> + +<p>"If you were under a mountain of snow you could live, if you weren't +crushed to death," said Wabi. "Snow is filled with air. Mukoki was +caught under a snow-slide once and was buried under thirty feet for ten +hours. He had made a nest about as big as a barrel and was nice and +comfortable when we dug him out. We won't have to burn much wood to keep +warm now."</p> + +<p>After breakfast the boys again lowered the barricade at the window and +Wabi began to bring small avalanches of snow down into the cabin with +his shovel. At the third or fourth upward thrust a huge mass plunged +through the window, burying them to the waist, and when they looked out +they could see the light of day and the whirling blizzard above their +heads.</p> + +<p>"It's up to the roof," gasped Rod. "Great Scott, what a snow-storm!"</p> + +<p>"Now for some fun!" cried the Indian youth. "Come on, Rod, if you want +to be in it."</p> + +<p>He crawled through the window into the cavity he had made in the drift, +and Rod followed. Wabi waited, a mischievous smile on his face, and no +sooner had his companion joined him than he plunged his shovel deep into +the base of the drift. Half a dozen quick thrusts and there tumbled down +upon their heads a mass of light snow that for a few moments completely +buried them. The suddenness of it knocked Rod to his knees, where he +floundered, gasped and made a vain effort to yell. Struggling like a +fish he first kicked his feet free, and Wabi, who had thrust out his +head and shoulders, shrieked with laughter as he saw only Rod's boots +sticking out of the snow.</p> + +<p>"You're going the wrong way, Rod!" he shouted. "Wow—wow!"</p> + +<p>He seized his companion's legs and helped to drag him out, and then +stood shaking, the tears streaming down his face, and continued to laugh +until he leaned back in the drift, half exhausted. Rod was a curious and +ludicrous-looking object. His eyes were wide and blinking; the snow was +in his ears, his mouth, and in his floundering he had packed his coat +collar full of it. Slowly he recovered from his astonishment, saw Wabi +and Mukoki quivering with laughter, grinned—and then joined them in +their merriment.</p> + +<p>It was not difficult now for the boys to force their way through the +drift and they were soon standing waist-deep in the snow twenty yards +from the cabin.</p> + +<p>"The snow is only about four feet deep in the open," said Wabi. "But +look at that!"</p> + +<p>He turned and gazed at the cabin, or rather at the small part of it +which still rose triumphant above the huge drift which had almost +completely buried it. Only a little of the roof, with the smoking +chimney rising out of it, was to be seen. Rod now turned in all +directions to survey the wild scene about him. There had come a brief +lull in the blizzard, and his vision extended beyond the lake and to the +hilltop. There was not a spot of black to meet his eyes; every rock was +hidden; the trees hung silent and lifeless under their heavy mantles and +even their trunks were beaten white with the clinging volleys of the +storm. There came to him then a thought of the wild things in this +seemingly uninhabitable desolation. How could they live in this endless +desert of snow? What could they find to eat? Where could they find water +to drink? He asked Wabi these questions after they had returned to the +cabin.</p> + +<p>"Just now, if you traveled from here to the end of this storm zone you +wouldn't find a living four-legged creature," said Wabigoon. "Every +moose in this country, every deer and caribou, every fox and wolf, is +buried in the snow. And as the snow falls deeper about them the warmer +and more comfortable do they become, so that even as the blizzard +increases in fury the kind Creator makes it easier for them to bear. +When the storm ceases the wilderness will awaken into life again. The +moose and deer and caribou will rise from their snow-beds and begin to +eat the boughs of trees and saplings; a crust will have formed on the +snow, and all the smaller animals, like foxes, lynx and wolves, will +begin to travel again, and to prey upon others for food. Until they find +running water again snow and ice take the place of liquid drink; warm +caverns dug in the snow give refuge in place of thick swamp moss and +brush and leaves. All the big animals, like moose, deer and caribou, +will soon make 'yards' for themselves by trampling down large areas of +snow, and in these yards they will gather in big herds, eating their way +through the forests, fighting the wolves and waiting for spring. Oh, +life isn't altogether bad for the animals in a deep winter like this!"</p> + +<p>Until noon the hunters were busy cleaning away the snow from the cabin +door. As the day advanced the blizzard increased in its fury, until, +with the approach of night, it became impossible for the hunters to +expose themselves to it. For three days the storm continued with only +intermittent lulls, but with the dawn of the fourth day the sky was +again cloudless, and the sun rose with a blinding effulgence. Rod now +found himself suffering from that sure affliction of every tenderfoot in +the far North—snow-blindness. For only a few minutes at a time could he +stand the dazzling reflections of the snow-waste where nothing but +white, flashing, scintillating white, seemingly a vast sea of burning +electric points in the sunlight, met his aching eyes. On the second day +after the storm, while Wabi was still inuring Rod to the changed world +and teaching him how to accustom his eyes to it gradually, Mukoki left +the cabin to follow the chasm in his search for the first waterfall.</p> + +<p>That same day Wabi began his work of digging out and resetting the +traps, but it was not until the day following that Rod's eyes would +allow him to assist. The task was a most difficult one; rocks and other +landmarks were completely hidden, and the lost traps averaged one out of +four. It was not until the end of the second day after Mukoki's +departure that the young hunters finished the mountain trap-line, and +when they turned their faces toward camp just at the beginning of dusk +it was with the expectant hope that they would find the old Indian +awaiting them. But Mukoki had not returned. The next day came and +passed, and a fourth dawned without his arrival. Hope now gave way to +fear. In three days Mukoki could travel nearly a hundred miles. Was it +possible that something had happened to him? Many times there recurred +to Rod a thought of the Woonga in the chasm. Had the mysterious spy, or +some of his people, waylaid and killed him?</p> + +<p>Neither of the hunters had a desire to leave camp during the fourth day. +Trapping was exceptionally good now on account of the scarcity of animal +food and since the big storm they had captured a wolf, two lynx, a red +fox and eight mink. But as Mukoki's absence lengthened their enthusiasm +grew less.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon, as they were watching, they saw a figure climb wearily +to the summit of the hill.</p> + +<p>It was Mukoki.</p> + +<p>With shouts of greeting both youths hurried through the snow toward him, +not taking time to strap on their snow-shoes. The old Indian was at +their side a couple of minutes later. He smiled in a tired good-natured +way, and answered the eagerness in their eyes with a nod of his head.</p> + +<p>"Found fall. Fift' mile down mountain."</p> + +<p>Once in the cabin he dropped into a chair, exhausted, and both Rod and +Wabigoon joined in relieving him of his boots and outer garments. It was +evident that Mukoki had been traveling hard, for only once or twice +before in his life had Wabi seen him so completely fatigued. Quickly the +young Indian had a huge steak broiling over the fire, and Rod put an +extra handful of coffee in the pot.</p> + +<p>"Fifty miles!" ejaculated Wabi for the twentieth time. "It was an awful +jaunt, wasn't it, Muky?"</p> + +<p>"Rough—rough like devil th'ough mountains," replied Mukoki. "Not like +that!" He swung an arm in the direction of the chasm.</p> + +<p>Rod stood silent, open-eyed with wonder. Was it possible that the old +warrior had discovered a wilder country than that through which he had +passed in the chasm?</p> + +<p>"She little fall," went on Mukoki, brightening as the odor of coffee and +meat filled his nostrils. "No bigger than—that!" He pointed to the roof +of the cabin.</p> + +<p>Rod was figuring on the table. Soon he looked up.</p> + +<p>"According to Mukoki and the map we are at least two hundred and fifty +miles from the third fall," he said.</p> + +<p>Mukoki shrugged his shoulders and his face was crinkled in a suggestive +grimace.</p> + +<p>"Hudson Bay," he grunted.</p> + +<p>Wabi turned from his steak in sudden astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't the chasm continue east?" he almost shouted.</p> + +<p>"No. She turn—straight north."</p> + +<p>Rod could not understand the change that came over Wabi's face.</p> + +<p>"Boys," he said finally, "if that is the case I can tell you where the +gold is. If the stream in the chasm turns northward it is bound for just +one place—the Albany River, and the Albany River empties into James +Bay! The third waterfall, where our treasure in gold is waiting for us, +is in the very heart of the wildest and most savage wilderness in North +America. It is safe. No other man has ever found it. But to get it means +one of the longest and most adventurous expeditions we ever planned in +all our lives!"</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!" shouted Rod. "Hurrah—"</p> + +<p>He had leaped to his feet, forgetful of everything but that their gold +was safe, and that their search for it would lead them even to the last +fastnesses of the snow-bound and romantic North.</p> + +<p>"Next spring, Wabi!" He held out his hand and the two boys joined their +pledge in a hearty grip.</p> + +<p>"Next spring!" reiterated Wabi.</p> + +<p>"And we go in canoe," joined Mukoki. "Creek grow bigger. We make +birch-bark canoe at first fall."</p> + +<p>"That is better still," added Wabi. "It will be a glorious trip! We'll +take a little vacation at the third fall and run up to James Bay."</p> + +<p>"James Bay is practically the same as Hudson Bay, isn't it?" asked Rod.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I could never see a good reason for calling it James Bay. It is in +reality the lower end, or tail, of Hudson Bay."</p> + +<p>There was no thought of visiting any of the traps that day, and the next +morning Mukoki insisted upon going with Rod, in spite of his four days +of hard travel. If he remained in camp his joints would get stiff, he +said, and Wabigoon thought he was right. This left the young Indian to +care for the trap-line leading into the north.</p> + +<p>Two weeks of ideal trapping weather now followed. It had been more than +two months since the hunters had left Wabinosh House, and Rod now began +to count the days before they would turn back over the homeward trail. +Wabi had estimated that they had sixteen hundred dollars' worth of furs +and scalps and two hundred dollars in gold, and the white youth was +satisfied to return to his mother with his share of six hundred dollars, +which was as much as he would have earned in a year at his old position +in the city. Neither did he attempt to conceal from Wabi his desire to +see Minnetaki; and his Indian friend, thoroughly pleased at Rod's liking +for his sister, took much pleasure in frequent good-natured banter on +the subject. In fact, Rod possessed a secret hope that he might induce +the princess mother to allow her daughter to accompany himself and Wabi +to Detroit, where he knew that his own mother would immediately fall in +love with the beautiful little maiden from the North.</p> + +<p>In the third week after the great storm Rod and Mukoki had gone over the +mountain trap-line, leaving Wabi in camp. They had decided that the +following week would see them headed for Wabinosh House, where they +would arrive about the first of February, and Roderick was in high +spirits.</p> + +<p>On this day they had started toward camp early in the afternoon, and +soon after they had passed through the swamp Rod expressed his intention +of ascending the ridge, hoping to get a shot at game somewhere along the +mountain trail home. Mukoki, however, decided not to accompany him, but +to take the nearer and easier route.</p> + +<p>On the top of the mountain Rod paused to take a survey of the country +about him. He could see Mukoki, now hardly more than a moving speck on +the edge of the plain; northward the same fascinating, never-ending +wilderness rolled away under his eyes; eastward, two miles away, he saw +a moving object which he knew was a moose or a caribou; and westward—</p> + +<p>Instinctively his eyes sought the location of their camp. Instantly the +expectant light went out of his face. He gave an involuntary cry of +horror, and there followed it a single, unheard shriek for Mukoki.</p> + +<p>Over the spot where he knew their camp to be now rose a huge volume of +smoke. The sky was black with it, and in the terrible moment that +followed his piercing cry for Mukoki he fancied that he heard the sound +of rifle-shots.</p> + +<p>"Mukoki! Mukoki!" he shouted.</p> + +<p>The old Indian was beyond hearing. Quickly it occurred to Rod that early +in their trip they had arranged rifle signals for calling help—two +quick shots, and then, after a moment's interval, three others in rapid +succession.</p> + +<p>He threw his rifle to his shoulder and fired into the air; once, +twice—and then three times as fast as he could press the trigger.</p> + +<p>As he watched Mukoki he reloaded. He saw the Indian pause, turn about +and look back toward the mountain.</p> + +<p>Again the thrilling signals for help went echoing over the plains. In a +few seconds the sounds had reached Mukoki's ears and the old warrior +came swinging back at running speed.</p> + +<p>Rod darted along the ridge to meet him, firing a single shot now and +then to let him know where he was, and in fifteen minutes Mukoki came +panting up the mountain.</p> + +<p>"The Woongas!" shouted Rod. "They've attacked the camp! See!" He pointed +to the cloud of smoke. "I heard shots—I heard shots—"</p> + +<p>For an instant the grim pathfinder gazed in the direction of the burning +camp, and then without a word he started at terrific speed down the +mountain.</p> + +<p>The half-hour race that followed was one of the most exciting +experiences of Rod's life. How he kept up with Mukoki was more than he +ever could explain afterward. But from the time they struck the old +trail he was close at the Indian's heels. When they reached the hill +that sheltered the dip his face was scratched and bleeding from contact +with swinging bushes; his heart seemed ready to burst from its +tremendous exertion; his breath came in an audible hissing, rattling +sound, and he could not speak. But up the hill he plunged behind Mukoki, +his rifle cocked and ready. At the top they paused.</p> + +<p>The camp was a smoldering mass of ruins. Not a sign of life was about +it. But—</p> + +<p>With a gasping, wordless cry Rod caught Mukoki's arm and pointed to an +object lying in the snow a dozen yards from where the cabin had been. +The warrior had seen it. He turned one look upon the white youth, and it +was a look that Rod had never thought could come into the face of a +human being. If that was Wabi down there—if Wabi had been killed—what +would Mukoki's vengeance be! His companion was no longer Mukoki—as he +had known him; he was the savage. There was no mercy, no human instinct, +no suggestion of the human soul in that one terrible look. If it was +Wabi—</p> + +<p>They plunged down the hill, into the dip, across the lake, and Mukoki +was on his knees beside the figure in the snow. He turned it over—and +rose without a sound, his battle-glaring eyes peering into the smoking +ruins.</p> + +<p>Rod looked, and shuddered.</p> + +<p>The figure in the snow was not Wabi.</p> + +<p>It was a strange, terrible-looking object—a giant Indian, distorted in +death—and a half of his head was shot away!</p> + +<p>When he again looked at Mukoki the old Indian was in the midst of the +hot ruins, kicking about with his booted feet and poking with the butt +of his rifle.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</p> + +<p>THE RESCUE OF WABIGOON</p> +<br> + +<p>Rod had sunk into the snow close to the dead man. His endurance was gone +and he was as weak as a child. He watched every movement Mukoki made; +saw every start, every glance, and became almost sick with fear whenever +the warrior bent down to examine some object.</p> + +<p>Was Wabi dead—and burned in those ruins?</p> + +<p>Foot by foot Mukoki searched. His feet became hot; the smell of burning +leather filled his nostrils; glowing coals burned through to his feet. +But the old Indian was beyond pain. Only two things filled his soul. One +of these was love for Minnetaki; the other was love for Wabigoon. And +there was only one other thing that could take the place of these, and +that was merciless, undying, savage passion—passion at any wrong or +injury that might be done to them. The Woongas had sneaked upon Wabi. He +knew that. They had caught him unaware, like cowards; and perhaps he was +dead—and in those ruins!</p> + +<p>He searched until his feet were scorched and burned in a score of +places, and then he came out, smoke-blackened, but with some of the +terrible look gone out of his face.</p> + +<p>"He no there!" he said, speaking for the first time.</p> + +<p>Again he crouched beside the dead man, and grimaced at Rod with a +triumphant, gloating chuckle.</p> + +<p>"Much dead!" he grinned.</p> + +<p>In a moment the grimace had gone from his face, and while Rod still +rested he continued his examination of the camp. Close around it the +snow was beaten down with human tracks. Mukoki saw where the outlaws had +stolen up behind the cabin from the forest and he saw where they had +gone away after the attack.</p> + +<p>Five had come down from the cedars, only four had gone away!</p> + +<p>Where was Wabi?</p> + +<p>If he had been captured, and taken with the Indians, there would have +been five trails. Rod understood this as well as Mukoki, and he also +understood why his companion went back to make another investigation of +the smoldering ruins. This second search, however, convinced the Indian +that Wabi's body had not been thrown into the fire. There was only one +conclusion to draw. The youth had made a desperate fight, had killed one +of the outlaws, and after being wounded in the conflict had been carried +off bodily. Wabi and his captors could not be more than two or three +miles away. A quick pursuit would probably overtake them within an hour.</p> + +<p>Mukoki came to Rod's side.</p> + +<p>"Me follow—kill!" he said. "Me kill so many quick!" He pointed toward +the four trails. "You stay—"</p> + +<p>Rod clambered to his feet.</p> + +<p>"You mean we'll kill 'em, Muky," he broke in. "I can follow you again. +Set the pace!"</p> + +<p>There came the click of the safety on Mukoki's rifle, and Rod, following +suit, cocked his own.</p> + +<p>"Much quiet," whispered the Indian when they had come to the farther +side of the dip. "No noise—come up still—shoot!"</p> + +<p>The snow-shoe trail of the outlaws turned from the dip into the timbered +bottoms to the north, and Mukoki, partly crouched, his rifle always to +the front, followed swiftly. They had not progressed a hundred yards +into the plain when the old hunter stopped, a puzzled look in his face. +He pointed to one of the snow-shoe trails which was much deeper than the +others.</p> + +<p>"Heem carry Wabi," he spoke softly. "But—" His eyes gleamed in sudden +excitement. "They go slow! They no hurry! Walk very slow! Take much +time!"</p> + +<p>Rod now observed for the first time that the individual tracks made by +the outlaws were much shorter than their own, showing that instead of +being in haste they were traveling quite slowly. This was a mystery +which was not easy to explain. Did the Woongas not fear pursuit? Was it +possible that they believed the hunters would not hasten to give them +battle? Or were they relying upon the strength of their numbers, or, +perhaps, planning some kind of ambush?</p> + +<p>Mukoki's advance now became slower and more cautious. His keen eyes took +in every tree and clump of bushes ahead. Only when he could see the +trail leading straight away for a considerable distance did he hasten +the pursuit. Never for an instant did he turn his head to Rod. But +suddenly he caught sight of something that brought from him a guttural +sound of astonishment. A fifth track had joined the trail! Without +questioning Rod knew what it meant. Wabi had been lowered from the back +of his captor and was now walking. He was on snow-shoes and his strides +were quite even and of equal length with the others. Evidently he was +not badly wounded.</p> + +<p>Half a mile ahead of them was a high hill and between them and this hill +was a dense growth of cedar, filled with tangled windfalls. It was an +ideal place for an ambush, but the old warrior did not hesitate. The +Woongas had followed a moose trail, with which they were apparently well +acquainted, and in this traveling was easy. But Rod gave an involuntary +shudder as he gazed ahead into the chaotic tangle through which it led. +At any moment he expected to hear the sharp crack of a rifle and to see +Mukoki tumble forward upon his face. Or there might be a fusillade of +shots and he himself might feel the burning sting that comes with rifle +death. At the distance from which they would shoot the outlaws could not +miss. Did not Mukoki realize this? Maddened by the thought that his +beloved Wabi was in the hands of merciless enemies, was the old +pathfinder becoming reckless?</p> + +<p>But when he looked into his companion's face and saw the cool deadly +resolution glittering in his eyes, the youth's confidence was restored. +For some reason Mukoki knew that there would not be an ambush.</p> + +<p>Over the moose-run the two traveled more swiftly and soon they came to +the foot of the high hill. Up this the Woongas had gone, their trail +clearly defined and unswerving in its direction. Mukoki now paused with +a warning gesture to Rod, and pointed down at one of the snow-shoe +tracks. The snow was still crumbling and falling about the edges of this +imprint.</p> + +<p>"Ver' close!" whispered the Indian.</p> + +<p>It was not the light of the game hunt in Mukoki's eyes now; there was a +trembling, terrible tenseness in his whispered words. He crept up the +hill with Rod so near that he could have touched him. At the summit of +that hill he dragged himself up like an animal, and then, crouching, ran +swiftly to the opposite side, his rifle within six inches of his +shoulder. In the plain below them was unfolded to their eyes a scene +which, despite his companion's warning, wrung an exclamation of dismay +from Roderick's lips.</p> + +<center> +<a name="Illus_2"></a><img src="wh002.jpg" width="450" height="708" alt="" title="The leader stopped in his snow-shoes"> +</center> + +<p>Plainly visible to them in the edge of the plain were the outlaw Woongas +and their captive. They were in single file, with Wabi following the +leader, and the hunters perceived that their comrade's arms were tied +behind him.</p> + +<p>But it was another sight that caused Rod's dismay.</p> + +<p>From an opening beside a small lake half a mile beyond the Indians below +there rose the smoke of two camp-fires, and Mukoki and he could make out +at least a score of figures about these fires.</p> + +<p>Within rifle-shot of them, almost within shouting distance, there was +not only the small war party that had attacked the camp, but a third of +the fighting men of the Woonga tribe! Rod understood their terrible +predicament. To attack the outlaws in an effort to rescue Wabi meant +that an overwhelming force would be upon them within a few minutes; to +allow Wabi to remain a captive meant—he shuddered at the thought of +what it might mean, for he knew of the merciless vengeance of the +Woongas upon the House of Wabinosh.</p> + +<p>And while he was thinking of these things the faithful old warrior +beside him had already formed his plan of attack. He would die with +Wabi, gladly—a fighting, terrible slave to devotion to the last; but he +would not see Wabi die alone. A whispered word, a last look at his +rifle, and Mukoki hurried down into the plains.</p> + +<p>At the foot of the hill he abandoned the outlaw trail and Rod realized +that his plan was to sweep swiftly in a semicircle, surprising the +Woongas from the front or side instead of approaching from the rear. +Again he was taxed to his utmost to keep pace with the avenging Mukoki. +Less than ten minutes later the Indian peered cautiously from behind a +clump of hazel, and then looked back at Rod, a smile of satisfaction on +his face.</p> + +<p>"They come," he breathed, just loud enough to hear. "They come!"</p> + +<p>Rod peered over his shoulder, and his heart smote mightily within him. +Unconscious of their peril the Woongas were approaching two hundred +yards away. Mukoki gazed into his companion's face and his eyes were +almost pleading as he laid a bronzed crinkled hand upon the white boy's +arm.</p> + +<p>"You take front man—ahead of Wabi," he whispered. "I take other t'ree. +See that tree—heem birch, with bark off? Shoot heem there. You no +tremble? You no miss?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Rod. He gripped the red hand in his own. "I'll kill, +Mukoki. I'll kill him dead—in one shot!"</p> + +<p>They could hear the voices of the outlaws now, and soon they saw that +Wabi's face was disfigured with blood.</p> + +<p>Step by step, slowly and carelessly, the Woongas approached. They were +fifty yards from the marked birch now—forty—thirty—now only ten. +Roderick's rifle was at his shoulder. Already it held a deadly bead on +the breast of the leader.</p> + +<p>Five yards more—</p> + +<p>The outlaw passed behind the tree; he came out, and the young hunter +pressed the trigger. The leader stopped in his snow-shoes. Even before +he had crumpled down into a lifeless heap in the snow a furious volley +of shots spat forth from Mukoki's gun, and when Rod swung his own rifle +to join again in the fray he found that only one of the four was +standing, and he with his hands to his breast as he tottered about to +fall. But from some one of those who had fallen there had gone out a +wild, terrible cry, and even as Rod and Makoki rushed out to free +Wabigoon there came an answering yell from the direction of the Woonga +camp.</p> + +<p>Mukoki's knife was in his hand by the time he reached Wabi, and with one +or two slashes he had released his hands.</p> + +<p>"You hurt—bad?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No—no!" replied Wabi. "I knew you'd come, boys—dear old friends!"</p> + +<p>As he spoke he turned to the fallen leader and Rod saw him take +possession of the rifle and revolver which he had lost in their fight +with the Woongas weeks before. Mukoki had already spied their precious +pack of furs on one of the outlaw's backs, and he flung it over his own.</p> + +<p>"You saw the camp?" queried Wabi excitedly.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"They will be upon us in a minute! Which way, Mukoki?"</p> + +<p>"The chasm!" half shouted Rod. "The chasm! If we can reach the chasm—"</p> + +<p>"The chasm!" reiterated Wabigoon.</p> + +<p>Mukoki had fallen behind and motioned for Wabi and Rod to take the lead. +Even now he was determined to take the brunt of danger by bringing up +the rear.</p> + +<p>There was no time for argument and Wabigoon set off at a rapid pace. +From behind there came the click of shells as the Indian loaded his +rifle on the run. While the other two had been busy at the scene of the +ambush Rod had replaced his empty shell, and now, as he led, Wabi +examined the armament that had been stolen from them by the outlaws.</p> + +<p>"How many shells have you got, Rod?" he asked over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Forty-nine."</p> + +<p>"There's only four left in this belt besides five in the gun," called +back the Indian youth. "Give me—some."</p> + +<p>Without halting Rod plucked a dozen cartridges from his belt and passed +them on.</p> + +<p>Now they had reached the hill. At its summit they paused to recover +their breath and take a look at the camp.</p> + +<p>The fires were deserted. A quarter of a mile out on the plain they saw +half a dozen of their pursuers speeding toward the hill. The rest were +already concealed in the nearer thickets of the bottom.</p> + +<p>"We must beat them to the chasm!" said the young Indian.</p> + +<p>As he spoke Wabi turned and led the way again.</p> + +<p>Rod's heart fell like a lump within him. We must beat them to the chasm! +Those words of Wabi's brought him to the terrible realization that his +own powers of endurance were rapidly ebbing. His race behind Mukoki to +the burning cabin had seemed to rob the life from the muscles of his +limbs, and each step now added to his weakness. And the chasm was a mile +beyond the dip, and the entrance into that chasm still two miles +farther. Three miles! Could he hold out?</p> + +<p>He heard Mukoki thumping along behind him; ahead of him Wabi was +unconsciously widening the distance between them. He made a powerful +effort to close the breach, but it was futile. Then from close in his +rear there came a warning halloo from the old Indian, and Wabi turned.</p> + +<p>"He run t'ree mile to burning cabin," said Mukoki. "He no make chasm!"</p> + +<p>Rod was deathly white and breathing so hard that he could not speak. The +quick-witted Wabi at once realized their situation.</p> + +<p>"There is just one thing for us to do, Muky. We must stop the Woongas at +the dip. We'll fire down upon them from the top of the hill beyond the +lake. We can drop three or four of them and they won't dare to come +straight after us then. They will think we are going to fight them from +there and will take time to sneak around us. Meanwhile we'll get a good +lead in the direction of the chasm."</p> + +<p>He led off again, this time a little slower. Three minutes later they +entered into the dip, crossed it safely, and were already at the foot of +the hill, when from the opposite side of the hollow there came a +triumphant blood-curdling yell.</p> + +<p>"Hurry!" shouted Wabi. "They see us!" Even as he spoke there came the +crack of a rifle.</p> + +<p>Bzzzzzzz-inggggg!</p> + +<p>For the first time in his life Rod heard that terrible death-song of a +bullet close to his head and saw the snow fly up a dozen feet beyond the +young Indian.</p> + +<p>For an interval of twenty seconds there was silence; then there came +another shot, and after that three others in quick succession. Wabi +stumbled.</p> + +<p>"Not hit!" he called, scrambling to his feet. "Confound—that rock!"</p> + +<p>He rose to the hilltop with Rod close behind him, and from the opposite +side of the lake there came a fusillade of half a dozen shots. +Instinctively Rod dropped upon his face. And in that instant, as he lay +in the snow, he heard the sickening thud of a bullet and a sharp sudden +cry of pain from Mukoki. But the old warrior came up beside him and they +passed into the shelter of the hilltop together.</p> + +<p>"Is it bad? Is it bad, Mukoki? Is it bad—" Wabi was almost sobbing as +he turned and threw an arm around the old Indian. "Are you hit—bad?"</p> + +<p>Mukoki staggered, but caught himself.</p> + +<p>"In here," he said, putting a hand to his left shoulder. "She—no—bad." +He smiled, courage gleaming with pain in his eyes, and swung off the +light pack of furs. "We give 'em—devil—here!"</p> + +<p>Crouching, they peered over the edge of the hill. Half a dozen Woongas +had already left the cedars and were following swiftly across the open. +Others broke from the cover, and Wabi saw that a number of them were +without snow-shoes. He exultantly drew Mukoki's attention to this fact, +but the latter did not lift his eyes. In a few moments he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Now we give 'em—devil!"</p> + +<p>Eight pursuers on snow-shoes were in the open of the dip. Six of them +had reached the lake. Rod held his fire. He knew that it was now more +important for him to recover his wind than to fight, and he drew great +drafts of air into his lungs while his two comrades leveled their +rifles. He could fire after they were done if it was necessary.</p> + +<p>There was slow deadly deliberation in the way Mukoki and Wabigoon +sighted along their rifle-barrels. Mukoki fired first; one shot, +two—with a second's interval between—and an outlaw half-way across the +lake pitched forward into the snow. As he fell, Wabi fired once, and +there came to their ears shriek after shriek of agony as a second +pursuer fell with a shattered leg. At the cries and shots of battle the +hot blood rushed through Rod's veins, and with an excited shout of +defiance he brought his rifle to his shoulder and in unison the three +guns sent fire and death into the dip below.</p> + +<p>Only three of the eight Woongas remained and they had turned and were +running toward the shelter of the cedars.</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!" shouted Rod.</p> + +<p>In his excitement he got upon his feet and sent his fifth and last shot +after the fleeing outlaws. "Hurrah! Wow! Let's go after 'em!"</p> + +<p>"Get down!" commanded Wabi. "Load in a hurry!"</p> + +<p>Clink—clink—clink sounded the new shells as Mukoki and Wabigoon thrust +them into their magazines. Five seconds more and they were sending a +terrific fusillade of shots into the edge of the cedars—ten in all—and +by the time he had reloaded his own gun Rod could see nothing to shoot +at.</p> + +<p>"That will hold them for a while," spoke Wabi. "Most of them came in too +big a hurry, and without their snow-shoes, Muky. We'll beat them to the +chasm—easy!" He put an arm around the shoulders of the old Indian, who +was still lying upon his face in the snow. "Let me see, Muky—let me +see—"</p> + +<p>"Chasm first," replied Mukoki. "She no bad. No hit bone. No +bleed—much."</p> + +<p>From behind Rod could see that Mukoki's coat was showing a growing +blotch of red.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure—you can reach the chasm?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>In proof of his assertion the wounded Indian rose to his feet and +approached the pack of furs. Wabi was ahead of him, and placed it upon +his own shoulders.</p> + +<p>"You and Rod lead the way," he said. "You two know where to find the +opening into the chasm. I've never been there."</p> + +<p>Mukoki started down the hill, and Rod, close behind, could hear him +breathing heavily; there was no longer fear for himself in his soul, but +for that grim faithful warrior ahead, who would die in his tracks +without a murmur and with a smile of triumph and fearlessness on his +lips.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</p> + +<p>RODERICK HOLDS THE WOONGAS AT BAY</p> +<br> + +<p>They traveled more slowly now and Rod found his strength returning. When +they reached the second ridge he took Mukoki by the arm and assisted him +up, and the old Indian made no demur. This spoke more strongly of his +hurt than words. There was still no sign of their enemies behind. From +the top of the second ridge they could look back upon a quarter of a +mile of the valley below, and it was here that Rod suggested that he +remain on watch for a few minutes while Wabigoon went on with Mukoki. +The young hunters could see that the Indian was becoming weaker at every +step, and Mukoki could no longer conceal this weakness in spite of the +tremendous efforts he made to appear natural.</p> + +<p>"I believe it is bad," whispered Wabi to Rod, his face strangely white. +"I believe it is worse than we think. He is bleeding hard. Your idea is +a good one. Watch here, and if the Woongas show up in the valley open +fire on them. I'll leave you my gun, too, so they'll think we are going +to give them another fight. That will keep them back for a time. I'm +going to stop Muky up here a little way and dress his wound. He will +bleed to death if I don't."</p> + +<p>"And then go on," added Rod. "Don't stop if you hear me fire, but hurry +on to the chasm. I know the way and will join you. I'm as strong as I +ever was now, and can catch up with you easily with Mukoki traveling as +slowly as he does."</p> + +<p>During this brief conversation Mukoki had continued his way along the +ridge and Wabi hurried to overtake him. Meanwhile Rod concealed himself +behind a rock, from which vantage-point he could see the whole of that +part of the valley across which they had come.</p> + +<p>He looked at his watch and in tense anxiety counted every minute after +that. He allowed ten minutes for the dressing of Mukoki's wound. Every +second gained from then on would be priceless. For a quarter of an hour +he kept his eyes with ceaseless vigilance upon their back trail. Surely +the Woongas had secured their snow-shoes by this time! Was it possible +that they had given up the pursuit—that their terrible experience in +the dip had made them afraid of further battle? Rod answered this +question in the negative. He was sure that the Woongas knew that Wabi +was the son of the factor of Wabinosh House. Therefore they would make +every effort to recapture him, even though they had to follow far and a +dozen lives were lost before that feat was accomplished.</p> + +<p>A movement in the snow across the valley caught Rod's eyes. He +straightened himself, and his breath came quickly. Two figures had +appeared in the open. Another followed close behind, and after that +there came others, until the waiting youth had counted sixteen. They +were all on snow-shoes, following swiftly over the trail of the +fugitives.</p> + +<p>The young hunter looked at his watch again. Twenty-five minutes had +passed. Mukoki and Wabigoon had secured a good start. If he could only +hold the outlaws in the valley for a quarter of an hour more—just +fifteen short minutes—they would almost have reached the entrance into +the chasm.</p> + +<p>Alone, with his own life and those of his comrades depending upon him, +the boy was cool. There was no tremble in his hands to destroy the +accuracy of his rifle-fire, no blurring excitement or fear in his brain +to trouble his judgment of distance and range. He made up his mind that +he would not fire until they had come within four hundred yards. Between +that distance and three hundred he was sure he could drop at least one +or two of them.</p> + +<p>He measured his range by a jackpine stub, and when two of the Woongas +had reached and passed that stub he fired. He saw the snow thrown up six +feet in front of the leader. He fired again, and again, and one of the +shots, a little high, struck the second outlaw. The leader had darted +back to the shelter of the stub and Rod sent another bullet whizzing +past his ears. His fifth he turned into the main body of the pursuers, +and then, catching up Wabi's rifle, he poured a hail of five bullets +among them in as many seconds.</p> + +<p>The effect was instantaneous. The outlaws scattered in retreat and Rod +saw that a second figure was lying motionless in the snow. He began to +reload his rifles and by the time he had finished the Woongas had +separated and were running to the right and the left of him. For the +last time he looked at his watch. Wabi and Mukoki had been gone +thirty-five minutes.</p> + +<p>The boy crept back from his rock, straightened himself, and followed in +their trail. He mentally calculated that it would be ten minutes before +the Woongas, coming up from the sides and rear, would discover his +flight, and by that time he would have nearly a mile the start of them. +He saw, without stopping, where Wabi had dressed Mukoki's wound. There +were spots of blood and a red rag upon the snow. Half a mile farther on +the two had paused again, and this time he knew that Mukoki had stopped +to rest. From now on they had rested every quarter of a mile or so, and +soon Roderick saw them toiling slowly through the snow ahead of him.</p> + +<p>He ran up, panting, anxious.</p> + +<p>"How—" he began.</p> + +<p>Wabi looked at him grimly.</p> + +<p>"How much farther, Rod?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Not more than half a mile."</p> + +<p>Wabi motioned for him to take Mukoki's other arm.</p> + +<p>"He has bled a good deal," he said. There was a hardness in his voice +that made Rod shudder, and he caught his breath as Wabi shot him a +meaning glance behind the old warrior's doubled shoulders.</p> + +<p>They went faster now, almost carrying their wounded comrade between +them. Suddenly, Wabi paused, threw his rifle to his shoulder, and fired. +A few yards ahead a huge white rabbit kicked in his death struggles in +the snow.</p> + +<p>"If we do reach the chasm Mukoki must have something to eat," he said.</p> + +<p>"We'll reach it!" gasped Rod. "We'll reach it! There's the woods. We go +down there!"</p> + +<p>They almost ran, with Mukoki's snow-shod feet dragging between them, and +five minutes later they were carrying the half-unconscious Indian down +the steep side of the mountain. At its foot Wabi turned, and his eyes +flashed with vengeful hatred.</p> + +<p>"Now, you devils!" he shouted up defiantly. "Now!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki aroused himself for a few moments and Rod helped him back to the +shelter of the chasm wall. He found a nook between great masses of rock, +almost clear of snow, and left him there while he hurried back to +Wabigoon.</p> + +<p>"You stand on guard here, Rod," said the latter. "We must cook that +rabbit and get some life back into Mukoki. I think he has stopped +bleeding, but I am going to look again. The wound isn't fatal, but it +has weakened him. If we can get something hot into him I believe he will +be able to walk again. Did you have anything left over from your dinner +on the trail to-day?"</p> + +<p>Rod unstrapped the small pack in which the hunters carried their food +while on the trail, and which had been upon his shoulders since noon.</p> + +<p>"There is a double handful of coffee, a cupful of tea, plenty of salt +and a little bread," he said.</p> + +<p>"Good! Few enough supplies for three people in this kind of a +wilderness—but they'll save Mukoki!"</p> + +<p>Wabi went back, while Rod, sheltered behind a rock, watched the narrow +incline into the chasm. He almost hoped the Woongas would dare to +attempt a descent, for he was sure that he and Wabi would have them at a +terrible disadvantage and with their revolvers and three rifles could +inflict a decisive blow upon them before they reached the bottom. But he +saw no sign of their enemies. He heard no sound from above, yet he knew +that the outlaws were very near—only waiting for the protecting +darkness of night.</p> + +<p>He heard the crackling of Wabi's fire and the odor of coffee came to +him; and Wabi, assured that their presence was known to the Woongas, +began whistling cheerily. In a few minutes he rejoined Rod behind the +rock.</p> + +<p>"They will attack us as soon as it gets good and dark," he said coolly. +"That is, if they can find us. As soon as they are no longer able to see +down into the chasm we will find some kind of a hiding-place. Mukoki +will be able to travel then."</p> + +<p>A memory of the cleft in the chasm wall came to Rod and he quickly +described it to his companion. It was an ideal hiding-place at night, +and if Mukoki was strong enough they could steal up out of the chasm and +secure a long start into the south before the Woongas discovered their +flight in the morning. There was just one chance of failure. If the spy +whose trail had revealed the break in the mountain to Rod was not among +the outlaws' wounded or dead the cleft might be guarded, or the Woongas +themselves might employ it in making a descent upon them.</p> + +<p>"It's worth the risk anyway," said Wabi. "The chances are even that your +outlaw ran across the fissure by accident and that his companions are +not aware of its existence. And they'll not follow our trail down the +chasm to-night, I'll wager. In the cover of darkness they will steal +down among the rocks and then wait for daylight. Meanwhile we can be +traveling southward and when they catch up with us we will give them +another fight if they want it."</p> + +<p>"We can start pretty soon?"</p> + +<p>"Within an hour."</p> + +<p>For some time the two stood in silent watchfulness. Suddenly Rod asked:</p> + +<p>"Where is Wolf?"</p> + +<p>Wabi laughed, softly, exultantly.</p> + +<p>"Gone back to his people, Rod. He will be crying in the wild hunt-pack +to-night. Good old Wolf!" The laugh left his lips and there was a +tremble of regret in his voice. "The Woongas came from the back of the +cabin—took me by surprise—and we had it hot and heavy for a few +minutes. We fell back where Wolf was tied and just as I knew they'd got +me sure I cut his babeesh with the knife I had in my hand."</p> + +<p>"Didn't he show fight?"</p> + +<p>"For a minute. Then one of the Indians shot, at him and he hiked off +into the woods."</p> + +<p>"Queer they didn't wait for Mukoki and me," mused Rod. "Why didn't they +ambush us?"</p> + +<p>"Because they didn't want you, and they were sure they'd reach their +camp before you took up the trail. I was their prize. With me in their +power they figured on communicating with you and Mukoki and sending you +back to the Post with their terms. They would have bled father to his +last cent—and then killed me. Oh, they talked pretty plainly to me when +they thought they had me!"</p> + +<p>There came a noise from above them and the young hunters held their +rifles in readiness. Nearer and nearer came the crashing sound, until a +small boulder shot past them into the chasm.</p> + +<p>"They're up there," grinned Wabi, lowering his gun. "That was an +accident, but you'd better keep your eyes open. I'll bet the whole tribe +feel like murdering the fellow who rolled over that stone!"</p> + +<p>He crept cautiously back to Mukoki, and Rod crouched with his face to +the narrow trail leading down from the top of the mountain. Deep shadows +were beginning to lurk among the trees and he was determined that any +movement there would draw his fire. Fifteen minutes later Wabi returned, +eating ravenously at a big hind quarter of broiled rabbit.</p> + +<p>"I've had my coffee," he greeted. "Go back and eat and drink, and build +the fire up high. Don't mind me when I shoot. I am going to fire just to +let the Woongas know we are on guard, and after that we'll hustle for +that break in the mountain."</p> + +<p>Rod found Mukoki with a chunk of rabbit in one hand and a cup of coffee +in the other. The wounded Indian smiled with something like the old +light in his eyes and a mighty load was lifted from Rod's heart.</p> + +<p>"You're better?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Fine!" replied Mukoki. "No much hurt. Good fight some more. Wabi say, +'No, you stay.'" His face became a map of grimaces to show his +disapproval of Wabi's command.</p> + +<p>Rod helped himself to the meat and coffee. He was hungry, but after he +was done there remained some of the rabbit and a biscuit and these he +placed in his pack for further use. Soon after this there came two shots +from the rock and before the echoes had died away down the chasm Wabi +approached through the gathering gloom.</p> + +<p>It was easy for the hunters to steal along the concealment of the +mountain wall, and even if there had been prying eyes on the opposite +ridge they could not have penetrated the thickening darkness in the +bottom of the gulch. For some time the flight was continued with extreme +caution, no sound being made to arouse the suspicion of any outlaw who +might be patrolling the edge of the precipice. At the end of half an +hour Mukoki, who was in the lead that he might set a pace according to +his strength, quickened his steps. Rod was close beside him now, his +eyes ceaselessly searching the chasm wall for signs that would tell him +when they were nearing the rift. Suddenly Wabi halted in his tracks and +gave a low hiss that stopped them.</p> + +<p>"It's snowing!" he whispered.</p> + +<p>Mukoki lifted his face. Great solitary flakes of snow fell upon it.</p> + +<p>"She snow hard—soon. Mebby cover snow-shoe trails!"</p> + +<p>"And if it does—we're safe!" There was a vibrant joy in Wabi's voice.</p> + +<p>For a full minute Mukoki held his face to the sky.</p> + +<p>"Hear small wind over chasm," he said.</p> + +<p>"She come from south. She snow hard—now—up there!"</p> + +<p>They went on, stirred by new hope. Rod could feel that the flakes were +coming thicker. The three now kept close to the chasm wall in their +search for the rift. How changed all things were at night! Rod's heart +throbbed now with hope, now with doubt, now with actual fear. Was it +possible that he could not find it? Had they passed it among some of the +black shadows behind? He saw no rock that he recognized, no overhanging +crag, no sign to guide him. He stopped, and his voice betrayed his +uneasiness as he asked:</p> + +<p>"How far do you think we have come?"</p> + +<p>Mukoki had gone a few steps ahead, and before Wabi answered he called +softly to them from close up against the chasm wall. They hurried to him +and found him standing beside the rift.</p> + +<p>"Here!"</p> + +<p>Wabi handed his rifle to Rod.</p> + +<p>"I'm going up first," he announced. "If the coast is clear I'll whistle +down."</p> + +<p>For a few moments Mukoki and Rod could hear him as he crawled up the +fissure. Then all was silent. A quarter of an hour passed, and a low +whistle came to their ears. Another ten minutes and the three stood +together at the top of the mountain, Rod and the wounded Mukoki +breathing hard from their exertions.</p> + +<p>For a time the three sat down in the snow and waited, watched, listened; +and from Rod's heart there went up something that was almost a prayer, +for it was snowing—snowing hard, and it seemed to him that the storm +was something which God had specially directed should fall in their path +that it might shield them and bring them safely home.</p> + +<p>And when he rose to his feet Wabi was still silent, and the three +gripped hands in mute thankfulness at their deliverance.</p> + +<p>Still speechless, they turned instinctively for a moment back to the +dark desolation beyond the chasm—the great, white wilderness in which +they had passed so many adventurous yet happy weeks; and as they gazed +into the chaos beyond the second mountain there came to them the lonely, +wailing howl of a wolf.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said Wabi softly. "I wonder—if that—is Wolf?"</p> + +<p>And then, Indian file, they trailed into the south.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</p> + +<p>THE SURPRISE AT THE POST</p> +<br> + +<p>From the moment that the adventurers turned their backs upon the Woonga +country Mukoki was in command. With the storm in their favor everything +else now depended upon the craft of the old pathfinder. There was +neither moon nor wind to guide them, and even Wabi felt that he was not +competent to strike a straight trail in a strange country and a night +storm. But Mukoki, still a savage in the ways of the wilderness, seemed +possessed of that mysterious sixth sense which is known as the sense of +orientation—that almost supernatural instinct which guides the carrier +pigeon as straight as a die to its home-cote hundreds of miles away. +Again and again during that thrilling night's flight Wabi or Rod would +ask the Indian where Wabinosh House lay, and he would point out its +direction to them without hesitation. And each time it seemed to the +city youth that he pointed a different way, and it proved to him how +easy it was to become hopelessly lost in the wilderness.</p> + +<p>Not until midnight did they pause to rest. They had traveled slowly but +steadily and Wabi figured that they had covered fifteen miles. Five +miles behind them their trail was completely obliterated by the falling +snow. Morning would betray to the Woongas no sign of the direction taken +by the fugitives.</p> + +<p>"They will believe that we have struck directly westward for the Post," +said Wabi. "To-morrow night we'll be fifty miles apart."</p> + +<p>During this stop a small fire was built behind a fallen log and the +hunters refreshed themselves with a pot of strong coffee and what little +remained of the rabbit and biscuits. The march was then resumed.</p> + +<p>It seemed to Rod that they had climbed an interminable number of ridges +and had picked their way through an interminable number of swampy +bottoms between them, and he, even more than Mukoki, was relieved when +they struck the easier traveling of open plains. In fact, Mukoki seemed +scarcely to give a thought to his wound and Roderick was almost ready to +drop in his tracks by the time a halt was called an hour before dawn. +The old warrior was confident that they were now well out of danger and +a rousing camp-fire was built in the shelter of a thick growth of +spruce.</p> + +<p>"Spruce partridge in mornin'," affirmed Mukoki. "Plenty here for +breakfast."</p> + +<p>"How do you know?" asked Rod, whose hunger was ravenous.</p> + +<p>"Fine thick spruce, all in shelter of dip," explained the Indian. "Birds +winter here."</p> + +<p>Wabi had unpacked the furs, and the larger of these, including six lynx +and three especially fine wolf skins, he divided into three piles.</p> + +<p>"They'll make mighty comfortable beds if you keep close enough to the +fire," he explained. "Get a few spruce boughs, Rod, and cover them over +with one of the wolf skins. The two lynx pelts will make the warmest +blankets you ever had."</p> + +<p>Rod quickly availed himself of this idea, and within half an hour he was +sleeping soundly. Mukoki and Wabigoon, more inured to the hardships of +the wilderness, took only brief snatches of slumber, one or both +awakening now and then to replenish the fire. As soon as it was light +enough the two Indians went quietly out into the spruce with their guns, +and their shots a little later awakened Rod. When they returned they +brought three partridges with them.</p> + +<p>"There are dozens of them among the spruce," said Wabi, "but just now we +do not want to shoot any oftener than is absolutely necessary. Have you +noticed our last night's trail?"</p> + +<p>Rod rubbed his eyes, thus confessing that as yet he had not been out +from between his furs.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you go out there in the open for a hundred yards you won't +find it," finished his comrade. "The snow has covered it completely."</p> + +<p>Although they lacked everything but meat, this breakfast in the spruce +thicket was one of the happiest of the entire trip, and when the three +hunters were done each had eaten of his partridge until only the bones +were left. There was now little cause for fear, for it was still snowing +and their enemies were twenty-five miles to the north of them. This fact +did not deter the adventurers from securing an early start, however, and +they traveled southward through the storm until noon, when they built a +camp of spruce and made preparations to rest until the following day.</p> + +<p>"We must be somewhere near the Kenogami trail," Wabi remarked to Mukoki. +"We may have passed it."</p> + +<p>"No pass it," replied Mukoki. "She off there." He pointed to the south.</p> + +<p>"You see the Kenogami trail is a sled trail leading from the little town +of Nipigon, on the railroad, to Kenogami House, which is a Hudson Bay +Post at the upper end of Long Lake," explained Wabi to his white +companion. "The factor of Kenogami is a great friend of ours and we have +visited back and forth often, but I've been over the Kenogami trail only +once. Mukoki has traveled it many times."</p> + +<p>Several rabbits were killed before dinner. No other hunting was done +during the afternoon, most of which was passed in sleep by the exhausted +adventurers. When Rod awoke he found that it had stopped snowing and was +nearly dark.</p> + +<p>Mukoki's wound was beginning to trouble him again, and it was decided +that at least a part of the next day should be passed in camp, and that +both Rod and Wabigoon should make an effort to kill some animal that +would furnish them with the proper kind of oil to dress it with, the fat +of almost any species of animal except mink or rabbit being valuable for +this purpose. With dawn the two started out, while Mukoki, much against +his will, was induced to remain in camp. A short distance away the +hunters separated, Rod striking to the eastward and Wabi into the south.</p> + +<p>For an hour Roderick continued without seeing game, though there were +plenty of signs of deer and caribou about him. At last he determined to +strike for a ridge a mile to the south, from the top of which he was +more likely to get a shot than in the thick growth of the plains. He had +not traversed more than a half of the distance when much to his surprise +he came upon a well-beaten trail running slightly diagonally with his +own, almost due north. Two dog-teams had passed since yesterday's storm, +and on either side of the sleds were the snow-shoe trails of men. Rod +saw that there were three of these, and at least a dozen dogs in the two +teams. It at once occurred to him that this was the Kenogami trail, and +impelled by nothing more than curiosity he began to follow it.</p> + +<p>Half a mile farther on he found where the party had stopped to cook a +meal. The remains of their camp-fire lay beside a huge log, which was +partly burned away, and about it were scattered bones and bits of bread. +But what most attracted Rod's attention were other tracks which joined +those of the three people on snow-shoes. He was sure that these tracks +had been made by women, for the footprints made by one of them were +unusually small. Close to the log he found a single impression in the +snow that caused his heart to give a sudden unexpected thump within him. +In this spot the snow had been packed by one of the snow-shoes, and in +this comparatively hard surface the footprint was clearly defined. It +had been made by a moccasin. Rod knew that. And the moccasin wore a +slight heel! He remembered, now, that thrilling day in the forest near +Wabinosh House when he had stopped to look at Minnetaki's footprints in +the soft earth through which she had been driven by her Woonga +abductors, and he remembered, too, that she was the only person at the +Post who wore heels on her moccasins. It was a queer coincidence! Could +Minnetaki have been here? Had she made that footprint in the snow? +Impossible, declared the young hunter's better sense. And yet his blood +ran a little faster as he touched the delicate impression with his bare +fingers. It reminded him of Minnetaki, anyway; her foot would have made +just such a trail, and he wondered if the girl who had stepped there was +as pretty as she.</p> + +<p>He followed now a little faster than before, and ten minutes later he +came to where a dozen snow-shoe trails had come in from the north and +had joined the three. After meeting, the two parties had evidently +joined forces and had departed over the trail made by those who had +appeared from the direction of the Post.</p> + +<p>"Friends from Kenogami House came down to meet them," mused Rod, and as +he turned back in the direction of the camp he formed a picture of that +meeting in the heart of the wilderness, of the glad embraces of husband +and wife, and the joy of the pretty girl with the tiny feet as she +kissed her father, and perhaps her big brother; for no girl could +possess feet just like Minnetaki's and not be pretty!</p> + +<p>He found that Wabi had preceded him when he returned. The young Indian +had shot a small doe, and that noon witnessed a feast in camp. For his +lack of luck Rod had his story to tell of the people on the trail. The +passing of this party formed the chief topic of conversation during the +rest of the day, for after weeks of isolation in the wilderness even +this momentary nearness of living civilized men and women was a great +event to them. But there was one fact which Rod dwelt but slightly upon. +He did not emphasize the similarity of the pretty footprint and that +made by Minnetaki's moccasin, for he knew that a betrayal of his +knowledge and admiration of the Indian maiden's feet would furnish Wabi +with fun-making ammunition for a week. He did say, however, that the +footprint in the snow struck him as being just about the size that +Minnetaki would make.</p> + +<p>All that day and night the hunters remained in camp, sleeping, eating +and taking care of Mukoki's wound, but the next morning saw them ready +for their homeward journey with the coming of dawn. They struck due +westward now, satisfied that they were well beyond the range of the +outlaw Woongas.</p> + +<p>As the boys talked over their adventure on the long journey back toward +the Post, Wabi thought with regret of the moose head which he had left +buried in the "Indian ice-box," and even wished, for a moment, to go +home by the northern trail, despite the danger from the hostile Woongas, +in order to recover the valuable antlers. But Mukoki shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Woonga make good fight. What for go again into wolf trap?"</p> + +<p>And so they reluctantly gave up the notion of carrying the big head of +the bull moose back to the Post.</p> + +<p>A little before noon of the second day they saw Lake Nipigon from the +top of a hill. Columbus when he first stepped upon the shore of his +newly discovered land was not a whit happier than Roderick Drew when +that joyous youth, running out upon the snow-covered ice, attempted to +turn a somersault with his snow-shoes on!</p> + +<p>Just over there, thought Rod—just over there—a hundred miles or so, is +Minnetaki and the Post! Happy visions filled his mind all that afternoon +as they traveled across the foot of the lake. Three weeks more and he +would see his mother—and home. And Wabi was going with him! He seemed +tireless; his spirits were never exhausted; he laughed, whistled, even +attempted to sing. He wondered if Minnetaki would be very glad to see +him. He knew that she would be glad—but how glad?</p> + +<p>Two days more were spent in circling the lower end of the lake. Then +their trail turned northward, and on the second evening after this, as +the cold red sun was sinking in all that heatless glory of the great +North's day-end, they came out upon a forest-clad ridge and looked down +upon the House of Wabinosh.</p> + +<p>And as they looked—and as the burning disk of the sun, falling down and +down behind forest, mountain and plain, bade its last adieu to the land +of the wild, there came to them, strangely clear and beautiful, the +notes of a bugle.</p> + +<p>And Wabi, listening, grew rigid with wonder. As the last notes died away +the cheers that had been close to his lips gave way to the question, +"What does that mean?"</p> + +<p>"A bugle!" said Rod.</p> + +<p>As he spoke there came to their ears the heavy, reverberating boom of a +big gun.</p> + +<p>"If I'm not mistaken," he added, "that is a sunset salute. I didn't know +you had—soldiers—at the Post!"</p> + +<p>"We haven't," replied the Indian youth. "By George, what do you suppose +it means?"</p> + +<p>He hurried down the ridge, the others close behind him. Fifteen minutes +later they trailed out into the open near the Post. A strange change had +occurred since Rod and his companions had last seen Wabinosh House. In +the open half a dozen rude log shelters had been erected, and about +these were scores of soldiers in the uniform of his Majesty, the King of +England. Shouts of greeting died on the hunters' lips. They hastened to +the dwelling of the factor, and while Wabi rushed in to meet his mother +and father Rod cut across to the Company's store. He had often found +Minnetaki there. But his present hope was shattered, and after looking +in he turned back to the house. By the time he had reached the steps a +second time the princess mother, with Wabi close behind her, came out to +welcome him.</p> + +<p>Wabi's face was flushed with excitement. His eyes sparkled.</p> + +<p>"Rod, what do you think!" he exclaimed, after his mother had gone back +to see to the preparation of their supper. "The government has declared +war on the Woongas and has sent up a company of regulars to wipe'em out! +They have been murdering and robbing as never before during the last two +months. The regulars start after them to-morrow!"</p> + +<p>He was breathing hard and excitedly.</p> + +<p>"Can't you stay—and join in the campaign?" he pleaded.</p> + +<p>"I can't," replied Rod. "I can't, Wabi; I've got to go home. You know +that. And you're going with me. The regulars can get along without you. +Go back to Detroit with me—and get your mother to let Minnetaki go with +us."</p> + +<p>"Not now, Rod," said the Indian youth, taking his friend's hand. "I +won't be able to go—now. Nor Minnetaki either. They have been having +such desperate times here that father has sent her away. He wanted +mother to go, but she wouldn't."</p> + +<p>"Sent Minnetaki away?" gasped Rod.</p> + +<p>"Yes. She started for Kenogami House four days ago in company with an +Indian woman and three guides. That was undoubtedly their trail you +found."</p> + +<p>"And the footprint—"</p> + +<p>"Was hers," laughed Wabi, putting an arm affectionately around his +chum's shoulders. "Won't you stay, Rod?"</p> + +<p>"It is impossible."</p> + +<p>He went to his old room, and until suppertime sat alone in silent +dejection. Two great disappointments had fallen upon him. Wabi could not +go home with him—and he had missed Minnetaki. The young girl had left a +note in her mother's care for him, and he read it again and again. She +had written it believing that she would return to Wabinosh House before +the hunters, but at the end she had added a paragraph in which she said +that if she did not do this Rod must make the Post a second visit very +soon, and bring his mother with him.</p> + +<p>At supper the princess mother several times pressed Minnetaki's +invitation upon the young hunter. She read to him parts of certain +letters which she had received from Mrs. Drew during the winter, and Rod +was overjoyed to find that his mother was not only in good health, but +that she had given her promise to visit Wabinosh House the following +summer. Wabi broke all table etiquette by giving vent to a warlike whoop +of joy at this announcement, and once more Rod's spirits rose high above +his temporary disappointments.</p> + +<p>That night the furs were appraised and purchased by the factor for his +Company, and Rod's share, including his third of the gold, was nearly +seven hundred dollars. The next morning the bi-monthly sled party, was +leaving for civilization, and he prepared to go with it, after writing a +long letter to Minnetaki, which was to be carried to her by the faithful +Mukoki. Most of that night Wabi and his friend sat up and talked, and +made plans. It was believed that the campaign against the Woongas would +be a short and decisive one. By spring all trouble would be over.</p> + +<p>"And you'll come back as soon as you can?" pleaded Wabi for the +hundredth time. "You'll come back by the time the ice breaks up?"</p> + +<p>"If I am alive!" pledged the city youth.</p> + +<p>"And you'll bring your mother?"</p> + +<p>"She has promised."</p> + +<p>"And then—for the gold!"</p> + +<p>"For the gold!"</p> + +<p>Wabi held out his hand and the two gripped heartily.</p> + +<p>"And Minnetaki will be here then—I swear it!" said the Indian youth, +laughing.</p> + +<p>Rod blushed.</p> + +<p>And that night alone he slipped quietly out into the still, white night; +and he looked, longingly, far into the southeast where he had found the +footprint in the snow; and he turned to the north, and the east, and the +west, and lastly to the south, and his eyes seemed to travel through the +distance of a thousand miles to where a home and a mother lay sleeping +in a great city. And as he turned back to the House of Wabinosh, where +all the lights were out, he spoke softly to himself:</p> + +<p>"It's home—to-morrow!"</p> + +<p>And then he added:</p> + +<p>"But you bet I'll be back by the time the ice breaks up!"</p> + +<p>THE END</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Wolf Hunters, by James Oliver Curwood + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOLF HUNTERS *** + +***** This file should be named 12170-h.htm or 12170-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/1/7/12170/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Dave Macfarlane and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/12170-h/wh001.jpg b/12170-h/wh001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d0a9657 --- /dev/null +++ b/12170-h/wh001.jpg diff --git a/12170-h/wh002.jpg b/12170-h/wh002.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e16f6a --- /dev/null +++ b/12170-h/wh002.jpg diff --git a/12170-h/whfront.jpg b/12170-h/whfront.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..998b442 --- /dev/null +++ b/12170-h/whfront.jpg diff --git a/12170.txt b/12170.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b369ee2 --- /dev/null +++ b/12170.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6231 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wolf Hunters, by James Oliver Curwood + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Wolf Hunters + A Tale of Adventure in the Wilderness + +Author: James Oliver Curwood + +Release Date: April 27, 2004 [EBook #12170] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOLF HUNTERS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Dave Macfarlane and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + + + + +THE WOLF HUNTERS + +A Tale of Adventure in the Wilderness + +BY +JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD + +1908 + +To my comrades of the great northern wilderness, those faithful +companions with whom I have shared the joys and hardships of the "long +silent trail," and especially to Mukoki, my red guide and beloved +friend, does the writer gratefully dedicate this volume + + +CONTENTS + +Chapter + +I The Fight in the Forest +II How Wabigoon Became a White Man +III Roderick Sees the Footprint +IV Roderick's First Taste of the Hunter's Life +V Shots in the Wilderness +VI Mukoki Disturbs the Ancient Skeletons +VII Roderick Discovers the Buckskin Bag +VIII How Wolf Became the Companion of Men +IX Wolf Takes Vengeance Upon His People +X Roderick Explores the Chasm +XI Roderick's Dream +XII The Secret of the Skeleton's Hand +XIII Snowed In +XIV The Rescue of Wabigoon +XV Roderick Holds the Woongas at Bay +XVI The Surprise at the Post + + +Illustrations: + +With his rifle ready Rob approached the fissure (Frontispiece) +Knife--fight--heem killed! +The leader stopped in his snow-shoes + + +THE WOLF HUNTERS + + +CHAPTER I + +THE FIGHT IN THE FOREST + + +Cold winter lay deep in the Canadian wilderness. Over it the moon was +rising, like a red pulsating ball, lighting up the vast white silence of +the night in a shimmering glow. Not a sound broke the stillness of the +desolation. It was too late for the life of day, too early for the +nocturnal roamings and voices of the creatures of the night. Like the +basin of a great amphitheater the frozen lake lay revealed in the light +of the moon and a billion stars. Beyond it rose the spruce forest, black +and forbidding. Along its nearer edges stood hushed walls of tamarack, +bowed in the smothering clutch of snow and ice, shut in by impenetrable +gloom. + +A huge white owl flitted out of this rim of blackness, then back again, +and its first quavering hoot came softly, as though the mystic hour of +silence had not yet passed for the night-folk. The snow of the day had +ceased, hardly a breath of air stirred the ice-coated twigs of the +trees. Yet it was bitter cold--so cold that a man, remaining motionless, +would have frozen to death within an hour. + +Suddenly there was a break in the silence, a weird, thrilling sound, +like a great sigh, but not human--a sound to make one's blood run faster +and fingers twitch on rifle-stock. It came from the gloom of the +tamaracks. After it there fell a deeper silence than before, and the +owl, like a noiseless snowflake, drifted out over the frozen lake. After +a few moments it came again, more faintly than before. One versed in +woodcraft would have slunk deeper into the rim of blackness, and +listened, and wondered, and watched; for in the sound he would have +recognized the wild, half-conquered note of a wounded beast's suffering +and agony. + +Slowly, with all the caution born of that day's experience, a huge bull +moose walked out into the glow of the moon. His magnificent head, +drooping under the weight of massive antlers, was turned inquisitively +across the lake to the north. His nostrils were distended, his eyes +glaring, and he left behind a trail of blood. Half a mile away he caught +the edge of the spruce forest. There something told him he would find +safety. A hunter would have known that he was wounded unto death as he +dragged himself out into the foot-deep snow of the lake. + +A dozen rods out from the tamaracks he stopped, head thrown high, long +ears pitched forward, and nostrils held half to the sky. It is in this +attitude that a moose listens when he hears a trout splash +three-quarters of a mile away. Now there was only the vast, unending +silence, broken only by the mournful hoot of the snow owl on the other +side of the lake. Still the great beast stood immovable, a little pool +of blood growing upon the snow under his forward legs. What was the +mystery that lurked in the blackness of yonder forest? Was it danger? +The keenest of human hearing would have detected nothing. Yet to those +long slender ears of the bull moose, slanting beyond the heavy plates of +his horns, there came a sound. The animal lifted his head still higher +to the sky, sniffed to the east, to the west, and back to the shadows of +the tamaracks. But it was the north that held him. + +From beyond that barrier of spruce there soon came a sound that man +might have heard--neither the beginning nor the end of a wail, but +something like it. Minute by minute it came more clearly, now growing in +volume, now almost dying away, but every instant approaching--the +distant hunting call of the wolf-pack! What the hangman's noose is to +the murderer, what the leveled rifles are to the condemned spy, that +hunt-cry of the wolves is to the wounded animal of the forests. + +Instinct taught this to the old bull. His head dropped, his huge antlers +leveled themselves with his shoulders, and he set off at a slow trot +toward the east. He was taking chances in thus crossing the open, but to +him the spruce forest was home, and there he might find refuge. In his +brute brain he reasoned that he could get there before the wolves broke +cover. And then-- + +Again he stopped, so suddenly that his forward legs doubled under him +and he pitched into the snow. This time, from the direction of the +wolf-pack, there came the ringing report of a rifle! It might have been +a mile or two miles away, but distance did not lessen the fear it +brought to the dying king of the North. That day he had heard the same +sound, and it had brought mysterious and weakening pain in his vitals. +With a supreme effort he brought himself to his feet, once more sniffed +into the north, the east, and the west, then turned and buried himself +in the black and frozen wilderness of tamarack. + +Stillness fell again with the sound of the rifle-shot. It might have +lasted five minutes or ten, when a long, solitary howl floated from +across the lake. It ended in the sharp, quick yelp of a wolf on the +trail, and an instant later was taken up by others, until the pack was +once more in full cry. Almost simultaneously a figure darted out upon +the ice from the edge of the forest. A dozen paces and it paused and +turned back toward the black wall of spruce. + +"Are you coming, Wabi?" + +A voice answered from the woods. "Yes. Hurry up--run!" + +Thus urged, the other turned his face once more across the lake. He was +a youth of not more than eighteen. In his right hand he carried a club. +His left arm, as if badly injured, was done up in a sling improvised +from a lumberman's heavy scarf. His face was scratched and bleeding, and +his whole appearance showed that he was nearing complete exhaustion. For +a few moments he ran through the snow, then halted to a staggering walk. +His breath came in painful gasps. The club slipped from his nerveless +fingers, and conscious of the deathly weakness that was overcoming him +he did not attempt to regain it. Foot by foot he struggled on, until +suddenly his knees gave way under him and he sank down into the snow. + +From the edge of the spruce forest a young Indian now ran out upon the +surface of the lake. His breath was coming quickly, but with excitement +rather than fatigue. Behind him, less than half a mile away, he could +hear the rapidly approaching cry of the hunt-pack, and for an instant he +bent his lithe form close to the snow, measuring with the acuteness of +his race the distance of the pursuers. Then he looked for his white +companion, and failed to see the motionless blot that marked where the +other had fallen. A look of alarm shot into his eyes, and resting his +rifle between his knees he placed his hands, trumpet fashion, to his +mouth and gave a signal call which, on a still night like this, carried +for a mile. + +"Wa-hoo-o-o-o-o-o! Wa-hoo-o-o-o-o-o!" + +At that cry the exhausted boy in the snow staggered to his feet, and +with an answering shout which came but faintly to the ears of the +Indian, resumed his flight across the lake. Two or three minutes later +Wabi came up beside him. + +"Can you make it, Rod?" he cried. + +The other made an effort to answer, but his reply was hardly more than a +gasp. Before Wabi could reach out to support him he had lost his little +remaining strength and fallen for a second time into the snow. + +"I'm afraid--I--can't do it--Wabi," he whispered. "I'm--bushed--" + +The young Indian dropped his rifle and knelt beside the wounded boy, +supporting his head against his own heaving shoulders. + +"It's only a little farther, Rod," he urged. "We can make it, and take +to a tree. We ought to have taken to a tree back there, but I didn't +know that you were so far gone; and there was a good chance to make +camp, with three cartridges left for the open lake." + +"Only three!" + +"That's all, but I ought to make two of them count in this light. Here, +take hold of my shoulders! Quick!" + +He doubled himself like a jack-knife in front of his half-prostrate +companion. From behind them there came a sudden chorus of the wolves, +louder and clearer than before. + +"They've hit the open and we'll have them on the lake inside of two +minutes," he cried. "Give me your arms, Rod! There! Can you hold the +gun?" + +He straightened himself, staggering under the other's weight, and set +off on a half-trot for the distant tamaracks. Every muscle in his +powerful young body was strained to its utmost tension. Even more fully +than his helpless burden did he realize the peril at their backs. + +Three minutes, four minutes more, and then-- + +A terrible picture burned in Wabi's brain, a picture he had carried from +boyhood of another child, torn and mangled before his very eyes by these +outlaws of the North, and he shuddered. Unless he sped those three +remaining bullets true, unless that rim of tamaracks was reached in +time, he knew what their fate would be. There flashed into his mind one +last resource. He might drop his wounded companion and find safety for +himself. But it was a thought that made Wabi smile grimly. This was not +the first time that these two had risked their lives together, and that +very day Roderick had fought valiantly for the other, and had been the +one to suffer. If they died, it would be in company. Wabi made up his +mind to that and clutched the other's arms in a firmer grip. He was +pretty certain that death faced them both. They might escape the wolves, +but the refuge of a tree, with the voracious pack on guard below, meant +only a more painless end by cold. Still, while there was life there was +hope, and he hurried on through the snow, listening for the wolves +behind him and with each moment feeling more keenly that his own powers +of endurance were rapidly reaching an end. + +For some reason that Wabi could not explain the hunt-pack had ceased to +give tongue. Not only the allotted two minutes, but five of them, passed +without the appearance of the animals on the lake. Was it possible that +they! had lost the trail? Then it occurred to the Indian that perhaps he +had wounded one of the pursuers, and that the others, discovering his +injury, had set upon him and were now participating in one of the +cannibalistic feasts that had saved them thus far. Hardly had he thought +of this possibility when he was thrilled by a series of long howls, and +looking back he discerned a dozen or more dark objects moving swiftly +over their trail. + +Not an eighth of a mile ahead was the tamarack forest. Surely Rod could +travel that distance! + +"Run for it, Rod!" he cried. "You're rested now. I'll stay here and +stop 'em!" + +He loosened the other's arms, and as he did so his rifle fell from the +white boy's nerveless grip and buried itself in the snow. As he relieved +himself of his burden he saw for the first time the deathly pallor and +partly closed eyes of his companion. With a new terror filling his own +faithful heart he knelt beside the form which lay so limp and lifeless, +his blazing eyes traveling from the ghastly face to the oncoming wolves, +his rifle ready in his hands. He could now discern the wolves trailing +out from the spruce forest like ants. A dozen of them were almost within +rifle-shot. Wabi knew that it was with this vanguard of the pack that he +must deal if he succeeded in stopping the scores behind. Nearer and +nearer he allowed them to come, until the first were scarce two hundred +feet away. Then, with a sudden shout, the Indian leaped to his feet and +dashed fearlessly toward them. This unexpected move, as he had intended, +stopped the foremost wolves in a huddled group for an instant, and in +this opportune moment Wabi leveled his gun and fired. A long howl of +pain testified to the effect of the shot. Hardly had it begun when Wabi +fired again, this time with such deadly precision that one of the +wolves, springing high into the air, tumbled back lifeless among the +pack without so much as making a sound. + +Running to the prostrate Roderick, Wabi drew him quickly upon his back, +clutched his rifle in the grip of his arm, and started again for the +tamaracks. Only once did he look back, and then he saw the wolves +gathering in a snarling, fighting crowd about their slaughtered +comrades. Not until he had reached the shelter of the tamaracks did the +Indian youth lay down his burden, and then in his own exhaustion he fell +prone upon the snow, his black eyes fixed cautiously upon the feasting +pack. A few minutes later he discerned dark spots appearing here and +there upon the whiteness of the snow, and at these signs of the +termination of the feast he climbed up into the low branches of a spruce +and drew Roderick after him. Not until then did the wounded boy show +visible signs of life. Slowly he recovered from the faintness which had +overpowered him, and after a little, with some assistance from Wabi, was +able to place himself safely on a higher limb. + +"That's the second time, Wabi," he said, reaching a hand down +affectionately to the other's shoulder. "Once from drowning, once from +the wolves. I've got a lot to even up with you!" + +"Not after what happened to-day!" + +The Indian's dusky face was raised until the two were looking into each +other's eyes, with a gaze of love, and trust. Only a moment thus, and +instinctively their glance turned toward the lake. The wolf-pack was in +plain view. It was the biggest pack that Wabi, in all his life in the +wilderness, had ever seen, and he mentally figured that there were at +least half a hundred animals in it. Like ravenous dogs after having a +few scraps of meat flung among them, the wolves were running about, +nosing here and there, as if hoping to find a morsel that might have +escaped discovery. Then one of them stopped on the trail and, throwing +himself half on his haunches, with his head turned to the sky like a +baying hound, started the hunt-cry. + +"There's two packs. I thought it was too big for one," exclaimed the +Indian. "See! Part of them are taking up the trail and the others are +lagging behind gnawing the bones of the dead wolf. Now if we only had +our ammunition and the other gun those murderers got away from us, we'd +make a fortune. What--" + +Wabi stopped with a suddenness that spoke volumes, and the supporting +arm that he had thrown around Rod's waist tightened until it caused the +wounded youth to flinch. Both boys stared in rigid silence. The wolves +were crowding around a spot in the snow half-way between the tamarack +refuge and the scene of the recent feast. The starved animals betrayed +unusual excitement. They had struck the pool of blood and red trail made +by the dying moose! + +"What is it, Wabi?" whispered Rod. + +The Indian did not answer. His black eyes gleamed with a new fire, his +lips were parted in anxious anticipation, and he seemed hardly to +breathe in his tense interest. The wounded boy repeated his question, +and as if in reply the pack swerved to the west and in a black silent +mass swept in a direction that would bring them into the tamaracks a +hundred yards from the young hunters. + +"A new trail!" breathed Wabi. "A new trail, and a hot one! Listen! They +make no sound. It is always that way when they are close to a kill!" + +As they looked the last of the wolves disappeared in the forest. For a +few moments there was silence, then a chorus of howls came from deep in +the woods behind them. + +"Now is our chance," cried the Indian. "They've broken again, and their +game--" + +He had partly slipped from his limb, withdrawing his supporting arm from +Rod's waist, and was about to descend to the ground when the pack again +turned in their direction. A heavy crashing in the underbrush not a +dozen rods away sent Wabi in a hurried scramble for his perch. + +"Quick--higher up!" he warned excitedly. "They're coming out here--right +under us! If we can get up so that they can't see us, or smell us--" + +The words were scarcely out of his mouth when a huge shadowy bulk rushed +past them not more than fifty feet from the spruce in which they had +sought refuge. Both of the boys recognized it as a bull moose, though it +did not occur to either of them that it was the same animal at which +Wabi had taken a long shot that same day a couple of miles back. In +close pursuit came the ravenous pack. Their heads hung close to the +bloody trail, hungry, snarling cries coming from between their gaping +jaws, they swept across the little opening almost at the young hunters' +feet. It was a sight which Rod had never expected to see, and one which +held even the more experienced Wabi fascinated. Not a sound fell from +either of the youths' lips as they stared down upon the fierce, hungry +outlaws of the wilderness. To Wabi this near view of the pack told a +fateful story; to Rod it meant nothing more than the tragedy about to be +enacted before his eyes. The Indian's keen vision saw in the white +moonlight long, thin bodies, starved almost to skin and bone; to his +companion the onrushing pack seemed filled only with agile, powerful +beasts, maddened to almost fiendish exertions by the nearness of their +prey. + +In a flash they were gone, but in that moment of their passing there was +painted a picture to endure a lifetime in the memory of Roderick Drew. +And it was to be followed by one even more tragic, even more thrilling. +To the dazed, half-fainting young hunter it seemed but another instant +before the pack overhauled the old bull. He saw the doomed monster turn, +in the stillness heard the snapping of jaws, the snarling of +hunger-crazed animals, and a sound that might have been a great, heaving +moan or a dying bellow. In Wabi's veins the blood danced with the +excitement that stirred his forefathers to battle. Not a line of the +tragedy that was being enacted before his eyes escaped this native son +of the wilderness. It was a magnificent fight! He knew that the old bull +would die by inches in the one-sided duel, and that when it was over +there would be more than one carcass for the survivors to gorge +themselves upon. Quietly he reached up and touched his companion. + +"Now is our time," he said. "Come on--still--and on this side of the +tree!" + +He slipped down, foot by foot, assisting Rod as he did so, and when both +had reached the ground he bent over as before, that the other might get +upon his back. + +"I can make it alone, Wabi," whispered the wounded boy. "Give me a lift +on the arm, will you?" + +With the Indian's arm about his waist, the two set off into the +tamaracks. Fifteen minutes later they came to the bank of a small frozen +river. On the opposite side of this, a hundred yards down, was a sight +which both, as if by a common impulse, welcomed with a glad cry. Close +to the shore, sheltered by a dense growth of spruce, was a bright +camp-fire. In response to Wabi's far-reaching whoop a shadowy figure +appeared in the glow and returned the shout. + +"Mukoki!" cried the Indian. + +"Mukoki!" laughed Rod, happy that the end was near. + +Even as he spoke he swayed dizzily, and Wabi dropped his gun that he +might keep his companion from falling into the snow. + + + +CHAPTER II + +HOW WABIGOON BECAME A WHITE MAN + + +Had the young hunters the power of looking into the future, their +camp-fire that night on the frozen Ombabika might have been one of their +last, and a few days later would have seen them back on the edges of +civilization. Possibly, could they have foreseen the happy culmination +of the adventures that lay before them, they would still have gone on, +for the love of excitement is strong in the heart of robust youth. But +this power of discernment was denied them, and only in after years, with +the loved ones of their own firesides close about them, was the whole +picture revealed. And in those days, when they would gather with their +families about the roaring logs of winter and live over again their +early youth, they knew that all the gold in the world would not induce +them to part with their memories of the life that had gone before. + +A little less than thirty years previous to the time of which we write, +a young man named John Newsome left the great city of London for the New +World. Fate had played a hard game with young Newsome--had first robbed +him of both parents, and then in a single fitful turn of her wheel +deprived him of what little property he had inherited. A little later he +came to Montreal, and being a youth of good education and considerable +ambition, he easily secured a position and worked himself into the +confidence of his employers, obtaining an appointment as factor at +Wabinosh House, a Post deep in the wilderness of Lake Nipigon. + +In the second year of his reign at Wabinosh--a factor is virtually king +in his domain--there came to the Post an Indian chief named Wabigoon, +and with him his daughter, Minnetaki, in honor of whose beauty and +virtue a town was named in after years. Minnetaki was just budding into +the early womanhood of her race, and possessed a beauty seldom seen +among Indian maidens. If there is such a thing as love at first sight, +it sprang into existence the moment John Newsome's eyes fell upon this +lovely princess. Thereafter his visits to Wabigoon's village, thirty +miles deeper in the wilderness, were of frequent occurrence. From the +beginning Minnetaki returned the young factor's affections, but a most +potent reason prevented their marriage. For a long time Minnetaki had +been ardently wooed by a powerful young chief named Woonga, whom she +cordially detested, but upon whose favor and friendship depended the +existence of her father's sway over his hunting-grounds. + +With the advent of the young factor the bitterest rivalry sprang up +between the two suitors, which resulted in two attempts upon Newsome's +life, and an ultimatum sent by Woonga to Minnetaki's father. Minnetaki +herself replied to this ultimatum. It was a reply that stirred the fires +of hatred and revenge to fever heat in Woonga's breast. One dark night, +at the head of a score of his tribe, he fell upon Wabigoon's camp, his +object being the abduction of the princess. While the attack was +successful in a way, its main purpose failed. Wabigoon and a dozen of +his tribesmen were slain, but in the end Woonga was driven off. + +A swift messenger brought news of the attack and of the old chief's +death to Wabinosh House, and with a dozen men Newsome hastened to the +assistance of his betrothed and her people. A counter attack was made +upon Woonga and he was driven deep into the wilderness with great loss. +Three days later Minnetaki became Newsome's wife at the Hudson Bay Post. + +From that hour dated one of the most sanguinary feuds in the history of +the great trading company; a feud which, as we shall see, was destined +to live even unto the second generation. + +Woonga and his tribe now became no better than outlaws, and preyed so +effectively upon the remnants of the dead Wabigoon's people that the +latter were almost exterminated. Those who were left moved to the +vicinity of the Post. Hunters from Wabinosh House were ambushed and +slain. Indians who came to the Post to trade were regarded as enemies, +and the passing of years seemed to make but little difference. The feud +still existed. The outlaws came to be spoken of as "Woongas," and a +Woonga was regarded as a fair target for any man's rifle. + +Meanwhile two children came to bless the happy union of Newsome and his +lovely Indian wife. One of these, the eldest, was a boy, and in honor of +the old chief he was named Wabigoon, and called Wabi for short. The +other was a girl, three years younger, and Newsome insisted that she be +called Minnetaki. Curiously enough, the blood of Wabi ran almost pure to +his Indian forefathers, while Minnetaki, as she became older, developed +less of the wild beauty of her mother and more of the softer loveliness +of the white race, her wealth of soft, jet black hair and her great dark +eyes contrasting with the lighter skin of her father's blood. Wabi, on +the other hand, was an Indian in appearance from his moccasins to the +crown of his head, swarthy, sinewy, as agile as a lynx, and with every +instinct in him crying for the life of the wild. Yet born in him was a +Caucasian shrewdness and intelligence that reached beyond the factor +himself. + +One of Newsome's chief pleasures in life had been the educating of his +woodland bride, and it was the ambition of both that the little +Minnetaki and her brother be reared in the ways of white children. +Consequently both mother and father began their education at the Post; +they were sent to the factor's school and two winters were passed in +Port Arthur that they might have the advantage of thoroughly equipped +schools. The children proved themselves unusually bright pupils, and by +the time Wabi was sixteen and Minnetaki twelve one would not have known +from their manner of speech that Indian blood ran in their veins. Yet +both, by the common desire of their parents, were familiar with the life +of the Indian and could talk fluently the tongue of their mother's +people. + +It was at about this time in their lives that the Woongas became +especially daring in their depredations. These outlaws no longer +pretended to earn their livelihood by honest means, but preyed upon +trappers and other Indians without discrimination, robbing and killing +whenever safe opportunities offered themselves. The hatred for the +people of Wabinosh House became hereditary, and the Woonga children grew +up with it in their hearts. The real cause of the feud had been +forgotten by many, though not by Woonga himself. At last so daring did +he become that the provincial government placed a price upon his head +and upon those of a number of his most notorious followers. For a time +the outlaws were driven from the country, but the bloodthirsty chief +himself could not be captured. + +When Wabi was seventeen years of age it was decided that he should be +sent to some big school in the States for a year. Against this plan the +young Indian--nearly all people regarded him as an Indian, and Wabi was +proud of the fact--fought with all of the arguments at his command. He +loved the wilds with the passion of his mother's race. His nature +revolted at the thoughts of a great city with its crowded streets, its +noise, and bustle, and dirt. It was then that Minnetaki pleaded with +him, begged him to go for just one year, and to come back and tell her +of all he had seen and teach her what he had learned. Wabi loved his +beautiful little sister beyond anything else on earth, and it was she +more than his parents who finally induced him to go. + +For three months Wabi devoted himself faithfully to his studies in +Detroit. But each week added to his loneliness and his longings for +Minnetaki and his forests. The passing of each day became a painful task +to him. To Minnetaki he wrote three times each week, and three times +each week the little maiden at Wabinosh House wrote long, cheering +letters to her brother--though they came to Wabi only about twice a +month, because only so often did the mail-carrier go out from the Post. + +It was at this time in his lonely school life that Wabigoon became +acquainted with Roderick Drew. Roderick, even as Wabi fancied himself to +be just at this time, was a child of misfortune. His father had died +before he could remember, and the property he had left had dwindled +slowly away during the passing of years. Rod was spending his last week +in school when he met Wabigoon. Necessity had become his grim master, +and the following week he was going to work. As the boy described the +situation to his Indian friend, his mother "had fought to the last ditch +to keep him in school, but now his time was up." Wabi seized upon the +white youth as an oasis in a vast desert. After a little the two became +almost inseparable, and their friendship culminated in Wabi's going to +live in the Drew home. Mrs. Drew was a woman of education and +refinement, and her interest in Wabigoon was almost that of a mother. In +this environment the ragged edges were smoothed away from the Indian +boy's deportment, and his letters to Minnetaki were more and more filled +with enthusiastic descriptions of his new friends. After a little Mrs. +Drew received a grateful letter of thanks from the princess mother at +Wabinosh House, and thus a pleasant correspondence sprang up between the +two. + +There were now few lonely hours for the two boys. During the long winter +evenings, when Roderick was through with his day's work and Wabi had +completed his studies, they would sit before the fire and the Indian +youth would describe the glorious life of the vast northern wilderness; +and day by day, and week by week, there steadily developed within Rod's +breast a desire to see and live that life. A thousand plans were made, a +thousand adventures pictured, and the mother would smile and laugh and +plan with them. + +But in time the end of it all came, and Wabi went back to the princess +mother, to Minnetaki, and to his forests. There were tears in the boys' +eyes when they parted, and the mother cried for the Indian boy who was +returning to his people. Many of the days that followed were painful to +Roderick Drew. Eight months had bred a new nature in him, and when Wabi +left it was as if a part of his own life had gone with him. Spring came +and passed, and then summer. Every mail from Wabinosh House brought +letters for the Drews, and never did an Indian courier drop a pack at +the Post that did not carry a bundle of letters for Wabigoon. + +Then in the early autumn, when September frosts were turning the leaves +of the North to red and gold, there came the long letter from Wabi which +brought joy, excitement and misgiving into the little home of the mother +and her son. It was accompanied by one from the factor himself, another +from the princess mother, and by a tiny note from Minnetaki, who pleaded +with the others that Roderick and Mrs. Drew might spend the winter with +them at Wabinosh House. + +"You need not fear about losing your position." wrote Wabigoon. "We +shall make more money up here this winter than you could earn in Detroit +in three years. We will hunt wolves. The country is alive with them, and +the government gives a bounty of fifteen dollars for every scalp taken. +Two winters ago I killed forty and I did not make a business of it at +that. I have a tame wolf which we use as a decoy. Don't bother about a +gun or anything like that. We have everything here." + +For several days Mrs. Drew and her son deliberated upon the situation +before a reply was sent to the Newsomes. Roderick pleaded, pictured the +glorious times they would have, the health that it would give them, and +marshaled in a dozen different ways his arguments in favor of accepting +the invitation. On the other hand, his mother was filled with doubt. +Their finances were alarmingly low, and Rod would be giving up a sure +though small income, which was now supporting them comfortably. His +future was bright, and that winter would see him promoted to ten dollars +a week in the mercantile house where he was employed. In the end they +came to an understanding. Mrs. Drew would not go to Wabinosh House, but +she would allow Roderick to spend the winter there--and word to this +effect was sent off into the wilderness. + +Three weeks later came Wabigoon's reply. On the tenth of October he +would meet Rod at Sprucewood, on the Black Sturgeon River. Thence they +would travel by canoe up the Sturgeon River to Sturgeon Lake, take +portage to Lake Nipigon, and arrive at Wabinosh House before the ice of +early winter shut them in. There was little time to lose in making +preparations, and the fourth day following the receipt of Wabi's letter +found Rod and his mother waiting for the train which was to whirl the +boy into his new life. Not until the eleventh did he arrive at +Sprucewood. Wabi was there to meet him, accompanied by an Indian from +the Post; and that same afternoon the journey up Black Sturgeon River +was begun. + + + +CHAPTER III + +RODERICK SEES THE FOOTPRINT + + +Rod was now plunged for the first time in his life into the heart of the +Wilderness. Seated in the bow of the birch-bark canoe which was carrying +them up the Sturgeon, with Wabi close behind him, he drank in the wild +beauties of the forests and swamps through which they slipped almost as +noiselessly as shadows, his heart thumping in joyous excitement, his +eyes constantly on the alert for signs of the big game which Wabi told +him was on all sides of them. Across his knees, ready for instant use, +was Wabi's repeating rifle. The air was keen with the freshness left by +night frosts. At times deep masses of gold and crimson forests shut them +in, at others, black forests of spruce came down to the river's edge; +again they would pass silently through great swamps of tamaracks. In +this vast desolation there was a mysterious quiet, except for the +occasional sounds of wild life. Partridges drummed back in the woods, +flocks of ducks got up with a great rush of wings at almost every turn, +and once, late in the morning of the first day out, Rod was thrilled by +a crashing in the undergrowth scarcely a stone's throw from the canoe. +He could see saplings twisting and bending, and heard Wabi whisper +behind him: + +"A moose!" + +They were words to set his hands trembling and his whole body quivering +with anticipation. There was in him now none of the old hunter's +coolness, none of the almost stoical indifference with which the men of +the big North hear these sounds of the wild things about them. Rod had +yet to see his first big game. + +That moment came in the afternoon. The canoe had skimmed lightly around +a bend in the river. Beyond this bend a mass of dead driftwood had +wedged against the shore, and this driftwood, as the late sun sank +behind the forests, was bathed in a warm yellow glow. And basking in +this glow, as he loves to do at the approach of winter nights, was an +animal, the sight of which drew a sharp, excited cry from between Rod's +lips. In an instant he had recognized it as a bear. The animal was taken +completely by surprise and was less than half a dozen rods away. Quick +as a flash, and hardly realizing what he was doing, the boy drew his +rifle to his shoulder, took quick aim and fired. The bear was already +clambering up the driftwood, but stopped suddenly at the report, slipped +as if about to fall back--then continued his retreat. + +"You hit 'im!" shouted Wabi. "Quick-try 'im again!" + +Rod's second shot seemed to have no effect In his excitement he jumped +to his feet, forgetting that he was in a frail canoe, and took a last +shot at the big black beast that was just about to disappear over the +edge of the driftwood. Both Wabi and his Indian companion flung +themselves on the shore side of their birch and dug their paddles deep +into the water, but their efforts were unavailing to save their reckless +comrade. Unbalanced by the concussion of his gun, Rod plunged backward +into the river, but before he had time to sink, Wabi reached over and +grabbed him by the arm. + +"Don't make a move--and hang on to the gun!" he warned. "If we try to +get you in here we'll all go over!" He made a sign to the Indian, who +swung the canoe slowly inshore. Then he grinned down into Rod's +dripping, unhappy face. + +"By George, that last shot was a dandy for a tenderfoot! You got your +bear!" + +Despite his uncomfortable position, Rod gave a whoop of joy, and no +sooner did his feet touch solid bottom than he loosened himself from +Wabi's grip and plunged toward the driftwood. On its very top he found +the bear, as dead as a bullet through its side and another through its +head could make it. Standing there beside his first big game, dripping +and shivering, he looked down upon the two who were pulling their canoe +ashore and gave, a series of triumphant whoops that could have been +heard half a mile away. + +"It's camp and a fire for you," laughed Wabi, hurrying up to him. "This +is better luck than I thought you'd have, Rod. We'll have a glorious +feast to-night, and a fire of this driftwood that will show you what +makes life worth the living up here in the North. Ho, Muky," he called +to the old Indian, "cut this fellow up, will you? I'll make camp." + +"Can we keep the skin?" asked Rod. "It's my first, you know, and--" + +"Of course we can. Give us a hand with the fire, Rod; it will keep you +from catching cold." + +In the excitement of making their first camp, Rod almost forgot that he +was soaked to the skin, and that night was falling about them. The first +step was the building of a fire, and soon a great, crackling, almost +smokeless blaze was throwing its light and heat for thirty feet around. +Wabi now brought blankets from the canoe, stripped off a part of his own +clothes, made Rod undress, and soon had that youth swathed in dry togs, +while his wet ones were hung close up to the fire. For the first time +Rod saw the making of a wilderness shelter. Whistling cheerily, Wabi got +an ax from the canoe, went into the edge of the cedars and cut armful +after armful of saplings and boughs. Tying his blankets about himself, +Rod helped to carry these, a laughable and grotesque figure as he +stumbled about clumsily in his efforts. Within half an hour the cedar +shelter was taking form. Two crotched saplings were driven into the +ground eight feet apart, and from one to the other, resting in the +crotches, was placed another sapling, which formed the ridge-pole; and +from this pole there ran slantwise to the earth half a dozen others, +making a framework upon which the cedar boughs were piled. By the time +the old Indian had finished his bear the home was completed, and with +its beds of sweet-smelling boughs, the great camp-fire in front and the +dense wilderness about them growing black with the approach of night, +Rod thought that nothing in picture-book or story could quite equal the +reality of that moment. And when, a few moments later, great bear-steaks +were broiling over a mass of coals, and the odor of coffee mingled with +that of meal-cakes sizzling on a heated stone, he knew that his dearest +dreams had come true. + +That night in the glow of the camp-fire Rod listened to the thrilling +stories of Wabi and the old Indian, and lay awake until nearly dawn, +listening to the occasional howl of a wolf, mysterious splashings in the +river and the shrill notes of the night birds. There were varied +experiences in the following three days: one frosty morning before the +others were awake he stole out from the camp with Wabi's rifle and shot +twice at a red deer--which he missed both times; there was an exciting +but fruitless race with a swimming caribou in Sturgeon Lake, at which +Wabi himself took three long-range shots without effect. + +It was on a glorious autumn afternoon that Wabi's keen eyes first +descried the log buildings of the Post snuggled in the edge of the +seemingly unending forest. As they approached he joyfully pointed out +the different buildings to Rod--the Company store, the little cluster of +employees' homes and the factor's house, where Rod was to meet his +welcome. At least Roderick himself had thought it would be there. But as +they came nearer a single canoe shot out suddenly from the shore and the +young hunters could see a white handkerchief waving them greeting. Wabi +replied with a whoop of pleasure and fired his gun into the air. + +"It's Minnetaki!" he cried. "She said she would watch for us and come +out to meet us!" + +Minnetaki! A little nervous thrill shot through Rod. Wabi had described +her to him a thousand times in those winter evenings at home; with a +brother's love and pride he had always brought her into their talks and +plans, and somehow, little by little, Rod had grown to like her very +much without ever having seen her. + +The two canoes swiftly approached each other, and in a few minutes more +were alongside. With a glad laughing cry Minnetaki leaned over and +kissed her brother, while at the same time her dark eyes shot a curious +glance at the youth of whom she had read and heard so much. + +At this time Minnetaki was fifteen. Like her mother's race she was +slender, of almost woman's height, and unconsciously as graceful as a +fawn in her movements. A slightly waving wealth of raven hair framed +what Rod thought to be one of the prettiest faces he had ever seen, and +entwined in the heavy silken braid that fell over her shoulder were a +number of red autumn leaves. As she straightened herself in her canoe +she looked at Rod and smiled, and he in making a polite effort to lift +his cap in civilized style, lost that article of apparel in a sudden +gust of wind. In an instant there was a general laugh of merriment in +which even the old Indian joined. The little incident did more toward +making comradeship than anything else that might have happened, and +laughing again into Rod's face Minnetaki urged her canoe toward the +floating cap. + +"You shouldn't wear such things until it gets cold," she said, after +retrieving the cap and handing it to him. "Wabi does--but I don't!" + +"Then I won't," replied Rod gallantly, and at Wabi's burst of laughter +both blushed. + +That first night at the Post Rod found that Wabi had already made all +plans for the winter's hunting, and the white youth's complete equipment +was awaiting him in the room assigned to him in the factor's house--a +deadly looking five-shot Remington, similar to Wabi's, a long-barreled, +heavy-caliber revolver, snow-shoes, and a dozen other articles necessary +to one about to set out upon a long expedition in the wilderness. Wabi +had also mapped out their hunting-grounds. Wolves in the immediate +neighborhood of the Post, where they were being constantly sought by the +Indians and the factor's men, had become exceedingly cautious and were +not numerous, but in the almost untraveled wilderness a hundred miles to +the north and east they were literally overrunning the country, killing +moose, caribou and deer in great numbers. + +In this region Wabi planned to make their winter quarters. And no time +was to be lost in taking up the trail, for the log house in which they +would pass the bitterly cold months should be built before the heavy +snows set in. It was therefore decided that the young hunters should +start within a week, accompanied by Mukoki, the old Indian, a cousin of +the slain Wabigoon, whom Wabi had given the nickname of Muky and who had +been a faithful comrade to him from his earliest childhood. + +Rod made the most of the six days which were allotted to him at the +Post, and while Wabi helped to handle the affairs of the Company's store +during a short absence of his father at Port Arthur, the lovely little +Minnetaki gave our hero his first lessons in woodcraft. In canoe, with +the rifle, and in reading the signs of forest life Wabi's sister +awakened constantly increasing admiration in Rod. To see her bending +over some freshly made trail, her cheeks flushed, her eyes sparkling +with excitement, her rich hair filled with the warmth of the sun, was a +picture to arouse enthusiasm even in the heart of a youngster of +eighteen, and a hundred times the boy mentally vowed that "she was a +brick" from the tips of her pretty moccasined feet to the top of her +prettier head. Half a dozen times at least he voiced this sentiment to +Wabi, and Wabi agreed with great enthusiasm. In fact, by the time the +week was almost gone Minnetaki and Rod had become great chums, and it +was not without some feeling of regret that the young wolf hunter +greeted the dawn of the day that was to see them begin their journey +deeper into the wilds. + +Minnetaki was one of the earliest risers at the Post. Rod was seldom +behind her. But on this particular morning he was late and heard the +girl whistling outside half an hour before he was dressed--for Minnetaki +could whistle in a manner that often filled him with envy. By the time +he came down she had disappeared in the edge of the forest, and Wabi, +who was also ahead of him, was busy with Mukoki tying up their equipment +in packs. It was a glorious morning, clear and frosty, and Rod noticed +that a thin shell of ice had formed on the lake during the night. Once +or twice Wabi turned toward the forest and gave his signal whoop, but +received no reply. + +"I don't see why Minnetaki doesn't come back," he remarked carelessly, +as he fastened a shoulder-strap about a bundle. "Breakfast will be ready +in a jiffy. Hunt her up, will you, Rod?" + +Nothing loath, Rod started out on a brisk run along the path which he +knew to be a favorite with Minnetaki and shortly it brought him down to +a pebbly stretch of the beach where she frequently left her canoe. That +she had been here a few minutes before he could tell by the fact that +the ice about the birch-bark was broken, as though the girl had tested +its thickness by shoving the light craft out into it for a few feet. Her +footsteps led plainly up the shelving shore and into the forest. + +"O Minnetaki--Minnetaki!" + +Rod called loudly and listened. There was no response. As if impelled by +some presentiment which he himself could not explain, the boy hurried +deeper into the forest along the narrow path which Minnetaki must have +taken. Five minutes--ten minutes--and he called again. Still there was +no answer. Possibly the girl had not gone so far, or she might have left +the path for the thick woods. A little farther on there was a soft spot +in the path where a great tree-trunk had rotted half a century before, +leaving a rich black soil. Clearly traced in this were the imprints of +Minnetaki's moccasins. For a full minute Rod stopped and listened, +making not a sound. Why he maintained silence he could not have +explained. But he knew that he was half a mile from the Post, and that +Wabi's sister should not be here at breakfast time. In this minute's +quiet he unconsciously studied the tracks in the ground. How small the +pretty Indian maiden's feet were! And he noticed, too, that her +moccasins, unlike most moccasins, had a slight heel. + +But in a moment more his inspection was cut short. Was that a cry he +heard far ahead? His heart seemed to stop beating, his blood +thrilled--and in another instant he was running down the path like a +deer. Twenty rods beyond this point the path entered an opening in the +forest made by a great fire, and half-way across this opening the youth +saw a sight which chilled him to the marrow. There was Minnetaki, her +long hair tumbling loosely down her back, a cloth tied around her +head--and on either side an Indian dragging her swiftly toward the +opposite forest! + +For as long as he might have drawn three breaths Rod stood transfixed +with horror. Then his senses returned to him, and every muscle in his +body seemed to bound with action. For days he had been practising with +his revolver and it was now in the holster at his side. Should he use +it? Or might he hit Minnetaki? At his feet he saw a club and snatching +this up he sped across the opening, the soft earth holding the sound of +his steps. When he was a dozen feet behind the Indians Minnetaki +stumbled in a sudden effort to free herself, and as one of her captors +half turned to drag her to her feet he saw the enraged youth, club +uplifted, bearing down upon them like a demon. A terrific yell from Rod, +a warning cry from the Indian, and the fray began. With crushing force, +the boy's club fell upon the shoulder of the second Indian, and before +he could recover from the delivery of this blow the youth was caught in +a choking, deadly grip by the other from behind. + +Freed by the sudden attack, Minnetaki tore away the cloth that bound her +eyes and mouth. As quick as a flash she took in the situation. At her +feet the wounded Indian was half rising, and upon the ground near him, +struggling in close embrace, were Rod and the other. She saw the +Indian's fatal grip upon her preserver's throat, the whitening face and +wide-open eyes, and with a great, sobbing cry she caught up the fallen +club and brought it down with all her strength upon the redskin's head. +Twice, three times the club rose and fell, and the grip on Rod's throat +relaxed. A fourth time it rose, but this time was caught from behind, +and a huge hand clutched the brave girl's throat so that the cry on her +lips died in a gasp. But the relief gave Rod his opportunity. With a +tremendous effort he reached his pistol holster, drew out the gun, and +pressed it close up against his assailant's body. There was a muffled +report and with a shriek of agony the Indian pitched backward. Hearing +the shot and seeing the effect upon his comrade, the second Indian +released his hold on Minnetaki and ran for the forest. Rod, seeing +Minnetaki fall in a sobbing, frightened heap, forgot all else but to run +to her, smooth back her hair and comfort her with all of the assurances +at his boyish command. + +It was here that Wabi and the old Indian guide found them five minutes +later. Hearing Rod's first piercing yell of attack, they had raced into +the forest, afterward guided by the two or three shrill screams which +Minnetaki had unconsciously emitted during the struggle. Close behind +them, smelling trouble, followed two of the Post employees. + +The attempted abduction of Wabi's sister, Rod's heroic rescue and the +death of one of the captors, who was recognized as one of Woonga's men, +caused a seven-day sensation at the Post. + +There was now no thought of leaving on the part of the young wolf +hunters. It was evident that Woonga was again in the neighborhood, and +Wabi and Rod, together with a score of Indians and hunters, spent days +in scouring the forests and swamps. But the Woongas disappeared as +suddenly as they came. Not until Wabi had secured a promise from +Minnetaki that she would no longer go into the forests unaccompanied did +the Indian youth again allow himself to take up their interrupted plans. + +Minnetaki had been within easy calling distance of help when the +Woongas, without warning, sprang upon her, smothered her attempted cries +and dragged her away, compelling her to walk alone over the soft earth +where Rod had seen her footsteps, so that any person who followed might +suppose she was alone and safe. This fact stirred the dozen white +families at the Post into aggressive action, and four of the most +skillful Indian track-hunters in the service were detailed to devote +themselves exclusively to hunting down the outlaws, their operations not +to include a territory extending more than twenty miles from Wabinosh +House in any direction. With these precautions it was believed that no +harm could come to Minnetaki or other young girls of the Post. + +It was, therefore, on a Monday, the fourth day of November, that Rod, +Wabi and Mukoki turned their faces at last to the adventures that +awaited them in the great North. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +RODERICK'S FIRST TASTE OF THE HUNTER'S LIFE + + +By this time it was bitter cold. The lakes and rivers were frozen deep +and a light snow covered the ground. Already two weeks behind their +plans, the young wolf hunters and the old Indian made forced marches +around the northern extremity of Lake Nipigon and on the sixth day found +themselves on the Ombabika River, where they were compelled to stop on +account of a dense snow-storm. A temporary camp was made, and it was +while constructing this camp that Mukoki discovered signs of wolves. It +was therefore decided to remain for a day or two and investigate the +hunting-grounds. On the morning of the second day Wabi shot at and +wounded the old bull moose which met such a tragic end a few hours +later, and that same morning the two boys made a long tour to the north +in the hope of finding that they were in a good game country, which +would mean also that there were plenty of wolves. + +This left Mukoki alone in camp. Thus far, in their desire to cover as +much ground as possible before the heavy snows came, Wabi and his +companions had not stopped to hunt for game and for six days their only +meat had been bacon and jerked venison. Mukoki, whose prodigious +appetite was second only to the shrewdness with which he stalked game to +satisfy it, determined to add to their larder if possible during the +others' absence, and with this object in view he left camp late in the +afternoon to be gone, as he anticipated, not longer than an hour or so. + +With him he carried two powerful wolf-traps slung over his shoulders. +Stealing cautiously along the edge of the river, his eyes and ears alert +for game, Mukoki suddenly came upon the frozen and half-eaten carcass of +a red deer. It was evident that the animal had been killed by wolves +either the day or night before, and from the tracks in the snow the +Indian concluded that not more than four wolves had participated in the +slaughter and feast. That these wolves would return to continue their +banquet, probably that night, Mukoki's many experiences as a wolf hunter +assured him; and he paused long enough to set his traps, afterward +covering them over with three or four inches of snow. + +Continuing his hunt, the old Indian soon struck the fresh spoor of a +deer. Believing that the animal would not travel for any great distance +in the deep snow, he swiftly took up the trail. Half a mile farther on +he stopped abruptly with a grunt of unbounded surprise. Another hunter +had taken up the trail! + +With increased caution Mukoki now advanced. Two hundred feet more and a +second pair of moccasined feet joined in the pursuit, and a little later +still a third! + +Led on by curiosity more than by the hope of securing a partnership +share in the quarry, the Indian slipped silently and swiftly through the +forest. As he emerged from a dense growth of spruce through which the +tracks led him Mukoki was treated to another surprise by almost +stumbling over the carcass of the deer he had been following. A brief +examination satisfied him that the doe had been shot at least two hours +before. The three hunters had cut out her heart, liver and tongue and +had also taken the hind quarters, leaving the remainder of the carcass +and the skin! Why had they neglected this most valuable part of their +spoils? With a new gleam of interest in his eyes Mukoki carefully +scrutinized the moccasin trails. He soon discovered that the Indians +ahead of him were in great haste, and that after cutting the choicest +meat from the doe they had started off to make up for lost time by +running! + +With another grunt of astonishment the old Indian returned to the +carcass, quickly stripped off the skin, wrapped in it the fore quarters +and ribs of the doe, and thus loaded, took up the home trail. It was +dark when he reached camp. Wabi and Rod had not yet returned. Building a +huge fire and hanging the ribs of the doe on a spit before it, he +anxiously awaited their appearance. + +Half an hour later he heard the shout which brought him quickly to where +Wabi was holding the partly unconscious form of Rod in his arms. + +It took but a few moments to carry the injured youth to camp, and not +until Rod was resting upon a pile of blankets in their shack, with the +warmth of the fire reviving him, did Wabi vouchsafe an explanation to +the old Indian. + +"I guess he's got a broken arm, Muky," he said. "Have you any hot +water?" + +"Shot?" asked the old hunter, paying no attention to the question. He +dropped upon his knees beside Rod, his long brown fingers reaching out +anxiously. "Shot?" + +"No--hit with a club. We met three Indian hunters who were in camp and +who invited us to eat with them. While we were eating they jumped upon +our backs. Rod got that--and lost his rifle!" + +Mukoki quickly stripped the wounded boy of his garments, baring his left +arm and side. The arm was swollen and almost black and there was a great +bruise on Rod's body a little above the waist. Mukoki was a surgeon by +necessity, a physician such as one finds only in the vast unblazed +wildernesses, where Nature is the teacher. Crudely he made his +examination, pinching and twisting the flesh and bones until Rod cried +out in pain, but in the end there was a glad triumph in his voice as he +said: + +"No bone broke--hurt most here!" and he touched the bruise. "Near broke +rib--not quite. Took wind out and made great deal sick. Want good +supper, hot coffee--rub in bear's grease, then be better!" + +Rod, who had opened his eyes, smiled faintly and Wabi gave a half-shout +of delight. + +"Not so bad as we thought, eh, Rod?" he cried. "You can't fool Muky! If +he says your arm isn't broken--why, it _isn't_, and that's all there is +to it. Let me bolster you up in these blankets and we'll soon have a +supper that will sizzle the aches out of you. I smell meat--fresh meat!" + +With a chuckle of pleasure Mukoki jumped to his feet and ran out to +where the ribs of the doe were slowly broiling over the fire. They were +already done to a rich brown and their dripping juice filled the +nostrils with an appetizing odor. By the time Wabi had applied Mukoki's +prescription to his comrade's wounds, and had done them up in bandages, +the tempting feast was spread before them. + +As a liberal section of the ribs was placed before him, together with +corn-meal cakes and a cup of steaming coffee, Rod could not suppress a +happy though somewhat embarrassed laugh. + +"I'm ashamed of myself, Wabi," he said. "Here I've been causing so much +bother, like some helpless kid; and now I find I haven't even the excuse +of a broken arm, and that I'm as hungry as a bear! Looks pretty yellow, +doesn't it? Just as though I was scared to death! So help me, I almost +wish my arm _was_ broken!" + +Mukoki had buried his teeth in a huge chunk of fat rib, but he lowered +it with a great chuckling grunt, half of his face smeared with the first +results of his feast. + +"Whole lot sick," he explained. "Be sick some more--mighty sick! Maybe +vomit lots!" + +"Waugh!" shrieked Wabi. "How is that for cheerful news, Rod?" His +merriment echoed far out into the night. Suddenly he caught himself and +peered suspiciously into the gloom beyond the circle of firelight. + +"Do you suppose they would follow?" he asked. + +A more cautious silence followed, and the Indian youth quickly related +the adventures of the day to Mukoki--how, in the heart of the forest +several miles beyond the lake, they had come upon the Indian hunters, +had accepted of their seemingly honest hospitality, and in the midst of +their meal had suffered an attack from them. So sudden and unexpected +had been the assault that one of the Indians got away with Rod's rifle, +ammunition belt and revolver before any effort could be made to stop +him. Wabi was under the other two Indians when Rod came to his +assistance, with the result that the latter was struck two heavy blows, +either with a club or a gun-stock. So tenaciously had the Indian boy +clung to his own weapon that his assailants, after a brief struggle, +darted into the dense underbrush, evidently satisfied with the white +boy's equipment. + +"They were of Woonga's people, without a doubt," finished Wabi. "It +puzzles me why they didn't kill us. They had half a dozen chances to +shoot us, but didn't seem to want to do us any great injury. Either the +measures taken at the Post are making them reform, or--" + +He paused, a troubled look in his eyes. Immediately Mukoki told of his +own experience and of the mysterious haste of the three Indians who had +slain the doe. + +"It is certainly curious," rejoined the young Indian. "They couldn't +have been the ones we met, but I'll wager they belong to the same gang. +I wouldn't be surprised if we had hit upon one of Woonga's retreats. +We've always thought he was in the Thunder Bay regions to the west, and +that is where father is watching for him now. We've hit the hornets' +nest, Muky, and the only thing for us to do is to get out of this +country as fast as we can!" + +"We'd make a nice pot-shot just at this moment," volunteered Rod, +looking across to the dense blackness on the opposite side of the river, +where the moonlight seemed to make even more impenetrable the wall of +gloom. + +As he spoke there came a slight sound from behind him, the commotion of +a body moving softly beyond the wall of spruce boughs, then a curious, +suspicious sniffing, and after that a low whine. + +"Listen!" + +Wabi's command came in a tense whisper. He leaned close against the +boughs, stealthily parted them, and slowly thrust his head through the +aperture. + +"Hello, Wolf!" he whispered. "What's up?" + +An arm's length away, tied before a smaller shelter of spruce, a gaunt, +dog-like animal stood in a rigid listening attitude. An instant's +glance, however, would have assured one that it was not a dog, but a +full-grown wolf. From the days of its puppyhood Wabi had taught it in +the ways of dogdom, yet had the animal perversely clung to its wild +instincts. A weakness in that thong, a slip of the collar, and Wolf +would have bounded joyously into the forests to seek for ever the packs +of his fathers. Now the babeesh rope was taut, Wolf's muzzle was turned +half to the sky, his ears were alert, half-sounding notes rattled in his +throat. + +"There is something near our camp!" announced the Indian boy, drawing +himself back quickly. "Muky--" + +He was interrupted by a long mournful howl from the captive wolf. + +Mukoki had jumped to his feet with the alertness of a cat, and now with +his gun in his hand slunk around the edge of the shelter and buried +himself in the gloom. Roderick lay quiet while Wabi, seizing the +remaining rifle, followed him. + +"Lie over there in the dark, Rod, where the firelight doesn't show you +up," he cautioned in a low voice. "Probably it is only some animal that +has stumbled on to our camp, but we want to make sure." + +Ten minutes later the young hunter returned alone. + +"False alarm!" he laughed cheerfully. "There's a part of a carcass of a +red deer up the creek a bit. It has been killed by wolves, and Wolf +smells some of his own blood coming in to the feast. Muky has set traps +there and we may have our first scalp in the morning." + +"Where is Mukoki?" + +"On watch. He is going to keep guard until a little after midnight, and +then I'll turn out. We can't be too careful, with the Woongas in the +neighborhood." + +Rod shifted himself uneasily. + +"What shall we do--to-morrow?" he asked. + +"Get out!" replied Wabi with emphasis. "That is, if you are able to +travel. From what Mukoki tells me, and from what you and I already know, +Woonga's people must be in the forests beyond the lake. We'll cut a +trail up the Ombabika for two or three days before we strike camp. You +and Muky can start out as soon as it is light enough." + +"And you--" began Rod. + +"Oh, I'm going to take a run back over our old wolf-trail and collect +the scalps we shot to-day. There's a month's salary back there for you, +Rod! Now, let's turn in. Good night--sleep tight--and be sure to wake up +early in the morning." + +The boys, exhausted by the adventures of the day, were soon in profound +slumber. And though midnight came, and hour after hour passed between +then and dawn, the faithful Mukoki did not awaken them. Never for a +moment neglecting his caution the old Indian watched tirelessly over the +camp. With the first appearance of day he urged the fire into a roaring +blaze, raked out a great mass of glowing coals, and proceeded to get +breakfast. Wabi discovered him at this task when he awoke from his +slumber. + +"I didn't think you would play this trick on me, Muky," he said, a flush +of embarrassment gathering in his brown face. "It's awfully good of you, +and all that, but I wish you wouldn't treat me as if I were a child any +longer, old friend!" + +He placed his hand affectionately upon the kneeling Mukoki's shoulder, +and the old hunter looked up at him with a happy, satisfied grin on his +weather-beaten visage, wrinkled and of the texture of leather by nearly +fifty years of life in the wilderness. It was Mukoki who had first +carried the baby Wabi about the woods upon his shoulders; it was he who +had played with him, cared for him, and taught him in the ways of the +wild in early childhood, and it was he who had missed him most, with +little Minnetaki, when he went away to school. All the love in the grim +old redskin's heart was for the Indian youth and his sister, and to them +Mukoki was a second father, a silent, watchful guardian and comrade. +This one loving touch of Wabi's hand was ample reward for the long +night's duty, and his pleasure expressed itself in two or three low +chuckling grunts. + +"Had heap bad day," he replied. "Very much tired. Me feel good--better +than sleep!" He rose to his feet and handed Wabi the long fork with +which he manipulated the meat on the spits. "You can tend to that," he +added. "I go see traps." + +Rod, who had awakened and overheard these last remarks, called out from +the shack: + +"Wait a minute, Mukoki. I'm going with you. If you've got a wolf, I want +to see him." + +"Got one sure 'nuff," grinned the old Indian. + +In a few minutes Rod came out, fully dressed and with a much healthier +color in his face than when he went to bed the preceding night. He stood +before the fire, stretched one arm then the other, gave a slight grimace +of pain, and informed his anxious comrades that he seemed to be as well +as ever, except that his arm and side were very sore. + +Walking slowly, that Rod might "find himself," as Wabi expressed it, the +two went up the river. It was a dull gray morning and occasionally large +flakes of snow fell, giving evidence that before the day was far +advanced another storm would set in. Mukoki's traps were not more than +an eighth of a mile from camp, and as the two rounded a certain bend in +the river the old hunter suddenly stopped with a huge grant of +satisfaction. Following the direction in which he pointed Rod saw a dark +object lying in the snow a short distance away. + +"That's heem!" exclaimed the Indian. + +As they approached, the object became animate, pulling and tearing in +the snow as though in the agonies of death. A few moments more and they +were close up to the captive. + +"She wolf!" explained Mukoki. + +He gripped the ax he had brought with him and approached within a few +feet of the crouching animal. Rod could see that one of the big steel +traps had caught the wolf on the forward leg and that the other had +buried its teeth in one of the hind legs. Thus held the doomed animal +could make little effort to protect itself and crouched in sullen quiet, +its white fangs gleaming in a noiseless, defiant snarl, its eyes shining +with pain and anger, and with only its thin starved body, which jerked +and trembled as the Indian came nearer, betraying signs of fear. To Rod +it might have been a pitiful sight had not there come to him a thought +of the preceding night and of his own and Wabi's narrow escape from the +pack. + +Two or three quick blows of the ax and the wolf was dead. With a skill +which can only be found among those of his own race, Mukoki drew his +knife, cut deftly around the wolf's head just below the ears, and with +one downward, one upward, and two sidewise jerks tore off the scalp. + +Suddenly, without giving a thought to his speech, there shot from Rod, + +"Is that the way you scalp people?" + +Mukoki looked up, his jaw fell--and then he gave the nearest thing to a +real laugh that Rod ever heard come from between his lips. When Mukoki +laughed it was usually in a half-chuckle, a half-gurgle--something that +neither Rod nor Wabi could have imitated if they had tried steadily for +a month. + +"Never scalped white people," the old Indian shot back. "Father did +when--young man. Did great scalp business!" + +Mukoki had not done chuckling to himself even when they reached camp. + +Scarcely ten minutes were taken in eating breakfast. Snow was already +beginning to fall, and if the hunters took up their trail at once their +tracks would undoubtedly be entirely obliterated by midday, which was +the best possible thing that could happen for them in the Woonga +country. On the other hand, Wabi was anxious to follow back over the +wolf-trail before the snow shut it in. There was no danger of their +becoming separated and lost, for it was agreed that Rod and Mukoki +should travel straight up the frozen river. Wabi would overtake them +before nightfall. + +Arming himself with his rifle, revolver, knife, and a keen-edged +belt-ax, the Indian boy lost no time in leaving camp. A quarter of an +hour later Wabi came out cautiously on the end of the lake where had +occurred the unequal duel between the old bull moose and the wolves. A +single glance told him what the outcome of that duel had been. Twenty +rods out upon the snow he saw parts of a great skeleton, and a huge pair +of antlers. + +As he stood on the arena of the mighty battle, Wabi would have given a +great deal if Rod could have been with him. There lay the heroic old +moose, now nothing more than a skeleton. But the magnificent head and +horns still remained--the largest head that the Indian youth, in all his +wilderness life, had ever seen--and it occurred to him that if this head +could be preserved and taken back to civilization it would be worth a +hundred dollars or more. That the old bull had put up a magnificent +fight was easily discernible. Fifty feet away were the bones of a wolf, +and almost under the skeleton of the moose were those of another. The +heads of both still remained, and Wabi, after taking their scalps, +hurried on over the trail. + +Half-way across the lake, where he had taken his last two shots, were +the skeletons of two more wolves, and in the edge of the spruce forest +he found another. This animal had evidently been wounded farther back +and had later been set upon by some of the pack and killed. Half a mile +deeper in the forest he came upon a spot where he had emptied five +shells into the pack and here he found the bones of two more wolves. He +had seven scalps in his possession when he turned back over the home +trail. + +Beside the remains of the old bull Wabi paused again. He knew that the +Indians frequently preserved moose and caribou heads through the winter +by keeping them frozen, and the head at his feet was a prize worth some +thought. But how could he keep it preserved until their return, months +later? He could not suspend it from the limb of a tree, as was the +custom when in camp, for it would either be stolen by some passing +hunter or spoiled by the first warm days of spring. Suddenly an idea +came to him. Why could it not be preserved in what white hunters called +an "Indian ice-box"? In an instant he was acting upon this inspiration. +It was not a small task to drag the huge head to the shelter of the +tamaracks, where, safely hidden from view, he made a closer examination. +The head was gnawed considerably by the wolves, but Wabi had seen worse +ones skillfully repaired by the Indians at the Post. + +Under a dense growth of spruce, where the rays of the sun seldom +penetrated, the Indian boy set to work with his belt-ax. For an hour and +a half he worked steadily, and at the end of that time had dug a hole in +the frozen earth three feet deep and four feet square. This hole he now +lined with about two inches of snow, packed as tight as he could jam it +with the butt of his gun. Then placing in the head he packed snow +closely about it and afterward filled in the earth, stamping upon the +hard chunks with his feet. When all was done he concealed the signs of +his work under a covering of snow, blazed two trees with his ax, and +resumed his journey. + +"There is thirty dollars for each of us if there's a cent," he mused +softly, as he hurried toward the Ombabika. "That ground won't thaw out +until June. A moose-head and eight scalps at fifteen dollars each isn't +bad for one day's work, Rod, old boy!" + +He had been absent for three hours. It had been snowing steadily and by +the time he reached their old camp the trail left by Rod and Mukoki was +already partly obliterated, showing that they had secured an early start +up the river. + +Bowing his head in the white clouds falling silently about him, Wabi +started in swift pursuit. He could not see ten rods ahead of him, so +dense was the storm, and at times one side or the other of the river was +lost to view. Conditions could not have been better for their flight out +of the Woonga country, thought the young hunter. By nightfall they would +be many miles up the river, and no sign would be left behind to reveal +their former presence or to show in which direction they had gone. For +two hours he followed tirelessly over the trail, which became more and +more distinct as he proceeded, showing that he was rapidly gaining on +his comrades. But even now, though the trail was fresher and deeper, so +disguised had it become by falling snow that a passing hunter might have +thought a moose or caribou had passed that way. + +At the end of the third hour, by which time he figured that he had made +at least ten miles, Wabi sat down to rest, and to refresh himself with +the lunch which he had taken from the camp that morning. He was +surprised at Rod's endurance. That Mukoki and the white boy were still +three or four miles ahead of him he did not doubt, unless they, too, had +stopped for dinner. This, on further thought, he believed was highly +probable. + +The wilderness about him was intensely still. Not even the twitter of a +snow-bird marred its silence. For a long time Wabi sat as immovable as +the log upon which he had seated himself, resting and listening. Such a +day as this held a peculiar and unusual fascination for him. It was as +if the whole world was shut out, and that even the wild things of the +forest dared not go abroad in this supreme moment of Nature's handiwork, +when with lavish hand she spread the white mantle that was to stretch +from the border to Hudson Bay. + +As he listened there came to him suddenly a sound that forced from +between his lips a half-articulate cry. It was the clear, ringing report +of a rifle! And following it there came another, and another, until in +quick succession he had counted five! + +What did it mean? He sprang to his feet, his heart thumping, every nerve +in him prepared for action. He would have sworn it was Mukoki's +rifle--yet Mukoki would not have fired at game! They had agreed upon +that. + +Had Rod and the old Indian been attacked? In another instant Wabi was +bounding over the trail with the speed of a deer. + + + +CHAPTER V + +MYSTERIOUS SHOTS IN THE WILDERNESS + + +As the Indian youth sped over the trail in the direction of the +rifle-shots he flung his usual caution to the winds. His blood thrilled +with the knowledge that there was not a moment to lose--that even now, +in all probability, he would be too late to assist his friends. This +fear was emphasized by the absolute silence which followed the five +shots. Eagerly, almost prayerfully, he listened as he ran for other +sounds of battle--for the report of Mukoki's revolver, or the whoops of +the victors. If there had been an ambush it was all over now. Each +moment added to his conviction, and as he thrust the muzzle of his gun +ahead of him, his finger hovering near the trigger and his snow-blinded +eyes staring ahead into the storm, something like a sob escaped his +lips. + +Ahead of him the stream narrowed until it almost buried itself under a +mass of towering cedars. The closeness of the forest walls now added to +the general gloom, intensified by the first gray pallor of the Northern +dusk, which begins to fall in these regions early in the afternoon of +November days. For a moment, just before plunging into the gloomy trail +between the cedars, Wabi stopped and listened. He heard nothing but the +beating of his own heart, which worked like a trip-hammer within his +breast. The stillness was oppressive. And the longer he listened the +more some invisible power seemed to hold him back. It was not fear, it +was not lack of courage, but-- + +What was there just beyond those cedars, lurking cautiously in the snow +gloom? + +With instinct that was almost animal in its unreasonableness Wabi sank +upon his knees. He had seen nothing, he had heard nothing; but he +crouched close, until he was no larger than a waiting wolf, and there +was a deadly earnestness in the manner in which he turned his rifle into +the deeper gloom of those close-knit walls of forest. Something was +approaching, cautiously, stealthily, and with extreme slowness. The +Indian boy felt that this was so, and yet if his life had depended upon +it he could not have told why. He huddled himself lower in the snow. His +eyes gleamed with excitement. Minute after minute passed, and still +there came no sound. Then, from far up that dusky avenue of cedars, +there came the sudden startled chatter of a moose-bird. It was a warning +which years of experience had taught Wabi always to respect. Perhaps a +roving fox had frightened it, perhaps the bird had taken to noisy flight +at the near tread of a moose, a caribou, or a deer. But-- + +To Wabi the soft, quick notes of the moose-bird spelled man! In an +instant he was upon his feet, darting quickly into the sheltering cedars +of the shore. Through these he now made his way with extreme caution, +keeping close to the bank of the frozen stream. After a little he paused +again and concealed himself behind the end of a fallen log. Ahead of him +he could look into the snow gloom between the cedars, and whatever was +coming through that gloom would have to pass within a dozen yards of +him. Each moment added to his excitement. He heard the chatter of a red +squirrel, much nearer than the moose-bird. Once he fancied that he heard +the striking of two objects, as though a rifle barrel had accidentally +come into contact with the dead limb of a tree. + +Suddenly the Indian youth imagined that he saw something--an indistinct +shadow that came in the snow gloom, then disappeared, and came again. He +brushed the water and snow from his eyes with one of his mittened hands +and stared hard and steadily. Once more the shadow disappeared, then +came again, larger and more distinct than before. There was no doubt +now. Whatever had startled the moose-bird was coming slowly, +noiselessly. + +Wabi brought his rifle to his shoulder. Life and death hovered with his +anxious, naked finger over the gun trigger. But he was too well trained +in the ways of the wilderness to fire just yet. Yard by yard the shadow +approached, and divided itself into two shadows. Wabi could now see that +they were men. They were advancing in a cautious, crouching attitude, as +though they expected to meet enemies somewhere ahead of them. Wabi's +heart thumped with joy. There could be no surer sign that Mukoki and Rod +were still among the living, for why should the Woongas employ this +caution if they had already successfully ambushed the hunters? With the +chill of a cold hand at his throat the answer flashed into Wabigoon's +brain. His friends had been ambushed, and these two Woongas were +stealing back over the trail to slay him! + +Very slowly, very gently, the young Indian's finger pressed against the +trigger of his rifle. A dozen feet more, and then-- + +The shadows had stopped, and now drew together as if in consultation. +They were not more than twenty yards away, and for a moment Wabi lowered +his rifle and listened hard. He could hear the low unintelligible +mutterings of their conversation. Then there came to him a single +incautious reply from one of the shadows. + +"All right!" + +Surely that was not the English of a Woonga! It sounded like-- + +In a flash Wabi had called softly. + +"Ho, Muky--Muky--Rod!" + +In another moment the three wolf hunters were together, silently +wringing one another's hands, the death-like pallor of Rod's face and +the tense lines in the bronzed countenances of Mukoki and Wabigoon +plainly showing the tremendous strain they had been under. + +"You shoot?" whispered Mukoki. + +"No!" replied Wabi, his eyes widening in surprise. "Didn't _you_ shoot?" + +"No!" + +Only the one word fell from the old Indian, but it was filled with a new +warning. Who had fired the five shots? The hunters gazed blankly at one +another, mute questioning in their eyes. Without speaking, Mukoki +pointed suggestively to the clearer channel of the river beyond the +cedars. Evidently he thought the shots had come from there. Wabi shook +his head. + +"There was no trail," he whispered. "Nobody has crossed the river." + +"I thought they were there!" breathed Rod. He pointed into the forest. +"But Mukoki said no." + +For a long time the three stood and listened. Half a mile back in the +forest they heard the howl of a single wolf, and Wabi flashed a curious +glance into the eyes of the old Indian. + +"That's a man's cry," he whispered. "The wolf has struck a human trail. +It isn't mine!" + +"Nor ours," replied Rod. + +This one long howl of the wolf was the only sound that broke the +stillness of approaching night. Mukoki turned, and the others followed +in his trail. A quarter of a mile farther on the stream became still +narrower and plunged between great masses of rock which rose into wild +and precipitous hills that were almost mountains a little way back. No +longer could the hunters now follow the channel of the rushing torrent. +Through a break in a gigantic wall of rock and huge boulders led the +trail of Rod and Mukoki. Ten minutes more and the three had clambered to +the top of the ridge where, in the lee of a great rock, the remains of a +fire were still burning. Here the old Indian and his companion had +struck camp and were waiting for Wabigoon when they heard the shots +which they, too, believed were those of an ambush. + +A comfortable shelter of balsam had already been erected against the +rock, and close beside the fire, where Mukoki had dropped it at the +sound of the shots, was a large piece of spitted venison. The situation +was ideal for a camp and after the hard day's tramp through the snow the +young wolf hunters regarded it with expressions of pleasure, in spite of +the enemies whom they knew might be lurking near them. Both Wabi and Rod +had accepted the place as their night's home, and were stirring up the +fire, when their attention was drawn to the singular attitude of Mukoki. +The old warrior stood leaning on his rifle, speechless and motionless, +his eyes regarding the process of rekindling the fire with mute +disapprobation. Wabi, poised on one knee, looked at him questioningly. + +"No make more fire," said the old Indian, shaking his head. "No dare +stay here. Go on--beyond mountain!" + +Mukoki straightened himself and stretched a long arm toward the north. + +"River go like much devil 'long edge of mountain," he continued. "Make +heap noise through rock, then make swamp thick for cow moose--then run +through mountain and make wide, smooth river once more. We go over +mountain. Snow all night. Morning come--no trail for Woonga. We stay +here--make big trail in morning. Woonga follow like devil, ver' plain to +see!" + +Wabi rose to his feet, his face showing the keenness of his +disappointment. Since early morning he had been traveling, even running +at times, and he was tired enough to risk willingly a few dangers for +the sake of sleep and supper. Rod was in even worse condition, though +his trail had been much shorter. For a few moments the two boys looked +at each other in silence, neither attempting to conceal the lack of +favor with which Mukoki's suggestion was received. But Wabi was too wise +openly to oppose the old pathfinder. If Mukoki said that it was +dangerous for them to remain where they were during the night--well, it +was dangerous, and it would be foolish of him to dispute it. He knew +Mukoki to be the greatest hunter of his tribe, a human bloodhound on the +trail, and what he said was law. So with a cheerful grin at Rod, who +needed all the encouragement that could be given to him, Wabi began the +readjustment of the pack which he had flung from his shoulders a few +minutes before. + +"Mountain not ver' far. Two--t'ree mile, then camp," encouraged Mukoki. +"Walk slow--have big supper." + +Only a few articles had been taken from the toboggan-sled on which the +hunters were dragging the greater part of their equipment into the +wilderness, and Mukoki soon had these packed again. The three +adventurers now took up the new trail along the top of one of those wild +and picturesque ridges which both the Indians and white hunters of this +great Northland call mountains. Wabigoon led, weighted under his pack, +selecting the clearest road for the toboggan and clipping down +obstructing saplings with his keen-edged belt-ax. A dozen feet behind +him followed Mukoki, dragging the sled; and behind the sled, securely +tied with a thong of babeesh, or moose-skin rope, slunk the wolf. Rod, +less experienced in making a trail and burdened with a lighter pack, +formed the rear of the little cavalcade. + +Darkness was now falling rapidly. Though Wabigoon was not more than a +dozen yards ahead, Rod could only now and then catch a fleeting vision +of him through the gloom. Mukoki, doubled over in his harness, was +hardly more than a blotch in the early night. Only the wolf was near +enough to offer companionship to the tired and down-spirited youth. +Rod's enthusiasm was not easily cooled, but just now he mentally wished +that, for this one night at least, he was back at the Post, with the +lovely little Minnetaki relating to him some legend of bird or beast +they had encountered that day. How much pleasanter that would be! The +vision of the bewitching little maiden was suddenly knocked out of his +head in a most unexpected and startling way. Mukoki had paused for a +moment and Rod, unconscious of the fact, continued on his journey until +he tumbled in a sprawling heap over the sled, knocking Mukoki's legs +completely from under him in his fall. When Wabi ran back he found Rod +flattened out, face downward, and Mukoki entangled in his site harness +on top of him. + +In a way this accident was fortunate. Wabi, who possessed a Caucasian +sense of humor, shook with merriment as he gave his assistance, and Rod, +after he had dug the snow from his eyes and ears and had emptied a +handful of it from his neck, joined with him. + +The ridge now became narrower as the trio advanced. On one side, far +down, could be heard the thunderous rush of the river, and from the +direction of the sound Rod knew they were near a precipice. Great beds +of boulders and broken rock, thrown there by some tumultuous upheaval of +past ages, now impeded their progress, and every step was taken with +extreme caution. The noise of the torrent became louder and louder as +they advanced and on one side of him Rod now thought that he could +distinguish a dim massive shadow towering above them, like the +precipitous side of a mountain. A few steps farther and Mukoki exchanged +places with Wabigoon. + +"Muky has been here before," cried Wabi close up to Rod's ear. His voice +was almost drowned by the tumult below. "That's where the river rushes +through the mountain!" + +Rod forgot his fatigue in the new excitement. Never in his wildest +dreams of adventure had he foreseen an hour like this. Each step seemed +to bring them nearer the edge of the vast chasm through which the river +plunged, and yet not a sign of it could he see. He strained his eyes and +ears, each moment expecting to hear the warning voice of the old +warrior. With a suddenness that chilled him he saw the great shadow +close in upon them from the opposite side, and for the first time he +realized their position. On their left was the precipice--on their right +the sheer wall of the mountain! How wide was the ledge along which they +were traveling? His foot struck a stick under the snow. Catching it up +he flung it out into space. For a single instant he paused to listen, +but there came no sound of the falling object. The precipice was very +near--a little chill ran up his spine. It was a sensation he had never +experienced in walking the streets of a city! + +Though he could not see, he knew that the ledge was now leading them up. +He could hear Wabigoon straining ahead of the toboggan and he began to +assist by pushing on the rear of the loaded sled. For half an hour this +upward climb continued, until the sound of the river had entirely died +away. No longer was the mountain on the right. Five minutes later Mukoki +called a halt. + +"On top mountain," he said briefly. "Camp here!" + +Rod could not repress an exclamation of joy, and Wabigoon, as he threw +off his harness, gave a suppressed whoop. Mukoki, who seemed tireless, +began an immediate search for a site for their camp and after a short +breathing-spell Rod and Wabi joined him. The spot chosen was in the +shelter of a huge rock, and while Mukoki cleaned away the snow the young +hunters set to work with their axes in a near growth of balsam, cutting +armful after armful of the soft odorous boughs. Inside of an hour a +comfortable camp was completed, with an exhilarating fire throwing its +crackling flames high up into the night before it. + +For the first time since leaving the abandoned camp at the other end of +the ridge the hunters fully realized how famished they were, and Mukoki +was at once delegated to prepare supper while Wabi and Rod searched in +the darkness for their night's supply of wood. Fortunately quite near at +hand they discovered several dead poplars, the best fuel in the world +for a camp-fire, and by the time the venison and coffee were ready they +had collected a huge pile of this, together with several good-sized +backlogs. + +Mukoki had spread the feast in the opening of the shelter where the heat +of the fire, reflected from the face of the rock, fell upon them in +genial warmth, suffusing their faces with a most comfortable glow. The +heat, together with the feast, were almost overpowering in their +effects, and hardly was his supper completed when Rod felt creeping over +him a drowsiness which he attempted in vain to fight off a little +longer. Dragging himself back in the shelter he wrapped himself in his +blanket, burrowed into the mass of balsam boughs, and passed quickly +into oblivion. His last intelligible vision was Mukoki piling logs upon +the fire, while the flames shot up a dozen feet into the air, illumining +to his drowsy eyes for an instant a wild chaos of rock, beyond which lay +the mysterious and impenetrable blackness of the wilderness. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MUKOKI DISTURBS THE ANCIENT SKELETONS + + +Completely exhausted, every muscle in his aching body still seeming to +strain with exertion, the night was one of restless and uncomfortable +dreams for Roderick Drew. While Wabi and the old Indian, veterans in +wilderness hardship, slept in peace and tranquillity, the city boy found +himself in the most unusual and thrilling situations from which he would +extricate himself with a grunt or sharp cry, several times sitting bolt +upright in his bed of balsam until he realized where he was, and that +his adventures were only those of dreamland. + +From one of these dreams Rod had aroused himself into drowsy +wakefulness. He fancied that he had heard steps. For the tenth time he +raised himself upon an elbow, stretched, rubbed his eyes, glanced at the +dark, inanimate forms of his sleeping companions, and snuggled down into +his balsam boughs again. A few moments later he sat bolt upright. He +could have sworn that he heard real steps this time--a soft cautious +crunching in the snow very near his head. Breathlessly he listened. Not +a sound broke the silence except the snapping of a dying ember in the +fire. Another dream! Once more he settled back, drawing his blanket +closely about him. Then, for a full breath, the very beating of his +heart seemed to cease. + +What was that! + +He was awake now, wide awake, with every faculty in him striving to +arrange itself. He had heard--a step! Slowly, very cautiously this time, +he raised himself. There came distinctly to his ears a light crunching +in the snow. It seemed back of the shelter--then was moving away, then +stopped. The flickering light of the dying fire still played on the face +of the great rock. Suddenly, at the very end of that rock, something +moved. + +Some object was creeping cautiously upon the sleeping camp! + +For a moment his thrilling discovery froze the young hunter into +inaction. But in a moment the whole situation flashed upon him. The +Woongas had followed them! They were about to fall upon the helpless +camp! Unexpectedly one of his hands came in contact with the barrel of +Wabi's rifle. The touch of the cold steel aroused him. There was no time +to awaken his companions. Even as he drew the gun to him he saw the +object grow larger and larger at the end of the rock, until it stood +crouching, as if about to spring. + +One bated breath--a thunderous report--a snarling scream of pain, and +the camp was awake! + +"We're attacked!" cried Rod. "Quick--Wabi--Mukoki!" + +The white boy was on his knees now, the smoking rifle still leveled +toward the rocks. Out there, in the thick shadows beyond the fire, a +body was groveling and kicking in death agonies. In another instant the +gaunt form of the old warrior was beside Rod, his rifle at his shoulder, +and over their heads reached Wabigoon's arm, the barrel of his heavy +revolver glinting in the firelight. + +For a full minute they crouched there, breathless, waiting. + +"They've gone!" broke Wabi in a tense whisper. + +"I got one of them!" replied Rod, his voice trembling with excitement. + +Mukoki slipped back and burrowed a hole through the side of the shelter. +He could see nothing. Slowly he slipped out, his rifle ready. The others +could hear him as he went. Foot by foot the old warrior slunk along in +the deep gloom toward the end of the rock. Now he was almost there, +now-- + +The young hunters saw him suddenly straighten. There came to them a low +chuckling grunt. He bent over, seized an object, and flung it in the +light of the fire. + +"Heap big Woonga! Kill nice fat lynx!" + +With a wail, half feigned, half real, Rod flung himself back upon the +balsam while Wabi set up a roar that made the night echo. Mukoki's face +was creased in a broad grin. + +"Heap big Woonga--heem!" he repeated, chuckling. "Nice fat lynx shot +well in face. No look like bad man Woonga to Mukoki!" + +When Rod finally emerged from his den to join the others his face was +flushed and wore what Wabi described as a "sheepish grin." + +"It's all right for you fellows to make fun of me," he declared. "But +what if they had been Woongas? By George, if we're ever attacked again I +won't do a thing. I'll let you fellows fight 'em off!" + +In spite of the general merriment at his expense, Rod was immensely +proud of his first lynx. It was an enormous creature of its kind, drawn +by hunger to the scraps of the camp-fire feast; and it was this animal, +as it cautiously inspected the camp, that the young hunter had heard +crunching in the snow. Wolf, whose instinct had told him what a mix-up +would mean, had slunk into his shelter without betraying his whereabouts +to this arch-enemy of his tribe. + +With the craft of his race, Mukoki was skinning the animal while it was +still warm. + +"You go back bed," he said to his companions. "I build big fire +again--then sleep." + +The excitement of his adventure at least freed Rod from the +unpleasantness of further dreams, and it was late the following morning +before he awoke again. He was astonished to find that a beautiful sun +was shining. Wabi and the old Indian were already outside preparing +breakfast, and the cheerful whistling of the former assured Rod that +there was now little to be feared from the Woongas. Without lingering to +take a beauty nap he joined them. + +Everywhere about them lay white winter. The rocks, the trees, and the +mountain behind them were covered with two feet of snow and upon it the +sun shone with dazzling brilliancy. But it was not until Rod looked into +the north that he saw the wilderness in all of its grandeur. The camp +had been made at the extreme point of the ridge, and stretching away +under his eyes, mile after mile, was the vast white desolation that +reached to Hudson Bay. In speechless wonder he gazed down upon the +unblazed forests, saw plains and hills unfold themselves as his vision +gained distance, followed a river until it was lost in the bewildering +picture, and let his eyes rest here and there upon the glistening, +snow-smothered bosoms of lakes, rimmed in by walls of black forest. This +was not the wilderness as he had expected it to be, nor as he had often +read of it in books. It was beautiful! It was magnificent! His heart +throbbed with pleasure as he gazed down on it, the blood rose to his +face in an excited flush, and he seemed hardly to breathe in his tense +interest. + +Mukoki had come up beside him softly, and spoke in his low guttural +voice. + +"Twent' t'ousand moose down there--twent' t'ousand caribou-oo! No +man--no house--more twent' t'ousand miles!" + +Roderick, even trembling in his new emotion, looked into the old +warrior's face. In Mukoki's eyes there was a curious, thrilling gleam. +He stared straight out into the unending distance as though his keen +vision would penetrate far beyond the last of that visible +desolation--on and on, even to the grim and uttermost fastnesses of +Hudson Bay. Wabi came up and placed his hand on Rod's shoulder. + +"Muky was born off there," he said. "Away beyond where we can see. Those +were his hunting-grounds when a boy. See that mountain yonder? You might +take it for a cloud. It's thirty miles from here! And that lake down +there--you might think a rifle-shot would reach it--is five miles away! +If a moose or a caribou or a wolf should cross it how you could see +him." + +For a few moments longer the three stood silent, then Wabi and the old +Indian returned to the fire to finish the preparation of breakfast, +leaving Rod alone in his enchantment. What unsolved mysteries, what +unwritten tragedies, what romance, what treasure of gold that vast North +must hold! For a thousand, perhaps a million centuries, it had lain thus +undisturbed in the embrace of nature; few white men had broken its +solitudes, and the wild things still lived there as they had lived in +the winters of ages and ages ago. + +The call to breakfast came almost as an unpleasant interruption to Rod. +But it did not shock his appetite as it had his romantic fancies, and he +performed his part at the morning meal with considerable credit. Wabi +and Mukoki had already decided that they would not take up the trail +again that day but would remain in their present camp until the +following morning. There were several reasons for this delay. + +"We can't travel without snow-shoes now," explained Wabi to Rod, "and +we've got to take a day off to teach you how to use them. Then, all the +wild things are lying low. Moose, deer, caribou, and especially wolves +and fur animals, won't begin traveling much until this afternoon and +to-night, and if we took up the trail now we would have no way of +telling what kind of a game country we were in. And that is the +important thing just now. If we strike a first-rate game country during +the next couple days we'll stop and build our winter camp." + +"Then you believe we are far enough away from the Woongas?" asked Rod. + +Mukoki grunted. + +"No believe Woongas come over mountain. Heap good game country back +there. They stay." + +During the meal the white boy asked a hundred questions about the vast +wilderness which lay stretched out before them in a great panorama, and +in which they were soon to bury themselves, and every answer added to +his enthusiasm. Immediately after they had finished eating Rod expressed +a desire to begin his study in snow-shoeing, and for an hour after that +Wabi and Mukoki piloted him back and forth along the ridge, instructing +him in this and in that, applauding when he made an especially good dash +and enjoying themselves immensely when he took one of his frequent +tumbles into the snow. By noon Rod secretly believed that he was +becoming quite an adept. + +Although the day in camp was an exceedingly pleasant one for Rod, he +could not but observe that at times something seemed to be troubling +Wabi. Twice he discovered the Indian youth alone within the shelter +sitting in silent and morose dejection, and finally he insisted upon an +explanation. + +"I want you to tell me what the trouble is, Wabi," he demanded. "What +has gone wrong?" + +Wabi jumped to his feet with a little laugh. + +"Did you ever have a dream that bothered you, Rod?" he asked. "Well, I +had one last night, and since then--somehow--I can't keep from worrying +about the people back at the Post, and especially about Minnetaki. It's +all--what do you call it--bosh? Listen! Wasn't that Mukoki's whistle?" + +As he paused Mukoki came running around the end of the rock. + +"See fun!" he cried softly. "Quick--see heem quick!" + +He turned and darted toward the precipitous edge of the ridge, closely +followed by the two boys. + +"Cari-boo-oo!" he whispered excitedly as they came up beside him. +"Cari-boo-oo--making big play!" + +He pointed down into the snowy wilderness. Three-quarters of a mile +away, though to Rod apparently not more than a third of that distance +from where they stood, half a dozen animals were disporting themselves +in a singular fashion in a meadow-like opening between the mountain and +a range of forest. It was Rod's first real glimpse of that wonderful +animal of the North of which he had read so much, the caribou--commonly +known beyond the Sixtieth Degree as the reindeer; and at this moment +those below him were indulging in the queer play known in the Hudson Bay +regions as the "caribou dance." + +"What's the matter with them?" he asked, his voice quivering with +excitement. "What--" + +"Making big fun!" chuckled Mukoki, drawing the boy closer to the rock +that concealed them. + +Wabi had thrust a finger in his mouth and now held it above his head, +the Indian's truest guide for discovering the direction of the wind. The +lee side of his finger remained cold and damp, while that side upon +which the breeze fell was quickly dried. + +"The wind is toward us, Muky," he announced. "There's a fine chance for +a shot. You go! Rod and I will stay here and watch you." + +Roderick heard--knew that Mukoki was creeping back to the camp for his +rifle, but not for an instant did his spellbound eyes leave the +spectacle below him. Two other animals had joined those in the open. He +could see the sun glistening on their long antlers as they tossed their +heads in their amazing antics. Now three or four of them would dash away +with the speed of the wind, as though the deadliest of enemies were +close behind them. Two or three hundred yards away they would stop with +equal suddenness, whirl about in a circle, as though flight were +interrupted on all sides of them, then tear back with lightning speed to +rejoin the herd. In twos and threes and fours they performed these +evolutions again and again. But there was another antic that held Rod's +eyes, and if it had not been so new and wonderful to him he would have +laughed, as Wabi was doing--silently--behind him. From out of the herd +would suddenly dash one of the agile creatures, whirl about, jump and +kick, and finally bounce up and down on all four feet, as though +performing a comedy sketch in pantomime for the amusement of its +companions; and when this was done it would start out in another mad +flight, with others of the herd at its heels. + +"They are the funniest, swiftest, and shrewdest animals in the North," +said Wabi. "They can smell you over a mountain if the wind is right, and +hear you for half a mile. Look!" + +He pointed downward over Rod's shoulder. Mukoki had already reached the +base of the ridge and was stealing straight out in the direction of the +caribou. Rod gave a surprised gasp. + +"Great Scott! They'll see him, won't they?" he cried. + +"Not if Mukoki knows himself," smiled the Indian youth. "Remember that +we are looking down on things. Everything seems clear and open to us, +while in reality it's quite thick down there. I'll bet Muky can't see +one hundred yards ahead of him. He has got his bearings and will go as +straight as though he was on a blazed trail; but he won't see the +caribou until he conies to the edge of the open." + +Each minute now added to Rod's excitement. Each of those minutes brought +the old warrior nearer his game. Seldom, thought Rod, had such a scene +been unfolded to the eyes of a white boy. The complete picture--the +playful rompings of the dumb children of the wilderness; the stealthy +approach of the old Indian; every rock, every tree that was to play its +part--all were revealed to their eyes. Not a phase in this drama in wild +life escaped them. Five minutes, ten, fifteen passed. They could see +Mukoki as he stopped and lifted a hand to test the wind. Then he +crouched, advancing foot by foot, yard by yard, so slowly that he seemed +to be on his hands and knees. + +"He can hear them, but he can't see them!" breathed Wabigoon. "See! He +places his ear to the ground! Now he has got his bearings again--as +straight as a die! Good old Muky!" + +The old Indian crept on. In his excitement Rod clenched his hands and he +seemed to live without breathing. Would Mukoki never shoot? Would he +_never_ shoot? He seemed now to be within a stone's throw of the herd. + +"How far, Wabi?" + +"Four hundred yards, perhaps five," replied the Indian. "It's a long +shot! He can't see them yet." + +Rod gripped his companion's arm. + +Mukoki had stopped. Down and down he slunk, until he became only a blot +in the snow. + +"Now!" + +There came a moment of startled silence. In the midst of their play the +animals in the open stood for a single instant paralyzed by a knowledge +of impending danger, and in that instant there came to the young hunters +the report of Mukoki's rifle. + +"No good!" cried Wabi. + +In his excitement he leaped to his feet. The caribou had turned and the +whole eight of them were racing across the open. Another shot, and +another--three in quick succession, and one of the fleeing animals fell, +scrambled to its knees--and plunged on again! A fifth shot--the last in +Mukoki's rifle! Again the wounded animal fell, struggled to its +knees--to its forefeet--and fell again. + +"Good work! Five hundred yards if it was a foot!" exclaimed Wabigoon +with a relieved laugh. "Fresh steak for supper, Rod!" + +Mukoki came out into the open, reloading his rifle. Quickly he moved +across the wilderness playground, now crimson with blood, unsheathed his +knife, and dropped upon his knees close to the throat of the slain +animal. + +"I'll go down and give him a little help, Rod," said Wabi. "Your legs +are pretty sore, and it's a hard climb down there; so if you will keep +up the fire, Mukoki and I will bring back the meat." + +During the next hour Rod busied himself with collecting firewood for the +night and in practising with his snow-shoes. He was astonished to find +how swiftly and easily he could travel in them, and was satisfied that +he could make twenty miles a day even as a tenderfoot. + +Left to his own thoughts he found his mind recurring once more to the +Woongas and Minnetaki. Why was Wabi worried? Inwardly he did not believe +that it was a dream alone that was troubling him. There was still some +cause for fear. Of that he was certain. And why would not the Woongas +penetrate beyond this mountain? He had asked himself this question a +score of times during the last twenty-four hours, in spite of the fact +that both Mukoki and Wabigoon were quite satisfied that they were well +out of the Woonga territory. + +It was growing dusk when Wabi and the old Indian returned with the meat +of the caribou. No time was lost in preparing supper, for the hunters +had decided that the next day's trail would begin with dawn and probably +end with darkness, which meant that they would require all the rest they +could get before then. They were all eager to begin the winter's hunt. +That day Mukoki's eyes had glistened at each fresh track he encountered. +Wabi and Rod were filled with enthusiasm. Even Wolf, now and then +stretching his gaunt self, would nose the air with eager suspicion, as +if longing for the excitement of the tragedies in which he was to play +such an important part. + +"If you can stand it," said Wabi, nodding at Rod over his caribou steak, +"we won't lose a minute from now on. Over that country we ought to make +twenty-five or thirty miles to-morrow. We may strike our hunting-ground +by noon, or it may take us two or three days; but in either event we +haven't any time to waste. Hurrah for the big camp, I say--and our fun +begins!" + +It seemed to Rod as though he had hardly fallen asleep that night when +somebody began tumbling him about in his bed of balsam. Opening his eyes +he beheld Wabi's laughing face, illuminated in the glow of a roaring +fire. + +"Time's up!" he called cheerily. "Hustle out, Rod. Breakfast is sizzling +hot, everything is packed, and here you are still dreaming of--what?" + +"Minnetaki!" shot back Rod with unblushing honesty. + +In another minute he was outside, straightening his disheveled garments +and smoothing his tousled hair. It was still very dark, but Rod assured +himself by his watch that it was nearly four o'clock. Mukoki had already +placed their breakfast on a flat rock beside the fire and, according to +Wabigoon's previous scheme, no time was lost in disposing of it. + +Dawn was just breaking when the little cavalcade of adventurers set out +from the camp. More keenly than ever Rod now felt the loss of his rifle. +They were about to enter upon a hunter's paradise--and he had no gun! +His disappointment was acute and he could not repress a confession of +his feelings to Wabi. The Indian youth at once suggested a happy remedy. +They would take turns in using his gun, Rod to have it one day and he +the next; and Wabi's heavy revolver would also change hands, so that the +one who did not possess the rifle would be armed with the smaller +weapon. This solution of the difficulty lifted a dampening burden from +Rod's heart, and when the little party began its descent into the +wilderness regions under the mountain the city lad carried the rifle, +for Wabi insisted that he have the first "turn." + +Once free of the rock-strewn ridge the two boys joined forces in pulling +the toboggan while Mukoki struck out a trail ahead of them. As it became +lighter Rod found his eyes glued with keen interest to Mukoki's +snow-shoes, and for the first time in his life he realized what it +really meant to "make a trail." The old Indian was the most famous +trailmaker as well as the keenest trailer of his tribe, and in the +comparatively open bottoms through which they were now traveling he was +in his element. His strides were enormous, and with each stride he threw +up showers of snow, leaving a broad level path behind him in which the +snow was packed by his own weight, so that when Wabi and Rod came to +follow him they were not impeded by sinking into a soft surface. + +Half a mile from the mountain Mukoki stopped and waited for the others +to come up to him. + +"Moose!" he called, pointing at a curious track in the snow. + +Rod leaned eagerly over the track. + +"The snow is still crumbling and falling where he stepped," said Wabi. +"Watch that little chunk, Rod. See--it's slipping--down--down--there! It +was an old bull--a big fellow--and he passed here less than an hour +ago." + +Signs of the night carnival of the wild things now became more and more +frequent as the hunters advanced. They crossed and recrossed the trail +of a fox; and farther on they discovered where this little pirate of +darkness had slaughtered a big white rabbit. The snow was covered with +blood and hair and part of the carcass remained uneaten. Again Wabi +forgot his determination to waste no time and paused to investigate. + +"Now, if we only knew what kind of a fox he was!" he exclaimed to Rod. +"But we don't. All we know is that he's a fox. And all fox tracks are +alike, no matter what kind of a fox makes them. If there was only some +difference our fortunes would be made!" + +"How?" asked Rod. + +Mukoki chuckled as if the mere thought of such a possibility filled him +with glee. + +"Well, that fellow may be an ordinary red fox," explained the Indian +youth. "If so, he is only worth from ten to twenty dollars; or he may be +a black fox, worth fifty or sixty; or what we call a 'cross'--a mixture +of silver and black--worth from seventy-five to a hundred. Or--" + +"Heap big silver!" interrupted Mukoki with another chuckle. + +"Yes, or a silver," finished Wabi. "A poor silver is worth two hundred +dollars, and a good one from five hundred to a thousand! Now do you see +why we would like to have a difference in the tracks? If that was a +silver, a black or a 'cross,' we'd follow him; but in all probability he +is red." + +Every hour added to Rod's knowledge of the wilderness and its people. +For the first time in his life he saw the big dog-like tracks made by +wolves, the dainty hoof-prints of the red deer and the spreading +imprints of a traveling lynx; he pictured the hugeness of the moose that +made a track as big as his head, discovered how to tell the difference +between the hoof-print of a small moose and a big caribou, and in almost +every mile learned something new. + +Half a dozen times during the morning the hunters stopped to rest. By +noon Wabi figured that they had traveled twenty miles, and, although +very tired, Rod declared that he was still "game for another ten." After +dinner the aspect of the country changed. The river which they had been +following became narrower and was so swift in places that it rushed +tumultuously between its frozen edges. Forest-clad hills, huge boulders +and masses of rock now began to mingle again with the bottoms, which in +this country are known as plains. Every mile added to the roughness and +picturesque grandeur of the country. A few miles to the east rose +another range of wild and rugged hills; small lakes became more and more +numerous, and everywhere the hunters crossed and recrossed frozen +creeks. + +And each step they took now added to the enthusiasm of Wabi and his +companions. Evidences of game and fur animals were plenty. A thousand +ideal locations for a winter camp were about them, and their progress +became slow and studied. + +A gently sloping hill of considerable height now lay in their path and +Mukoki led the ascent. At the top the three paused in joyful +astonishment. At their feet lay a "dip," or hollow, a dozen acres in +extent, and in the center of this dip was a tiny lake partly surrounded +by a mixed forest of cedar, balsam and birch that swept back over the +hill, and partly inclosed by a meadow-like opening. One might have +traveled through the country a thousand times without discovering this +bit of wilderness paradise hidden in a hilltop. Without speaking Mukoki +threw off his heavy pack. Wabi unbuckled his harness and relieved his +shoulders of their burden. Rod, following their example, dropped his +small pack beside that of the old Indian, and Wolf, straining at his +babeesh thong, gazed with eager eyes into the hollow as though he, too, +knew that it was to be their winter home. + +Wabi broke the silence. + +"How is that, Muky?" he asked. + +Mukoki chuckled with unbounded satisfaction. + +"Ver' fine. No get bad wind--never see smoke--plenty wood--plenty +water." + +Relieved of their burdens, and leaving Wolf tied to the toboggan, the +hunters made their way down to the lake. Hardly had they reached its +edge when Wabi halted with a startled exclamation and pointed into the +forest on the opposite side. + +"Look at that!" + +A hundred yards away, almost concealed among the trees, was a cabin. +Even from where they stood they could see that it was deserted. Snow was +drifted high about it. No chimney surmounted its roof. Nowhere was there +a sign of life. + +Slowly the hunters approached. It was evident that the cabin was very +old. The logs of which it was built were beginning to decay. A mass of +saplings had taken root upon its roof, and everything about it gave +evidence that it had been erected many years before. The door, made of +split timber and opening toward the lake, was closed; the one window, +also opening upon the lake, was tightly barred with lengths of sapling. + +Mukoki tried the door, but it resisted his efforts. Evidently it was +strongly barred from within. + +Curiosity now gave place to astonishment. + +How could the door be locked within, and the window barred from within, +without there being somebody inside? + +For a few moments the three stood speechless, listening. + +"Looks queer, doesn't it?" spoke Wabi softly. + +Mukoki had dropped on his knees beside the door. He could hear no sound. +Then he kicked off his snow-shoes, gripped his belt-ax and stepped to +the window. + +A dozen blows and one of the bars fell. The old Indian sniffed +suspiciously, his ear close to the opening. Damp, stifling air greeted +his nostrils, but still there was no sound. One after another he knocked +off the remaining bars and thrust his head and shoulders inside. +Gradually his eyes became accustomed to the darkness and he pulled +himself in. + +Half-way--and he stopped. + +"Go on, Muky," urged Wabi, who was pressing close behind. + +There came no answer from the old Indian. For a full minute he remained +poised there, as motionless as a stone, as silent as death. + +Then, very slowly--inch by inch, as though afraid of awakening a +sleeping person, he lowered himself to the ground. When he turned toward +the young hunters it was with an expression that Rod had never seen upon +Mukoki's face before. + +"What is it, Mukoki?" + +The old Indian gasped, as if for fresh air. + +"Cabin--she filled with twent' t'ousand dead men!" he replied. + +[Illustration: "Knife--fight--heem killed!"] + + + +CHAPTER VII + +RODERICK DISCOVERS THE BUCKSKIN BAG + + +For one long breath Rod and Wabi stared at their companion, only half +believing, yet startled by the strange look in the old warrior's face. + +"Twent' t'ousand dead men!" he repeated. As he raised his hand, partly +to give emphasis and partly to brush the cobwebs from his face, the boys +saw it trembling in a way that even Wabi had never witnessed before. + +"Ugh!" + +In another instant Wabi was at the window, head and shoulders in, as +Mukoki had been before him. After a little he pulled himself back and as +he glanced at Rod he laughed in an odd thrilling way, as though he had +been startled, but not so much so as Mukoki, who had prepared him for +the sight which had struck his own vision with the unexpectedness of a +shot in the back. + +"Take a look, Rod!" + +With his breath coming in little uneasy jerks Rod approached the black +aperture. A queer sensation seized upon him--a palpitation, not of fear, +but of something; a very unpleasant feeling that seemed to choke his +breath, and made him wish that he had not been asked to peer into that +mysterious darkness. Slowly he thrust his head through the hole. It was +as black as night inside. But gradually the darkness seemed to be +dispelled. He saw, in a little while, the opposite wall of the cabin. A +table outlined itself in deep shadows, and near the table there was a +pile of something that he could not name; and tumbled over that was a +chair, with an object that might have been an old rag half covering it. + +His eyes traveled nearer. Outside Wabi and Mukoki heard a startled, +partly suppressed cry. The boy's hands gripped the sides of the window. +Fascinated, he stared down upon an object almost within arm's reach of +him. + +There, leaning against the cabin wall, was what half a century or more +ago had been a living man! Now it was a mere skeleton, a grotesque, +terrible-looking object, its empty eye-sockets gleaming dully with the +light from the window, its grinning mouth, distorted into ghostly life +by the pallid mixture of light and gloom, turned full up at him! + +Rod fell back, trembling and white. + +"I only saw one," he gasped, remembering Mukoki's excited estimate. + +Wabi, who had regained his composure, laughed as he struck him two or +three playful blows on the back. Mukoki only grunted. + +"You didn't look long enough, Rod!" he cried banteringly. "He got on +your nerves too quick. I don't blame you, though. By George, I'll bet +the shivers went up Muky's back when he first saw 'em! I'm going in to +open the door." + +Without trepidation the young Indian crawled through the window. Rod, +whose nervousness was quickly dispelled, made haste to follow him, while +Mukoki again threw his weight against the door. A few blows of Wabi's +belt-ax and the door shot inward so suddenly that the old Indian went +sprawling after it upon all fours. + +A flood of light filled the interior of the cabin. Instinctively Rod's +eyes sought the skeleton against the wall. It was leaning as if, many +years before, a man had died there in a posture of sleep. Quite near +this ghastly tenant of the cabin, stretched at full length upon the log +floor, was a second skeleton, and near the overturned chair was a small +cluttered heap of bones which were evidently those of some animal. Rod +and Wabi drew nearer the skeleton against the wall and were bent upon +making a closer examination when an exclamation from Mukoki attracted +their attention to the old pathfinder. He was upon his knees beside the +second skeleton, and as the boys approached he lifted eyes to them that +were filled with unbounded amazement, at the same time pointing a long +forefinger to come object among the bones. + +"Knife--fight--heem killed!" + +Plunged to the hilt in what had once been the breast of a living being, +the boys saw a long, heavy-bladed knife, its handle rotting with age, +its edges eaten by rust--but still erect, held there by the murderous +road its owner had cleft for it through the flesh and bone of his +victim. + +Rod, who had fallen upon his knees, gazed up blankly; his jaw dropped, +and he asked the first question that popped into his head. + +"Who--did it?" + +Mukoki chuckled, almost gleefully, and nodded toward the gruesome thing +reclining against the wall. + +"Heem!" + +Moved by a common instinct the three drew near the other skeleton. One +of its long arms was resting across what had once been a pail, but +which, long since, had sunk into total collapse between its hoops. The +finger-bones of this arm were still tightly shut, clutching between them +a roll of something that looked like birch-bark. The remaining arm had +fallen close to the skeleton's side, and it was on this side that +Mukoki's critical eyes searched most carefully, his curiosity being +almost immediately satisfied by the discovery of a short, slant-wise cut +in one of the ribs. + +"This un die here!" he explained. "Git um stuck knife in ribs. Bad way +die! Much hurt--no die quick, sometime. Ver' bad way git stuck!" + +"Ugh!" shuddered Rod. "This cabin hasn't had any fresh air in it for a +century, I'll bet. Let's get out!" + +Mukoki, in passing, picked up a skull from the heap of bones near the +chair. + +"Dog!" he grunted. "Door lock'--window shut--men fight--both kill. Dog +starve!" + +As the three retraced their steps to the spot where Wolf was guarding +the toboggan, Rod's imaginative mind quickly painted a picture of the +terrible tragedy that had occurred long ago in the old cabin. To Mukoki +and Wabigoon the discovery of the skeletons was simply an incident in a +long life of wilderness adventure--something of passing interest, but of +small importance. To Rod it was the most tragic event that had ever come +into his city-bound existence, with the exception of the thrilling +conflict at Wabinosh House. He reconstructed that deadly hour in the +cabin; saw the men in fierce altercation, saw them struggling, and +almost heard the fatal blows as they were struck--the blows that slew +one with the suddenness of a lightning bolt and sent the other, +triumphant but dying, to breathe his last moments with his back propped +against the wall. And the dog! What part had he taken? And after +that--long days of maddening loneliness, days of starvation and of +thirst, until he, too, doubled himself up on the floor and died. It was +a terrible, a thrilling picture that burned in Roderick's brain. But why +had they quarreled? What cause had there been for that sanguinary night +duel? Instinctively Rod accepted it as having occurred at night, for the +door had been locked, the window barred. Just then he would have given a +good deal to have had the mystery solved. + +At the top of the hill Rod awoke to present realities. Wabi, who had +harnessed himself to the toboggan, was in high spirits. + +"That cabin is a dandy!" he exclaimed as Rod joined him. "It would have +taken us at least two weeks to build as good a one. Isn't it luck?" + +"We're going to live in it?" inquired his companion. + +"Live in it! I should say we were. It is three times as big as the shack +we had planned to build. I can't understand why two men like those +fellows should have put up such a large cabin. What do you think, +Mukoki?" + +Mukoki shook his head. Evidently the mystery of the whole thing, beyond +the fact that the tenants of the cabin had killed themselves in battle, +was beyond his comprehension. + +The winter outfit was soon in a heap beside the cabin door. + +"Now for cleaning up," announced Wabi cheerfully. "Muky, you lend me a +hand with the bones, will you? Rod can nose around and fetch out +anything he likes." + +This assignment just suited Rod's curiosity. He was now worked up to a +feverish pitch of expectancy. Might he not discover some clue that would +lead to a solution of the mystery? + +One question alone seemed to ring incessantly in his head. Why had they +fought? _Why had they fought?_ + +He even found himself repeating this under his breath as he began +rummaging about. He kicked over the old chair, which was made of +saplings nailed together, scrutinized a heap of rubbish that crumbled to +dust under his touch, and gave a little cry of exultation when he found +two guns leaning in a corner of the cabin. Their stocks were decaying; +their locks were encased with rust, their barrels, too, were thick with +the accumulated rust of years. Carefully, almost tenderly, he took one +of these relics of a past age in his hands. It was of ancient pattern, +almost as long as he was tall. + +"Hudson Bay gun--the kind they had before my father was born!" said +Wabi. + +With bated breath and eagerly beating heart Rod pursued his search. On +one of the walls he found the remains of what had once been +garments--part of a hat, that fell in a thousand pieces when he touched +it; the dust-rags of a coat and other things that he could not name. On +the table there were rusty pans, a tin pail, an iron kettle, and the +remains of old knives, forks and spoons. On one end of this table there +was an unusual-looking object, and he touched it. Unlike the other rags +it did not crumble, and when he lifted it he found that it was a small +bag, made of buckskin, tied at the end--and heavy! With trembling +fingers he tore away the rotted string and out upon the table there +rattled a handful of greenish-black, pebbly looking objects. + +Rod gave a sharp quick cry for the others. + +Wabi and Mukoki had just come through the door after bearing out one of +their gruesome loads, and the young Indian hurried to his side. He +weighed one of the pieces in the palm of his hand. + +"It's lead, or--" + +"Gold!" breathed Rod. + +He could hear his own heart thumping as Wabi jumped back to the light of +the door, his sheath-knife in his hand. For an instant the keen blade +sank into the age-discolored object, and before Rod could see into the +crease that it made Wabi's voice rose in an excited cry. + +"It's a gold nugget!" + +"And _that's_ why they fought!" exclaimed Rod exultantly. + +He had hoped--and he had discovered the reason. For a few moments this +was of more importance to him than the fact that he had found gold. Wabi +and Mukoki were now in a panic of excitement. The buckskin bag was +turned inside out; the table was cleared of every other object; every +nook and cranny was searched with new enthusiasm. The searchers hardly +spoke. Each was intent upon finding--finding--finding. Thus does +gold--virgin gold--stir up the sparks of that latent, feverish fire +which is in every man's soul. Again Rod joined in the search. Every rag, +every pile of dust, every bit of unrecognizable debris was torn, sifted +and scattered. At the end of an hour the three paused, hopelessly +baffled, even keenly disappointed for the time. + +"I guess that's all there is," said Wabi. + +It was the longest sentence that he had spoken for half an hour. + +"There is only one thing to do, boys. We'll clean out everything there +is in the cabin, and to-morrow we'll tear up the floor. You can't tell +what there might be under it, and we've got to have a new floor anyway. +It is getting dusk, and if we have this place fit to sleep in to-night +we have got to hustle." + +No time was lost in getting the debris of the cabin outside, and by the +time darkness had fallen a mass of balsam boughs had been spread upon +the log floor just inside the door, blankets were out, packs and +supplies stowed away in one corner, and everything "comfortable and +shipshape," as Rod expressed it. A huge fire was built a few feet away +from the open door and the light and heat from this made the interior of +the cabin quite light and warm, and, with the assistance of a couple of +candles, more home-like than any camp they had slept in thus far. +Mukoki's supper was a veritable feast--broiled caribou, cold beans that +the old Indian had cooked at their last camp, meal cakes and hot coffee. +The three happy hunters ate of it as though they had not tasted food for +a week. + +The day, though a hard one, had been fraught with too much excitement +for them to retire to their blankets immediately after this meal, as +they had usually done in other camps. They realized, too, that they had +reached the end of their journey and that their hardest work was over. +There was no long jaunt ahead of them to-morrow. Their new life--the +happiest life in the world to them--had already begun. Their camp was +established, they were ready for their winter's sport, and from this +moment on they felt that their evenings were their own to do with as +they pleased. + +So for many hours that night Rod, Mukoki and Wabigoon sat up and talked +and kept the fire roaring before the door. Twenty times they went over +the tragedy of the old cabin; twenty times they weighed the half-pound +of precious little lumps in the palms of their hands, and bit by bit +they built up that life romance of the days of long ago, when all this +wilderness was still an unopened book to the white man. And that story +seemed very clear to them now. These men had been prospectors. They had +discovered gold. Afterward they had quarreled, probably over some +division of it--perhaps over the ownership of the very nuggets they had +found; and then, in the heat of their anger, had followed the knife +battle. + +But where had they discovered the gold? That was the question of supreme +interest to the hunters, and they debated it until midnight. There were +no mining tools in the camp; no pick, shovel or pan. Then it occurred to +them that the builders of the cabin had been hunters, had discovered +gold by accident and had collected that in the buckskin bag without the +use of a pan. + +There was little sleep in the camp that night, and with the first light +of day the three were at work again. Immediately after breakfast the +task of tearing up the old and decayed floor began. One by one the split +saplings were pried up and carried out for firewood, until the earth +floor lay bare. Every foot of it was now eagerly turned over with a +shovel which had been brought in the equipment; the base-logs were +undermined, and filled in again; the moss that had been packed in the +chinks between the cabin timbers was dug out, and by noon there was not +a square inch of the interior of the camp that had not been searched. + +There was no more gold. + +In a way this fact brought relief with it. Both Wabi and Rod gradually +recovered from their nervous excitement. The thought of gold gradually +faded from their minds; the joy and exhilaration of the "hunt life" +filled them more and more. Mukoki set to work cutting fresh cedars for +the floor; the two boys scoured every log with water from the lake and +afterward gathered several bushels of moss for refilling the chinks. +That evening supper was cooked on the sheet-iron "section stove" which +they had brought on the toboggan, and which was set up where the ancient +stove of flat stones had tumbled into ruin. By candle-light the work of +"rechinking" with moss progressed rapidly. Wabi was constantly bursting +into snatches of wild Indian song, Rod whistled until his throat was +sore and Mukoki chuckled and grunted and talked with constantly +increasing volubility. A score of times they congratulated one another +upon their good luck. Eight wolf-scalps, a fine lynx and nearly two +hundred dollars in gold--all within their first week! It was enough to +fill them with enthusiasm and they made little effort to repress their +joy. + +During this evening Mukoki boiled up a large pot of caribou fat and +bones, and when Rod asked what kind of soup he was making he responded +by picking up a handful of steel traps and dropping them into the +mixture. + +"Make traps smell good for fox--wolf--fisher, an' marten, too; heem +come--all come--like smell," he explained. + +"If you don't dip the traps," added Wabi, "nine fur animals out of ten, +and wolves most of all, will fight shy of the bait. They can smell the +human odor you leave on the steel when you handle it. But the grease +'draws' them." + +When the hunters wrapped themselves in their blankets that night their +wilderness home was complete. All that remained to be done was the +building of three bunks against the ends of the cabin, and this work it +was agreed could be accomplished at odd hours by any one who happened to +be in camp. In the morning, laden with traps, they would strike out +their first hunting-trails, keeping their eyes especially open for signs +of wolves; for Mukoki was the greatest wolf hunter in all the Hudson Bay +region. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +HOW WOLF BECAME THE COMPANION OF MEN + + +Twice that night Rod was awakened by Mukoki opening the cabin door. The +second time he raised himself upon his elbows and quietly watched the +old warrior. It was a brilliantly clear night and a flood of moonlight +was pouring into the camp. He could hear Mukoki chuckling and grunting, +as though communicating with himself, and at last, his curiosity getting +the better of him, he wrapped his blanket about him and joined the +Indian at the door. + +Mukoki was peering up into space. Rod followed his gaze. The moon was +directly above the cabin. The sky was clear of clouds and so bright was +the light that objects on the farther side of the lake were plainly +visible. + +Besides, it was bitter cold--so cold that his face began to tingle as he +stood there. These things he noticed, but he could see nothing to hold +Mukoki's vision in the sky above unless it was the glorious beauty of +the night. + +"What is it, Mukoki?" he asked. + +The old Indian looked silently at him for a moment, some mysterious, +all-absorbing joy revealed in every lineament of his face. + +"Wolf night!" he whispered. + +He looked back to where Wabi was sleeping. + +"Wolf night!" he repeated, and slipped like a shadow to the side of the +unconscious young hunter. Rod regarded his actions with growing wonder. +He saw him bend over Wabi, shake him by the shoulders, and heard him +repeat again, "Wolf night! Wolf night!" + +Wabi awoke and sat up in his blankets, and Mukoki came back to the door. +He had dressed himself before this, and now, with his rifle, slipped out +into the night. The young Indian had joined Rod at the open door and +together they watched Mukoki's gaunt figure as it sped swiftly across +the lake, up the hill and over into the wilderness desolation beyond. + +When Rod looked at Wabi he saw that the Indian boy's eyes were wide and +staring, with an expression in them that was something between fright +and horror. Without speaking he went to the table and lighted the +candles and then dressed. When he was done his face still bore traces of +suppressed excitement. + +He ran back to the door and whistled loudly. From his shelter beside the +cabin the captive wolf responded with a snarling whine. Again he +whistled, a dozen times, twenty, but there came no reply. More swiftly +than Mukoki the Indian youth sped across the lake and to the summit of +the hill. Mukoki had completely disappeared in the white, brilliant +vastness of the wilderness that stretched away at his feet. + +When Wabi returned to the cabin Rod had a fire roaring in the stove. He +seated himself beside it, holding out a pair of hands blue with cold. + +"Ugh! It's an awful night!" he shivered. + +He laughed across at Rod, a little uneasily, but with the old light back +in his eyes. Suddenly he asked: + +"Did Minnetaki ever tell you--anything--queer--about Mukoki, Rod?" + +"Nothing more than you have told me yourself." + +"Well, once in a great while Mukoki has--not exactly a fit, but a little +mad spell! I have never determined to my own satisfaction whether he is +really out of his head or not. Sometimes I think he is and sometimes I +think he is not. But the Indians at the Post believe that at certain +times he goes crazy over wolves." + +"Wolves!" exclaimed Rod. + +"Yes, wolves. And he has good reason. A good many years ago, just about +when you and I were born, Mukoki had a wife and child. My mother and +others at the Post say that he was especially gone over the kid. He +wouldn't hunt like other Indians, but would spend whole days at his +shack playing with it and teaching it to do things; and when he did go +hunting he would often tote it on his back, even when it wasn't much +more than a squalling papoose. He was the happiest Indian at the Post, +and one of the poorest. One day Mukoki came to the Post with a little +bundle of fur, and most of the things he got in exchange for it, mother +says, were for the kid. He reached the store at night and expected to +leave for home the next noon, which would bring him to his camp before +dark. But something delayed him and he didn't get started until the +morning after. Meanwhile, late in the afternoon of the day when he was +to have been home, his wife bundled up the kid and they set out to meet +him. Well--" + +A weird howl from the captive wolf interrupted Wabi for a moment. + +"Well, they went on and on, and of course did not meet him. And then, +the people at the Post say, the mother must have slipped and hurt +herself. Anyway, when Mukoki came over the trail the next day he found +them half eaten by wolves. From that day on Mukoki was a different +Indian. He became the greatest wolf hunter in all these regions. Soon +after the tragedy he came to the Post to live and since then he has not +left Minnetaki and me. Once in a great while when the night is just +right, when the moon is shining and it is bitter cold, Mukoki seems to +go a little mad. He calls this a 'wolf night.' No one can stop him from +going out; no one can get him to talk; he will allow no one to accompany +him when in such a mood. He will walk miles and miles to-night. But he +will come back. And when he returns he will be as sane as you and I, and +if you ask him where he has been he will say that he went out to see if +he could get a shot at something." + +Rod had listened in rapt attention. To him, as Wabi proceeded with his +story of the tragedy in Mukoki's life, the old Indian was transformed +into another being. No longer was he a mere savage reclaimed a little +from the wilderness. There had sprung up in Rod's breast a great, human, +throbbing sympathy for him, and in the dim candle-glow his eyes +glistened with a dampness which he made no attempt to conceal. + +"What does Mukoki mean by 'wolf night'?" he asked. + +"Muky is a wizard when it comes to hunting wolves," Wabi went on. "He +has studied them and thought of them every day of his life for nearly +twenty years. He knows more about wolves than all the rest of the +hunters in this country together. He can catch them in every trap he +sets, which no other trapper in the world can do; he can tell you a +hundred different things about a certain wolf simply by its track, and +because of his wonderful knowledge he can tell, by some instinct that is +almost supernatural, when a 'wolf night' comes. Something in the air +to-night, something in the sky--in the moon--in the very way the +wilderness looks, tells him that stray wolves in the plains and hills +are 'packing' or banding together to-night, and that in the morning the +sun will be shining, and they will be on the sunny sides of the +mountains. See if I am not right. To-morrow night, if Mukoki comes back +by then, we shall have some exciting sport with the wolves, and then you +will see how Wolf out there does his work!" + +There followed several minutes of silence. The fire roared up the +chimney, the stove glowed red hot and the boys sat and looked and +listened. Rod took out his watch. It lacked only ten minutes of +midnight. Yet neither seemed possessed with a desire to return to their +interrupted sleep. + +"Wolf is a curious beast," mused Wabi softly. "You might think he was a +sneaking, traitorous cur of a wolf to turn against his own breed and +lure them to death. But he isn't. Wolf, as well as Mukoki, has good +cause for what he does. You might call it animal vengeance. Did you ever +notice that a half of one of his ears is gone? And if you thrust back +his head you will find a terrible sear in his throat, and from his left +side just back of the fore leg a chunk of flesh half as big as my hand +has been torn away. We caught Wolf in a lynx trap, Mukoki and I. He +wasn't much more than a whelp then--about six months old, Mukoki said. +And while he was in the trap, helpless and unable to defend himself, +three or four of his lovely tribe jumped upon him and tried to kill him +for breakfast. We hove in sight just in time to drive the cannibals off. +We kept Wolf, sewed up his side and throat, tamed him--and to-morrow +night you will see how Mukoki has taught him to get even with his +people." + +It was two hours later when Rod and Wabigoon extinguished the candles +and returned to their blankets. And for another hour after that the +former found it impossible to sleep. He wondered where Mukoki +was--wondered what he was doing, and how in his strange madness he found +his way in the trackless wilderness. + +When he finally fell asleep it was to dream of the Indian mother and her +child; only after a little there was no child, and the woman changed +into Minnetaki, and the ravenous wolves into men. From this unpleasant +picture he was aroused by a series of prods in his side, and opening his +eyes he beheld Wabi in his blankets a yard away, pointing over and +beyond him and nodding his head. Rod looked, and caught his breath. + +There was Mukoki--peeling potatoes! + +"Hello, Muky!" he shouted. + +The old Indian looked up with a grin. His face bore no signs of his mad +night on the trail. He nodded cheerfully and proceeded with the +preparation of breakfast as though he had just risen from his blankets +after a long night's rest. + +"Better get up," he advised. "Big day's hunt. Much fine sunshine to-day. +Find wolves on mountain--plenty wolves!" + +The boys tumbled from their blankets and began dressing. + +"What time did you get in?" asked Wabi. + +"Now," replied Mukoki, pointing to the hot stove and the peeled +potatoes. "Just make fire good." + +Wabi gave Rod a suggestive look as the old Indian bent over the stove. + +"What were you doing last night?" he questioned. + +"Big moon--might get shot," grunted Mukoki. "See lynx on hill. See +wolf-tracks on red deer trail. No shot." + +This was as much of the history of Mukoki's night on the trail as the +boys could secure, but during their breakfast Wabi shot another glance +at Rod, and as Mukoki left the table for a moment to close the damper in +the stove he found an opportunity to whisper: + +"See if I'm not right. He will choose the mountain trail." When their +companion returned, he said: "We had better split up this morning, +hadn't we, Muky? It looks to me as though there are two mighty good +lines for traps--one over the hill, where that creek leads off through +the range of ridges to the east, and the other along the creek which +runs through the hilly plains to the north. What do you think of it?" + +"Good" agreed the old hunter. "You two go north--I take ridges." + +"No, you and I will take the ridges and Wabi will go north alone," +amended Rod quickly. "I'm going with you, Mukoki!" + +Mukoki, who was somewhat flattered by this preference of the white +youth, grinned and chuckled and began to talk more volubly about the +plans which were in his head. It was agreed that they all would return +to the cabin at an early hour in the afternoon, for the old Indian +seemed positive that they would have their first wolf hunt that night. + +Rod noticed that the captive wolf received no breakfast that morning, +and he easily guessed the reason. + +The traps were now divided. Three different sizes had been brought from +the Post--fifty small ones for mink, marten and other small fur animals; +fifteen fox traps, and as many larger ones for lynx and wolves. Wabi +equipped himself with twenty of the small traps and four each of fox and +lynx traps, while Rod and Mukoki took about forty in all. The remainder +of the caribou meat was then cut into chunks and divided equally among +them for bait. + +The sun was just beginning to show itself above the wilderness when the +hunters left camp. As Mukoki had predicted, it was a glorious day, one +of those bitterly cold, cloudless days when, as the Indians believe, the +great Creator robs the rest of the world of the sun that it may shine in +all its glory upon their own savage land. From the top of the hill that +sheltered their home Rod looked out over the glistening forests and +lakes in rapt and speechless admiration; but only for a few moments did +the three pause, then took up their different trails. + +At the foot of this hill Mukoki and his companion struck the creek. They +had not progressed more than fifty rods when the old Indian stopped and +pointed at a fallen log which spanned the stream. The snow on this log +was beaten by tiny footprints. Mukoki gazed a moment, cast an observant +eye along the trail, and at once threw off his pack. + +"Mink!" he explained. He crossed the frozen creek, taking care not to +touch the log. On the opposite side the tracks spread out over a +windfall of trees. "Whole family mink live here," continued Mukoki. +"T'ree--mebby four--mebby five. Build trap-house right here!" + +Never before had Rod seen a trap set as the old Indian now set his. Very +near the end of the log over which the mink made their trail he quickly +built a shelter of sticks which when completed was in the form of a tiny +wigwam. At the back of this was placed a chunk of the caribou meat, and +in front of this bait, so that an animal would have to spring it in +passing, was set a trap, carefully covered with snow and a few leaves. +Within twenty minutes Mukoki had built two of these shelters and had set +two traps. + +"Why do you build those little houses?" asked Rod, as they again took up +their trail. + +"Much snow come in winter," elucidated the Indian. "Build house to keep +snow off traps. No do that, be digging out traps all winter. When +mink--heem smell meat--go in house he got to go over trap. Make house +for all small animal like heem. No good for lynx. He see house--walk +roun' 'n' roun' 'n' roun'--and then go 'way. Smart fellow--lynx. Wolf +and fox, too." + +"Is a mink worth much?" + +"Fi' dollar--no less that. Seven--eight dollar for good one." + +During the next mile six other mink traps were set. The creek now ran +along the edge of a high rocky ridge and Mukoki's eyes began to shine +with a new interest. No longer did he seem entirely absorbed in the +discovery of signs of fur animals. His eyes were constantly scanning the +sun-bathed side of the ridge ahead and his progress was slow and +cautious. He spoke in whispers, and Rod followed his example. Frequently +the two would stop and scan the openings for signs of life. Twice they +set fox traps where there were evident signs of runways; in a wild +ravine, strewn with tumbled trees and masses of rock, they struck a lynx +track and set a trap for him at each end of the ravine; but even during +these operations Mukoki's interest was divided. The hunters now walked +abreast, about fifty yards apart, Rod never forging a foot ahead of the +cautious Mukoki. Suddenly the youth heard a low call and he saw his +companion beckoning to him with frantic enthusiasm. + +"Wolf!" whispered Mukoki as Rod joined him. + +In the snow were a number of tracks that reminded Rod of those made by a +dog. + +"T'ree wolf!" continued the Indian jubilantly. "Travel early this +morning. Somewhere in warm sun on mountain!" + +They followed now in the wolf trail. A little way on Rod found part of +the carcass of a rabbit with fox tracks about it. Here Mukoki set +another trap. A little farther still they came across a fisher trail and +another trap was laid. Caribou and deer tracks crossed and recrossed the +creek, but the Indian paid little attention to them. A fourth wolf +joined the pack, and a fifth, and half an hour later the trail of three +other wolves cut at right angles across the one they were following and +disappeared in the direction of the thickly timbered plains. Mukoki's +face was crinkled with joy. + +"Many wolf near," he exclaimed. "Many wolf off there 'n' off there 'n' +off there. Good place for night hunt." + +Soon the creek swung out from the ridge and cut a circuitous channel +through a small swamp. Here there were signs of wild life which set +Rod's heart thumping and his blood tingling with excitement. In places +the snow was literally packed with deer tracks. Trails ran in every +direction, the bark had been rubbed from scores of saplings, and every +step gave fresh evidence of the near presence of game. The stealth with +which Mukoki now advanced was almost painful. Every twig was pressed +behind him noiselessly, and once when Rod struck his snow-shoe against +the butt of a small tree the old Indian held up his hands in mock +horror. Ten minutes, fifteen--twenty of them passed in this cautious, +breathless trailing of the swamp. + +Suddenly Mukoki stopped, and a hand was held out behind him warningly. +He turned his face back, and Rod knew that he saw game. Inch by inch he +crouched upon his snow-shoes, and beckoned for Rod to approach, slowly, +quietly. When the boy had come near enough he passed back his rifle, and +his lips formed the almost noiseless word, "Shoot!" + +Tremblingly Rod seized the gun and looked into the swamp ahead, Mukoki +doubling down in front of him. What he saw sent him for a moment into +the first nervous tremor of buck fever. Not more than a hundred yards +away stood a magnificent buck browsing the tips of a clump of hazel, and +just beyond him were two does. With a powerful effort Rod steadied +himself. The buck was standing broadside, his head and neck stretched +up, offering a beautiful shot at the vital spot behind his fore leg. At +this the young hunter aimed and fired. With one spasmodic bound the +animal dropped dead. + +Hardly had Rod seen the effect of his shot before Mukoki was traveling +swiftly toward the fallen game, unstrapping his pack as he ran. By the +time the youth reached his quarry the old Indian had produced a large +whisky flask holding about a quart. Without explanation he now proceeded +to thrust his knife into the quivering animal's throat and fill this +flask with blood. When he had finished his task he held it up with an +air of unbounded satisfaction. + +"Blood for wolf. Heem like blood. Smell um--come make big shoot +to-night. No blood, no bait--no wolf shoot!" + +Mukoki no longer maintained his usual quiet, and it was evident to Rod +that the Indian considered his mission for that day practically +accomplished. After taking the heart, liver and one of the hind quarters +of the buck Mukoki drew a long rope of babeesh from his pack, tied one +end of it around the animal's neck, flung the other end over a near +limb, and with his companion's assistance hoisted the carcass until it +was clear of the ground. + +"If somethin' happen we no come back to-night heem safe from wolf," he +explained. + +The two now continued through the swamp. At its farther edge the ground +rose gently from the creek toward the hills, and this sloping plain was +covered with huge boulders and a thin growth of large spruce and birch. +Just beyond the creek was a gigantic rock which immediately caught +Mukoki's attention. All sides except one were too precipitous for +ascent, and even this one could not be climbed without the assistance of +a sapling or two. They could see, however, that the top of the, rock was +flat, and Mukoki called attention to this fact with an exultant chuckle. + +"Fine place for wolf hunt!" he exclaimed. "Many wolf off there in swamp +an' in hill. We call heem here. Shoot from there!" He pointed to a clump +of spruce a dozen rods away. + +By Rod's watch it was now nearly noon and the two sat down to eat the +sandwiches they had brought with them. Only a few minutes were lost in +taking up the home trail. Beyond the swamp Mukoki cut at right angles to +their trap-line until he had ascended to the top of the ridge that had +been on their right and which would take them very near their camp. From +this ridge Rod could look about him upon a wild and rugged scene. On one +side it sloped down to the plains, but on the other it fell in almost +sheer walls, forming at its base five hundred feet below a narrow and +gloomy chasm, through which a small stream found its way. Several times +Mukoki stopped and leaned perilously close to the dizzy edge of the +mountain, peering down with critical eyes, and once when he pulled +himself back cautiously by means of a small sapling he explained his +interest by saying: + +"Plenty bear there in spring!" + +But Rod was not thinking of bears. Once more his head was filled with +the thought of gold. Perhaps that very chasm held the priceless secret +that had died with its owners half a century ago. The dark and gloomy +silence that hung between those two walls of rock, the death-like +desolation, the stealthy windings of the creek--everything in that dim +and mysterious world between the two mountains, unshattered by sound and +impenetrable to the winter sun, seemed in his mind to link itself with +the tragedy of long ago. + +Did that chasm hold the secret of the dead men? + +Again and again Rod found himself asking this question as he followed +Mukoki, and the oftener he asked it the nearer he seemed to an answer, +until at last, with a curious, thrilling certainty that set his blood +tingling he caught Mukoki by the arm and pointing back, said: + +"Mukoki--the gold was found between those mountains!" + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WOLF TAKES VENGEANCE UPON HIS PEOPLE + + +From that hour was born in Roderick Drew's breast a strange, +imperishable desire. Willingly at this moment would he have given up the +winter trapping to have pursued that golden _ignis fatuus_ of all +ages--the lure of gold. To him the story of the old cabin, the skeletons +and the treasure of the buckskin bag was complete. Those skeletons had +once been men. They had found a mine--a place where they had picked up +nuggets with their fingers. And that treasure ground was somewhere near. +No longer was he puzzled by the fact that they had discovered no more +gold in the old log cabin. In a flash he had solved that mystery. The +men had just begun to gather their treasure when they had fought. What +was more logical than that? One day, two, three--and they had quarreled +over division, over rights. That was the time when they were most likely +to quarrel. Perhaps one had discovered the gold and had therefore +claimed a larger share. Anyway, the contents of the buckskin bag +represented but a few days' labor. Rod was sure of that. + +Mukoki had grinned and shrugged his shoulders with an air of stupendous +doubt when Rod had told him that the gold lay between the mountains, so +now the youth kept his thoughts to himself. It was a silent trail home. +Rod's mind was too active in its new channel, and he was too deeply +absorbed in impressing upon his memory certain landmarks which they +passed to ask questions; and Mukoki, with the natural taciturnity of his +race, seldom found occasion to break into conversation unless spoken to +first. Although his eyes were constantly on the alert, Rod could see no +way in which a descent could be made into the chasm from the ridge they +were on. This was a little disappointing, for he had made up his mind to +explore the gloomy, sunless gulch at his first opportunity. He had no +doubt that Wabi would join in the adventure. Or he might take his own +time, and explore it alone. He was reasonably sure that from somewhere +on the opposite ridge a descent could be made into it. + +Wabi was in camp when they arrived. He had set eighteen traps and had +shot two spruce partridges. The birds were already cleaned for their +early supper, and a thick slice of venison steak was added to the menu. +During the preparation of the meal Rod described their discovery of the +chasm and revealed some of his thoughts concerning it, but Wabi betrayed +only passing flashes of interest. At times he seemed strangely +preoccupied and would stand in an idle, contemplative mood, his hands +buried deep in his pockets, while Rod or Mukoki proceeded with the +little duties about the table or the stove. Finally, after arousing +himself from one of these momentary spells, he pulled a brass shell from +his pocket and held it out to the old Indian. + +"See here," he said. "I don't want to stir up any false fears, or +anything of that sort--but I found that on the trail to-day!" + +Mukoki clutched at the shell as though it had been another newly found +nugget of gold. The shell was empty. The lettering on the rim was still +very distinct. He read ".35 Rem." + +"Why, that's--" + +"A shell from Rod's gun!" + +For a few moments Rod and Mukoki stared at the young Indian in blank +amazement. + +"It's a .35 caliber Remington," continued Wabi, "and it's an auto-loading +shell. There are only three guns like that in this country. I've got +one, Mukoki has another--and you lost the third in your fight with the +Woongas!" + +The venison had begun to burn, and Mukoki quickly transferred it to the +table. Without a word the three sat down to their meal. + +"That means the Woongas are on our trail," declared Rod presently. + +"That is what I have been trying to reason out all the afternoon," +replied Wabi. "It certainly is proof that they are, or have been quite +recently, on this side of the mountain. But I don't believe they know we +are here. The trail I struck was about five miles from camp. It was at +least two days old. Three Indians on snow-shoes were traveling north. I +followed back on their trail and found after a time that the Indians had +come from the north, which leads me to believe that they were simply on +a hunting expedition, cut a circle southward, and then returned to their +camp. I don't believe they will come farther south. But we must keep our +eyes open." + +Wabi's description of the manner in which the strange trail turned gave +great satisfaction to Mukoki, who nodded affirmatively when the young +hunter expressed it as his belief that the Woongas would not come so far +as their camp. But the discovery of their presence chilled the buoyant +spirits of the hunters. There was, however, a new spice of adventure +lurking in this possible peril that was not altogether displeasing, and +by the time the meal was at an end something like a plan of campaign had +been formed. The hunters would not wait to be attacked and then act in +self-defense, possibly at a disadvantage. They would be constantly on +the lookout for the Woongas, and if a fresh trail or a camp was found +they would begin the man-hunt themselves. + +The sun was just beginning to sink behind the distant hills in the +southwest when the hunters again left camp. Wolf had received nothing to +eat since the previous night, and with increasing hunger the fiery +impatience lurking in his eyes and the restlessness of his movements +became more noticeable. Mukoki called attention to these symptoms with a +gloating satisfaction. + +The gloom of early evening was enveloping the wilderness by the time the +three wolf hunters reached the swamp in which Rod had slain the buck. +While he carried the guns and packs, Mukoki and Wabigoon dragged the +buck between them to the huge flat-top rock. Now for the first time the +city youth began to understand the old pathfinder's scheme. Several +saplings were cut, and by means of a long rope of babeesh the deer was +dragged up the side of the rock until it rested securely upon the flat +space. From the dead buck's neck the babeesh rope was now stretched +across the intervening space between the rock and the clump of cedars in +which the hunters were to conceal themselves. In two of these cedars, at +a distance of a dozen feet from the ground, were quickly made three +platforms of saplings, upon which the ambushed watchers could +comfortably seat themselves. By the time complete darkness had fallen +the "trap" was finished, with the exception of a detail which Rod +followed with great interest. + +From inside his clothes, where it had been kept warm by his body, Mukoki +produced the flask of blood. A third of this blood he scattered upon the +face of the rock and upon the snow at its base. The remainder he +distributed, drop by drop, in trails running toward the swamp and +plains. + +There still remained three hours before the moon would be up, and the +hunters now joined Wolf, who had been fastened half-way up the ridge. In +the shelter of a big rock a small fire was built, and during their long +wait the hunters passed the time away by broiling and eating chunks of +venison and in going over again the events of the day. + +It was nine o'clock before the moon rose above the edge of the +wilderness. This great orb of the Northern night seemed to hold a +never-ending fascination for Rod. It crept above the forests, a glowing, +throbbing ball of red, quivering and palpitating in an effulgence that +neither cloud nor mist dimmed in this desolation beyond the sphere of +man; and as it rose, almost with visible movement to the eyes, the blood +in it faded, until at last it seemed a great blaze of soft light between +silver and gold. It was then that the whole world was lighted up under +it. It was then that Mukoki, speaking softly, beckoned the others to +follow him, and with Wolf at his side went down the ridge. + +Making a circuit around the back of the rock, Mukoki paused near a small +sapling twenty yards from the dead buck and secured Wolf by his babeesh +thong. Hardly had he done so when the animal began to exhibit signs of +excitement. He trotted about nervously, sniffing the air, gathering the +wind from every direction, and his jaws dropped with a snarling whine. +Then he struck one of the clots of blood in the snow. + +"Come," whispered Wabi, pulling at Rod's sleeve, "come--quietly." + +They slipped back among the shadows of the spruce and watched Wolf in +unbroken silence. The animal now stood rigidly over the blood clot. His +head was level with his quivering back, his ears half aslant, his +nostrils pointing to a strange thrilling scent that came to him from +somewhere out there in the moonlight. Once more the instinct of his +breed was flooding the soul of the captive wolf. There was the odor of +blood in his widening nostrils. It was not the blood of the camp, of the +slaughtered game dragged in by human hands before his eyes. It was the +blood of the chase! + +A flashing memory of his captors turned the animal's head for an instant +in backward inspection. They were gone. He could neither hear nor see +them. He sniffed the sign of human presence, but that sign was always +with him, and was not disturbing. The blood held him--and the strange +scent, the game scent--that was coming to him more clearly every +instant. + +He crunched about cautiously in the snow. He found other spots of blood, +and to the watchers there came a low long whine that seemed about to end +in the wolf song. The blood trails were leading him away toward the game +scent, and he tugged viciously at the babeesh that held him captive, +gnawing at it vainly, like an angry dog, forgetting what experience had +taught him many times before. Each moment added to his excitement He ran +about the sapling, gulped mouthfuls of the bloody snow, and each time he +paused for a moment with his open dripping jaws held toward the dead +buck on the rock. The game was very near. Brute sense told him that. Oh, +the longing that was in him, the twitching, quivering longing to +kill--kill--kill! + +He made another effort, tore up the snow in his frantic endeavors to +free himself, to break loose, to follow in the wild glad cry of freed +savagery in the calling of his people. He failed again, panting, whining +in piteous helplessness. + +Then he settled upon his haunches at the end of his babeesh thong. + +For a moment his head turned to the moonlit sky, his long nose poised at +right angles to the bristling hollows between his shoulders. + +There came then a low, whining wail, like the beginning of the +"death-song" of a husky dog--a wail that grew in length and in strength +and in volume until it rose weirdly among the mountains and swept far +out over the plains--the hunt call of the wolf on the trail, which calls +to him the famished, gray-gaunt outlaws of the wilderness, as the +bugler's notes call his fellows on the field of battle. + +Three times that blood-thrilling cry went up from the captive wolf's +throat, and before those cries had died away the three hunters were +perched upon their platforms among the spruce. + +There followed now the ominous, waiting silence of an awakened +wilderness. Rod could hear his heart throbbing within him. He forgot the +intense cold. His nerves tingled. He looked out over the endless plains, +white and mysteriously beautiful as they lay bathed in the glow of the +moon. And Wabi knew more than he what was happening. All over that wild +desolation the call of the wolf had carried its meaning. Down there, +where a lake lay silent in its winter sleep, a doe started in trembling +and fear; beyond the mountain a huge bull moose lifted his antlered head +with battle-glaring eyes; half a mile away a fox paused for an instant +in its sleuth-like stalking of a rabbit; and here and there in that +world of wild things the gaunt hungry people of Wolf's blood stopped in +their trails and turned their heads toward the signal that was coming in +wailing echoes to their ears. + +And then the silence was broken. From afar--it might have been a mile +away--there came an answering cry; and at that cry the wolf at the end +of his babeesh thong settled upon his haunches again and sent back the +call that comes only when there is blood upon the trail or when near the +killing time. + +There was not the rustle of a bough, not a word spoken, by the silent +watchers in the spruce. Mukoki had slipped back and half lay across his +support in shooting attitude. Wabi had braced a foot, and his rifle was +half to his shoulder, leveled over a knee. It was Rod's turn with the +big revolver, and he had practised aiming through a crotch that gave a +rest to his arm. + +In a few moments there came again the howl of the distant wolf on the +plains, and this time it was joined by another away to the westward. And +after that there came two from the plains instead of one, and then a far +cry to the north and east. For the first time Rod and Wabi heard the +gloating chuckle of Mukoki in his spruce a dozen feet away. + +At the increasing responses of his brethren Wolf became more frantic in +his efforts. The scent of fresh blood and of wounded game was becoming +maddening to the captive. But his frenzy no longer betrayed itself in +futile efforts to escape from the babeesh thong. Wolf knew that his +cries were assembling the hunt-pack. Nearer and nearer came the +responses of the leaders, and there were now only momentary rests +between the deep-throated exhortations which he sent in all directions +into the night. + +Suddenly, almost from the swamp itself, there came a quick, excited, +yelping reply, and Wabi gripped Rod by the arm. + +"He has struck the place where you killed the buck," he whispered. +"There'll be quick work now!" + +Hardly had he spoken when a series of excited howls broke forth from the +swamp, coming nearer and nearer as the hunger-crazed outlaw of the +plains followed over the rich-scented trail made by the two Indians as +they carried the slaughtered deer. Soon he nosed one of the trails of +blood, and a moment later the watchers saw a gaunt shadow form running +swiftly over the snow toward Wolf. + +For an instant, as the two beasts of prey met, there fell a silence; +then both animals joined in the wailing hunt-pack cry, and the wolf that +was free came to the edge of the great rock and stood with his fore feet +on its side, and his cry changed from that of the chase to the still +more thrilling signal that told the gathering pack of game at bay. + +Swiftly the wolves closed in. From over the edge of the mountain one +came and joined the wolf at the rock without the hunters seeing his +approach. From out of the swamp there came a pack of three, and now +about the rock there grew a maddened, yelping horde, clambering and +scrambling and fighting in their efforts to climb up to the game that +was so near and yet beyond their reach. And sixty feet away Wolf +crouched, watching the gathering of his clan, helpless, panting from his +choking efforts to free himself, and quieting, gradually quieting, until +in sullen silence he looked upon the scene, as though he knew the moment +was very near when that thrilling spectacle would be changed into a +scene of direst tragedy. + +And it was Mukoki who had first said that this was the vengeance of Wolf +upon his people. + +From Mukoki there now came a faint hissing warning, and Wabi threw his +rifle to his shoulder. There were at least a score of wolves at the base +of the rock. Gradually the old Indian pulled upon the babeesh rope that +led to the dead buck--pulled until he was putting a half of his strength +into the effort, and could feel the animal slowly slipping from the flat +ledge. A moment more and the buck tumbled down in the midst of the +waiting pack. + +As flies gather upon a lump of sugar the famished animals now crowded +and crushed and fought over the deer's body, and as they came thus +together there sounded the quick sharp signal to fire from Mukoki. + +For five seconds the edge of the spruce was a blaze of death-dealing +flashes, and the deafening reports of the two rifles and the big Colt +drowned the cries and struggles of the animals. When those five seconds +were over fifteen shots had been fired, and five seconds later the vast, +beautiful silence of the wilderness night had fallen again. About the +rock was the silence of death, broken only faintly by the last gasping +throes of the animals that lay dying in the snow. + +In the trees there sounded the metallic clink of loading shells. + +Wabi spoke first. + +"I believe we did a good job, Mukoki!" + +Mukoki's reply was to slip down his tree. The others followed, and +hastened across to the rock. Five bodies lay motionless in the snow. A +sixth was dragging himself around the side of the rock, and Mukoki +attacked it with his belt-ax. Still a seventh had run for a dozen rods, +leaving a crimson trail behind, and when Wabi and Rod came up to it the +animal was convulsed in its last dying struggles. + +"Seven!" exclaimed the Indian youth. "That is one of the best shoots we +ever had. A hundred and five dollars in a night isn't bad, is it?" + +The two came back to the rock, dragging the wolf with them. Mukoki was +standing as rigid as a statue in the moonlight, his face turned into the +north. He pointed one arm far out over the plains, and said, without +turning his head, + +"See!" + +Far out in that silent desolation the hunters saw a lurid flash of +flame. It climbed up and up, until it filled the night above it with a +dull glow--a single unbroken stream of fire that rose far above the +swamps and forests of the plains. + +"That's a burning jackpine!" said Wabigoon. + +"Burning jackpine!" agreed the old warrior. Then he added, "Woonga +signal fire!" + + + +CHAPTER X + +RODERICK EXPLORES THE CHASM + + +To Rod the blazing pine seemed to be but a short distance away--a mile, +perhaps a little more. In the silence of the two Indians as they +contemplated the strange fire he read an ominous meaning. In Mukoki's +eyes was a dull sullen glare, not unlike that which fills the orbs of a +wild beast in a moment of deadly anger. Wabi's face was filled with an +eager flush, and three times, Rod observed, he turned eyes strangely +burning with some unnatural passion upon Mukoki. + +Slowly, even as the instincts of his race had aroused the latent, +brutish love of slaughter and the chase in the tamed wolf, the long +smothered instincts of these human children of the forest began to +betray themselves in their bronzed countenances. Rod watched, and he was +thrilled to the soul. Back at the old cabin they had declared war upon +the Woongas. Both Mukoki and Wabigoon had slipped the leashes that had +long restrained them from meting first vengeance upon their enemies. Now +the opportunity had come. For five minutes the great pine blazed, and +then died away until it was only a smoldering tower of light. Still +Mukoki gazed, speechless and grim, out into the distance of the night. +At last Wabi broke the silence. + +"How far away is it, Muky?" + +"T'ree mile," answered the old warrior without hesitation. + +"We could make it in forty minutes." + +"Yes." + +Wabi turned to Rod. + +"You can find your way back to camp alone, can't you?" he asked. + +"Not if you're going over there!" declared the white boy. "I'm going +with you." + +Mukoki broke in upon them with a harsh disappointed laugh. + +"No go. No go over there." He spoke with emphasis, and shook his head. +"We lose pine in five minutes. No find Woonga camp--make big trail for +Woongas to see in morning. Better wait. Follow um trail in day, then +shoot!" + +Rod found immense relief in the old Indian's decision. He did not fear a +fight; in fact, he was a little too anxious to meet the outlaws who had +stolen his gun, now that they had determined upon opening fire on sight. +But in this instance he was possessed of the cooler judgment of his +race. He believed that as yet the Woongas were not aware of their +presence in this region, and that there was still a large possibility of +the renegades traveling northward beyond their trapping sphere. He hoped +that this would be the case, in spite of his desire to recapture his +gun. A scrimmage with the Woongas just now would spoil the plans he had +made for discovering gold. + +The "Skeleton Mine," as he had come to call it, now absorbed his +thoughts beyond everything else. He felt confident that he would +discover the lost treasure ground if given time, and he was just as +confident that if war was once begun between themselves and the Woongas +it would mean disaster or quick flight from the country. Even Wabi, +worked up more in battle enthusiasm than by gold fever, conceded that if +half of the Woongas were in this country they were much too powerful for +them to cope with successfully, especially as one of them was without a +rifle. + +It was therefore with inward exultation that Rod saw the project of +attack dropped and Mukoki and Wabigoon proceed with their short task of +scalping the seven wolves. During this operation Wolf was allowed to +feast upon the carcass of the buck. + +That night there was but little sleep in the old cabin. It was two +o'clock when the hunters arrived in camp and from that hour until nearly +four they sat about the hot stove making plans for the day that was +nearly at hand. Rod could but contrast the excitement that had now taken +possession of them with the tranquil joy with which they had first taken +up their abode in this dip in the hilltop. And how different were their +plans from those of two or three days ago! Not one of them now but +realized their peril. They were in an ideal hunting range, but it was +evidently very near, if not actually in, the Woonga country. At any +moment they might be forced to fight for their lives or abandon their +camp, and perhaps they would be compelled to do both. + +So the gathering about the stove was in reality a small council of war. +It was decided that the old cabin should immediately be put into a +condition of defense, with a loophole on each side, strong new bars at +the door, and with a thick barricade near at hand that could be quickly +fitted against the window in case of attack. Until the war-clouds +cleared away, if they cleared at all, the camp would be continually +guarded by one of the hunters, and with this garrison would be left both +of the heavy revolvers. At dawn or a little later Mukoki would set out +upon Wabi's trap-line, both to become acquainted with it and to extend +the line of traps, while later in the day the Indian youth would follow +Mukoki's line, visiting the houses already built and setting other +traps. This scheme left to Rod the first day's watch in camp. + +Mukoki aroused himself from his short sleep with the first approach of +dawn but did not awaken his tired companions until breakfast was ready. +When the meal was finished he seized his gun and signified his intention +of visiting the mink traps just beyond the hill before leaving on his +long day's trail. Rod at once joined him, leaving Wabi to wash the +dishes. + +They were shortly within view of the trap-houses near the creek. +Instinctively the eyes of both rested upon these houses and neither gave +very close attention to the country ahead or about them. As a result +both were exceedingly startled when they heard a huge snort and a great +crunching in the deep snow close beside them. From out of a small growth +of alders had dashed a big bull moose, who was now tearing with the +speed of a horse up the hillside toward the hidden camp, evidently +seeking the quick shelter of the dip. + +"Wait heem git top of hill!" shouted Mukoki, swinging his rifle to his +shoulder. "Wait!" + +It was a beautiful shot and Rod was tempted to ignore the old Indian's +advice. But he knew that there was some good reason for it, so he held +his trembling finger. Hardly had the animal's huge antlered head risen +to the sky-line when Mukoki shouted again, and the young hunter pressed +the trigger of his automatic gun three times in rapid succession. It was +a short shot, not more than two hundred yards, and Mukoki fired but once +just as the bull mounted the hilltop. + +The next instant the moose was gone and Rod was just about to dash in +pursuit when his companion caught him by the arm. + +"We got um!" he grinned. "He run downhill, then fall--ver' close to +camp. Ver' good scheme--wait heem git on top hill. No have to carry meat +far!" + +As coolly as though nothing had occurred the Indian turned again in the +direction of the traps. Rod stood as though he had been nailed to the +spot, his mouth half open in astonishment. + +"We go see traps," urged Mukoki. "Find moose dead when we go back." + +But Roderick Drew, who had hunted nothing larger than house rats in his +own city, was not the young man to see the logic of this reasoning, and +before Mukoki could open his mouth again he was hurrying up the hill. On +its summit he saw a huge torn-up blotch in the snow, spattered with +blood, where the moose had fallen first after the shots; and at the foot +of the hill, as the Indian had predicted, the great animal lay dead. + +Wabi was hastening across the lake, attracted by the shots, and both +reached the slain bull at about the same time. Rod quickly perceived +that three shots had taken effect; one, which was undoubtedly Mukoki's +carefully directed ball, in a vital spot behind the fore leg, and two +through the body. The fact that two of his own shots had taken good +effect filled the white youth with enthusiasm, and he was still +gesticulating excitedly in describing the bull's flight to Wabi when the +old Indian came over the hill, grinning broadly, and holding up for +their inspection a magnificent mink. + +The day could not have begun more auspiciously for the hunters, and by +the time Mukoki was ready to leave upon his long trail the adventurers +were in buoyant spirits, the distressing fears of the preceding night +being somewhat dispelled by their present good fortune and the glorious +day which now broke in full splendor upon the wilderness. + +Until their early dinner Wabi remained in camp, securing certain parts +of the moose and assisting Rod in putting the cabin into a state of +defense according to their previous plans. It was not yet noon when he +started over Mukoki's trap-line. + +Left to his own uninterrupted thoughts, Rod's mind was once more +absorbed in his scheme of exploring the mysterious chasm. He had noticed +during his inspection from the top of the ridge that the winter snows +had as yet fallen but little in the gloomy gulch between the mountains, +and he was eager to attempt his adventure before other snows came or the +fierce blizzards of December filled the chasm with drifts. Later in the +afternoon he brought forth the buckskin bag from a niche in the log wall +where it had been concealed, and one after another carefully examined +the golden nuggets. He found, as he had expected, that they were worn to +exceeding smoothness, and that every edge had been dulled and rounded. +Rod's favorite study in school had been a minor branch of geology and +mineralogy, and he knew that only running water could work this +smoothness. He was therefore confident that the nuggets had been +discovered in or on the edge of a running stream. And that stream, he +was sure, was the one in the chasm. + +But Rod's plans for an early investigation were doomed to +disappointment. Late that day both Mukoki and Wabi returned, the latter +with a red fox and another mink, the former with a fisher, which +reminded Rod of a dog just growing out of puppyhood, and another story +of strange trails that renewed their former apprehensions. The old +Indian had discovered the remnants of the burned jackpine, and about it +were the snow-shoe tracks of three Indians. One of these trails came +from the north and two from the west, which led him to believe that the +pine had been fired as a signal to call the two. At the very end of +their trap-line, which extended about four miles from camp, a single +snow-shoe trail had cut across at right angles, also swinging into the +north. + +These discoveries necessitated a new arrangement of the plans that had +been made the preceding night. Hereafter, it was agreed, only one +trap-line would be visited each day, and by two of the hunters in +company, both armed with rifles. Rod saw that this meant the abandonment +of his scheme for exploring the chasm, at least for the present. + +Day after day now passed without evidences of new trails, and each day +added to the hopes of the adventurers that they were at last to be left +alone in the country. Never had Mukoki or Wabigoon been in a better +trapping ground, and every visit to their lines added to their hoard of +furs. If left unmolested it was plainly evident that they would take a +small fortune back to Wabinosh House with them early in the spring. +Besides many mink, several fisher, two red foxes and a lynx, they added +two fine "cross" foxes and three wolf scalps to their treasure during +the next three weeks. Rod began to think occasionally of the joy their +success would bring to the little home hundreds of miles away, where he +knew that the mother was waiting and praying for him every day of her +life; and there were times, too, when he found himself counting the days +that must still elapse before he returned to Minnetaki and the Post. + +But at no time did he give up his determination to explore the chasm. +From the first Mukoki and Wabigoon had regarded this project with little +favor, declaring the impossibility of discovering gold under snow, even +though gold was there; so Rod waited and watched for an opportunity to +make the search alone, saying nothing about his plans. + +On a beautiful day late in December, when the sun rose with dazzling +brightness, his opportunity came. Wabi was to remain in camp, and +Mukoki, who was again of the belief that they were safe from the +Woongas, was to follow one of the trap-lines alone. Supplying himself +well with food, taking Wabi's rifle, a double allowance of cartridges, a +knife, belt-ax, and a heavy blanket in his pack, Rod set out for the +chasm. Wabi laughed as he stood in the doorway to see him off. + +"Good luck to you, Rod; hope you find gold," he cried gaily, waving a +final good-by with his hand. + +"If I don't return to-night don't you fellows worry about me," called +back the youth. "If things look promising I may camp in the chasm and +take up the hunt again in the morning." + +He now passed quickly to the second ridge, knowing from previous +experience that it would be impossible to make a descent into the gulch +from the first mountain. This range, a mile south of the camp, had not +been explored by the hunters, but Rod was sure that there was no danger +of losing himself as long as he followed along the edge of the chasm +which was in itself a constant and infallible guide. Much to his +disappointment he found that the southern walls of this mysterious break +between the mountains were as precipitous as those on the opposite side, +and for two hours he looked in vain for a place where he might climb +down. The country was now becoming densely wooded and he was constantly +encountering signs of big game. But he paid little attention to these. +Finally he came to a point where the forest swept over and down the +steep side of the mountain, and to his great joy he saw that by +strapping his snow-shoes to his back and making good use of his hands it +was possible for him to make a descent. + +Fifteen minutes later, breathless but triumphant, he stood at the bottom +of the chasm. On his right rose the strip of cedar forest; on his left +he was shut in by towering walls of black and shattered rock. At his +feet was the little stream which had played such an important part in +his golden dreams, frozen in places, and in others kept clear of ice by +the swiftness of its current. A little ahead of him was that gloomy, +sunless part of the chasm into which he had peered so often from the top +of the ridge on the north. As he advanced step by step into its +mysterious silence, his eyes alert, his nerves stretched to a tension of +the keenest expectancy, there crept over him a feeling that he was +invading that enchanted territory which, even at this moment, might be +guarded by the spirits of the two mortals who had died because of the +treasure it held. + +Narrower and narrower became the walls high over his head. Not a ray of +sunlight penetrated into the soundless gloom. Not a leaf shivered in the +still air. The creek gurgled and spattered among its rocks, without the +note of a bird or the chirp of a squirrel to interrupt its monotony. +Everything was dead. Now and then Rod could hear the wind whispering +over the top of the chasm. But not a breath of it came down to him. +Under his feet was only sufficient snow to deaden his own footsteps, and +he still carried his snow-shoes upon his back. + +Suddenly, from the thick gloom that hung under one of the cragged walls, +there came a thundering, unearthly sound that made him stop, his rifle +swung half to shoulder. He saw that he had disturbed a great owl, and +passed on. Now and then he paused beside the creek and took up handful +after handful of its pebbles, his heart beating high with hope at every +new gleam he caught among them, and never sinking to disappointment +though he found no gold. The gold was here--somewhere. He was as certain +of that as he was of the fact that he was living, and searching for it. +Everything assured him of that; the towering masses of cleft rock, whole +walls seeming about to crumble into ruin, the broad margins of pebbles +along the creek--everything, to the very stillness and mystery in the +air, spoke this as the abode of the skeletons' secret. + +It was this inexplicable _something_--this unseen, mysterious element +hovering in the air that caused the white youth to advance step by step, +silently, cautiously, as though the slightest sound under his feet might +awaken the deadliest of enemies. And it was because of this stealth in +his progress that he came very close upon something that was living, and +without startling it. Less than fifty yards ahead of him he saw an +object moving slowly among the rocks. It was a fox. Even before the +animal had detected his presence he had aimed and fired. + +Thunderous echoes rose up about him. They rolled down the chasm, volume +upon volume, until in the ghostly gloom between the mountain walls he +stood and listened, a nervous shiver catching him once or twice. Not +until the last echo had died away did he approach where the fox lay upon +the snow. It was not red. It was not black. It was not-- + +His heart gave a big excited thump. The bleeding creature at his feet +was the most beautiful animal he had ever seen--and the tip of its thick +black fur was silver gray. + +Then, in that lonely chasm, there went up a great human whoop of joy. + +"A silver fox!" + +Rod spoke the words aloud. For five minutes he stood and looked upon his +prize. He held it up and stroked it, and from what Wabi and Mukoki had +told him he knew that the silken pelt of this creature was worth more to +them than all the furs at the camp together. + +He made no effort to skin it, but put the animal in his pack and resumed +his slow, noiseless exploration of the gulch. + +He had now passed beyond those points in the range from which he had +looked down into this narrow, shut-in world. Ever more wild and gloomy +became the chasm. At times the two walls of rock seemed almost to meet +far above his head; under gigantic, overhanging crags there lurked the +shadows of night. Fascinated by the grandeur and loneliness of the +scenes through which he was passing Rod forgot the travel of time. Mile +after mile he continued his tireless trail. He had no inclination to +eat. He stopped only once at the creek to drink. And when he looked at +his watch he was astonished to find that it was three o'clock in the +afternoon. + +It was now too late to think of returning to camp. Within an hour the +day gloom of the chasm would be thickening into that of night. So Rod +stopped at the first good camp site, threw off his pack, and proceeded +with the building of a cedar shelter. Not until this was completed and a +sufficient supply of wood for the night's fire was at hand did he begin +getting supper. He had brought a pail with him and soon the appetizing +odors of boiling coffee and broiling moose sirloin filled the air. + +Night had fallen between the mountain walls by the time Rod sat down to +his meal. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +RODERICK'S DREAM + + +A chilling loneliness now crept over the young adventurer. Even as he +ate he tried to peer out into the mysterious darkness. A sound from up +the chasm, made by some wild prowler of the night, sent a nervous tremor +through him. He was not afraid; he would not have confessed to that. But +still, the absolute, almost gruesome silence between the two mountains, +the mere knowledge that he was alone in a place where the foot of man +had not trod for more than half a century, was not altogether quieting +to his nerves. What mysteries might not these grim walls hold? What +might not happen here, where everything was so strange, so weird, and so +different from the wilderness world just over the range? + +Rod tried to laugh away his nervousness, but the very sound of his own +voice was distressing. It rose in unnatural shivering echoes--a low, +hollow mockery of a laugh beating itself against the walls; a ghost of a +laugh, Rod thought, and that very thought made him hunch closer to the +fire. The young hunter was not superstitious, or at least he was not +unnaturally so; but what man or boy is there in this whole wide world of +ours who does not, at some time, inwardly cringe from something in the +air--something that does not exist and never did exist, but which holds +a peculiar and nameless fear for the soul of a human being? + +And Rod, as he piled his fire high with wood and shrank in the warmth of +his cedar shelter, felt that nameless dread; and there came to him no +thought of sleep, no feeling of fatigue, but only that he was alone, +absolutely alone, in the mystery and almost unending silence of the +chasm. Try as he would he could not keep from his mind the vision of the +skeletons as he had first seen them in the old cabin. + +Many, many years ago, even before his own mother was born, those +skeletons had trod this very chasm. They had drunk from the same creek +as he, they had clambered over the same rocks, they had camped perhaps +where he was camping now! They, too, in flesh and life, had strained +their ears in the grim silence, they had watched the flickering light of +their camp-fire on the walls of rock--and they had found gold! + +Just now, if Rod could have moved himself by magic, he would have been +safely back in camp. He listened. From far back over the trail he had +followed there came a lonely, plaintive, almost pleading cry. + +"'Ello--'ello--'ello!" + +It sounded like a distant human greeting, but Rod knew that it was the +awakening night cry of what Wabi called the "man owl." It was weirdly +human-like; and the echoes came softly, and more softly, until ghostly +voices seemed to be whispering in the blackness about him. + +"'Ello--'ello--'ello!" + +The boy shivered and laid his rifle across his knees. There was +tremendous comfort in the rifle. Rod fondled it with his fingers, and +two or three times he felt as though he would almost like to talk to it. +Only those who have gone far into the silence and desolation of the +unblazed wilderness know just how human a good rifle becomes to its +owner. It is a friend every hour of the night and day, faithful to its +master's desires, keeping starvation at bay and holding death for his +enemies; a guaranty of safety at his bedside by night, a sharp-fanged +watch-dog by day, never treacherous and never found wanting by the one +who bestows upon it the care of a comrade and friend. Thus had Rod come +to look upon his rifle. He rubbed the barrel now with his mittens; he +polished the stock as he sat in his loneliness, and long afterward, +though he had determined to remain awake during the night, he fell +asleep with it clasped tightly in his hands. + +It was an uneasy, troubled slumber in which the young adventurer's +visions and fears took a more realistic form. He half sat, half lay, +upon his cedar boughs; his head fell forward upon his breast, his feet +were stretched out to the fire. Now and then unintelligible sounds fell +from his lips, and he would start suddenly as if about to awaken, but +each time would sink back into his restless sleep, still clutching the +gun. + +The visions in his head began to take a more definite form. Once more he +was on the trail, and had come to the old cabin. But this time he was +alone. The window of the cabin was wide open, but the door was tightly +closed, just as the hunters had found it when they first came down into +the dip. He approached cautiously. When very near the window he heard +sounds--strange sounds--like the clicking of bones! + +Step by step in his dream he approached the window and looked in. And +there he beheld a sight that froze him to the marrow. Two huge skeletons +were struggling in deadly embrace. He could hear no sound but the +click-click-click of their bones. He saw the gleam of knives held +between fleshless fingers, and he saw now that both were struggling for +the possession of something that was upon the table. Now one almost +reached it, now the other, but neither gained possession. + +The clicking of the bones became louder, the struggle fiercer, the +knives of the skeleton combatants rose and fell. Then one staggered back +and sank in a heap on the floor. + +For a moment the victor swayed, tottered to the table, and gripped the +mysterious object in its bony fingers. + +As it stumbled weakly against the cabin wall the gruesome creature held +the object up, and Rod saw that it was a roll of birch-bark! + +An ember in the dying fire snapped with a sound like the report of a +small pistol and Rod sat bolt upright, awake, staring, trembling. What a +horrible dream! He drew in his cramped legs and approached the fire on +his knees, holding his rifle in one hand while he piled on wood with the +other. + +What a horrible dream! + +He shuddered and ran his eyes around the impenetrable wall of blackness +that shut him in, the thought constantly flashing through his mind, what +a horrible dream--what a horrible dream! + +He sat down again and watched the flames of his fire as they climbed +higher and higher. The light and the heat cheered him, and after a +little he allowed his mind to dwell upon the adventure of his slumber. +It had made him sweat. He took off his cap and found that the hair about +his forehead was damp. + +All the different phases of a dream return to one singly when awake, and +it was with the suddenness of a shot that there came to Rod a +remembrance of the skeleton hand held aloft, clutching between its +gleaming fleshless fingers the roll of birch-bark. And with that memory +of his dream there came another--the skeleton in the cabin was clutching +a piece of birch-bark when they had buried it! + +Could that crumpled bit of bark hold the secret of the lost mine? + +Was it for the possession of that bark instead of the buckskin bag that +the men had fought and died? + +As the minutes passed Rod forgot his loneliness, forgot his nervousness +and only thought of the possibilities of the new clue that had come to +him in a dream. Wabi and Mukoki had seen the bark clutched in the +skeleton fingers, but they as well as he had given it no special +significance, believing that it had been caught up in some terrible part +of the struggle when both combatants were upon the floor, or perhaps in +the dying agonies of the wounded man against the wall. Rod remembered +now that they had found no more birch-bark upon the floor, which they +would have done if a supply had been kept there for kindling fires. Step +by step he went over the search they had made in the old cabin, and more +and more satisfied did he become that the skeleton hand held something +of importance for them. + +He replenished his fire and waited impatiently for dawn. At four +o'clock, before day had begun to dispel the gloom of night, he cooked +his breakfast and prepared his pack for the homeward journey. Soon +afterward a narrow rim of light broke through the rift in the chasm. +Slowly it crept downward, until the young hunter could make out objects +near him and the walls of the mountains. + +Thick shadows still defied his vision when he began retracing his steps +over the trail he had made the day before. He returned with the same +caution that he had used in his advance. Even more carefully, if +possible, did he scrutinize the rocks and the creek ahead. He had +already found life in the chasm, and he might find more. + +The full light of day came quickly now, and with it the youth's progress +became more rapid. He figured that if he lost no time in further +investigation of the creek he would arrive at camp by noon, and they +would dig up the skeleton without delay. There was little snow in the +chasm, in spite of the lateness of the season, and if the roll of bark +held the secret of the lost gold it would be possible for them to locate +the treasure before other snows came to baffle them. + +At the spot where he had killed the silver fox Rod paused for a moment. +He wondered if foxes ever traveled in pairs, and regretted that he had +not asked Wabi or Mukoki that question. He could see where the fox had +come straight from the black wall of the mountain. Curiosity led him +over the trail. He had not followed it more than two hundred yards when +he stopped in sudden astonishment. Plainly marked in the snow before him +was the trail of a pair of snow-shoes! Whoever had been there had passed +since he shot the fox, for the imprints of the animal's feet were buried +under those of the snow-shoes. + +Who was the other person in the chasm? + +Was it Wabi? + +Had Mukoki or he come to join him? Or-- + +He looked again at the snow-shoe trail. It was a peculiar trail, unlike +the one made by his own shoes. The imprints were a foot longer than his +own, and narrower. Neither Wabi nor Mukoki wore shoes that would make +that trail! + +At this point the strange trail had turned and disappeared among the +rocks along the wall of the mountain, and it occurred to Rod that +perhaps the stranger had not discovered his presence in the chasm. There +was some consolation in this thought, but it was doomed to quick +disappointment. Very cautiously the youth advanced, his rifle held in +readiness and his eyes searching every place of concealment ahead of +him. A hundred yards farther on the stranger had stopped, and from the +way in which the snow was packed Rod knew that he had stood in a +listening and watchful attitude for some time. From this point the trail +took another turn and came down until, from behind a huge rock, the +stranger had cautiously peered out upon the path made by the white +youth. + +It was evident that he was extremely anxious to prevent the discovery of +his own trail, for now the mysterious spy threaded his way behind rocks +until he had again come to the shelter of the mountain wall. + +Rod was perplexed. He realized the peril of his dilemma, and yet he knew +not what course to take to evade it. He had little doubt that the trail +was made by one of the treacherous Woongas, and that the Indian not only +knew of his presence, but was somewhere in the rocks ahead of him, +perhaps even now waiting behind some ambuscade to shoot him. Should he +follow the trail, or would it be safer to steal along among the rocks of +the opposite wall of the chasm? + +He had decided upon the latter course when his eyes caught a narrow +horizontal slit cleaving the face of the mountain on his left, toward +which the snow-shoe tracks seemed to lead. With his rifle ready for +instant use the youth slowly approached the fissure, and was surprised +to find that it was a complete break in the wall of rock, not more than +four feet wide, and continuing on a steady incline to the summit of the +ridge. At the mouth of this fissure his mysterious watcher had taken off +his snow-shoes and Rod could see where he had climbed up the narrow exit +from the chasm. + +With a profound sense of relief the young hunter hurried along the base +of the mountain, keeping well within its shelter so that eyes that might +be spying from above could not see his movements. He now felt no fear of +danger. The stranger's flight up the cleft in the chasm wall and his +careful attempts to conceal his trail among the rocks assured Rod that +he had no designs upon his life. His chief purpose had seemed to be to +keep secret his own presence in the gorge, and this fact in itself added +to the mystification of the white youth. For a long time he had been +secretly puzzled, and had evolved certain ideas of his own because of +the movements of the Woongas. Contrary to the opinions of Mukoki and +Wabigoon, he believed that the red outlaws were perfectly conscious of +their presence in the dip. From the first their actions had been +unaccountable, but not once had one of their snow-shoe trails crossed +their trap-lines. + +Was this fact in itself not significant? Rod was of a contemplative +theoretical turn of mind, one of those wide-awake, interesting young +fellows who find food for conjecture in almost every incident that +occurs, and his suspicions were now aroused to an unusual pitch. A chief +fault, however, was that he kept most of his suspicions to himself, for +he believed that Mukoki and Wabigoon, born and taught in the life of the +wilderness, were infallible in their knowledge of the ways and the laws +and the perils of the world they were in. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE SECRET OF THE SKELETON'S HAND + + +A little before noon Rod arrived at the top of the hill from which he +could look down on their camp. He was filled with pleasurable +anticipation, and with an unbounded swelling satisfaction that caused +him to smile as he proceeded into the dip. He had found a fortune in the +mysterious chasm. The burden of the silver fox upon his shoulders was a +most pleasing reminder of that, and he pictured the moment when the +good-natured raillery of Mukoki and Wabigoon would be suddenly turned +into astonishment and joy. + +As he approached the cabin the young hunter tried to appear disgusted +and half sick, and his effort was not bad in spite of his decided +inclination to laugh. Wabi met him in the doorway, grinning broadly, and +Mukoki greeted him with a throatful of his inimitable chuckles. + +"Aha, here's Rod with a packful of gold!" cried the young Indian, +striking an expectant attitude. "Will you let us see the treasure?" In +spite of his banter there was gladness in his face at Rod's arrival. + +The youth threw off his pack with a spiritless effort and flopped into a +chair as though in the last stage of exhaustion. + +"You'll have to undo the pack," he replied. "I'm too tired and hungry." + +Wabi's manner changed at once to one of real sympathy. + +"I'll bet you're tired, Rod, and half starved. We'll have dinner in a +hurry. Ho, Muky, put on the steak, will you?" + +There followed a rattle of kettles and tin pans and the Indian youth +gave Rod a glad slap on the back as he hurried to the table. He was +evidently in high spirits, and burst into a snatch of song as he cut up +a loaf of bread. + +"I'm tickled to see you back," he admitted, "for I was getting a little +bit nervous. We had splendid luck on our lines yesterday. Brought in +another 'cross' and three mink. Did you see anything?" + +"Aren't you going to look in the pack?" + +Wabi turned and gazed at his companion with a half-curious hesitating +smile. + +"Anything in it?" he asked suspiciously. + +"See here, boys," cried Rod, forgetting himself in his suppressed +enthusiasm. "I said there was a treasure in that chasm, and there was. I +found it. You are welcome to look into that pack if you wish!" + +Wabi dropped the knife with which he was cutting the bread and went to +the pack. He touched it with the toe of his boot, lifted it in his +hands, and glanced at Rod again. + +"It isn't a joke?" he asked. + +"No." + +Rod turned his back upon the scene and began to take off his coat as +coolly as though it were the commonest thing in the world for him to +bring silver foxes into camp. Only when Wabi gave a suppressed yell did +he turn about, and then he found the Indian standing erect and holding +out the silver to the astonished gaze of Mukoki. + +"Is it a good one?" he asked. + +"A beauty!" gasped Wabi. + +Mukoki had taken the animal and was examining it with the critical eyes +of a connoisseur. + +"Ver' fine!" he said. "At Post heem worth fi' hundred dollars--at +Montreal t'ree hundred more!" + +Wabi strode across the cabin and thrust out his hand. + +"Shake, Rod!" + +As the two gripped hands he turned to Mukoki. + +"Bear witness, Mukoki, that this young gentleman is no longer a +tenderfoot. He has shot a silver fox. He has done a whole winter's work +in one day. I take off my hat to you, Mr. Drew!" + +Roderick's face reddened with a flush of pleasure. + +"And that isn't all, Wabi," he said. His eyes were filled with a sudden +intense earnestness, and in the strangeness of the change Wabi forgot to +loosen the grip of his fingers about his companion's hand. + +"You don't mean that you found--" + +"No, I didn't find gold," anticipated Rod. "But the gold is there! I +know it. And I think I have found a clue. You remember that when you and +I examined the skeleton against the wall we saw that it clutched +something that looked like birch-bark in its hand? Well, I believe that +birch-bark holds the key to the lost mine!" + +Mukoki had come beside them and stood listening to Rod, his face alive +with keen interest. In Wabi's eyes there was a look half of doubt, half +of belief. + +"It might," he said slowly. "It wouldn't do any harm to see." + +He stepped to the stove and took off the partly cooked steak. Rod +slipped on his coat and hat and Mukoki seized his belt-ax and the +shovel. No words were spoken, but there was a mutual understanding that +the investigation was to precede dinner. Wabi was silent and thoughtful +and Rod could see that his suggestion had at least made a deep +impression upon him. Mukoki's eyes began to gleam again with the old +fire with which he had searched the cabin for gold. + +The skeletons were buried only a few inches deep in the frozen earth in +the edge of the cedar forest, and Mukoki soon exposed them to view. +Almost the first object that met their eyes was the skeleton hand +clutching its roll of birch-bark. It was Rod who dropped upon his knees +to the gruesome task. + +With a shudder at the touch of the cold bones he broke the fingers back. +One of them snapped with a sharp sound, and as he rose with the bark in +his hand his face was bloodlessly white. The bones were covered again +and the three returned to the cabin. + +Still silent, they gathered about the table. With age the bark of the +birch hardens and rolls itself tightly, and the piece Rod held was +almost like thin steel. Inch by inch it was spread out, cracking and +snapping in brittle protest. The hunters could see that the bark was in +a single unbroken strip about ten inches long by six in width. Two +inches, three, four were unrolled--and still the smooth surface was +blank. Another half-inch, and the bark refused to unroll farther. + +"Careful!" whispered Wabi. + +With the point of his knife he loosened the cohesion. + +"I guess--there's--nothing--" began Rod. + +Even as he spoke he caught his breath. A mark had appeared on the bark, +a black, meaningless mark with a line running down from it into the +scroll. + +Another fraction of an inch and the line was joined by a second, and +then with an unexpectedness that was startling the remainder of the roll +released itself like a spring--and to the eyes of the three wolf hunters +was revealed the secret of the skeleton hand. + +Spread out before them was a map, or at least what they at once accepted +as a map, though in reality it was more of a crude diagram of straight +and crooked lines, with here and there a partly obliterated word to give +it meaning. In several places there were mere evidences of words, now +entirely illegible. But what first held the attention of Rod and his +companions were several lines in writing under the rough sketch on the +bark, still quite plain, which formed the names of three men. Roderick +read them aloud. + +"John Ball, Henri Langlois, Peter Plante." + +Through the name of John Ball had been drawn a broad black line which +had almost destroyed the letters, and at the end of this line, in +brackets, was printed a word in French which Wabi quickly translated. + +"Dead!" he breathed. "The Frenchmen killed him!" + +The words shot from him in hot excitement. + +Rod did not reply. Slowly he drew a trembling finger over the map. The +first word he encountered was unintelligible. Of the next he could only +make out one letter, which gave him no clue. Evidently the map had been +made with a different and less durable substance than that with which +the names had been written. He followed down the first straight black +line, and where this formed a junction with a wider crooked line were +two words quite distinct: + +"Second waterfall." + +Half an inch below this Rod could make out the letters T, D and L, +widely scattered. + +"That's the third waterfall," he exclaimed eagerly. + +At this point the crude lines of the diagram stopped, and immediately +below, between the map and the three names, it was evident that there +had been considerable writing. But not a word of it could the young +hunters make out. That writing, without doubt, had given the key to the +lost gold. Rod looked up, his face betraying the keenness of his +disappointment. He knew that under his hand he held all that was left of +the secret of a great treasure. But he was more baffled than ever. +Somewhere in this vast desolation there were three waterfalls, and +somewhere near the third waterfall the Englishman and the two Frenchmen +had found their gold. That was all he knew. He had not found a waterfall +in the chasm; they had not discovered one in all their trapping and +hunting excursions. + +Wabi was looking down into his face in silent thought. Suddenly he +reached out and seized the sheet of bark and examined it closely. As he +looked there came a deeper flush in his face, his eyes brightened and he +gave a cry of excitement. + +"By George, I believe we can peel this!" he cried. "See here, Muky!" He +thrust the birch under the old Indian's eyes. Even Mukoki's hands were +trembling. + +"Birch-bark is made up of a good many layers, each as thin as the +thinnest paper," he explained to Rod as Mukoki continued his +examination. "If we can peel off that first layer, and then hold it up +to the light, we shall be able to see the impression of every word that +was ever made on it--even though they were written a hundred years ago!" + +Mukoki had gone to the door, and now he turned, grinning exultantly. + +"She peel!" + +He showed them where he had stripped back a corner of the film-like +layer. Then he sat down in the light, his head bent over, and for many +minutes he worked at his tedious task while Wabi and Rod hung back in +soundless suspense. Half an hour later Mukoki straightened himself, rose +to his feet and held out the precious film to Rod. + +As tenderly as though his own life depended upon its care, Rod held the +piece of birch, now a silken, almost transparent sheet, between himself +and the light. A cry welled up into his throat. It was repeated by Wabi. +And then there was silence--a silence broken only by their bated breaths +and the excited thumpings of their hearts. + +As though they had been written but yesterday, the mysterious words on +the map were disclosed to their eyes. Where Rod had made out only three +letters there were now plainly discernible the two words "third +waterfall," and very near to these was the word "cabin." Below them were +several lines, clearly impressed in the birch film. Slowly, his voice +trembling, Rod read them to his companions. + +"We, John Ball, Henri Langlois, and Peter Plante, having discovered gold +at this fall, do hereby agree to joint partnership in the same, and do +pledge ourselves to forget our past differences and work in mutual good +will and honesty, so help us God. Signed, + +"JOHN BALL, HENRI LANGLOIS, PETER PLANTE." + +At the very top of the map the impression of several other words caught +Rod's eyes. They were more indistinct than any of the others, but one by +one he made them out. A hot blurring film seemed to fall over his eyes +and he felt as though his heart had suddenly come up into his throat. +Wabi's breath was burning against his cheek, and it was Wabi who spoke +the words aloud. + +"Cabin and head of chasm." + +Rod went back to the table and sat down, the precious bit of birch-bark +under his hand. Mukoki, standing mute, had listened and heard, and was +as if stunned by their discovery. But now his mind returned to the moose +steak, and he placed it on the stove. Wabi stood with his hands in his +pockets, and after a little he laughed a trembling, happy laugh. + +"Well, Rod, you've found your mine. You are as good as rich!" + +"You mean that we have found our mine," corrected the white youth. "We +are three, and we just naturally fill the places of John Ball, Henri +Langlois and Peter Plante. They are all dead. The gold is ours!" + +Wabi had taken up the map. + +"I can't see the slightest possibility of our not finding it," he said. +"The directions are as plain as day. We follow the chasm, and somewhere +in that chasm we come to a waterfall. A little beyond this the creek +that runs through the gorge empties into a larger stream, and we follow +this second creek or river until we come to the third fall. The cabin is +there, and the gold can not be far away." + +He had carried the map to the door again, and Rod joined him. + +"There is nothing that gives us an idea of distance on the map," he +continued. "How far did you travel down the chasm?" + +"Ten miles, at least," replied Rod. + +"And you discovered no fall?" + +"No." + +With a splinter picked up from the floor Wabi measured the distances +between the different points on the diagram. + +"There is no doubt but what this map was drawn by John Ball," he said +after a few moments of silent contemplation. "Everything points to that +fact. Notice that all of the writing is in one hand, except the +signatures of Langlois and Plante, and you could hardly decipher the +letters in those signatures if you did not already know their names from +this writing below. Ball wrote a good hand, and from the construction of +the agreement over the signatures he was a man of pretty fair education. +Don't you think so? Well, he must have drawn this map with some idea of +distance in his mind. The second fall is only half as far from the first +fall as the third fall is from the second, which seems to me conclusive +evidence of this. If he had not had distance in mind he would not have +separated the falls in this way on the map." + +"Then if we can find the first fall we can figure pretty nearly how far +the last fall is from the head of the chasm," said Rod. + +"Yes. I believe the distance from here to the first fall will give us a +key to the whole thing." + +Rod had produced a pencil from one of his pockets and was figuring on +the smooth side of a chip. + +"The gold is a long way from here at the best, Wabi. I explored the +chasm for ten miles. Say that we find the first fall within fifteen +miles. Then, according to the map, the second fall would be about twenty +miles from the first, and the third forty miles from the second. If the +first fall is within fifteen miles of this cabin the third fall is at +least seventy-five miles away." + +Wabi nodded. + +"But we may not find the first fall within that distance," he said. "By +George--" He stopped and looked at Rod with an odd look of doubt in his +face. "If the gold is seventy-five or a hundred miles away, why were +those men here, and with only a handful of nuggets in their possession? +Is it possible that the gold played out--that they found only what was +in the buckskin bag?" + +"If that were so, why should they have fought to the death for the +possession of the map?" argued Rod. + +Mukoki was turning the steak. He had not spoken, but now he said: + +"Mebby going to Post for supplies." + +"That's exactly what they were doing!" shouted the Indian youth. "Muky, +you have solved the whole problem. They were going for supplies. And +they didn't fight for the map--not for the map alone!" + +His face flushed with new excitement. + +"Perhaps I am wrong, but it all seems clear to me now," he continued. +"Ball and the two Frenchmen worked their find until they ran out of +supplies. Wabinosh House is over a hundred years old, and fifty years +ago that was the nearest point where they could get more. In some way it +fell to the Frenchmen to go. They had probably accumulated a hoard of +gold, and before they left they murdered Ball. They brought with them +only enough gold to pay for their supplies, for it was their purpose not +to arouse the suspicion of any adventurers who happened to be at the +Post. They could easily have explained their possession of those few +nuggets. In this cabin either Langlois or Plante tried to kill his +companion, and thus become the sole possessor of the treasure, and the +fight, fatal to both, ensued. I may be wrong, but--by George, I believe +that is what happened!" + +"And that they buried the bulk of their gold somewhere back near the +third fall?" + +"Yes; or else they brought the gold here and buried it somewhere near +this very cabin!" + +They were interrupted by Mukoki. + +"Dinner ready!" he called. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SNOWED IN + + +Until the present moment Rod had forgotten to speak of the mysterious +man-trail he had encountered in the chasm. The excitement of the past +hour had made him oblivious to all other things, but now as they ate +their dinner he described the strange maneuvers of the spying Woonga. He +did not, however, voice those fears which had come to him in the gorge, +preferring to allow Mukoki and Wabigoon to draw their own conclusions. +By this time the two Indians were satisfied that the Woongas were not +contemplating attack, but that for some unaccountable reason they were +as anxious to evade the hunters as the hunters were to evade them. +Everything that had passed seemed to give evidence of this. The outlaw +in the chasm, for instance, could easily have waylaid Rod; a dozen times +the almost defenseless camp could have been attacked, and there were +innumerable places where ambushes might have been laid for them along +the trap-lines. + +So Rod's experience with the Woonga trail between the mountains +occasioned little uneasiness, and instead of forming a scheme for the +further investigation of this trail on the south, plans were made for +locating the first fall. Mukoki was the swiftest and most tireless +traveler on snow-shoes, and it was he who volunteered to make the first +search. He would leave the following morning, taking with him a supply +of food, and during his absence Rod and Wabigoon would attend to the +traps. + +"We must have the location of the first fall before we return to the +Post," declared Wabi. "If from that we find that the third fall is not +within a hundred miles of our present camp it will be impossible for us +to go in search of our gold during this trip. In that event we shall +have to go back to Wabinosh House and form a new expedition, with fresh +supplies and the proper kind of tools. We can not do anything until the +spring freshets are over, anyway." + +"I have been thinking of that," replied Rod, his eyes softening. "You +know mother is alone, and--her--" + +"I understand," interrupted the Indian boy, laying a hand fondly across +his companion's arm. + +"--her funds are small, you know," Rod finished. "If she has been +sick--or--anything like that--" + +"Yes, we've got to get back with our furs," helped Wabi, a tremor of +tenderness in his own voice. "And if you don't mind, Rod, I might take a +little run down to Detroit with you. Do you suppose she would care?" + +"Care!" shouted Rod, bringing his free hand down upon Wabi's arm with a +force that hurt. "Care! Why, she thinks as much of you as she does of +me, Wabi! She'd be tickled to death! Do you mean it?" + +Wabi's bronzed face flushed a deeper red at his friend's enthusiasm. + +"I won't promise--for sure," he said. "But I'd like to see her--almost +as much as you, I guess. If I can, I'll go." + +Rod's face was suffused with a joyful glow. + +"And I'll come back with you early in the summer and we'll start out for +the gold," he cried. He jumped to his feet and slapped Mukoki on the +back in the happy turn his mind had taken. "Will you come, too, Mukoki? +I'll give you the biggest 'city time' you ever had in your life!" + +The old Indian grinned and chuckled and grunted, but did not reply in +words. Wabi laughed, and answered for him. + +"He is too anxious to become Minnetaki's slave again, Rod. No, Muky +won't go, I'll wager that. He will stay at the Post to see that she +doesn't get lost, or hurt, or stolen by the Woongas. Eh, Mukoki?" Mukoki +nodded, grinning good-humoredly. He went to the door, opened it and +looked out. + +"Devil--she snow!" he cried. "She snow like twent' t'ousand--like +devil!" + +This was the strongest English in the old warrior's vocabulary, and it +meant something more than usual. Wabi and Rod quickly joined him. Never +in his life had the city youth seen a snow-storm like that which he now +gazed out into. The great north storm had arrived--a storm which comes +just once each year in the endless Arctic desolation. For days and weeks +the Indians had expected it and wondered at its lateness. It fell +softly, silently, without a breath of air to stir it; a smothering, +voiceless sea of white, impenetrable to human vision, so thick that it +seemed as though it might stifle one's breath. Rod held out the palm of +his hand and in an instant it was covered with a film of white. He +walked out into it, and a dozen yards away he became a ghostly, almost +invisible shadow. + +When he came back a minute later he brought a load of snow into the +cabin with him. + +All that afternoon the snow fell like this, and all that night the storm +continued. When he awoke in the morning Rod heard the wind whistling and +howling through the trees and around the ends of the cabin. He rose and +built the fire while the others were still sleeping. He attempted to +open the door, but it was blocked. He lowered the barricade at the +window, and a barrel of snow tumbled in about his feet. He could see no +sign of day, and when he turned he saw Wabi sitting up in his blankets, +laughing silently at his wonder and consternation. + +"What in the world--" he gasped. + +"We're snowed in," grinned Wabi. "Does the stove smoke?" + +"No," replied Rod, throwing a bewildered glance at the roaring fire. +"You don't mean to say--" + +"Then we are not completely, buried," interrupted the other. "At least +the top of the chimney is sticking out!" + +Mukoki sat up and stretched himself. + +"She blow," he said, as a tremendous howl of wind swept over the cabin. +"Bime-by she blow some more!" + +Rod shoveled the snow into a corner and replaced the barricade while his +companions dressed. + +"This means a week's work digging out traps," declared Wabi. "And only +Mukoki's Great Spirit, who sends all blessings to this country, knows +when the blizzard is going to stop. It may last a week. There is no +chance of finding our waterfall in this." + +"We can play dominoes," suggested Rod cheerfully. "You remember we +haven't finished that series we began at the Post. But you don't expect +me to believe that it snowed enough yesterday afternoon and last night +to cover this cabin, do you?" + +"It didn't exactly _snow_ enough to cover it," explained his comrade. +"But we're covered for all of that. The cabin is on the edge of an open, +and of course the snow just naturally drifts around us, blown there by +the wind. If this blizzard keeps up we shall be under a small mountain +by night." + +"Won't it--smother us?" faltered Rod. + +Wabi gave a joyous whoop of merriment at the city-bred youth's +half-expressed fear and a volley of Mukoki's chuckles came from where he +was slicing moose-steak on the table. + +"Snow mighty nice thing live under," he asserted with emphasis. + +"If you were under a mountain of snow you could live, if you weren't +crushed to death," said Wabi. "Snow is filled with air. Mukoki was +caught under a snow-slide once and was buried under thirty feet for ten +hours. He had made a nest about as big as a barrel and was nice and +comfortable when we dug him out. We won't have to burn much wood to keep +warm now." + +After breakfast the boys again lowered the barricade at the window and +Wabi began to bring small avalanches of snow down into the cabin with +his shovel. At the third or fourth upward thrust a huge mass plunged +through the window, burying them to the waist, and when they looked out +they could see the light of day and the whirling blizzard above their +heads. + +"It's up to the roof," gasped Rod. "Great Scott, what a snow-storm!" + +"Now for some fun!" cried the Indian youth. "Come on, Rod, if you want +to be in it." + +He crawled through the window into the cavity he had made in the drift, +and Rod followed. Wabi waited, a mischievous smile on his face, and no +sooner had his companion joined him than he plunged his shovel deep into +the base of the drift. Half a dozen quick thrusts and there tumbled down +upon their heads a mass of light snow that for a few moments completely +buried them. The suddenness of it knocked Rod to his knees, where he +floundered, gasped and made a vain effort to yell. Struggling like a +fish he first kicked his feet free, and Wabi, who had thrust out his +head and shoulders, shrieked with laughter as he saw only Rod's boots +sticking out of the snow. + +"You're going the wrong way, Rod!" he shouted. "Wow--wow!" + +He seized his companion's legs and helped to drag him out, and then +stood shaking, the tears streaming down his face, and continued to laugh +until he leaned back in the drift, half exhausted. Rod was a curious and +ludicrous-looking object. His eyes were wide and blinking; the snow was +in his ears, his mouth, and in his floundering he had packed his coat +collar full of it. Slowly he recovered from his astonishment, saw Wabi +and Mukoki quivering with laughter, grinned--and then joined them in +their merriment. + +It was not difficult now for the boys to force their way through the +drift and they were soon standing waist-deep in the snow twenty yards +from the cabin. + +"The snow is only about four feet deep in the open," said Wabi. "But +look at that!" + +He turned and gazed at the cabin, or rather at the small part of it +which still rose triumphant above the huge drift which had almost +completely buried it. Only a little of the roof, with the smoking +chimney rising out of it, was to be seen. Rod now turned in all +directions to survey the wild scene about him. There had come a brief +lull in the blizzard, and his vision extended beyond the lake and to the +hilltop. There was not a spot of black to meet his eyes; every rock was +hidden; the trees hung silent and lifeless under their heavy mantles and +even their trunks were beaten white with the clinging volleys of the +storm. There came to him then a thought of the wild things in this +seemingly uninhabitable desolation. How could they live in this endless +desert of snow? What could they find to eat? Where could they find water +to drink? He asked Wabi these questions after they had returned to the +cabin. + +"Just now, if you traveled from here to the end of this storm zone you +wouldn't find a living four-legged creature," said Wabigoon. "Every +moose in this country, every deer and caribou, every fox and wolf, is +buried in the snow. And as the snow falls deeper about them the warmer +and more comfortable do they become, so that even as the blizzard +increases in fury the kind Creator makes it easier for them to bear. +When the storm ceases the wilderness will awaken into life again. The +moose and deer and caribou will rise from their snow-beds and begin to +eat the boughs of trees and saplings; a crust will have formed on the +snow, and all the smaller animals, like foxes, lynx and wolves, will +begin to travel again, and to prey upon others for food. Until they find +running water again snow and ice take the place of liquid drink; warm +caverns dug in the snow give refuge in place of thick swamp moss and +brush and leaves. All the big animals, like moose, deer and caribou, +will soon make 'yards' for themselves by trampling down large areas of +snow, and in these yards they will gather in big herds, eating their way +through the forests, fighting the wolves and waiting for spring. Oh, +life isn't altogether bad for the animals in a deep winter like this!" + +Until noon the hunters were busy cleaning away the snow from the cabin +door. As the day advanced the blizzard increased in its fury, until, +with the approach of night, it became impossible for the hunters to +expose themselves to it. For three days the storm continued with only +intermittent lulls, but with the dawn of the fourth day the sky was +again cloudless, and the sun rose with a blinding effulgence. Rod now +found himself suffering from that sure affliction of every tenderfoot in +the far North--snow-blindness. For only a few minutes at a time could he +stand the dazzling reflections of the snow-waste where nothing but +white, flashing, scintillating white, seemingly a vast sea of burning +electric points in the sunlight, met his aching eyes. On the second day +after the storm, while Wabi was still inuring Rod to the changed world +and teaching him how to accustom his eyes to it gradually, Mukoki left +the cabin to follow the chasm in his search for the first waterfall. + +That same day Wabi began his work of digging out and resetting the +traps, but it was not until the day following that Rod's eyes would +allow him to assist. The task was a most difficult one; rocks and other +landmarks were completely hidden, and the lost traps averaged one out of +four. It was not until the end of the second day after Mukoki's +departure that the young hunters finished the mountain trap-line, and +when they turned their faces toward camp just at the beginning of dusk +it was with the expectant hope that they would find the old Indian +awaiting them. But Mukoki had not returned. The next day came and +passed, and a fourth dawned without his arrival. Hope now gave way to +fear. In three days Mukoki could travel nearly a hundred miles. Was it +possible that something had happened to him? Many times there recurred +to Rod a thought of the Woonga in the chasm. Had the mysterious spy, or +some of his people, waylaid and killed him? + +Neither of the hunters had a desire to leave camp during the fourth day. +Trapping was exceptionally good now on account of the scarcity of animal +food and since the big storm they had captured a wolf, two lynx, a red +fox and eight mink. But as Mukoki's absence lengthened their enthusiasm +grew less. + +In the afternoon, as they were watching, they saw a figure climb wearily +to the summit of the hill. + +It was Mukoki. + +With shouts of greeting both youths hurried through the snow toward him, +not taking time to strap on their snow-shoes. The old Indian was at +their side a couple of minutes later. He smiled in a tired good-natured +way, and answered the eagerness in their eyes with a nod of his head. + +"Found fall. Fift' mile down mountain." + +Once in the cabin he dropped into a chair, exhausted, and both Rod and +Wabigoon joined in relieving him of his boots and outer garments. It was +evident that Mukoki had been traveling hard, for only once or twice +before in his life had Wabi seen him so completely fatigued. Quickly the +young Indian had a huge steak broiling over the fire, and Rod put an +extra handful of coffee in the pot. + +"Fifty miles!" ejaculated Wabi for the twentieth time. "It was an awful +jaunt, wasn't it, Muky?" + +"Rough--rough like devil th'ough mountains," replied Mukoki. "Not like +that!" He swung an arm in the direction of the chasm. + +Rod stood silent, open-eyed with wonder. Was it possible that the old +warrior had discovered a wilder country than that through which he had +passed in the chasm? + +"She little fall," went on Mukoki, brightening as the odor of coffee and +meat filled his nostrils. "No bigger than--that!" He pointed to the roof +of the cabin. + +Rod was figuring on the table. Soon he looked up. + +"According to Mukoki and the map we are at least two hundred and fifty +miles from the third fall," he said. + +Mukoki shrugged his shoulders and his face was crinkled in a suggestive +grimace. + +"Hudson Bay," he grunted. + +Wabi turned from his steak in sudden astonishment. + +"Doesn't the chasm continue east?" he almost shouted. + +"No. She turn--straight north." + +Rod could not understand the change that came over Wabi's face. + +"Boys," he said finally, "if that is the case I can tell you where the +gold is. If the stream in the chasm turns northward it is bound for just +one place--the Albany River, and the Albany River empties into James +Bay! The third waterfall, where our treasure in gold is waiting for us, +is in the very heart of the wildest and most savage wilderness in North +America. It is safe. No other man has ever found it. But to get it means +one of the longest and most adventurous expeditions we ever planned in +all our lives!" + +"Hurrah!" shouted Rod. "Hurrah--" + +He had leaped to his feet, forgetful of everything but that their gold +was safe, and that their search for it would lead them even to the last +fastnesses of the snow-bound and romantic North. + +"Next spring, Wabi!" He held out his hand and the two boys joined their +pledge in a hearty grip. + +"Next spring!" reiterated Wabi. + +"And we go in canoe," joined Mukoki. "Creek grow bigger. We make +birch-bark canoe at first fall." + +"That is better still," added Wabi. "It will be a glorious trip! We'll +take a little vacation at the third fall and run up to James Bay." + +"James Bay is practically the same as Hudson Bay, isn't it?" asked Rod. + +"Yes. I could never see a good reason for calling it James Bay. It is in +reality the lower end, or tail, of Hudson Bay." + +There was no thought of visiting any of the traps that day, and the next +morning Mukoki insisted upon going with Rod, in spite of his four days +of hard travel. If he remained in camp his joints would get stiff, he +said, and Wabigoon thought he was right. This left the young Indian to +care for the trap-line leading into the north. + +Two weeks of ideal trapping weather now followed. It had been more than +two months since the hunters had left Wabinosh House, and Rod now began +to count the days before they would turn back over the homeward trail. +Wabi had estimated that they had sixteen hundred dollars' worth of furs +and scalps and two hundred dollars in gold, and the white youth was +satisfied to return to his mother with his share of six hundred dollars, +which was as much as he would have earned in a year at his old position +in the city. Neither did he attempt to conceal from Wabi his desire to +see Minnetaki; and his Indian friend, thoroughly pleased at Rod's liking +for his sister, took much pleasure in frequent good-natured banter on +the subject. In fact, Rod possessed a secret hope that he might induce +the princess mother to allow her daughter to accompany himself and Wabi +to Detroit, where he knew that his own mother would immediately fall in +love with the beautiful little maiden from the North. + +In the third week after the great storm Rod and Mukoki had gone over the +mountain trap-line, leaving Wabi in camp. They had decided that the +following week would see them headed for Wabinosh House, where they +would arrive about the first of February, and Roderick was in high +spirits. + +On this day they had started toward camp early in the afternoon, and +soon after they had passed through the swamp Rod expressed his intention +of ascending the ridge, hoping to get a shot at game somewhere along the +mountain trail home. Mukoki, however, decided not to accompany him, but +to take the nearer and easier route. + +On the top of the mountain Rod paused to take a survey of the country +about him. He could see Mukoki, now hardly more than a moving speck on +the edge of the plain; northward the same fascinating, never-ending +wilderness rolled away under his eyes; eastward, two miles away, he saw +a moving object which he knew was a moose or a caribou; and westward-- + +Instinctively his eyes sought the location of their camp. Instantly the +expectant light went out of his face. He gave an involuntary cry of +horror, and there followed it a single, unheard shriek for Mukoki. + +Over the spot where he knew their camp to be now rose a huge volume of +smoke. The sky was black with it, and in the terrible moment that +followed his piercing cry for Mukoki he fancied that he heard the sound +of rifle-shots. + +"Mukoki! Mukoki!" he shouted. + +The old Indian was beyond hearing. Quickly it occurred to Rod that early +in their trip they had arranged rifle signals for calling help--two +quick shots, and then, after a moment's interval, three others in rapid +succession. + +He threw his rifle to his shoulder and fired into the air; once, +twice--and then three times as fast as he could press the trigger. + +As he watched Mukoki he reloaded. He saw the Indian pause, turn about +and look back toward the mountain. + +Again the thrilling signals for help went echoing over the plains. In a +few seconds the sounds had reached Mukoki's ears and the old warrior +came swinging back at running speed. + +Rod darted along the ridge to meet him, firing a single shot now and +then to let him know where he was, and in fifteen minutes Mukoki came +panting up the mountain. + +"The Woongas!" shouted Rod. "They've attacked the camp! See!" He pointed +to the cloud of smoke. "I heard shots--I heard shots--" + +For an instant the grim pathfinder gazed in the direction of the burning +camp, and then without a word he started at terrific speed down the +mountain. + +The half-hour race that followed was one of the most exciting +experiences of Rod's life. How he kept up with Mukoki was more than he +ever could explain afterward. But from the time they struck the old +trail he was close at the Indian's heels. When they reached the hill +that sheltered the dip his face was scratched and bleeding from contact +with swinging bushes; his heart seemed ready to burst from its +tremendous exertion; his breath came in an audible hissing, rattling +sound, and he could not speak. But up the hill he plunged behind Mukoki, +his rifle cocked and ready. At the top they paused. + +The camp was a smoldering mass of ruins. Not a sign of life was about +it. But-- + +With a gasping, wordless cry Rod caught Mukoki's arm and pointed to an +object lying in the snow a dozen yards from where the cabin had been. +The warrior had seen it. He turned one look upon the white youth, and it +was a look that Rod had never thought could come into the face of a +human being. If that was Wabi down there--if Wabi had been killed--what +would Mukoki's vengeance be! His companion was no longer Mukoki--as he +had known him; he was the savage. There was no mercy, no human instinct, +no suggestion of the human soul in that one terrible look. If it was +Wabi-- + +They plunged down the hill, into the dip, across the lake, and Mukoki +was on his knees beside the figure in the snow. He turned it over--and +rose without a sound, his battle-glaring eyes peering into the smoking +ruins. + +Rod looked, and shuddered. + +The figure in the snow was not Wabi. + +It was a strange, terrible-looking object--a giant Indian, distorted in +death--and a half of his head was shot away! + +When he again looked at Mukoki the old Indian was in the midst of the +hot ruins, kicking about with his booted feet and poking with the butt +of his rifle. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE RESCUE OF WABIGOON + + +Rod had sunk into the snow close to the dead man. His endurance was gone +and he was as weak as a child. He watched every movement Mukoki made; +saw every start, every glance, and became almost sick with fear whenever +the warrior bent down to examine some object. + +Was Wabi dead--and burned in those ruins? + +Foot by foot Mukoki searched. His feet became hot; the smell of burning +leather filled his nostrils; glowing coals burned through to his feet. +But the old Indian was beyond pain. Only two things filled his soul. One +of these was love for Minnetaki; the other was love for Wabigoon. And +there was only one other thing that could take the place of these, and +that was merciless, undying, savage passion--passion at any wrong or +injury that might be done to them. The Woongas had sneaked upon Wabi. He +knew that. They had caught him unaware, like cowards; and perhaps he was +dead--and in those ruins! + +He searched until his feet were scorched and burned in a score of +places, and then he came out, smoke-blackened, but with some of the +terrible look gone out of his face. + +"He no there!" he said, speaking for the first time. + +Again he crouched beside the dead man, and grimaced at Rod with a +triumphant, gloating chuckle. + +"Much dead!" he grinned. + +In a moment the grimace had gone from his face, and while Rod still +rested he continued his examination of the camp. Close around it the +snow was beaten down with human tracks. Mukoki saw where the outlaws had +stolen up behind the cabin from the forest and he saw where they had +gone away after the attack. + +Five had come down from the cedars, only four had gone away! + +Where was Wabi? + +If he had been captured, and taken with the Indians, there would have +been five trails. Rod understood this as well as Mukoki, and he also +understood why his companion went back to make another investigation of +the smoldering ruins. This second search, however, convinced the Indian +that Wabi's body had not been thrown into the fire. There was only one +conclusion to draw. The youth had made a desperate fight, had killed one +of the outlaws, and after being wounded in the conflict had been carried +off bodily. Wabi and his captors could not be more than two or three +miles away. A quick pursuit would probably overtake them within an hour. + +Mukoki came to Rod's side. + +"Me follow--kill!" he said. "Me kill so many quick!" He pointed toward +the four trails. "You stay--" + +Rod clambered to his feet. + +"You mean we'll kill 'em, Muky," he broke in. "I can follow you again. +Set the pace!" + +There came the click of the safety on Mukoki's rifle, and Rod, following +suit, cocked his own. + +"Much quiet," whispered the Indian when they had come to the farther +side of the dip. "No noise--come up still--shoot!" + +The snow-shoe trail of the outlaws turned from the dip into the timbered +bottoms to the north, and Mukoki, partly crouched, his rifle always to +the front, followed swiftly. They had not progressed a hundred yards +into the plain when the old hunter stopped, a puzzled look in his face. +He pointed to one of the snow-shoe trails which was much deeper than the +others. + +"Heem carry Wabi," he spoke softly. "But--" His eyes gleamed in sudden +excitement. "They go slow! They no hurry! Walk very slow! Take much +time!" + +Rod now observed for the first time that the individual tracks made by +the outlaws were much shorter than their own, showing that instead of +being in haste they were traveling quite slowly. This was a mystery +which was not easy to explain. Did the Woongas not fear pursuit? Was it +possible that they believed the hunters would not hasten to give them +battle? Or were they relying upon the strength of their numbers, or, +perhaps, planning some kind of ambush? + +Mukoki's advance now became slower and more cautious. His keen eyes took +in every tree and clump of bushes ahead. Only when he could see the +trail leading straight away for a considerable distance did he hasten +the pursuit. Never for an instant did he turn his head to Rod. But +suddenly he caught sight of something that brought from him a guttural +sound of astonishment. A fifth track had joined the trail! Without +questioning Rod knew what it meant. Wabi had been lowered from the back +of his captor and was now walking. He was on snow-shoes and his strides +were quite even and of equal length with the others. Evidently he was +not badly wounded. + +Half a mile ahead of them was a high hill and between them and this hill +was a dense growth of cedar, filled with tangled windfalls. It was an +ideal place for an ambush, but the old warrior did not hesitate. The +Woongas had followed a moose trail, with which they were apparently well +acquainted, and in this traveling was easy. But Rod gave an involuntary +shudder as he gazed ahead into the chaotic tangle through which it led. +At any moment he expected to hear the sharp crack of a rifle and to see +Mukoki tumble forward upon his face. Or there might be a fusillade of +shots and he himself might feel the burning sting that comes with rifle +death. At the distance from which they would shoot the outlaws could not +miss. Did not Mukoki realize this? Maddened by the thought that his +beloved Wabi was in the hands of merciless enemies, was the old +pathfinder becoming reckless? + +But when he looked into his companion's face and saw the cool deadly +resolution glittering in his eyes, the youth's confidence was restored. +For some reason Mukoki knew that there would not be an ambush. + +Over the moose-run the two traveled more swiftly and soon they came to +the foot of the high hill. Up this the Woongas had gone, their trail +clearly defined and unswerving in its direction. Mukoki now paused with +a warning gesture to Rod, and pointed down at one of the snow-shoe +tracks. The snow was still crumbling and falling about the edges of this +imprint. + +"Ver' close!" whispered the Indian. + +It was not the light of the game hunt in Mukoki's eyes now; there was a +trembling, terrible tenseness in his whispered words. He crept up the +hill with Rod so near that he could have touched him. At the summit of +that hill he dragged himself up like an animal, and then, crouching, ran +swiftly to the opposite side, his rifle within six inches of his +shoulder. In the plain below them was unfolded to their eyes a scene +which, despite his companion's warning, wrung an exclamation of dismay +from Roderick's lips. + +[Illustration: The leader stopped in his snow-shoes] + +Plainly visible to them in the edge of the plain were the outlaw Woongas +and their captive. They were in single file, with Wabi following the +leader, and the hunters perceived that their comrade's arms were tied +behind him. + +But it was another sight that caused Rod's dismay. + +From an opening beside a small lake half a mile beyond the Indians below +there rose the smoke of two camp-fires, and Mukoki and he could make out +at least a score of figures about these fires. + +Within rifle-shot of them, almost within shouting distance, there was +not only the small war party that had attacked the camp, but a third of +the fighting men of the Woonga tribe! Rod understood their terrible +predicament. To attack the outlaws in an effort to rescue Wabi meant +that an overwhelming force would be upon them within a few minutes; to +allow Wabi to remain a captive meant--he shuddered at the thought of +what it might mean, for he knew of the merciless vengeance of the +Woongas upon the House of Wabinosh. + +And while he was thinking of these things the faithful old warrior +beside him had already formed his plan of attack. He would die with +Wabi, gladly--a fighting, terrible slave to devotion to the last; but he +would not see Wabi die alone. A whispered word, a last look at his +rifle, and Mukoki hurried down into the plains. + +At the foot of the hill he abandoned the outlaw trail and Rod realized +that his plan was to sweep swiftly in a semicircle, surprising the +Woongas from the front or side instead of approaching from the rear. +Again he was taxed to his utmost to keep pace with the avenging Mukoki. +Less than ten minutes later the Indian peered cautiously from behind a +clump of hazel, and then looked back at Rod, a smile of satisfaction on +his face. + +"They come," he breathed, just loud enough to hear. "They come!" + +Rod peered over his shoulder, and his heart smote mightily within him. +Unconscious of their peril the Woongas were approaching two hundred +yards away. Mukoki gazed into his companion's face and his eyes were +almost pleading as he laid a bronzed crinkled hand upon the white boy's +arm. + +"You take front man--ahead of Wabi," he whispered. "I take other t'ree. +See that tree--heem birch, with bark off? Shoot heem there. You no +tremble? You no miss?" + +"No," replied Rod. He gripped the red hand in his own. "I'll kill, +Mukoki. I'll kill him dead--in one shot!" + +They could hear the voices of the outlaws now, and soon they saw that +Wabi's face was disfigured with blood. + +Step by step, slowly and carelessly, the Woongas approached. They were +fifty yards from the marked birch now--forty--thirty--now only ten. +Roderick's rifle was at his shoulder. Already it held a deadly bead on +the breast of the leader. + +Five yards more-- + +The outlaw passed behind the tree; he came out, and the young hunter +pressed the trigger. The leader stopped in his snow-shoes. Even before +he had crumpled down into a lifeless heap in the snow a furious volley +of shots spat forth from Mukoki's gun, and when Rod swung his own rifle +to join again in the fray he found that only one of the four was +standing, and he with his hands to his breast as he tottered about to +fall. But from some one of those who had fallen there had gone out a +wild, terrible cry, and even as Rod and Makoki rushed out to free +Wabigoon there came an answering yell from the direction of the Woonga +camp. + +Mukoki's knife was in his hand by the time he reached Wabi, and with one +or two slashes he had released his hands. + +"You hurt--bad?" he asked. + +"No--no!" replied Wabi. "I knew you'd come, boys--dear old friends!" + +As he spoke he turned to the fallen leader and Rod saw him take +possession of the rifle and revolver which he had lost in their fight +with the Woongas weeks before. Mukoki had already spied their precious +pack of furs on one of the outlaw's backs, and he flung it over his own. + +"You saw the camp?" queried Wabi excitedly. + +"Yes." + +"They will be upon us in a minute! Which way, Mukoki?" + +"The chasm!" half shouted Rod. "The chasm! If we can reach the chasm--" + +"The chasm!" reiterated Wabigoon. + +Mukoki had fallen behind and motioned for Wabi and Rod to take the lead. +Even now he was determined to take the brunt of danger by bringing up +the rear. + +There was no time for argument and Wabigoon set off at a rapid pace. +From behind there came the click of shells as the Indian loaded his +rifle on the run. While the other two had been busy at the scene of the +ambush Rod had replaced his empty shell, and now, as he led, Wabi +examined the armament that had been stolen from them by the outlaws. + +"How many shells have you got, Rod?" he asked over his shoulder. + +"Forty-nine." + +"There's only four left in this belt besides five in the gun," called +back the Indian youth. "Give me--some." + +Without halting Rod plucked a dozen cartridges from his belt and passed +them on. + +Now they had reached the hill. At its summit they paused to recover +their breath and take a look at the camp. + +The fires were deserted. A quarter of a mile out on the plain they saw +half a dozen of their pursuers speeding toward the hill. The rest were +already concealed in the nearer thickets of the bottom. + +"We must beat them to the chasm!" said the young Indian. + +As he spoke Wabi turned and led the way again. + +Rod's heart fell like a lump within him. We must beat them to the chasm! +Those words of Wabi's brought him to the terrible realization that his +own powers of endurance were rapidly ebbing. His race behind Mukoki to +the burning cabin had seemed to rob the life from the muscles of his +limbs, and each step now added to his weakness. And the chasm was a mile +beyond the dip, and the entrance into that chasm still two miles +farther. Three miles! Could he hold out? + +He heard Mukoki thumping along behind him; ahead of him Wabi was +unconsciously widening the distance between them. He made a powerful +effort to close the breach, but it was futile. Then from close in his +rear there came a warning halloo from the old Indian, and Wabi turned. + +"He run t'ree mile to burning cabin," said Mukoki. "He no make chasm!" + +Rod was deathly white and breathing so hard that he could not speak. The +quick-witted Wabi at once realized their situation. + +"There is just one thing for us to do, Muky. We must stop the Woongas at +the dip. We'll fire down upon them from the top of the hill beyond the +lake. We can drop three or four of them and they won't dare to come +straight after us then. They will think we are going to fight them from +there and will take time to sneak around us. Meanwhile we'll get a good +lead in the direction of the chasm." + +He led off again, this time a little slower. Three minutes later they +entered into the dip, crossed it safely, and were already at the foot of +the hill, when from the opposite side of the hollow there came a +triumphant blood-curdling yell. + +"Hurry!" shouted Wabi. "They see us!" Even as he spoke there came the +crack of a rifle. + +Bzzzzzzz-inggggg! + +For the first time in his life Rod heard that terrible death-song of a +bullet close to his head and saw the snow fly up a dozen feet beyond the +young Indian. + +For an interval of twenty seconds there was silence; then there came +another shot, and after that three others in quick succession. Wabi +stumbled. + +"Not hit!" he called, scrambling to his feet. "Confound--that rock!" + +He rose to the hilltop with Rod close behind him, and from the opposite +side of the lake there came a fusillade of half a dozen shots. +Instinctively Rod dropped upon his face. And in that instant, as he lay +in the snow, he heard the sickening thud of a bullet and a sharp sudden +cry of pain from Mukoki. But the old warrior came up beside him and they +passed into the shelter of the hilltop together. + +"Is it bad? Is it bad, Mukoki? Is it bad--" Wabi was almost sobbing as +he turned and threw an arm around the old Indian. "Are you hit--bad?" + +Mukoki staggered, but caught himself. + +"In here," he said, putting a hand to his left shoulder. "She--no--bad." +He smiled, courage gleaming with pain in his eyes, and swung off the +light pack of furs. "We give 'em--devil--here!" + +Crouching, they peered over the edge of the hill. Half a dozen Woongas +had already left the cedars and were following swiftly across the open. +Others broke from the cover, and Wabi saw that a number of them were +without snow-shoes. He exultantly drew Mukoki's attention to this fact, +but the latter did not lift his eyes. In a few moments he spoke. + +"Now we give 'em--devil!" + +Eight pursuers on snow-shoes were in the open of the dip. Six of them +had reached the lake. Rod held his fire. He knew that it was now more +important for him to recover his wind than to fight, and he drew great +drafts of air into his lungs while his two comrades leveled their +rifles. He could fire after they were done if it was necessary. + +There was slow deadly deliberation in the way Mukoki and Wabigoon +sighted along their rifle-barrels. Mukoki fired first; one shot, +two--with a second's interval between--and an outlaw half-way across the +lake pitched forward into the snow. As he fell, Wabi fired once, and +there came to their ears shriek after shriek of agony as a second +pursuer fell with a shattered leg. At the cries and shots of battle the +hot blood rushed through Rod's veins, and with an excited shout of +defiance he brought his rifle to his shoulder and in unison the three +guns sent fire and death into the dip below. + +Only three of the eight Woongas remained and they had turned and were +running toward the shelter of the cedars. + +"Hurrah!" shouted Rod. + +In his excitement he got upon his feet and sent his fifth and last shot +after the fleeing outlaws. "Hurrah! Wow! Let's go after 'em!" + +"Get down!" commanded Wabi. "Load in a hurry!" + +Clink--clink--clink sounded the new shells as Mukoki and Wabigoon thrust +them into their magazines. Five seconds more and they were sending a +terrific fusillade of shots into the edge of the cedars--ten in all--and +by the time he had reloaded his own gun Rod could see nothing to shoot +at. + +"That will hold them for a while," spoke Wabi. "Most of them came in too +big a hurry, and without their snow-shoes, Muky. We'll beat them to the +chasm--easy!" He put an arm around the shoulders of the old Indian, who +was still lying upon his face in the snow. "Let me see, Muky--let me +see--" + +"Chasm first," replied Mukoki. "She no bad. No hit bone. No +bleed--much." + +From behind Rod could see that Mukoki's coat was showing a growing +blotch of red. + +"Are you sure--you can reach the chasm?" + +"Yes." + +In proof of his assertion the wounded Indian rose to his feet and +approached the pack of furs. Wabi was ahead of him, and placed it upon +his own shoulders. + +"You and Rod lead the way," he said. "You two know where to find the +opening into the chasm. I've never been there." + +Mukoki started down the hill, and Rod, close behind, could hear him +breathing heavily; there was no longer fear for himself in his soul, but +for that grim faithful warrior ahead, who would die in his tracks +without a murmur and with a smile of triumph and fearlessness on his +lips. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +RODERICK HOLDS THE WOONGAS AT BAY + + +They traveled more slowly now and Rod found his strength returning. When +they reached the second ridge he took Mukoki by the arm and assisted him +up, and the old Indian made no demur. This spoke more strongly of his +hurt than words. There was still no sign of their enemies behind. From +the top of the second ridge they could look back upon a quarter of a +mile of the valley below, and it was here that Rod suggested that he +remain on watch for a few minutes while Wabigoon went on with Mukoki. +The young hunters could see that the Indian was becoming weaker at every +step, and Mukoki could no longer conceal this weakness in spite of the +tremendous efforts he made to appear natural. + +"I believe it is bad," whispered Wabi to Rod, his face strangely white. +"I believe it is worse than we think. He is bleeding hard. Your idea is +a good one. Watch here, and if the Woongas show up in the valley open +fire on them. I'll leave you my gun, too, so they'll think we are going +to give them another fight. That will keep them back for a time. I'm +going to stop Muky up here a little way and dress his wound. He will +bleed to death if I don't." + +"And then go on," added Rod. "Don't stop if you hear me fire, but hurry +on to the chasm. I know the way and will join you. I'm as strong as I +ever was now, and can catch up with you easily with Mukoki traveling as +slowly as he does." + +During this brief conversation Mukoki had continued his way along the +ridge and Wabi hurried to overtake him. Meanwhile Rod concealed himself +behind a rock, from which vantage-point he could see the whole of that +part of the valley across which they had come. + +He looked at his watch and in tense anxiety counted every minute after +that. He allowed ten minutes for the dressing of Mukoki's wound. Every +second gained from then on would be priceless. For a quarter of an hour +he kept his eyes with ceaseless vigilance upon their back trail. Surely +the Woongas had secured their snow-shoes by this time! Was it possible +that they had given up the pursuit--that their terrible experience in +the dip had made them afraid of further battle? Rod answered this +question in the negative. He was sure that the Woongas knew that Wabi +was the son of the factor of Wabinosh House. Therefore they would make +every effort to recapture him, even though they had to follow far and a +dozen lives were lost before that feat was accomplished. + +A movement in the snow across the valley caught Rod's eyes. He +straightened himself, and his breath came quickly. Two figures had +appeared in the open. Another followed close behind, and after that +there came others, until the waiting youth had counted sixteen. They +were all on snow-shoes, following swiftly over the trail of the +fugitives. + +The young hunter looked at his watch again. Twenty-five minutes had +passed. Mukoki and Wabigoon had secured a good start. If he could only +hold the outlaws in the valley for a quarter of an hour more--just +fifteen short minutes--they would almost have reached the entrance into +the chasm. + +Alone, with his own life and those of his comrades depending upon him, +the boy was cool. There was no tremble in his hands to destroy the +accuracy of his rifle-fire, no blurring excitement or fear in his brain +to trouble his judgment of distance and range. He made up his mind that +he would not fire until they had come within four hundred yards. Between +that distance and three hundred he was sure he could drop at least one +or two of them. + +He measured his range by a jackpine stub, and when two of the Woongas +had reached and passed that stub he fired. He saw the snow thrown up six +feet in front of the leader. He fired again, and again, and one of the +shots, a little high, struck the second outlaw. The leader had darted +back to the shelter of the stub and Rod sent another bullet whizzing +past his ears. His fifth he turned into the main body of the pursuers, +and then, catching up Wabi's rifle, he poured a hail of five bullets +among them in as many seconds. + +The effect was instantaneous. The outlaws scattered in retreat and Rod +saw that a second figure was lying motionless in the snow. He began to +reload his rifles and by the time he had finished the Woongas had +separated and were running to the right and the left of him. For the +last time he looked at his watch. Wabi and Mukoki had been gone +thirty-five minutes. + +The boy crept back from his rock, straightened himself, and followed in +their trail. He mentally calculated that it would be ten minutes before +the Woongas, coming up from the sides and rear, would discover his +flight, and by that time he would have nearly a mile the start of them. +He saw, without stopping, where Wabi had dressed Mukoki's wound. There +were spots of blood and a red rag upon the snow. Half a mile farther on +the two had paused again, and this time he knew that Mukoki had stopped +to rest. From now on they had rested every quarter of a mile or so, and +soon Roderick saw them toiling slowly through the snow ahead of him. + +He ran up, panting, anxious. + +"How--" he began. + +Wabi looked at him grimly. + +"How much farther, Rod?" he asked. + +"Not more than half a mile." + +Wabi motioned for him to take Mukoki's other arm. + +"He has bled a good deal," he said. There was a hardness in his voice +that made Rod shudder, and he caught his breath as Wabi shot him a +meaning glance behind the old warrior's doubled shoulders. + +They went faster now, almost carrying their wounded comrade between +them. Suddenly, Wabi paused, threw his rifle to his shoulder, and fired. +A few yards ahead a huge white rabbit kicked in his death struggles in +the snow. + +"If we do reach the chasm Mukoki must have something to eat," he said. + +"We'll reach it!" gasped Rod. "We'll reach it! There's the woods. We go +down there!" + +They almost ran, with Mukoki's snow-shod feet dragging between them, and +five minutes later they were carrying the half-unconscious Indian down +the steep side of the mountain. At its foot Wabi turned, and his eyes +flashed with vengeful hatred. + +"Now, you devils!" he shouted up defiantly. "Now!" + +Mukoki aroused himself for a few moments and Rod helped him back to the +shelter of the chasm wall. He found a nook between great masses of rock, +almost clear of snow, and left him there while he hurried back to +Wabigoon. + +"You stand on guard here, Rod," said the latter. "We must cook that +rabbit and get some life back into Mukoki. I think he has stopped +bleeding, but I am going to look again. The wound isn't fatal, but it +has weakened him. If we can get something hot into him I believe he will +be able to walk again. Did you have anything left over from your dinner +on the trail to-day?" + +Rod unstrapped the small pack in which the hunters carried their food +while on the trail, and which had been upon his shoulders since noon. + +"There is a double handful of coffee, a cupful of tea, plenty of salt +and a little bread," he said. + +"Good! Few enough supplies for three people in this kind of a +wilderness--but they'll save Mukoki!" + +Wabi went back, while Rod, sheltered behind a rock, watched the narrow +incline into the chasm. He almost hoped the Woongas would dare to +attempt a descent, for he was sure that he and Wabi would have them at a +terrible disadvantage and with their revolvers and three rifles could +inflict a decisive blow upon them before they reached the bottom. But he +saw no sign of their enemies. He heard no sound from above, yet he knew +that the outlaws were very near--only waiting for the protecting +darkness of night. + +He heard the crackling of Wabi's fire and the odor of coffee came to +him; and Wabi, assured that their presence was known to the Woongas, +began whistling cheerily. In a few minutes he rejoined Rod behind the +rock. + +"They will attack us as soon as it gets good and dark," he said coolly. +"That is, if they can find us. As soon as they are no longer able to see +down into the chasm we will find some kind of a hiding-place. Mukoki +will be able to travel then." + +A memory of the cleft in the chasm wall came to Rod and he quickly +described it to his companion. It was an ideal hiding-place at night, +and if Mukoki was strong enough they could steal up out of the chasm and +secure a long start into the south before the Woongas discovered their +flight in the morning. There was just one chance of failure. If the spy +whose trail had revealed the break in the mountain to Rod was not among +the outlaws' wounded or dead the cleft might be guarded, or the Woongas +themselves might employ it in making a descent upon them. + +"It's worth the risk anyway," said Wabi. "The chances are even that your +outlaw ran across the fissure by accident and that his companions are +not aware of its existence. And they'll not follow our trail down the +chasm to-night, I'll wager. In the cover of darkness they will steal +down among the rocks and then wait for daylight. Meanwhile we can be +traveling southward and when they catch up with us we will give them +another fight if they want it." + +"We can start pretty soon?" + +"Within an hour." + +For some time the two stood in silent watchfulness. Suddenly Rod asked: + +"Where is Wolf?" + +Wabi laughed, softly, exultantly. + +"Gone back to his people, Rod. He will be crying in the wild hunt-pack +to-night. Good old Wolf!" The laugh left his lips and there was a +tremble of regret in his voice. "The Woongas came from the back of the +cabin--took me by surprise--and we had it hot and heavy for a few +minutes. We fell back where Wolf was tied and just as I knew they'd got +me sure I cut his babeesh with the knife I had in my hand." + +"Didn't he show fight?" + +"For a minute. Then one of the Indians shot, at him and he hiked off +into the woods." + +"Queer they didn't wait for Mukoki and me," mused Rod. "Why didn't they +ambush us?" + +"Because they didn't want you, and they were sure they'd reach their +camp before you took up the trail. I was their prize. With me in their +power they figured on communicating with you and Mukoki and sending you +back to the Post with their terms. They would have bled father to his +last cent--and then killed me. Oh, they talked pretty plainly to me when +they thought they had me!" + +There came a noise from above them and the young hunters held their +rifles in readiness. Nearer and nearer came the crashing sound, until a +small boulder shot past them into the chasm. + +"They're up there," grinned Wabi, lowering his gun. "That was an +accident, but you'd better keep your eyes open. I'll bet the whole tribe +feel like murdering the fellow who rolled over that stone!" + +He crept cautiously back to Mukoki, and Rod crouched with his face to +the narrow trail leading down from the top of the mountain. Deep shadows +were beginning to lurk among the trees and he was determined that any +movement there would draw his fire. Fifteen minutes later Wabi returned, +eating ravenously at a big hind quarter of broiled rabbit. + +"I've had my coffee," he greeted. "Go back and eat and drink, and build +the fire up high. Don't mind me when I shoot. I am going to fire just to +let the Woongas know we are on guard, and after that we'll hustle for +that break in the mountain." + +Rod found Mukoki with a chunk of rabbit in one hand and a cup of coffee +in the other. The wounded Indian smiled with something like the old +light in his eyes and a mighty load was lifted from Rod's heart. + +"You're better?" he asked. + +"Fine!" replied Mukoki. "No much hurt. Good fight some more. Wabi say, +'No, you stay.'" His face became a map of grimaces to show his +disapproval of Wabi's command. + +Rod helped himself to the meat and coffee. He was hungry, but after he +was done there remained some of the rabbit and a biscuit and these he +placed in his pack for further use. Soon after this there came two shots +from the rock and before the echoes had died away down the chasm Wabi +approached through the gathering gloom. + +It was easy for the hunters to steal along the concealment of the +mountain wall, and even if there had been prying eyes on the opposite +ridge they could not have penetrated the thickening darkness in the +bottom of the gulch. For some time the flight was continued with extreme +caution, no sound being made to arouse the suspicion of any outlaw who +might be patrolling the edge of the precipice. At the end of half an +hour Mukoki, who was in the lead that he might set a pace according to +his strength, quickened his steps. Rod was close beside him now, his +eyes ceaselessly searching the chasm wall for signs that would tell him +when they were nearing the rift. Suddenly Wabi halted in his tracks and +gave a low hiss that stopped them. + +"It's snowing!" he whispered. + +Mukoki lifted his face. Great solitary flakes of snow fell upon it. + +"She snow hard--soon. Mebby cover snow-shoe trails!" + +"And if it does--we're safe!" There was a vibrant joy in Wabi's voice. + +For a full minute Mukoki held his face to the sky. + +"Hear small wind over chasm," he said. + +"She come from south. She snow hard--now--up there!" + +They went on, stirred by new hope. Rod could feel that the flakes were +coming thicker. The three now kept close to the chasm wall in their +search for the rift. How changed all things were at night! Rod's heart +throbbed now with hope, now with doubt, now with actual fear. Was it +possible that he could not find it? Had they passed it among some of the +black shadows behind? He saw no rock that he recognized, no overhanging +crag, no sign to guide him. He stopped, and his voice betrayed his +uneasiness as he asked: + +"How far do you think we have come?" + +Mukoki had gone a few steps ahead, and before Wabi answered he called +softly to them from close up against the chasm wall. They hurried to him +and found him standing beside the rift. + +"Here!" + +Wabi handed his rifle to Rod. + +"I'm going up first," he announced. "If the coast is clear I'll whistle +down." + +For a few moments Mukoki and Rod could hear him as he crawled up the +fissure. Then all was silent. A quarter of an hour passed, and a low +whistle came to their ears. Another ten minutes and the three stood +together at the top of the mountain, Rod and the wounded Mukoki +breathing hard from their exertions. + +For a time the three sat down in the snow and waited, watched, listened; +and from Rod's heart there went up something that was almost a prayer, +for it was snowing--snowing hard, and it seemed to him that the storm +was something which God had specially directed should fall in their path +that it might shield them and bring them safely home. + +And when he rose to his feet Wabi was still silent, and the three +gripped hands in mute thankfulness at their deliverance. + +Still speechless, they turned instinctively for a moment back to the +dark desolation beyond the chasm--the great, white wilderness in which +they had passed so many adventurous yet happy weeks; and as they gazed +into the chaos beyond the second mountain there came to them the lonely, +wailing howl of a wolf. + +"I wonder," said Wabi softly. "I wonder--if that--is Wolf?" + +And then, Indian file, they trailed into the south. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE SURPRISE AT THE POST + + +From the moment that the adventurers turned their backs upon the Woonga +country Mukoki was in command. With the storm in their favor everything +else now depended upon the craft of the old pathfinder. There was +neither moon nor wind to guide them, and even Wabi felt that he was not +competent to strike a straight trail in a strange country and a night +storm. But Mukoki, still a savage in the ways of the wilderness, seemed +possessed of that mysterious sixth sense which is known as the sense of +orientation--that almost supernatural instinct which guides the carrier +pigeon as straight as a die to its home-cote hundreds of miles away. +Again and again during that thrilling night's flight Wabi or Rod would +ask the Indian where Wabinosh House lay, and he would point out its +direction to them without hesitation. And each time it seemed to the +city youth that he pointed a different way, and it proved to him how +easy it was to become hopelessly lost in the wilderness. + +Not until midnight did they pause to rest. They had traveled slowly but +steadily and Wabi figured that they had covered fifteen miles. Five +miles behind them their trail was completely obliterated by the falling +snow. Morning would betray to the Woongas no sign of the direction taken +by the fugitives. + +"They will believe that we have struck directly westward for the Post," +said Wabi. "To-morrow night we'll be fifty miles apart." + +During this stop a small fire was built behind a fallen log and the +hunters refreshed themselves with a pot of strong coffee and what little +remained of the rabbit and biscuits. The march was then resumed. + +It seemed to Rod that they had climbed an interminable number of ridges +and had picked their way through an interminable number of swampy +bottoms between them, and he, even more than Mukoki, was relieved when +they struck the easier traveling of open plains. In fact, Mukoki seemed +scarcely to give a thought to his wound and Roderick was almost ready to +drop in his tracks by the time a halt was called an hour before dawn. +The old warrior was confident that they were now well out of danger and +a rousing camp-fire was built in the shelter of a thick growth of +spruce. + +"Spruce partridge in mornin'," affirmed Mukoki. "Plenty here for +breakfast." + +"How do you know?" asked Rod, whose hunger was ravenous. + +"Fine thick spruce, all in shelter of dip," explained the Indian. "Birds +winter here." + +Wabi had unpacked the furs, and the larger of these, including six lynx +and three especially fine wolf skins, he divided into three piles. + +"They'll make mighty comfortable beds if you keep close enough to the +fire," he explained. "Get a few spruce boughs, Rod, and cover them over +with one of the wolf skins. The two lynx pelts will make the warmest +blankets you ever had." + +Rod quickly availed himself of this idea, and within half an hour he was +sleeping soundly. Mukoki and Wabigoon, more inured to the hardships of +the wilderness, took only brief snatches of slumber, one or both +awakening now and then to replenish the fire. As soon as it was light +enough the two Indians went quietly out into the spruce with their guns, +and their shots a little later awakened Rod. When they returned they +brought three partridges with them. + +"There are dozens of them among the spruce," said Wabi, "but just now we +do not want to shoot any oftener than is absolutely necessary. Have you +noticed our last night's trail?" + +Rod rubbed his eyes, thus confessing that as yet he had not been out +from between his furs. + +"Well, if you go out there in the open for a hundred yards you won't +find it," finished his comrade. "The snow has covered it completely." + +Although they lacked everything but meat, this breakfast in the spruce +thicket was one of the happiest of the entire trip, and when the three +hunters were done each had eaten of his partridge until only the bones +were left. There was now little cause for fear, for it was still snowing +and their enemies were twenty-five miles to the north of them. This fact +did not deter the adventurers from securing an early start, however, and +they traveled southward through the storm until noon, when they built a +camp of spruce and made preparations to rest until the following day. + +"We must be somewhere near the Kenogami trail," Wabi remarked to Mukoki. +"We may have passed it." + +"No pass it," replied Mukoki. "She off there." He pointed to the south. + +"You see the Kenogami trail is a sled trail leading from the little town +of Nipigon, on the railroad, to Kenogami House, which is a Hudson Bay +Post at the upper end of Long Lake," explained Wabi to his white +companion. "The factor of Kenogami is a great friend of ours and we have +visited back and forth often, but I've been over the Kenogami trail only +once. Mukoki has traveled it many times." + +Several rabbits were killed before dinner. No other hunting was done +during the afternoon, most of which was passed in sleep by the exhausted +adventurers. When Rod awoke he found that it had stopped snowing and was +nearly dark. + +Mukoki's wound was beginning to trouble him again, and it was decided +that at least a part of the next day should be passed in camp, and that +both Rod and Wabigoon should make an effort to kill some animal that +would furnish them with the proper kind of oil to dress it with, the fat +of almost any species of animal except mink or rabbit being valuable for +this purpose. With dawn the two started out, while Mukoki, much against +his will, was induced to remain in camp. A short distance away the +hunters separated, Rod striking to the eastward and Wabi into the south. + +For an hour Roderick continued without seeing game, though there were +plenty of signs of deer and caribou about him. At last he determined to +strike for a ridge a mile to the south, from the top of which he was +more likely to get a shot than in the thick growth of the plains. He had +not traversed more than a half of the distance when much to his surprise +he came upon a well-beaten trail running slightly diagonally with his +own, almost due north. Two dog-teams had passed since yesterday's storm, +and on either side of the sleds were the snow-shoe trails of men. Rod +saw that there were three of these, and at least a dozen dogs in the two +teams. It at once occurred to him that this was the Kenogami trail, and +impelled by nothing more than curiosity he began to follow it. + +Half a mile farther on he found where the party had stopped to cook a +meal. The remains of their camp-fire lay beside a huge log, which was +partly burned away, and about it were scattered bones and bits of bread. +But what most attracted Rod's attention were other tracks which joined +those of the three people on snow-shoes. He was sure that these tracks +had been made by women, for the footprints made by one of them were +unusually small. Close to the log he found a single impression in the +snow that caused his heart to give a sudden unexpected thump within him. +In this spot the snow had been packed by one of the snow-shoes, and in +this comparatively hard surface the footprint was clearly defined. It +had been made by a moccasin. Rod knew that. And the moccasin wore a +slight heel! He remembered, now, that thrilling day in the forest near +Wabinosh House when he had stopped to look at Minnetaki's footprints in +the soft earth through which she had been driven by her Woonga +abductors, and he remembered, too, that she was the only person at the +Post who wore heels on her moccasins. It was a queer coincidence! Could +Minnetaki have been here? Had she made that footprint in the snow? +Impossible, declared the young hunter's better sense. And yet his blood +ran a little faster as he touched the delicate impression with his bare +fingers. It reminded him of Minnetaki, anyway; her foot would have made +just such a trail, and he wondered if the girl who had stepped there was +as pretty as she. + +He followed now a little faster than before, and ten minutes later he +came to where a dozen snow-shoe trails had come in from the north and +had joined the three. After meeting, the two parties had evidently +joined forces and had departed over the trail made by those who had +appeared from the direction of the Post. + +"Friends from Kenogami House came down to meet them," mused Rod, and as +he turned back in the direction of the camp he formed a picture of that +meeting in the heart of the wilderness, of the glad embraces of husband +and wife, and the joy of the pretty girl with the tiny feet as she +kissed her father, and perhaps her big brother; for no girl could +possess feet just like Minnetaki's and not be pretty! + +He found that Wabi had preceded him when he returned. The young Indian +had shot a small doe, and that noon witnessed a feast in camp. For his +lack of luck Rod had his story to tell of the people on the trail. The +passing of this party formed the chief topic of conversation during the +rest of the day, for after weeks of isolation in the wilderness even +this momentary nearness of living civilized men and women was a great +event to them. But there was one fact which Rod dwelt but slightly upon. +He did not emphasize the similarity of the pretty footprint and that +made by Minnetaki's moccasin, for he knew that a betrayal of his +knowledge and admiration of the Indian maiden's feet would furnish Wabi +with fun-making ammunition for a week. He did say, however, that the +footprint in the snow struck him as being just about the size that +Minnetaki would make. + +All that day and night the hunters remained in camp, sleeping, eating +and taking care of Mukoki's wound, but the next morning saw them ready +for their homeward journey with the coming of dawn. They struck due +westward now, satisfied that they were well beyond the range of the +outlaw Woongas. + +As the boys talked over their adventure on the long journey back toward +the Post, Wabi thought with regret of the moose head which he had left +buried in the "Indian ice-box," and even wished, for a moment, to go +home by the northern trail, despite the danger from the hostile Woongas, +in order to recover the valuable antlers. But Mukoki shook his head. + +"Woonga make good fight. What for go again into wolf trap?" + +And so they reluctantly gave up the notion of carrying the big head of +the bull moose back to the Post. + +A little before noon of the second day they saw Lake Nipigon from the +top of a hill. Columbus when he first stepped upon the shore of his +newly discovered land was not a whit happier than Roderick Drew when +that joyous youth, running out upon the snow-covered ice, attempted to +turn a somersault with his snow-shoes on! + +Just over there, thought Rod--just over there--a hundred miles or so, is +Minnetaki and the Post! Happy visions filled his mind all that afternoon +as they traveled across the foot of the lake. Three weeks more and he +would see his mother--and home. And Wabi was going with him! He seemed +tireless; his spirits were never exhausted; he laughed, whistled, even +attempted to sing. He wondered if Minnetaki would be very glad to see +him. He knew that she would be glad--but how glad? + +Two days more were spent in circling the lower end of the lake. Then +their trail turned northward, and on the second evening after this, as +the cold red sun was sinking in all that heatless glory of the great +North's day-end, they came out upon a forest-clad ridge and looked down +upon the House of Wabinosh. + +And as they looked--and as the burning disk of the sun, falling down and +down behind forest, mountain and plain, bade its last adieu to the land +of the wild, there came to them, strangely clear and beautiful, the +notes of a bugle. + +And Wabi, listening, grew rigid with wonder. As the last notes died away +the cheers that had been close to his lips gave way to the question, +"What does that mean?" + +"A bugle!" said Rod. + +As he spoke there came to their ears the heavy, reverberating boom of a +big gun. + +"If I'm not mistaken," he added, "that is a sunset salute. I didn't know +you had--soldiers--at the Post!" + +"We haven't," replied the Indian youth. "By George, what do you suppose +it means?" + +He hurried down the ridge, the others close behind him. Fifteen minutes +later they trailed out into the open near the Post. A strange change had +occurred since Rod and his companions had last seen Wabinosh House. In +the open half a dozen rude log shelters had been erected, and about +these were scores of soldiers in the uniform of his Majesty, the King of +England. Shouts of greeting died on the hunters' lips. They hastened to +the dwelling of the factor, and while Wabi rushed in to meet his mother +and father Rod cut across to the Company's store. He had often found +Minnetaki there. But his present hope was shattered, and after looking +in he turned back to the house. By the time he had reached the steps a +second time the princess mother, with Wabi close behind her, came out to +welcome him. + +Wabi's face was flushed with excitement. His eyes sparkled. + +"Rod, what do you think!" he exclaimed, after his mother had gone back +to see to the preparation of their supper. "The government has declared +war on the Woongas and has sent up a company of regulars to wipe 'em out! +They have been murdering and robbing as never before during the last two +months. The regulars start after them to-morrow!" + +He was breathing hard and excitedly. + +"Can't you stay--and join in the campaign?" he pleaded. + +"I can't," replied Rod. "I can't, Wabi; I've got to go home. You know +that. And you're going with me. The regulars can get along without you. +Go back to Detroit with me--and get your mother to let Minnetaki go with +us." + +"Not now, Rod," said the Indian youth, taking his friend's hand. "I +won't be able to go--now. Nor Minnetaki either. They have been having +such desperate times here that father has sent her away. He wanted +mother to go, but she wouldn't." + +"Sent Minnetaki away?" gasped Rod. + +"Yes. She started for Kenogami House four days ago in company with an +Indian woman and three guides. That was undoubtedly their trail you +found." + +"And the footprint--" + +"Was hers," laughed Wabi, putting an arm affectionately around his +chum's shoulders. "Won't you stay, Rod?" + +"It is impossible." + +He went to his old room, and until suppertime sat alone in silent +dejection. Two great disappointments had fallen upon him. Wabi could not +go home with him--and he had missed Minnetaki. The young girl had left a +note in her mother's care for him, and he read it again and again. She +had written it believing that she would return to Wabinosh House before +the hunters, but at the end she had added a paragraph in which she said +that if she did not do this Rod must make the Post a second visit very +soon, and bring his mother with him. + +At supper the princess mother several times pressed Minnetaki's +invitation upon the young hunter. She read to him parts of certain +letters which she had received from Mrs. Drew during the winter, and Rod +was overjoyed to find that his mother was not only in good health, but +that she had given her promise to visit Wabinosh House the following +summer. Wabi broke all table etiquette by giving vent to a warlike whoop +of joy at this announcement, and once more Rod's spirits rose high above +his temporary disappointments. + +That night the furs were appraised and purchased by the factor for his +Company, and Rod's share, including his third of the gold, was nearly +seven hundred dollars. The next morning the bi-monthly sled party, was +leaving for civilization, and he prepared to go with it, after writing a +long letter to Minnetaki, which was to be carried to her by the faithful +Mukoki. Most of that night Wabi and his friend sat up and talked, and +made plans. It was believed that the campaign against the Woongas would +be a short and decisive one. By spring all trouble would be over. + +"And you'll come back as soon as you can?" pleaded Wabi for the +hundredth time. "You'll come back by the time the ice breaks up?" + +"If I am alive!" pledged the city youth. + +"And you'll bring your mother?" + +"She has promised." + +"And then--for the gold!" + +"For the gold!" + +Wabi held out his hand and the two gripped heartily. + +"And Minnetaki will be here then--I swear it!" said the Indian youth, +laughing. + +Rod blushed. + +And that night alone he slipped quietly out into the still, white night; +and he looked, longingly, far into the southeast where he had found the +footprint in the snow; and he turned to the north, and the east, and the +west, and lastly to the south, and his eyes seemed to travel through the +distance of a thousand miles to where a home and a mother lay sleeping +in a great city. And as he turned back to the House of Wabinosh, where +all the lights were out, he spoke softly to himself: + +"It's home--to-morrow!" + +And then he added: + +"But you bet I'll be back by the time the ice breaks up!" + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Wolf Hunters, by James Oliver Curwood + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOLF HUNTERS *** + +***** This file should be named 12170.txt or 12170.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/1/7/12170/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Dave Macfarlane and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Wolf Hunters + A Tale of Adventure in the Wilderness + +Author: James Oliver Curwood + +Release Date: April 27, 2004 [EBook #12170] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOLF HUNTERS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Dave Macfarlane and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<center> +<a name="Illus_0"></a><img src="whfront.jpg" width="450" height="728" alt="" title="With his rifle ready Rob approached the fissure"> +</center> + +<h1>THE WOLF HUNTERS</h1> + +<h4>A Tale of Adventure in the Wilderness</h4> + +<h3>BY</h3> +<h2>JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD</h2> + +<h3>1908</h3> + +<h4>To my comrades of the great northern wilderness, those faithful +companions with whom I have shared the joys and hardships of the "long +silent trail," and especially to Mukoki, my red guide and beloved +friend, does the writer gratefully dedicate this volume</h4> +<br> + +<p>CONTENTS:</p> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> + +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + +<ul> + + +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I. The Fight in the Forest</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II. How Wabigoon Became a White Man</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III. Roderick Sees the Footprint</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV. Roderick's First Taste of the Hunter's Life</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V. Shots in the Wilderness</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI. Mukoki Disturbs the Ancient Skeletons</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII. Roderick Discovers the Buckskin Bag</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII. How Wolf Became the Companion of Men</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX. Wolf Takes Vengeance Upon His People</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X. Roderick Explores the Chasm</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI. Roderick's Dream</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII. The Secret of the Skeleton's Hand</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII. Snowed In</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV. The Rescue of Wabigoon</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV. Roderick Holds the Woongas at Bay</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI. The Surprise at the Post</a></li> +</ul> +<br> + +<p>ILLUSTRATIONS:</p> + +<ul> +<li><a href="#Illus_0">With his rifle ready Rob approached the fissure (Frontispiece)</a></li> +<li><a href="#Illus_1">Knife—fight—heem killed!</a></li> +<li><a href="#Illus_2">The leader stopped in his snow-shoes</a></li> +</ul> +<br> + +<p>THE WOLF HUNTERS</p> + + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</p> + +<p>THE FIGHT IN THE FOREST</p> +<br> + +<p>Cold winter lay deep in the Canadian wilderness. Over it the moon was +rising, like a red pulsating ball, lighting up the vast white silence of +the night in a shimmering glow. Not a sound broke the stillness of the +desolation. It was too late for the life of day, too early for the +nocturnal roamings and voices of the creatures of the night. Like the +basin of a great amphitheater the frozen lake lay revealed in the light +of the moon and a billion stars. Beyond it rose the spruce forest, black +and forbidding. Along its nearer edges stood hushed walls of tamarack, +bowed in the smothering clutch of snow and ice, shut in by impenetrable +gloom.</p> + +<p>A huge white owl flitted out of this rim of blackness, then back again, +and its first quavering hoot came softly, as though the mystic hour of +silence had not yet passed for the night-folk. The snow of the day had +ceased, hardly a breath of air stirred the ice-coated twigs of the +trees. Yet it was bitter cold—so cold that a man, remaining motionless, +would have frozen to death within an hour.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there was a break in the silence, a weird, thrilling sound, +like a great sigh, but not human—a sound to make one's blood run faster +and fingers twitch on rifle-stock. It came from the gloom of the +tamaracks. After it there fell a deeper silence than before, and the +owl, like a noiseless snowflake, drifted out over the frozen lake. After +a few moments it came again, more faintly than before. One versed in +woodcraft would have slunk deeper into the rim of blackness, and +listened, and wondered, and watched; for in the sound he would have +recognized the wild, half-conquered note of a wounded beast's suffering +and agony.</p> + +<p>Slowly, with all the caution born of that day's experience, a huge bull +moose walked out into the glow of the moon. His magnificent head, +drooping under the weight of massive antlers, was turned inquisitively +across the lake to the north. His nostrils were distended, his eyes +glaring, and he left behind a trail of blood. Half a mile away he caught +the edge of the spruce forest. There something told him he would find +safety. A hunter would have known that he was wounded unto death as he +dragged himself out into the foot-deep snow of the lake.</p> + +<p>A dozen rods out from the tamaracks he stopped, head thrown high, long +ears pitched forward, and nostrils held half to the sky. It is in this +attitude that a moose listens when he hears a trout splash +three-quarters of a mile away. Now there was only the vast, unending +silence, broken only by the mournful hoot of the snow owl on the other +side of the lake. Still the great beast stood immovable, a little pool +of blood growing upon the snow under his forward legs. What was the +mystery that lurked in the blackness of yonder forest? Was it danger? +The keenest of human hearing would have detected nothing. Yet to those +long slender ears of the bull moose, slanting beyond the heavy plates of +his horns, there came a sound. The animal lifted his head still higher +to the sky, sniffed to the east, to the west, and back to the shadows of +the tamaracks. But it was the north that held him.</p> + +<p>From beyond that barrier of spruce there soon came a sound that man +might have heard—neither the beginning nor the end of a wail, but +something like it. Minute by minute it came more clearly, now growing in +volume, now almost dying away, but every instant approaching—the +distant hunting call of the wolf-pack! What the hangman's noose is to +the murderer, what the leveled rifles are to the condemned spy, that +hunt-cry of the wolves is to the wounded animal of the forests.</p> + +<p>Instinct taught this to the old bull. His head dropped, his huge antlers +leveled themselves with his shoulders, and he set off at a slow trot +toward the east. He was taking chances in thus crossing the open, but to +him the spruce forest was home, and there he might find refuge. In his +brute brain he reasoned that he could get there before the wolves broke +cover. And then—</p> + +<p>Again he stopped, so suddenly that his forward legs doubled under him +and he pitched into the snow. This time, from the direction of the +wolf-pack, there came the ringing report of a rifle! It might have been +a mile or two miles away, but distance did not lessen the fear it +brought to the dying king of the North. That day he had heard the same +sound, and it had brought mysterious and weakening pain in his vitals. +With a supreme effort he brought himself to his feet, once more sniffed +into the north, the east, and the west, then turned and buried himself +in the black and frozen wilderness of tamarack.</p> + +<p>Stillness fell again with the sound of the rifle-shot. It might have +lasted five minutes or ten, when a long, solitary howl floated from +across the lake. It ended in the sharp, quick yelp of a wolf on the +trail, and an instant later was taken up by others, until the pack was +once more in full cry. Almost simultaneously a figure darted out upon +the ice from the edge of the forest. A dozen paces and it paused and +turned back toward the black wall of spruce.</p> + +<p>"Are you coming, Wabi?"</p> + +<p>A voice answered from the woods. "Yes. Hurry up—run!"</p> + +<p>Thus urged, the other turned his face once more across the lake. He was +a youth of not more than eighteen. In his right hand he carried a club. +His left arm, as if badly injured, was done up in a sling improvised +from a lumberman's heavy scarf. His face was scratched and bleeding, and +his whole appearance showed that he was nearing complete exhaustion. For +a few moments he ran through the snow, then halted to a staggering walk. +His breath came in painful gasps. The club slipped from his nerveless +fingers, and conscious of the deathly weakness that was overcoming him +he did not attempt to regain it. Foot by foot he struggled on, until +suddenly his knees gave way under him and he sank down into the snow.</p> + +<p>From the edge of the spruce forest a young Indian now ran out upon the +surface of the lake. His breath was coming quickly, but with excitement +rather than fatigue. Behind him, less than half a mile away, he could +hear the rapidly approaching cry of the hunt-pack, and for an instant he +bent his lithe form close to the snow, measuring with the acuteness of +his race the distance of the pursuers. Then he looked for his white +companion, and failed to see the motionless blot that marked where the +other had fallen. A look of alarm shot into his eyes, and resting his +rifle between his knees he placed his hands, trumpet fashion, to his +mouth and gave a signal call which, on a still night like this, carried +for a mile.</p> + +<p>"Wa-hoo-o-o-o-o-o! Wa-hoo-o-o-o-o-o!"</p> + +<p>At that cry the exhausted boy in the snow staggered to his feet, and +with an answering shout which came but faintly to the ears of the +Indian, resumed his flight across the lake. Two or three minutes later +Wabi came up beside him.</p> + +<p>"Can you make it, Rod?" he cried.</p> + +<p>The other made an effort to answer, but his reply was hardly more than a +gasp. Before Wabi could reach out to support him he had lost his little +remaining strength and fallen for a second time into the snow.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid—I—can't do it—Wabi," he whispered. "I'm—bushed—"</p> + +<p>The young Indian dropped his rifle and knelt beside the wounded boy, +supporting his head against his own heaving shoulders.</p> + +<p>"It's only a little farther, Rod," he urged. "We can make it, and take +to a tree. We ought to have taken to a tree back there, but I didn't +know that you were so far gone; and there was a good chance to make +camp, with three cartridges left for the open lake."</p> + +<p>"Only three!"</p> + +<p>"That's all, but I ought to make two of them count in this light. Here, +take hold of my shoulders! Quick!"</p> + +<p>He doubled himself like a jack-knife in front of his half-prostrate +companion. From behind them there came a sudden chorus of the wolves, +louder and clearer than before.</p> + +<p>"They've hit the open and we'll have them on the lake inside of two +minutes," he cried. "Give me your arms, Rod! There! Can you hold the +gun?"</p> + +<p>He straightened himself, staggering under the other's weight, and set +off on a half-trot for the distant tamaracks. Every muscle in his +powerful young body was strained to its utmost tension. Even more fully +than his helpless burden did he realize the peril at their backs.</p> + +<p>Three minutes, four minutes more, and then—</p> + +<p>A terrible picture burned in Wabi's brain, a picture he had carried from +boyhood of another child, torn and mangled before his very eyes by these +outlaws of the North, and he shuddered. Unless he sped those three +remaining bullets true, unless that rim of tamaracks was reached in +time, he knew what their fate would be. There flashed into his mind one +last resource. He might drop his wounded companion and find safety for +himself. But it was a thought that made Wabi smile grimly. This was not +the first time that these two had risked their lives together, and that +very day Roderick had fought valiantly for the other, and had been the +one to suffer. If they died, it would be in company. Wabi made up his +mind to that and clutched the other's arms in a firmer grip. He was +pretty certain that death faced them both. They might escape the wolves, +but the refuge of a tree, with the voracious pack on guard below, meant +only a more painless end by cold. Still, while there was life there was +hope, and he hurried on through the snow, listening for the wolves +behind him and with each moment feeling more keenly that his own powers +of endurance were rapidly reaching an end.</p> + +<p>For some reason that Wabi could not explain the hunt-pack had ceased to +give tongue. Not only the allotted two minutes, but five of them, passed +without the appearance of the animals on the lake. Was it possible that +they! had lost the trail? Then it occurred to the Indian that perhaps he +had wounded one of the pursuers, and that the others, discovering his +injury, had set upon him and were now participating in one of the +cannibalistic feasts that had saved them thus far. Hardly had he thought +of this possibility when he was thrilled by a series of long howls, and +looking back he discerned a dozen or more dark objects moving swiftly +over their trail.</p> + +<p>Not an eighth of a mile ahead was the tamarack forest. Surely Rod could +travel that distance!</p> + +<p>"Run for it, Rod!" he cried. "You're rested now. I'll stay here and +stop 'em!"</p> + +<p>He loosened the other's arms, and as he did so his rifle fell from the +white boy's nerveless grip and buried itself in the snow. As he relieved +himself of his burden he saw for the first time the deathly pallor and +partly closed eyes of his companion. With a new terror filling his own +faithful heart he knelt beside the form which lay so limp and lifeless, +his blazing eyes traveling from the ghastly face to the oncoming wolves, +his rifle ready in his hands. He could now discern the wolves trailing +out from the spruce forest like ants. A dozen of them were almost within +rifle-shot. Wabi knew that it was with this vanguard of the pack that he +must deal if he succeeded in stopping the scores behind. Nearer and +nearer he allowed them to come, until the first were scarce two hundred +feet away. Then, with a sudden shout, the Indian leaped to his feet and +dashed fearlessly toward them. This unexpected move, as he had intended, +stopped the foremost wolves in a huddled group for an instant, and in +this opportune moment Wabi leveled his gun and fired. A long howl of +pain testified to the effect of the shot. Hardly had it begun when Wabi +fired again, this time with such deadly precision that one of the +wolves, springing high into the air, tumbled back lifeless among the +pack without so much as making a sound.</p> + +<p>Running to the prostrate Roderick, Wabi drew him quickly upon his back, +clutched his rifle in the grip of his arm, and started again for the +tamaracks. Only once did he look back, and then he saw the wolves +gathering in a snarling, fighting crowd about their slaughtered +comrades. Not until he had reached the shelter of the tamaracks did the +Indian youth lay down his burden, and then in his own exhaustion he fell +prone upon the snow, his black eyes fixed cautiously upon the feasting +pack. A few minutes later he discerned dark spots appearing here and +there upon the whiteness of the snow, and at these signs of the +termination of the feast he climbed up into the low branches of a spruce +and drew Roderick after him. Not until then did the wounded boy show +visible signs of life. Slowly he recovered from the faintness which had +overpowered him, and after a little, with some assistance from Wabi, was +able to place himself safely on a higher limb.</p> + +<p>"That's the second time, Wabi," he said, reaching a hand down +affectionately to the other's shoulder. "Once from drowning, once from +the wolves. I've got a lot to even up with you!"</p> + +<p>"Not after what happened to-day!"</p> + +<p>The Indian's dusky face was raised until the two were looking into each +other's eyes, with a gaze of love, and trust. Only a moment thus, and +instinctively their glance turned toward the lake. The wolf-pack was in +plain view. It was the biggest pack that Wabi, in all his life in the +wilderness, had ever seen, and he mentally figured that there were at +least half a hundred animals in it. Like ravenous dogs after having a +few scraps of meat flung among them, the wolves were running about, +nosing here and there, as if hoping to find a morsel that might have +escaped discovery. Then one of them stopped on the trail and, throwing +himself half on his haunches, with his head turned to the sky like a +baying hound, started the hunt-cry.</p> + +<p>"There's two packs. I thought it was too big for one," exclaimed the +Indian. "See! Part of them are taking up the trail and the others are +lagging behind gnawing the bones of the dead wolf. Now if we only had +our ammunition and the other gun those murderers got away from us, we'd +make a fortune. What—"</p> + +<p>Wabi stopped with a suddenness that spoke volumes, and the supporting +arm that he had thrown around Rod's waist tightened until it caused the +wounded youth to flinch. Both boys stared in rigid silence. The wolves +were crowding around a spot in the snow half-way between the tamarack +refuge and the scene of the recent feast. The starved animals betrayed +unusual excitement. They had struck the pool of blood and red trail made +by the dying moose!</p> + +<p>"What is it, Wabi?" whispered Rod.</p> + +<p>The Indian did not answer. His black eyes gleamed with a new fire, his +lips were parted in anxious anticipation, and he seemed hardly to +breathe in his tense interest. The wounded boy repeated his question, +and as if in reply the pack swerved to the west and in a black silent +mass swept in a direction that would bring them into the tamaracks a +hundred yards from the young hunters.</p> + +<p>"A new trail!" breathed Wabi. "A new trail, and a hot one! Listen! They +make no sound. It is always that way when they are close to a kill!"</p> + +<p>As they looked the last of the wolves disappeared in the forest. For a +few moments there was silence, then a chorus of howls came from deep in +the woods behind them.</p> + +<p>"Now is our chance," cried the Indian. "They've broken again, and their +game—"</p> + +<p>He had partly slipped from his limb, withdrawing his supporting arm from +Rod's waist, and was about to descend to the ground when the pack again +turned in their direction. A heavy crashing in the underbrush not a +dozen rods away sent Wabi in a hurried scramble for his perch.</p> + +<p>"Quick—higher up!" he warned excitedly. "They're coming out here—right +under us! If we can get up so that they can't see us, or smell us—"</p> + +<p>The words were scarcely out of his mouth when a huge shadowy bulk rushed +past them not more than fifty feet from the spruce in which they had +sought refuge. Both of the boys recognized it as a bull moose, though it +did not occur to either of them that it was the same animal at which +Wabi had taken a long shot that same day a couple of miles back. In +close pursuit came the ravenous pack. Their heads hung close to the +bloody trail, hungry, snarling cries coming from between their gaping +jaws, they swept across the little opening almost at the young hunters' +feet. It was a sight which Rod had never expected to see, and one which +held even the more experienced Wabi fascinated. Not a sound fell from +either of the youths' lips as they stared down upon the fierce, hungry +outlaws of the wilderness. To Wabi this near view of the pack told a +fateful story; to Rod it meant nothing more than the tragedy about to be +enacted before his eyes. The Indian's keen vision saw in the white +moonlight long, thin bodies, starved almost to skin and bone; to his +companion the onrushing pack seemed filled only with agile, powerful +beasts, maddened to almost fiendish exertions by the nearness of their +prey.</p> + +<p>In a flash they were gone, but in that moment of their passing there was +painted a picture to endure a lifetime in the memory of Roderick Drew. +And it was to be followed by one even more tragic, even more thrilling. +To the dazed, half-fainting young hunter it seemed but another instant +before the pack overhauled the old bull. He saw the doomed monster turn, +in the stillness heard the snapping of jaws, the snarling of +hunger-crazed animals, and a sound that might have been a great, heaving +moan or a dying bellow. In Wabi's veins the blood danced with the +excitement that stirred his forefathers to battle. Not a line of the +tragedy that was being enacted before his eyes escaped this native son +of the wilderness. It was a magnificent fight! He knew that the old bull +would die by inches in the one-sided duel, and that when it was over +there would be more than one carcass for the survivors to gorge +themselves upon. Quietly he reached up and touched his companion.</p> + +<p>"Now is our time," he said. "Come on—still—and on this side of the +tree!"</p> + +<p>He slipped down, foot by foot, assisting Rod as he did so, and when both +had reached the ground he bent over as before, that the other might get +upon his back.</p> + +<p>"I can make it alone, Wabi," whispered the wounded boy. "Give me a lift +on the arm, will you?"</p> + +<p>With the Indian's arm about his waist, the two set off into the +tamaracks. Fifteen minutes later they came to the bank of a small frozen +river. On the opposite side of this, a hundred yards down, was a sight +which both, as if by a common impulse, welcomed with a glad cry. Close +to the shore, sheltered by a dense growth of spruce, was a bright +camp-fire. In response to Wabi's far-reaching whoop a shadowy figure +appeared in the glow and returned the shout.</p> + +<p>"Mukoki!" cried the Indian.</p> + +<p>"Mukoki!" laughed Rod, happy that the end was near.</p> + +<p>Even as he spoke he swayed dizzily, and Wabi dropped his gun that he +might keep his companion from falling into the snow.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</p> + +<p>HOW WABIGOON BECAME A WHITE MAN</p> +<br> + +<p>Had the young hunters the power of looking into the future, their +camp-fire that night on the frozen Ombabika might have been one of their +last, and a few days later would have seen them back on the edges of +civilization. Possibly, could they have foreseen the happy culmination +of the adventures that lay before them, they would still have gone on, +for the love of excitement is strong in the heart of robust youth. But +this power of discernment was denied them, and only in after years, with +the loved ones of their own firesides close about them, was the whole +picture revealed. And in those days, when they would gather with their +families about the roaring logs of winter and live over again their +early youth, they knew that all the gold in the world would not induce +them to part with their memories of the life that had gone before.</p> + +<p>A little less than thirty years previous to the time of which we write, +a young man named John Newsome left the great city of London for the New +World. Fate had played a hard game with young Newsome—had first robbed +him of both parents, and then in a single fitful turn of her wheel +deprived him of what little property he had inherited. A little later he +came to Montreal, and being a youth of good education and considerable +ambition, he easily secured a position and worked himself into the +confidence of his employers, obtaining an appointment as factor at +Wabinosh House, a Post deep in the wilderness of Lake Nipigon.</p> + +<p>In the second year of his reign at Wabinosh—a factor is virtually king +in his domain—there came to the Post an Indian chief named Wabigoon, +and with him his daughter, Minnetaki, in honor of whose beauty and +virtue a town was named in after years. Minnetaki was just budding into +the early womanhood of her race, and possessed a beauty seldom seen +among Indian maidens. If there is such a thing as love at first sight, +it sprang into existence the moment John Newsome's eyes fell upon this +lovely princess. Thereafter his visits to Wabigoon's village, thirty +miles deeper in the wilderness, were of frequent occurrence. From the +beginning Minnetaki returned the young factor's affections, but a most +potent reason prevented their marriage. For a long time Minnetaki had +been ardently wooed by a powerful young chief named Woonga, whom she +cordially detested, but upon whose favor and friendship depended the +existence of her father's sway over his hunting-grounds.</p> + +<p>With the advent of the young factor the bitterest rivalry sprang up +between the two suitors, which resulted in two attempts upon Newsome's +life, and an ultimatum sent by Woonga to Minnetaki's father. Minnetaki +herself replied to this ultimatum. It was a reply that stirred the fires +of hatred and revenge to fever heat in Woonga's breast. One dark night, +at the head of a score of his tribe, he fell upon Wabigoon's camp, his +object being the abduction of the princess. While the attack was +successful in a way, its main purpose failed. Wabigoon and a dozen of +his tribesmen were slain, but in the end Woonga was driven off.</p> + +<p>A swift messenger brought news of the attack and of the old chief's +death to Wabinosh House, and with a dozen men Newsome hastened to the +assistance of his betrothed and her people. A counter attack was made +upon Woonga and he was driven deep into the wilderness with great loss. +Three days later Minnetaki became Newsome's wife at the Hudson Bay Post.</p> + +<p>From that hour dated one of the most sanguinary feuds in the history of +the great trading company; a feud which, as we shall see, was destined +to live even unto the second generation.</p> + +<p>Woonga and his tribe now became no better than outlaws, and preyed so +effectively upon the remnants of the dead Wabigoon's people that the +latter were almost exterminated. Those who were left moved to the +vicinity of the Post. Hunters from Wabinosh House were ambushed and +slain. Indians who came to the Post to trade were regarded as enemies, +and the passing of years seemed to make but little difference. The feud +still existed. The outlaws came to be spoken of as "Woongas," and a +Woonga was regarded as a fair target for any man's rifle.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile two children came to bless the happy union of Newsome and his +lovely Indian wife. One of these, the eldest, was a boy, and in honor of +the old chief he was named Wabigoon, and called Wabi for short. The +other was a girl, three years younger, and Newsome insisted that she be +called Minnetaki. Curiously enough, the blood of Wabi ran almost pure to +his Indian forefathers, while Minnetaki, as she became older, developed +less of the wild beauty of her mother and more of the softer loveliness +of the white race, her wealth of soft, jet black hair and her great dark +eyes contrasting with the lighter skin of her father's blood. Wabi, on +the other hand, was an Indian in appearance from his moccasins to the +crown of his head, swarthy, sinewy, as agile as a lynx, and with every +instinct in him crying for the life of the wild. Yet born in him was a +Caucasian shrewdness and intelligence that reached beyond the factor +himself.</p> + +<p>One of Newsome's chief pleasures in life had been the educating of his +woodland bride, and it was the ambition of both that the little +Minnetaki and her brother be reared in the ways of white children. +Consequently both mother and father began their education at the Post; +they were sent to the factor's school and two winters were passed in +Port Arthur that they might have the advantage of thoroughly equipped +schools. The children proved themselves unusually bright pupils, and by +the time Wabi was sixteen and Minnetaki twelve one would not have known +from their manner of speech that Indian blood ran in their veins. Yet +both, by the common desire of their parents, were familiar with the life +of the Indian and could talk fluently the tongue of their mother's +people.</p> + +<p>It was at about this time in their lives that the Woongas became +especially daring in their depredations. These outlaws no longer +pretended to earn their livelihood by honest means, but preyed upon +trappers and other Indians without discrimination, robbing and killing +whenever safe opportunities offered themselves. The hatred for the +people of Wabinosh House became hereditary, and the Woonga children grew +up with it in their hearts. The real cause of the feud had been +forgotten by many, though not by Woonga himself. At last so daring did +he become that the provincial government placed a price upon his head +and upon those of a number of his most notorious followers. For a time +the outlaws were driven from the country, but the bloodthirsty chief +himself could not be captured.</p> + +<p>When Wabi was seventeen years of age it was decided that he should be +sent to some big school in the States for a year. Against this plan the +young Indian—nearly all people regarded him as an Indian, and Wabi was +proud of the fact—fought with all of the arguments at his command. He +loved the wilds with the passion of his mother's race. His nature +revolted at the thoughts of a great city with its crowded streets, its +noise, and bustle, and dirt. It was then that Minnetaki pleaded with +him, begged him to go for just one year, and to come back and tell her +of all he had seen and teach her what he had learned. Wabi loved his +beautiful little sister beyond anything else on earth, and it was she +more than his parents who finally induced him to go.</p> + +<p>For three months Wabi devoted himself faithfully to his studies in +Detroit. But each week added to his loneliness and his longings for +Minnetaki and his forests. The passing of each day became a painful task +to him. To Minnetaki he wrote three times each week, and three times +each week the little maiden at Wabinosh House wrote long, cheering +letters to her brother—though they came to Wabi only about twice a +month, because only so often did the mail-carrier go out from the Post.</p> + +<p>It was at this time in his lonely school life that Wabigoon became +acquainted with Roderick Drew. Roderick, even as Wabi fancied himself to +be just at this time, was a child of misfortune. His father had died +before he could remember, and the property he had left had dwindled +slowly away during the passing of years. Rod was spending his last week +in school when he met Wabigoon. Necessity had become his grim master, +and the following week he was going to work. As the boy described the +situation to his Indian friend, his mother "had fought to the last ditch +to keep him in school, but now his time was up." Wabi seized upon the +white youth as an oasis in a vast desert. After a little the two became +almost inseparable, and their friendship culminated in Wabi's going to +live in the Drew home. Mrs. Drew was a woman of education and +refinement, and her interest in Wabigoon was almost that of a mother. In +this environment the ragged edges were smoothed away from the Indian +boy's deportment, and his letters to Minnetaki were more and more filled +with enthusiastic descriptions of his new friends. After a little Mrs. +Drew received a grateful letter of thanks from the princess mother at +Wabinosh House, and thus a pleasant correspondence sprang up between the +two.</p> + +<p>There were now few lonely hours for the two boys. During the long winter +evenings, when Roderick was through with his day's work and Wabi had +completed his studies, they would sit before the fire and the Indian +youth would describe the glorious life of the vast northern wilderness; +and day by day, and week by week, there steadily developed within Rod's +breast a desire to see and live that life. A thousand plans were made, a +thousand adventures pictured, and the mother would smile and laugh and +plan with them.</p> + +<p>But in time the end of it all came, and Wabi went back to the princess +mother, to Minnetaki, and to his forests. There were tears in the boys' +eyes when they parted, and the mother cried for the Indian boy who was +returning to his people. Many of the days that followed were painful to +Roderick Drew. Eight months had bred a new nature in him, and when Wabi +left it was as if a part of his own life had gone with him. Spring came +and passed, and then summer. Every mail from Wabinosh House brought +letters for the Drews, and never did an Indian courier drop a pack at +the Post that did not carry a bundle of letters for Wabigoon.</p> + +<p>Then in the early autumn, when September frosts were turning the leaves +of the North to red and gold, there came the long letter from Wabi which +brought joy, excitement and misgiving into the little home of the mother +and her son. It was accompanied by one from the factor himself, another +from the princess mother, and by a tiny note from Minnetaki, who pleaded +with the others that Roderick and Mrs. Drew might spend the winter with +them at Wabinosh House.</p> + +<p>"You need not fear about losing your position." wrote Wabigoon. "We +shall make more money up here this winter than you could earn in Detroit +in three years. We will hunt wolves. The country is alive with them, and +the government gives a bounty of fifteen dollars for every scalp taken. +Two winters ago I killed forty and I did not make a business of it at +that. I have a tame wolf which we use as a decoy. Don't bother about a +gun or anything like that. We have everything here."</p> + +<p>For several days Mrs. Drew and her son deliberated upon the situation +before a reply was sent to the Newsomes. Roderick pleaded, pictured the +glorious times they would have, the health that it would give them, and +marshaled in a dozen different ways his arguments in favor of accepting +the invitation. On the other hand, his mother was filled with doubt. +Their finances were alarmingly low, and Rod would be giving up a sure +though small income, which was now supporting them comfortably. His +future was bright, and that winter would see him promoted to ten dollars +a week in the mercantile house where he was employed. In the end they +came to an understanding. Mrs. Drew would not go to Wabinosh House, but +she would allow Roderick to spend the winter there—and word to this +effect was sent off into the wilderness.</p> + +<p>Three weeks later came Wabigoon's reply. On the tenth of October he +would meet Rod at Sprucewood, on the Black Sturgeon River. Thence they +would travel by canoe up the Sturgeon River to Sturgeon Lake, take +portage to Lake Nipigon, and arrive at Wabinosh House before the ice of +early winter shut them in. There was little time to lose in making +preparations, and the fourth day following the receipt of Wabi's letter +found Rod and his mother waiting for the train which was to whirl the +boy into his new life. Not until the eleventh did he arrive at +Sprucewood. Wabi was there to meet him, accompanied by an Indian from +the Post; and that same afternoon the journey up Black Sturgeon River +was begun.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</p> + +<p>RODERICK SEES THE FOOTPRINT</p> +<br> + +<p>Rod was now plunged for the first time in his life into the heart of the +wilderness. Seated in the bow of the birch-bark canoe which was carrying +them up the Sturgeon, with Wabi close behind him, he drank in the wild +beauties of the forests and swamps through which they slipped almost as +noiselessly as shadows, his heart thumping in joyous excitement, his +eyes constantly on the alert for signs of the big game which Wabi told +him was on all sides of them. Across his knees, ready for instant use, +was Wabi's repeating rifle. The air was keen with the freshness left by +night frosts. At times deep masses of gold and crimson forests shut them +in, at others, black forests of spruce came down to the river's edge; +again they would pass silently through great swamps of tamaracks. In +this vast desolation there was a mysterious quiet, except for the +occasional sounds of wild life. Partridges drummed back in the woods, +flocks of ducks got up with a great rush of wings at almost every turn, +and once, late in the morning of the first day out, Rod was thrilled by +a crashing in the undergrowth scarcely a stone's throw from the canoe. +He could see saplings twisting and bending, and heard Wabi whisper +behind him:</p> + +<p>"A moose!"</p> + +<p>They were words to set his hands trembling and his whole body quivering +with anticipation. There was in him now none of the old hunter's +coolness, none of the almost stoical indifference with which the men of +the big North hear these sounds of the wild things about them. Rod had +yet to see his first big game.</p> + +<p>That moment came in the afternoon. The canoe had skimmed lightly around +a bend in the river. Beyond this bend a mass of dead driftwood had +wedged against the shore, and this driftwood, as the late sun sank +behind the forests, was bathed in a warm yellow glow. And basking in +this glow, as he loves to do at the approach of winter nights, was an +animal, the sight of which drew a sharp, excited cry from between Rod's +lips. In an instant he had recognized it as a bear. The animal was taken +completely by surprise and was less than half a dozen rods away. Quick +as a flash, and hardly realizing what he was doing, the boy drew his +rifle to his shoulder, took quick aim and fired. The bear was already +clambering up the driftwood, but stopped suddenly at the report, slipped +as if about to fall back—then continued his retreat.</p> + +<p>"You hit 'im!" shouted Wabi. "Quick-try 'im again!"</p> + +<p>Rod's second shot seemed to have no effect In his excitement he jumped +to his feet, forgetting that he was in a frail canoe, and took a last +shot at the big black beast that was just about to disappear over the +edge of the driftwood. Both Wabi and his Indian companion flung +themselves on the shore side of their birch and dug their paddles deep +into the water, but their efforts were unavailing to save their reckless +comrade. Unbalanced by the concussion of his gun, Rod plunged backward +into the river, but before he had time to sink, Wabi reached over and +grabbed him by the arm.</p> + +<p>"Don't make a move—and hang on to the gun!" he warned. "If we try to +get you in here we'll all go over!" He made a sign to the Indian, who +swung the canoe slowly inshore. Then he grinned down into Rod's +dripping, unhappy face.</p> + +<p>"By George, that last shot was a dandy for a tenderfoot! You got your +bear!"</p> + +<p>Despite his uncomfortable position, Rod gave a whoop of joy, and no +sooner did his feet touch solid bottom than he loosened himself from +Wabi's grip and plunged toward the driftwood. On its very top he found +the bear, as dead as a bullet through its side and another through its +head could make it. Standing there beside his first big game, dripping +and shivering, he looked down upon the two who were pulling their canoe +ashore and gave, a series of triumphant whoops that could have been +heard half a mile away.</p> + +<p>"It's camp and a fire for you," laughed Wabi, hurrying up to him. "This +is better luck than I thought you'd have, Rod. We'll have a glorious +feast to-night, and a fire of this driftwood that will show you what +makes life worth the living up here in the North. Ho, Muky," he called +to the old Indian, "cut this fellow up, will you? I'll make camp."</p> + +<p>"Can we keep the skin?" asked Rod. "It's my first, you know, and—"</p> + +<p>"Of course we can. Give us a hand with the fire, Rod; it will keep you +from catching cold."</p> + +<p>In the excitement of making their first camp, Rod almost forgot that he +was soaked to the skin, and that night was falling about them. The first +step was the building of a fire, and soon a great, crackling, almost +smokeless blaze was throwing its light and heat for thirty feet around. +Wabi now brought blankets from the canoe, stripped off a part of his own +clothes, made Rod undress, and soon had that youth swathed in dry togs, +while his wet ones were hung close up to the fire. For the first time +Rod saw the making of a wilderness shelter. Whistling cheerily, Wabi got +an ax from the canoe, went into the edge of the cedars and cut armful +after armful of saplings and boughs. Tying his blankets about himself, +Rod helped to carry these, a laughable and grotesque figure as he +stumbled about clumsily in his efforts. Within half an hour the cedar +shelter was taking form. Two crotched saplings were driven into the +ground eight feet apart, and from one to the other, resting in the +crotches, was placed another sapling, which formed the ridge-pole; and +from this pole there ran slantwise to the earth half a dozen others, +making a framework upon which the cedar boughs were piled. By the time +the old Indian had finished his bear the home was completed, and with +its beds of sweet-smelling boughs, the great camp-fire in front and the +dense wilderness about them growing black with the approach of night, +Rod thought that nothing in picture-book or story could quite equal the +reality of that moment. And when, a few moments later, great bear-steaks +were broiling over a mass of coals, and the odor of coffee mingled with +that of meal-cakes sizzling on a heated stone, he knew that his dearest +dreams had come true.</p> + +<p>That night in the glow of the camp-fire Rod listened to the thrilling +stories of Wabi and the old Indian, and lay awake until nearly dawn, +listening to the occasional howl of a wolf, mysterious splashings in the +river and the shrill notes of the night birds. There were varied +experiences in the following three days: one frosty morning before the +others were awake he stole out from the camp with Wabi's rifle and shot +twice at a red deer—which he missed both times; there was an exciting +but fruitless race with a swimming caribou in Sturgeon Lake, at which +Wabi himself took three long-range shots without effect.</p> + +<p>It was on a glorious autumn afternoon that Wabi's keen eyes first +descried the log buildings of the Post snuggled in the edge of the +seemingly unending forest. As they approached he joyfully pointed out +the different buildings to Rod—the Company store, the little cluster of +employees' homes and the factor's house, where Rod was to meet his +welcome. At least Roderick himself had thought it would be there. But as +they came nearer a single canoe shot out suddenly from the shore and the +young hunters could see a white handkerchief waving them greeting. Wabi +replied with a whoop of pleasure and fired his gun into the air.</p> + +<p>"It's Minnetaki!" he cried. "She said she would watch for us and come +out to meet us!"</p> + +<p>Minnetaki! A little nervous thrill shot through Rod. Wabi had described +her to him a thousand times in those winter evenings at home; with a +brother's love and pride he had always brought her into their talks and +plans, and somehow, little by little, Rod had grown to like her very +much without ever having seen her.</p> + +<p>The two canoes swiftly approached each other, and in a few minutes more +were alongside. With a glad laughing cry Minnetaki leaned over and +kissed her brother, while at the same time her dark eyes shot a curious +glance at the youth of whom she had read and heard so much.</p> + +<p>At this time Minnetaki was fifteen. Like her mother's race she was +slender, of almost woman's height, and unconsciously as graceful as a +fawn in her movements. A slightly waving wealth of raven hair framed +what Rod thought to be one of the prettiest faces he had ever seen, and +entwined in the heavy silken braid that fell over her shoulder were a +number of red autumn leaves. As she straightened herself in her canoe +she looked at Rod and smiled, and he in making a polite effort to lift +his cap in civilized style, lost that article of apparel in a sudden +gust of wind. In an instant there was a general laugh of merriment in +which even the old Indian joined. The little incident did more toward +making comradeship than anything else that might have happened, and +laughing again into Rod's face Minnetaki urged her canoe toward the +floating cap.</p> + +<p>"You shouldn't wear such things until it gets cold," she said, after +retrieving the cap and handing it to him. "Wabi does—but I don't!"</p> + +<p>"Then I won't," replied Rod gallantly, and at Wabi's burst of laughter +both blushed.</p> + +<p>That first night at the Post Rod found that Wabi had already made all +plans for the winter's hunting, and the white youth's complete equipment +was awaiting him in the room assigned to him in the factor's house—a +deadly looking five-shot Remington, similar to Wabi's, a long-barreled, +heavy-caliber revolver, snow-shoes, and a dozen other articles necessary +to one about to set out upon a long expedition in the wilderness. Wabi +had also mapped out their hunting-grounds. Wolves in the immediate +neighborhood of the Post, where they were being constantly sought by the +Indians and the factor's men, had become exceedingly cautious and were +not numerous, but in the almost untraveled wilderness a hundred miles to +the north and east they were literally overrunning the country, killing +moose, caribou and deer in great numbers.</p> + +<p>In this region Wabi planned to make their winter quarters. And no time +was to be lost in taking up the trail, for the log house in which they +would pass the bitterly cold months should be built before the heavy +snows set in. It was therefore decided that the young hunters should +start within a week, accompanied by Mukoki, the old Indian, a cousin of +the slain Wabigoon, whom Wabi had given the nickname of Muky and who had +been a faithful comrade to him from his earliest childhood.</p> + +<p>Rod made the most of the six days which were allotted to him at the +Post, and while Wabi helped to handle the affairs of the Company's store +during a short absence of his father at Port Arthur, the lovely little +Minnetaki gave our hero his first lessons in woodcraft. In canoe, with +the rifle, and in reading the signs of forest life Wabi's sister +awakened constantly increasing admiration in Rod. To see her bending +over some freshly made trail, her cheeks flushed, her eyes sparkling +with excitement, her rich hair filled with the warmth of the sun, was a +picture to arouse enthusiasm even in the heart of a youngster of +eighteen, and a hundred times the boy mentally vowed that "she was a +brick" from the tips of her pretty moccasined feet to the top of her +prettier head. Half a dozen times at least he voiced this sentiment to +Wabi, and Wabi agreed with great enthusiasm. In fact, by the time the +week was almost gone Minnetaki and Rod had become great chums, and it +was not without some feeling of regret that the young wolf hunter +greeted the dawn of the day that was to see them begin their journey +deeper into the wilds.</p> + +<p>Minnetaki was one of the earliest risers at the Post. Rod was seldom +behind her. But on this particular morning he was late and heard the +girl whistling outside half an hour before he was dressed—for Minnetaki +could whistle in a manner that often filled him with envy. By the time +he came down she had disappeared in the edge of the forest, and Wabi, +who was also ahead of him, was busy with Mukoki tying up their equipment +in packs. It was a glorious morning, clear and frosty, and Rod noticed +that a thin shell of ice had formed on the lake during the night. Once +or twice Wabi turned toward the forest and gave his signal whoop, but +received no reply.</p> + +<p>"I don't see why Minnetaki doesn't come back," he remarked carelessly, +as he fastened a shoulder-strap about a bundle. "Breakfast will be ready +in a jiffy. Hunt her up, will you, Rod?"</p> + +<p>Nothing loath, Rod started out on a brisk run along the path which he +knew to be a favorite with Minnetaki and shortly it brought him down to +a pebbly stretch of the beach where she frequently left her canoe. That +she had been here a few minutes before he could tell by the fact that +the ice about the birch-bark was broken, as though the girl had tested +its thickness by shoving the light craft out into it for a few feet. Her +footsteps led plainly up the shelving shore and into the forest.</p> + +<p>"O Minnetaki—Minnetaki!"</p> + +<p>Rod called loudly and listened. There was no response. As if impelled by +some presentiment which he himself could not explain, the boy hurried +deeper into the forest along the narrow path which Minnetaki must have +taken. Five minutes—ten minutes—and he called again. Still there was +no answer. Possibly the girl had not gone so far, or she might have left +the path for the thick woods. A little farther on there was a soft spot +in the path where a great tree-trunk had rotted half a century before, +leaving a rich black soil. Clearly traced in this were the imprints of +Minnetaki's moccasins. For a full minute Rod stopped and listened, +making not a sound. Why he maintained silence he could not have +explained. But he knew that he was half a mile from the Post, and that +Wabi's sister should not be here at breakfast time. In this minute's +quiet he unconsciously studied the tracks in the ground. How small the +pretty Indian maiden's feet were! And he noticed, too, that her +moccasins, unlike most moccasins, had a slight heel.</p> + +<p>But in a moment more his inspection was cut short. Was that a cry he +heard far ahead? His heart seemed to stop beating, his blood +thrilled—and in another instant he was running down the path like a +deer. Twenty rods beyond this point the path entered an opening in the +forest made by a great fire, and half-way across this opening the youth +saw a sight which chilled him to the marrow. There was Minnetaki, her +long hair tumbling loosely down her back, a cloth tied around her +head—and on either side an Indian dragging her swiftly toward the +opposite forest!</p> + +<p>For as long as he might have drawn three breaths Rod stood transfixed +with horror. Then his senses returned to him, and every muscle in his +body seemed to bound with action. For days he had been practising with +his revolver and it was now in the holster at his side. Should he use +it? Or might he hit Minnetaki? At his feet he saw a club and snatching +this up he sped across the opening, the soft earth holding the sound of +his steps. When he was a dozen feet behind the Indians Minnetaki +stumbled in a sudden effort to free herself, and as one of her captors +half turned to drag her to her feet he saw the enraged youth, club +uplifted, bearing down upon them like a demon. A terrific yell from Rod, +a warning cry from the Indian, and the fray began. With crushing force, +the boy's club fell upon the shoulder of the second Indian, and before +he could recover from the delivery of this blow the youth was caught in +a choking, deadly grip by the other from behind.</p> + +<p>Freed by the sudden attack, Minnetaki tore away the cloth that bound her +eyes and mouth. As quick as a flash she took in the situation. At her +feet the wounded Indian was half rising, and upon the ground near him, +struggling in close embrace, were Rod and the other. She saw the +Indian's fatal grip upon her preserver's throat, the whitening face and +wide-open eyes, and with a great, sobbing cry she caught up the fallen +club and brought it down with all her strength upon the redskin's head. +Twice, three times the club rose and fell, and the grip on Rod's throat +relaxed. A fourth time it rose, but this time was caught from behind, +and a huge hand clutched the brave girl's throat so that the cry on her +lips died in a gasp. But the relief gave Rod his opportunity. With a +tremendous effort he reached his pistol holster, drew out the gun, and +pressed it close up against his assailant's body. There was a muffled +report and with a shriek of agony the Indian pitched backward. Hearing +the shot and seeing the effect upon his comrade, the second Indian +released his hold on Minnetaki and ran for the forest. Rod, seeing +Minnetaki fall in a sobbing, frightened heap, forgot all else but to run +to her, smooth back her hair and comfort her with all of the assurances +at his boyish command.</p> + +<p>It was here that Wabi and the old Indian guide found them five minutes +later. Hearing Rod's first piercing yell of attack, they had raced into +the forest, afterward guided by the two or three shrill screams which +Minnetaki had unconsciously emitted during the struggle. Close behind +them, smelling trouble, followed two of the Post employees.</p> + +<p>The attempted abduction of Wabi's sister, Rod's heroic rescue and the +death of one of the captors, who was recognized as one of Woonga's men, +caused a seven-day sensation at the Post.</p> + +<p>There was now no thought of leaving on the part of the young wolf +hunters. It was evident that Woonga was again in the neighborhood, and +Wabi and Rod, together with a score of Indians and hunters, spent days +in scouring the forests and swamps. But the Woongas disappeared as +suddenly as they came. Not until Wabi had secured a promise from +Minnetaki that she would no longer go into the forests unaccompanied did +the Indian youth again allow himself to take up their interrupted plans.</p> + +<p>Minnetaki had been within easy calling distance of help when the +Woongas, without warning, sprang upon her, smothered her attempted cries +and dragged her away, compelling her to walk alone over the soft earth +where Rod had seen her footsteps, so that any person who followed might +suppose she was alone and safe. This fact stirred the dozen white +families at the Post into aggressive action, and four of the most +skillful Indian track-hunters in the service were detailed to devote +themselves exclusively to hunting down the outlaws, their operations not +to include a territory extending more than twenty miles from Wabinosh +House in any direction. With these precautions it was believed that no +harm could come to Minnetaki or other young girls of the Post.</p> + +<p>It was, therefore, on a Monday, the fourth day of November, that Rod, +Wabi and Mukoki turned their faces at last to the adventures that +awaited them in the great North.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</p> + +<p>RODERICK'S FIRST TASTE OF THE HUNTER'S LIFE</p> +<br> + +<p>By this time it was bitter cold. The lakes and rivers were frozen deep +and a light snow covered the ground. Already two weeks behind their +plans, the young wolf hunters and the old Indian made forced marches +around the northern extremity of Lake Nipigon and on the sixth day found +themselves on the Ombabika River, where they were compelled to stop on +account of a dense snow-storm. A temporary camp was made, and it was +while constructing this camp that Mukoki discovered signs of wolves. It +was therefore decided to remain for a day or two and investigate the +hunting-grounds. On the morning of the second day Wabi shot at and +wounded the old bull moose which met such a tragic end a few hours +later, and that same morning the two boys made a long tour to the north +in the hope of finding that they were in a good game country, which +would mean also that there were plenty of wolves.</p> + +<p>This left Mukoki alone in camp. Thus far, in their desire to cover as +much ground as possible before the heavy snows came, Wabi and his +companions had not stopped to hunt for game and for six days their only +meat had been bacon and jerked venison. Mukoki, whose prodigious +appetite was second only to the shrewdness with which he stalked game to +satisfy it, determined to add to their larder if possible during the +others' absence, and with this object in view he left camp late in the +afternoon to be gone, as he anticipated, not longer than an hour or so.</p> + +<p>With him he carried two powerful wolf-traps slung over his shoulders. +Stealing cautiously along the edge of the river, his eyes and ears alert +for game, Mukoki suddenly came upon the frozen and half-eaten carcass of +a red deer. It was evident that the animal had been killed by wolves +either the day or night before, and from the tracks in the snow the +Indian concluded that not more than four wolves had participated in the +slaughter and feast. That these wolves would return to continue their +banquet, probably that night, Mukoki's many experiences as a wolf hunter +assured him; and he paused long enough to set his traps, afterward +covering them over with three or four inches of snow.</p> + +<p>Continuing his hunt, the old Indian soon struck the fresh spoor of a +deer. Believing that the animal would not travel for any great distance +in the deep snow, he swiftly took up the trail. Half a mile farther on +he stopped abruptly with a grunt of unbounded surprise. Another hunter +had taken up the trail!</p> + +<p>With increased caution Mukoki now advanced. Two hundred feet more and a +second pair of moccasined feet joined in the pursuit, and a little later +still a third!</p> + +<p>Led on by curiosity more than by the hope of securing a partnership +share in the quarry, the Indian slipped silently and swiftly through the +forest. As he emerged from a dense growth of spruce through which the +tracks led him Mukoki was treated to another surprise by almost +stumbling over the carcass of the deer he had been following. A brief +examination satisfied him that the doe had been shot at least two hours +before. The three hunters had cut out her heart, liver and tongue and +had also taken the hind quarters, leaving the remainder of the carcass +and the skin! Why had they neglected this most valuable part of their +spoils? With a new gleam of interest in his eyes Mukoki carefully +scrutinized the moccasin trails. He soon discovered that the Indians +ahead of him were in great haste, and that after cutting the choicest +meat from the doe they had started off to make up for lost time by +running!</p> + +<p>With another grunt of astonishment the old Indian returned to the +carcass, quickly stripped off the skin, wrapped in it the fore quarters +and ribs of the doe, and thus loaded, took up the home trail. It was +dark when he reached camp. Wabi and Rod had not yet returned. Building a +huge fire and hanging the ribs of the doe on a spit before it, he +anxiously awaited their appearance.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later he heard the shout which brought him quickly to where +Wabi was holding the partly unconscious form of Rod in his arms.</p> + +<p>It took but a few moments to carry the injured youth to camp, and not +until Rod was resting upon a pile of blankets in their shack, with the +warmth of the fire reviving him, did Wabi vouchsafe an explanation to +the old Indian.</p> + +<p>"I guess he's got a broken arm, Muky," he said. "Have you any hot +water?"</p> + +<p>"Shot?" asked the old hunter, paying no attention to the question. He +dropped upon his knees beside Rod, his long brown fingers reaching out +anxiously. "Shot?"</p> + +<p>"No—hit with a club. We met three Indian hunters who were in camp and +who invited us to eat with them. While we were eating they jumped upon +our backs. Rod got that—and lost his rifle!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki quickly stripped the wounded boy of his garments, baring his left +arm and side. The arm was swollen and almost black and there was a great +bruise on Rod's body a little above the waist. Mukoki was a surgeon by +necessity, a physician such as one finds only in the vast unblazed +wildernesses, where Nature is the teacher. Crudely he made his +examination, pinching and twisting the flesh and bones until Rod cried +out in pain, but in the end there was a glad triumph in his voice as he +said:</p> + +<p>"No bone broke—hurt most here!" and he touched the bruise. "Near broke +rib—not quite. Took wind out and made great deal sick. Want good +supper, hot coffee—rub in bear's grease, then be better!"</p> + +<p>Rod, who had opened his eyes, smiled faintly and Wabi gave a half-shout +of delight.</p> + +<p>"Not so bad as we thought, eh, Rod?" he cried. "You can't fool Muky! If +he says your arm isn't broken—why, it <i>isn't</i>, and that's all there is +to it. Let me bolster you up in these blankets and we'll soon have a +supper that will sizzle the aches out of you. I smell meat—fresh meat!"</p> + +<p>With a chuckle of pleasure Mukoki jumped to his feet and ran out to +where the ribs of the doe were slowly broiling over the fire. They were +already done to a rich brown and their dripping juice filled the +nostrils with an appetizing odor. By the time Wabi had applied Mukoki's +prescription to his comrade's wounds, and had done them up in bandages, +the tempting feast was spread before them.</p> + +<p>As a liberal section of the ribs was placed before him, together with +corn-meal cakes and a cup of steaming coffee, Rod could not suppress a +happy though somewhat embarrassed laugh.</p> + +<p>"I'm ashamed of myself, Wabi," he said. "Here I've been causing so much +bother, like some helpless kid; and now I find I haven't even the excuse +of a broken arm, and that I'm as hungry as a bear! Looks pretty yellow, +doesn't it? Just as though I was scared to death! So help me, I almost +wish my arm <i>was</i> broken!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki had buried his teeth in a huge chunk of fat rib, but he lowered +it with a great chuckling grunt, half of his face smeared with the first +results of his feast.</p> + +<p>"Whole lot sick," he explained. "Be sick some more—mighty sick! Maybe +vomit lots!"</p> + +<p>"Waugh!" shrieked Wabi. "How is that for cheerful news, Rod?" His +merriment echoed far out into the night. Suddenly he caught himself and +peered suspiciously into the gloom beyond the circle of firelight.</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose they would follow?" he asked.</p> + +<p>A more cautious silence followed, and the Indian youth quickly related +the adventures of the day to Mukoki—how, in the heart of the forest +several miles beyond the lake, they had come upon the Indian hunters, +had accepted of their seemingly honest hospitality, and in the midst of +their meal had suffered an attack from them. So sudden and unexpected +had been the assault that one of the Indians got away with Rod's rifle, +ammunition belt and revolver before any effort could be made to stop +him. Wabi was under the other two Indians when Rod came to his +assistance, with the result that the latter was struck two heavy blows, +either with a club or a gun-stock. So tenaciously had the Indian boy +clung to his own weapon that his assailants, after a brief struggle, +darted into the dense underbrush, evidently satisfied with the white +boy's equipment.</p> + +<p>"They were of Woonga's people, without a doubt," finished Wabi. "It +puzzles me why they didn't kill us. They had half a dozen chances to +shoot us, but didn't seem to want to do us any great injury. Either the +measures taken at the Post are making them reform, or—"</p> + +<p>He paused, a troubled look in his eyes. Immediately Mukoki told of his +own experience and of the mysterious haste of the three Indians who had +slain the doe.</p> + +<p>"It is certainly curious," rejoined the young Indian. "They couldn't +have been the ones we met, but I'll wager they belong to the same gang. +I wouldn't be surprised if we had hit upon one of Woonga's retreats. +We've always thought he was in the Thunder Bay regions to the west, and +that is where father is watching for him now. We've hit the hornets' +nest, Muky, and the only thing for us to do is to get out of this +country as fast as we can!"</p> + +<p>"We'd make a nice pot-shot just at this moment," volunteered Rod, +looking across to the dense blackness on the opposite side of the river, +where the moonlight seemed to make even more impenetrable the wall of +gloom.</p> + +<p>As he spoke there came a slight sound from behind him, the commotion of +a body moving softly beyond the wall of spruce boughs, then a curious, +suspicious sniffing, and after that a low whine.</p> + +<p>"Listen!"</p> + +<p>Wabi's command came in a tense whisper. He leaned close against the +boughs, stealthily parted them, and slowly thrust his head through the +aperture.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Wolf!" he whispered. "What's up?"</p> + +<p>An arm's length away, tied before a smaller shelter of spruce, a gaunt, +dog-like animal stood in a rigid listening attitude. An instant's +glance, however, would have assured one that it was not a dog, but a +full-grown wolf. From the days of its puppyhood Wabi had taught it in +the ways of dogdom, yet had the animal perversely clung to its wild +instincts. A weakness in that thong, a slip of the collar, and Wolf +would have bounded joyously into the forests to seek for ever the packs +of his fathers. Now the babeesh rope was taut, Wolf's muzzle was turned +half to the sky, his ears were alert, half-sounding notes rattled in his +throat.</p> + +<p>"There is something near our camp!" announced the Indian boy, drawing +himself back quickly. "Muky—"</p> + +<p>He was interrupted by a long mournful howl from the captive wolf.</p> + +<p>Mukoki had jumped to his feet with the alertness of a cat, and now with +his gun in his hand slunk around the edge of the shelter and buried +himself in the gloom. Roderick lay quiet while Wabi, seizing the +remaining rifle, followed him.</p> + +<p>"Lie over there in the dark, Rod, where the firelight doesn't show you +up," he cautioned in a low voice. "Probably it is only some animal that +has stumbled on to our camp, but we want to make sure."</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later the young hunter returned alone.</p> + +<p>"False alarm!" he laughed cheerfully. "There's a part of a carcass of a +red deer up the creek a bit. It has been killed by wolves, and Wolf +smells some of his own blood coming in to the feast. Muky has set traps +there and we may have our first scalp in the morning."</p> + +<p>"Where is Mukoki?"</p> + +<p>"On watch. He is going to keep guard until a little after midnight, and +then I'll turn out. We can't be too careful, with the Woongas in the +neighborhood."</p> + +<p>Rod shifted himself uneasily.</p> + +<p>"What shall we do—to-morrow?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Get out!" replied Wabi with emphasis. "That is, if you are able to +travel. From what Mukoki tells me, and from what you and I already know, +Woonga's people must be in the forests beyond the lake. We'll cut a +trail up the Ombabika for two or three days before we strike camp. You +and Muky can start out as soon as it is light enough."</p> + +<p>"And you—" began Rod.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm going to take a run back over our old wolf-trail and collect +the scalps we shot to-day. There's a month's salary back there for you, +Rod! Now, let's turn in. Good night—sleep tight—and be sure to wake up +early in the morning."</p> + +<p>The boys, exhausted by the adventures of the day, were soon in profound +slumber. And though midnight came, and hour after hour passed between +then and dawn, the faithful Mukoki did not awaken them. Never for a +moment neglecting his caution the old Indian watched tirelessly over the +camp. With the first appearance of day he urged the fire into a roaring +blaze, raked out a great mass of glowing coals, and proceeded to get +breakfast. Wabi discovered him at this task when he awoke from his +slumber.</p> + +<p>"I didn't think you would play this trick on me, Muky," he said, a flush +of embarrassment gathering in his brown face. "It's awfully good of you, +and all that, but I wish you wouldn't treat me as if I were a child any +longer, old friend!"</p> + +<p>He placed his hand affectionately upon the kneeling Mukoki's shoulder, +and the old hunter looked up at him with a happy, satisfied grin on his +weather-beaten visage, wrinkled and of the texture of leather by nearly +fifty years of life in the wilderness. It was Mukoki who had first +carried the baby Wabi about the woods upon his shoulders; it was he who +had played with him, cared for him, and taught him in the ways of the +wild in early childhood, and it was he who had missed him most, with +little Minnetaki, when he went away to school. All the love in the grim +old redskin's heart was for the Indian youth and his sister, and to them +Mukoki was a second father, a silent, watchful guardian and comrade. +This one loving touch of Wabi's hand was ample reward for the long +night's duty, and his pleasure expressed itself in two or three low +chuckling grunts.</p> + +<p>"Had heap bad day," he replied. "Very much tired. Me feel good—better +than sleep!" He rose to his feet and handed Wabi the long fork with +which he manipulated the meat on the spits. "You can tend to that," he +added. "I go see traps."</p> + +<p>Rod, who had awakened and overheard these last remarks, called out from +the shack:</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute, Mukoki. I'm going with you. If you've got a wolf, I want +to see him."</p> + +<p>"Got one sure 'nuff," grinned the old Indian.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes Rod came out, fully dressed and with a much healthier +color in his face than when he went to bed the preceding night. He stood +before the fire, stretched one arm then the other, gave a slight grimace +of pain, and informed his anxious comrades that he seemed to be as well +as ever, except that his arm and side were very sore.</p> + +<p>Walking slowly, that Rod might "find himself," as Wabi expressed it, the +two went up the river. It was a dull gray morning and occasionally large +flakes of snow fell, giving evidence that before the day was far +advanced another storm would set in. Mukoki's traps were not more than +an eighth of a mile from camp, and as the two rounded a certain bend in +the river the old hunter suddenly stopped with a huge grant of +satisfaction. Following the direction in which he pointed Rod saw a dark +object lying in the snow a short distance away.</p> + +<p>"That's heem!" exclaimed the Indian.</p> + +<p>As they approached, the object became animate, pulling and tearing in +the snow as though in the agonies of death. A few moments more and they +were close up to the captive.</p> + +<p>"She wolf!" explained Mukoki.</p> + +<p>He gripped the ax he had brought with him and approached within a few +feet of the crouching animal. Rod could see that one of the big steel +traps had caught the wolf on the forward leg and that the other had +buried its teeth in one of the hind legs. Thus held the doomed animal +could make little effort to protect itself and crouched in sullen quiet, +its white fangs gleaming in a noiseless, defiant snarl, its eyes shining +with pain and anger, and with only its thin starved body, which jerked +and trembled as the Indian came nearer, betraying signs of fear. To Rod +it might have been a pitiful sight had not there come to him a thought +of the preceding night and of his own and Wabi's narrow escape from the +pack.</p> + +<p>Two or three quick blows of the ax and the wolf was dead. With a skill +which can only be found among those of his own race, Mukoki drew his +knife, cut deftly around the wolf's head just below the ears, and with +one downward, one upward, and two sidewise jerks tore off the scalp.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, without giving a thought to his speech, there shot from Rod,</p> + +<p>"Is that the way you scalp people?"</p> + +<p>Mukoki looked up, his jaw fell—and then he gave the nearest thing to a +real laugh that Rod ever heard come from between his lips. When Mukoki +laughed it was usually in a half-chuckle, a half-gurgle—something that +neither Rod nor Wabi could have imitated if they had tried steadily for +a month.</p> + +<p>"Never scalped white people," the old Indian shot back. "Father did +when—young man. Did great scalp business!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki had not done chuckling to himself even when they reached camp.</p> + +<p>Scarcely ten minutes were taken in eating breakfast. Snow was already +beginning to fall, and if the hunters took up their trail at once their +tracks would undoubtedly be entirely obliterated by midday, which was +the best possible thing that could happen for them in the Woonga +country. On the other hand, Wabi was anxious to follow back over the +wolf-trail before the snow shut it in. There was no danger of their +becoming separated and lost, for it was agreed that Rod and Mukoki +should travel straight up the frozen river. Wabi would overtake them +before nightfall.</p> + +<p>Arming himself with his rifle, revolver, knife, and a keen-edged +belt-ax, the Indian boy lost no time in leaving camp. A quarter of an +hour later Wabi came out cautiously on the end of the lake where had +occurred the unequal duel between the old bull moose and the wolves. A +single glance told him what the outcome of that duel had been. Twenty +rods out upon the snow he saw parts of a great skeleton, and a huge pair +of antlers.</p> + +<p>As he stood on the arena of the mighty battle, Wabi would have given a +great deal if Rod could have been with him. There lay the heroic old +moose, now nothing more than a skeleton. But the magnificent head and +horns still remained—the largest head that the Indian youth, in all his +wilderness life, had ever seen—and it occurred to him that if this head +could be preserved and taken back to civilization it would be worth a +hundred dollars or more. That the old bull had put up a magnificent +fight was easily discernible. Fifty feet away were the bones of a wolf, +and almost under the skeleton of the moose were those of another. The +heads of both still remained, and Wabi, after taking their scalps, +hurried on over the trail.</p> + +<p>Half-way across the lake, where he had taken his last two shots, were +the skeletons of two more wolves, and in the edge of the spruce forest +he found another. This animal had evidently been wounded farther back +and had later been set upon by some of the pack and killed. Half a mile +deeper in the forest he came upon a spot where he had emptied five +shells into the pack and here he found the bones of two more wolves. He +had seven scalps in his possession when he turned back over the home +trail.</p> + +<p>Beside the remains of the old bull Wabi paused again. He knew that the +Indians frequently preserved moose and caribou heads through the winter +by keeping them frozen, and the head at his feet was a prize worth some +thought. But how could he keep it preserved until their return, months +later? He could not suspend it from the limb of a tree, as was the +custom when in camp, for it would either be stolen by some passing +hunter or spoiled by the first warm days of spring. Suddenly an idea +came to him. Why could it not be preserved in what white hunters called +an "Indian ice-box"? In an instant he was acting upon this inspiration. +It was not a small task to drag the huge head to the shelter of the +tamaracks, where, safely hidden from view, he made a closer examination. +The head was gnawed considerably by the wolves, but Wabi had seen worse +ones skillfully repaired by the Indians at the Post.</p> + +<p>Under a dense growth of spruce, where the rays of the sun seldom +penetrated, the Indian boy set to work with his belt-ax. For an hour and +a half he worked steadily, and at the end of that time had dug a hole in +the frozen earth three feet deep and four feet square. This hole he now +lined with about two inches of snow, packed as tight as he could jam it +with the butt of his gun. Then placing in the head he packed snow +closely about it and afterward filled in the earth, stamping upon the +hard chunks with his feet. When all was done he concealed the signs of +his work under a covering of snow, blazed two trees with his ax, and +resumed his journey.</p> + +<p>"There is thirty dollars for each of us if there's a cent," he mused +softly, as he hurried toward the Ombabika. "That ground won't thaw out +until June. A moose-head and eight scalps at fifteen dollars each isn't +bad for one day's work, Rod, old boy!"</p> + +<p>He had been absent for three hours. It had been snowing steadily and by +the time he reached their old camp the trail left by Rod and Mukoki was +already partly obliterated, showing that they had secured an early start +up the river.</p> + +<p>Bowing his head in the white clouds falling silently about him, Wabi +started in swift pursuit. He could not see ten rods ahead of him, so +dense was the storm, and at times one side or the other of the river was +lost to view. Conditions could not have been better for their flight out +of the Woonga country, thought the young hunter. By nightfall they would +be many miles up the river, and no sign would be left behind to reveal +their former presence or to show in which direction they had gone. For +two hours he followed tirelessly over the trail, which became more and +more distinct as he proceeded, showing that he was rapidly gaining on +his comrades. But even now, though the trail was fresher and deeper, so +disguised had it become by falling snow that a passing hunter might have +thought a moose or caribou had passed that way.</p> + +<p>At the end of the third hour, by which time he figured that he had made +at least ten miles, Wabi sat down to rest, and to refresh himself with +the lunch which he had taken from the camp that morning. He was +surprised at Rod's endurance. That Mukoki and the white boy were still +three or four miles ahead of him he did not doubt, unless they, too, had +stopped for dinner. This, on further thought, he believed was highly +probable.</p> + +<p>The wilderness about him was intensely still. Not even the twitter of a +snow-bird marred its silence. For a long time Wabi sat as immovable as +the log upon which he had seated himself, resting and listening. Such a +day as this held a peculiar and unusual fascination for him. It was as +if the whole world was shut out, and that even the wild things of the +forest dared not go abroad in this supreme moment of Nature's handiwork, +when with lavish hand she spread the white mantle that was to stretch +from the border to Hudson Bay.</p> + +<p>As he listened there came to him suddenly a sound that forced from +between his lips a half-articulate cry. It was the clear, ringing report +of a rifle! And following it there came another, and another, until in +quick succession he had counted five!</p> + +<p>What did it mean? He sprang to his feet, his heart thumping, every nerve +in him prepared for action. He would have sworn it was Mukoki's +rifle—yet Mukoki would not have fired at game! They had agreed upon +that.</p> + +<p>Had Rod and the old Indian been attacked? In another instant Wabi was +bounding over the trail with the speed of a deer.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</p> + +<p>MYSTERIOUS SHOTS IN THE WILDERNESS</p> +<br> + +<p>As the Indian youth sped over the trail in the direction of the +rifle-shots he flung his usual caution to the winds. His blood thrilled +with the knowledge that there was not a moment to lose—that even now, +in all probability, he would be too late to assist his friends. This +fear was emphasized by the absolute silence which followed the five +shots. Eagerly, almost prayerfully, he listened as he ran for other +sounds of battle—for the report of Mukoki's revolver, or the whoops of +the victors. If there had been an ambush it was all over now. Each +moment added to his conviction, and as he thrust the muzzle of his gun +ahead of him, his finger hovering near the trigger and his snow-blinded +eyes staring ahead into the storm, something like a sob escaped his +lips.</p> + +<p>Ahead of him the stream narrowed until it almost buried itself under a +mass of towering cedars. The closeness of the forest walls now added to +the general gloom, intensified by the first gray pallor of the Northern +dusk, which begins to fall in these regions early in the afternoon of +November days. For a moment, just before plunging into the gloomy trail +between the cedars, Wabi stopped and listened. He heard nothing but the +beating of his own heart, which worked like a trip-hammer within his +breast. The stillness was oppressive. And the longer he listened the +more some invisible power seemed to hold him back. It was not fear, it +was not lack of courage, but—</p> + +<p>What was there just beyond those cedars, lurking cautiously in the snow +gloom?</p> + +<p>With instinct that was almost animal in its unreasonableness Wabi sank +upon his knees. He had seen nothing, he had heard nothing; but he +crouched close, until he was no larger than a waiting wolf, and there +was a deadly earnestness in the manner in which he turned his rifle into +the deeper gloom of those close-knit walls of forest. Something was +approaching, cautiously, stealthily, and with extreme slowness. The +Indian boy felt that this was so, and yet if his life had depended upon +it he could not have told why. He huddled himself lower in the snow. His +eyes gleamed with excitement. Minute after minute passed, and still +there came no sound. Then, from far up that dusky avenue of cedars, +there came the sudden startled chatter of a moose-bird. It was a warning +which years of experience had taught Wabi always to respect. Perhaps a +roving fox had frightened it, perhaps the bird had taken to noisy flight +at the near tread of a moose, a caribou, or a deer. But—</p> + +<p>To Wabi the soft, quick notes of the moose-bird spelled man! In an +instant he was upon his feet, darting quickly into the sheltering cedars +of the shore. Through these he now made his way with extreme caution, +keeping close to the bank of the frozen stream. After a little he paused +again and concealed himself behind the end of a fallen log. Ahead of him +he could look into the snow gloom between the cedars, and whatever was +coming through that gloom would have to pass within a dozen yards of +him. Each moment added to his excitement. He heard the chatter of a red +squirrel, much nearer than the moose-bird. Once he fancied that he heard +the striking of two objects, as though a rifle barrel had accidentally +come into contact with the dead limb of a tree.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the Indian youth imagined that he saw something—an indistinct +shadow that came in the snow gloom, then disappeared, and came again. He +brushed the water and snow from his eyes with one of his mittened hands +and stared hard and steadily. Once more the shadow disappeared, then +came again, larger and more distinct than before. There was no doubt +now. Whatever had startled the moose-bird was coming slowly, +noiselessly.</p> + +<p>Wabi brought his rifle to his shoulder. Life and death hovered with his +anxious, naked finger over the gun trigger. But he was too well trained +in the ways of the wilderness to fire just yet. Yard by yard the shadow +approached, and divided itself into two shadows. Wabi could now see that +they were men. They were advancing in a cautious, crouching attitude, as +though they expected to meet enemies somewhere ahead of them. Wabi's +heart thumped with joy. There could be no surer sign that Mukoki and Rod +were still among the living, for why should the Woongas employ this +caution if they had already successfully ambushed the hunters? With the +chill of a cold hand at his throat the answer flashed into Wabigoon's +brain. His friends had been ambushed, and these two Woongas were +stealing back over the trail to slay him!</p> + +<p>Very slowly, very gently, the young Indian's finger pressed against the +trigger of his rifle. A dozen feet more, and then—</p> + +<p>The shadows had stopped, and now drew together as if in consultation. +They were not more than twenty yards away, and for a moment Wabi lowered +his rifle and listened hard. He could hear the low unintelligible +mutterings of their conversation. Then there came to him a single +incautious reply from one of the shadows.</p> + +<p>"All right!"</p> + +<p>Surely that was not the English of a Woonga! It sounded like—</p> + +<p>In a flash Wabi had called softly.</p> + +<p>"Ho, Muky—Muky—Rod!"</p> + +<p>In another moment the three wolf hunters were together, silently +wringing one another's hands, the death-like pallor of Rod's face and +the tense lines in the bronzed countenances of Mukoki and Wabigoon +plainly showing the tremendous strain they had been under.</p> + +<p>"You shoot?" whispered Mukoki.</p> + +<p>"No!" replied Wabi, his eyes widening in surprise. "Didn't <i>you</i> shoot?"</p> + +<p>"No!"</p> + +<p>Only the one word fell from the old Indian, but it was filled with a new +warning. Who had fired the five shots? The hunters gazed blankly at one +another, mute questioning in their eyes. Without speaking, Mukoki +pointed suggestively to the clearer channel of the river beyond the +cedars. Evidently he thought the shots had come from there. Wabi shook +his head.</p> + +<p>"There was no trail," he whispered. "Nobody has crossed the river."</p> + +<p>"I thought they were there!" breathed Rod. He pointed into the forest. +"But Mukoki said no."</p> + +<p>For a long time the three stood and listened. Half a mile back in the +forest they heard the howl of a single wolf, and Wabi flashed a curious +glance into the eyes of the old Indian.</p> + +<p>"That's a man's cry," he whispered. "The wolf has struck a human trail. +It isn't mine!"</p> + +<p>"Nor ours," replied Rod.</p> + +<p>This one long howl of the wolf was the only sound that broke the +stillness of approaching night. Mukoki turned, and the others followed +in his trail. A quarter of a mile farther on the stream became still +narrower and plunged between great masses of rock which rose into wild +and precipitous hills that were almost mountains a little way back. No +longer could the hunters now follow the channel of the rushing torrent. +Through a break in a gigantic wall of rock and huge boulders led the +trail of Rod and Mukoki. Ten minutes more and the three had clambered to +the top of the ridge where, in the lee of a great rock, the remains of a +fire were still burning. Here the old Indian and his companion had +struck camp and were waiting for Wabigoon when they heard the shots +which they, too, believed were those of an ambush.</p> + +<p>A comfortable shelter of balsam had already been erected against the +rock, and close beside the fire, where Mukoki had dropped it at the +sound of the shots, was a large piece of spitted venison. The situation +was ideal for a camp and after the hard day's tramp through the snow the +young wolf hunters regarded it with expressions of pleasure, in spite of +the enemies whom they knew might be lurking near them. Both Wabi and Rod +had accepted the place as their night's home, and were stirring up the +fire, when their attention was drawn to the singular attitude of Mukoki. +The old warrior stood leaning on his rifle, speechless and motionless, +his eyes regarding the process of rekindling the fire with mute +disapprobation. Wabi, poised on one knee, looked at him questioningly.</p> + +<p>"No make more fire," said the old Indian, shaking his head. "No dare +stay here. Go on—beyond mountain!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki straightened himself and stretched a long arm toward the north.</p> + +<p>"River go like much devil 'long edge of mountain," he continued. "Make +heap noise through rock, then make swamp thick for cow moose—then run +through mountain and make wide, smooth river once more. We go over +mountain. Snow all night. Morning come—no trail for Woonga. We stay +here—make big trail in morning. Woonga follow like devil, ver' plain to +see!"</p> + +<p>Wabi rose to his feet, his face showing the keenness of his +disappointment. Since early morning he had been traveling, even running +at times, and he was tired enough to risk willingly a few dangers for +the sake of sleep and supper. Rod was in even worse condition, though +his trail had been much shorter. For a few moments the two boys looked +at each other in silence, neither attempting to conceal the lack of +favor with which Mukoki's suggestion was received. But Wabi was too wise +openly to oppose the old pathfinder. If Mukoki said that it was +dangerous for them to remain where they were during the night—well, it +was dangerous, and it would be foolish of him to dispute it. He knew +Mukoki to be the greatest hunter of his tribe, a human bloodhound on the +trail, and what he said was law. So with a cheerful grin at Rod, who +needed all the encouragement that could be given to him, Wabi began the +readjustment of the pack which he had flung from his shoulders a few +minutes before.</p> + +<p>"Mountain not ver' far. Two—t'ree mile, then camp," encouraged Mukoki. +"Walk slow—have big supper."</p> + +<p>Only a few articles had been taken from the toboggan-sled on which the +hunters were dragging the greater part of their equipment into the +wilderness, and Mukoki soon had these packed again. The three +adventurers now took up the new trail along the top of one of those wild +and picturesque ridges which both the Indians and white hunters of this +great Northland call mountains. Wabigoon led, weighted under his pack, +selecting the clearest road for the toboggan and clipping down +obstructing saplings with his keen-edged belt-ax. A dozen feet behind +him followed Mukoki, dragging the sled; and behind the sled, securely +tied with a thong of babeesh, or moose-skin rope, slunk the wolf. Rod, +less experienced in making a trail and burdened with a lighter pack, +formed the rear of the little cavalcade.</p> + +<p>Darkness was now falling rapidly. Though Wabigoon was not more than a +dozen yards ahead, Rod could only now and then catch a fleeting vision +of him through the gloom. Mukoki, doubled over in his harness, was +hardly more than a blotch in the early night. Only the wolf was near +enough to offer companionship to the tired and down-spirited youth. +Rod's enthusiasm was not easily cooled, but just now he mentally wished +that, for this one night at least, he was back at the Post, with the +lovely little Minnetaki relating to him some legend of bird or beast +they had encountered that day. How much pleasanter that would be! The +vision of the bewitching little maiden was suddenly knocked out of his +head in a most unexpected and startling way. Mukoki had paused for a +moment and Rod, unconscious of the fact, continued on his journey until +he tumbled in a sprawling heap over the sled, knocking Mukoki's legs +completely from under him in his fall. When Wabi ran back he found Rod +flattened out, face downward, and Mukoki entangled in his site harness +on top of him.</p> + +<p>In a way this accident was fortunate. Wabi, who possessed a Caucasian +sense of humor, shook with merriment as he gave his assistance, and Rod, +after he had dug the snow from his eyes and ears and had emptied a +handful of it from his neck, joined with him.</p> + +<p>The ridge now became narrower as the trio advanced. On one side, far +down, could be heard the thunderous rush of the river, and from the +direction of the sound Rod knew they were near a precipice. Great beds +of boulders and broken rock, thrown there by some tumultuous upheaval of +past ages, now impeded their progress, and every step was taken with +extreme caution. The noise of the torrent became louder and louder as +they advanced and on one side of him Rod now thought that he could +distinguish a dim massive shadow towering above them, like the +precipitous side of a mountain. A few steps farther and Mukoki exchanged +places with Wabigoon.</p> + +<p>"Muky has been here before," cried Wabi close up to Rod's ear. His voice +was almost drowned by the tumult below. "That's where the river rushes +through the mountain!"</p> + +<p>Rod forgot his fatigue in the new excitement. Never in his wildest +dreams of adventure had he foreseen an hour like this. Each step seemed +to bring them nearer the edge of the vast chasm through which the river +plunged, and yet not a sign of it could he see. He strained his eyes and +ears, each moment expecting to hear the warning voice of the old +warrior. With a suddenness that chilled him he saw the great shadow +close in upon them from the opposite side, and for the first time he +realized their position. On their left was the precipice—on their right +the sheer wall of the mountain! How wide was the ledge along which they +were traveling? His foot struck a stick under the snow. Catching it up +he flung it out into space. For a single instant he paused to listen, +but there came no sound of the falling object. The precipice was very +near—a little chill ran up his spine. It was a sensation he had never +experienced in walking the streets of a city!</p> + +<p>Though he could not see, he knew that the ledge was now leading them up. +He could hear Wabigoon straining ahead of the toboggan and he began to +assist by pushing on the rear of the loaded sled. For half an hour this +upward climb continued, until the sound of the river had entirely died +away. No longer was the mountain on the right. Five minutes later Mukoki +called a halt.</p> + +<p>"On top mountain," he said briefly. "Camp here!"</p> + +<p>Rod could not repress an exclamation of joy, and Wabigoon, as he threw +off his harness, gave a suppressed whoop. Mukoki, who seemed tireless, +began an immediate search for a site for their camp and after a short +breathing-spell Rod and Wabi joined him. The spot chosen was in the +shelter of a huge rock, and while Mukoki cleaned away the snow the young +hunters set to work with their axes in a near growth of balsam, cutting +armful after armful of the soft odorous boughs. Inside of an hour a +comfortable camp was completed, with an exhilarating fire throwing its +crackling flames high up into the night before it.</p> + +<p>For the first time since leaving the abandoned camp at the other end of +the ridge the hunters fully realized how famished they were, and Mukoki +was at once delegated to prepare supper while Wabi and Rod searched in +the darkness for their night's supply of wood. Fortunately quite near at +hand they discovered several dead poplars, the best fuel in the world +for a camp-fire, and by the time the venison and coffee were ready they +had collected a huge pile of this, together with several good-sized +backlogs.</p> + +<p>Mukoki had spread the feast in the opening of the shelter where the heat +of the fire, reflected from the face of the rock, fell upon them in +genial warmth, suffusing their faces with a most comfortable glow. The +heat, together with the feast, were almost overpowering in their +effects, and hardly was his supper completed when Rod felt creeping over +him a drowsiness which he attempted in vain to fight off a little +longer. Dragging himself back in the shelter he wrapped himself in his +blanket, burrowed into the mass of balsam boughs, and passed quickly +into oblivion. His last intelligible vision was Mukoki piling logs upon +the fire, while the flames shot up a dozen feet into the air, illumining +to his drowsy eyes for an instant a wild chaos of rock, beyond which lay +the mysterious and impenetrable blackness of the wilderness.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</p> + +<p>MUKOKI DISTURBS THE ANCIENT SKELETONS</p> +<br> + +<p>Completely exhausted, every muscle in his aching body still seeming to +strain with exertion, the night was one of restless and uncomfortable +dreams for Roderick Drew. While Wabi and the old Indian, veterans in +wilderness hardship, slept in peace and tranquillity, the city boy found +himself in the most unusual and thrilling situations from which he would +extricate himself with a grunt or sharp cry, several times sitting bolt +upright in his bed of balsam until he realized where he was, and that +his adventures were only those of dreamland.</p> + +<p>From one of these dreams Rod had aroused himself into drowsy +wakefulness. He fancied that he had heard steps. For the tenth time he +raised himself upon an elbow, stretched, rubbed his eyes, glanced at the +dark, inanimate forms of his sleeping companions, and snuggled down into +his balsam boughs again. A few moments later he sat bolt upright. He +could have sworn that he heard real steps this time—a soft cautious +crunching in the snow very near his head. Breathlessly he listened. Not +a sound broke the silence except the snapping of a dying ember in the +fire. Another dream! Once more he settled back, drawing his blanket +closely about him. Then, for a full breath, the very beating of his +heart seemed to cease.</p> + +<p>What was that!</p> + +<p>He was awake now, wide awake, with every faculty in him striving to +arrange itself. He had heard—a step! Slowly, very cautiously this time, +he raised himself. There came distinctly to his ears a light crunching +in the snow. It seemed back of the shelter—then was moving away, then +stopped. The flickering light of the dying fire still played on the face +of the great rock. Suddenly, at the very end of that rock, something +moved.</p> + +<p>Some object was creeping cautiously upon the sleeping camp!</p> + +<p>For a moment his thrilling discovery froze the young hunter into +inaction. But in a moment the whole situation flashed upon him. The +Woongas had followed them! They were about to fall upon the helpless +camp! Unexpectedly one of his hands came in contact with the barrel of +Wabi's rifle. The touch of the cold steel aroused him. There was no time +to awaken his companions. Even as he drew the gun to him he saw the +object grow larger and larger at the end of the rock, until it stood +crouching, as if about to spring.</p> + +<p>One bated breath—a thunderous report—a snarling scream of pain, and +the camp was awake!</p> + +<p>"We're attacked!" cried Rod. "Quick—Wabi—Mukoki!"</p> + +<p>The white boy was on his knees now, the smoking rifle still leveled +toward the rocks. Out there, in the thick shadows beyond the fire, a +body was groveling and kicking in death agonies. In another instant the +gaunt form of the old warrior was beside Rod, his rifle at his shoulder, +and over their heads reached Wabigoon's arm, the barrel of his heavy +revolver glinting in the firelight.</p> + +<p>For a full minute they crouched there, breathless, waiting.</p> + +<p>"They've gone!" broke Wabi in a tense whisper.</p> + +<p>"I got one of them!" replied Rod, his voice trembling with excitement.</p> + +<p>Mukoki slipped back and burrowed a hole through the side of the shelter. +He could see nothing. Slowly he slipped out, his rifle ready. The others +could hear him as he went. Foot by foot the old warrior slunk along in +the deep gloom toward the end of the rock. Now he was almost there, +now—</p> + +<p>The young hunters saw him suddenly straighten. There came to them a low +chuckling grunt. He bent over, seized an object, and flung it in the +light of the fire.</p> + +<p>"Heap big Woonga! Kill nice fat lynx!"</p> + +<p>With a wail, half feigned, half real, Rod flung himself back upon the +balsam while Wabi set up a roar that made the night echo. Mukoki's face +was creased in a broad grin.</p> + +<p>"Heap big Woonga—heem!" he repeated, chuckling. "Nice fat lynx shot +well in face. No look like bad man Woonga to Mukoki!"</p> + +<p>When Rod finally emerged from his den to join the others his face was +flushed and wore what Wabi described as a "sheepish grin."</p> + +<p>"It's all right for you fellows to make fun of me," he declared. "But +what if they had been Woongas? By George, if we're ever attacked again I +won't do a thing. I'll let you fellows fight 'em off!"</p> + +<p>In spite of the general merriment at his expense, Rod was immensely +proud of his first lynx. It was an enormous creature of its kind, drawn +by hunger to the scraps of the camp-fire feast; and it was this animal, +as it cautiously inspected the camp, that the young hunter had heard +crunching in the snow. Wolf, whose instinct had told him what a mix-up +would mean, had slunk into his shelter without betraying his whereabouts +to this arch-enemy of his tribe.</p> + +<p>With the craft of his race, Mukoki was skinning the animal while it was +still warm.</p> + +<p>"You go back bed," he said to his companions. "I build big fire +again—then sleep."</p> + +<p>The excitement of his adventure at least freed Rod from the +unpleasantness of further dreams, and it was late the following morning +before he awoke again. He was astonished to find that a beautiful sun +was shining. Wabi and the old Indian were already outside preparing +breakfast, and the cheerful whistling of the former assured Rod that +there was now little to be feared from the Woongas. Without lingering to +take a beauty nap he joined them.</p> + +<p>Everywhere about them lay white winter. The rocks, the trees, and the +mountain behind them were covered with two feet of snow and upon it the +sun shone with dazzling brilliancy. But it was not until Rod looked into +the north that he saw the wilderness in all of its grandeur. The camp +had been made at the extreme point of the ridge, and stretching away +under his eyes, mile after mile, was the vast white desolation that +reached to Hudson Bay. In speechless wonder he gazed down upon the +unblazed forests, saw plains and hills unfold themselves as his vision +gained distance, followed a river until it was lost in the bewildering +picture, and let his eyes rest here and there upon the glistening, +snow-smothered bosoms of lakes, rimmed in by walls of black forest. This +was not the wilderness as he had expected it to be, nor as he had often +read of it in books. It was beautiful! It was magnificent! His heart +throbbed with pleasure as he gazed down on it, the blood rose to his +face in an excited flush, and he seemed hardly to breathe in his tense +interest.</p> + +<p>Mukoki had come up beside him softly, and spoke in his low guttural +voice.</p> + +<p>"Twent' t'ousand moose down there—twent' t'ousand caribou-oo! No +man—no house—more twent' t'ousand miles!"</p> + +<p>Roderick, even trembling in his new emotion, looked into the old +warrior's face. In Mukoki's eyes there was a curious, thrilling gleam. +He stared straight out into the unending distance as though his keen +vision would penetrate far beyond the last of that visible +desolation—on and on, even to the grim and uttermost fastnesses of +Hudson Bay. Wabi came up and placed his hand on Rod's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Muky was born off there," he said. "Away beyond where we can see. Those +were his hunting-grounds when a boy. See that mountain yonder? You might +take it for a cloud. It's thirty miles from here! And that lake down +there—you might think a rifle-shot would reach it—is five miles away! +If a moose or a caribou or a wolf should cross it how you could see +him."</p> + +<p>For a few moments longer the three stood silent, then Wabi and the old +Indian returned to the fire to finish the preparation of breakfast, +leaving Rod alone in his enchantment. What unsolved mysteries, what +unwritten tragedies, what romance, what treasure of gold that vast North +must hold! For a thousand, perhaps a million centuries, it had lain thus +undisturbed in the embrace of nature; few white men had broken its +solitudes, and the wild things still lived there as they had lived in +the winters of ages and ages ago.</p> + +<p>The call to breakfast came almost as an unpleasant interruption to Rod. +But it did not shock his appetite as it had his romantic fancies, and he +performed his part at the morning meal with considerable credit. Wabi +and Mukoki had already decided that they would not take up the trail +again that day but would remain in their present camp until the +following morning. There were several reasons for this delay.</p> + +<p>"We can't travel without snow-shoes now," explained Wabi to Rod, "and +we've got to take a day off to teach you how to use them. Then, all the +wild things are lying low. Moose, deer, caribou, and especially wolves +and fur animals, won't begin traveling much until this afternoon and +to-night, and if we took up the trail now we would have no way of +telling what kind of a game country we were in. And that is the +important thing just now. If we strike a first-rate game country during +the next couple days we'll stop and build our winter camp."</p> + +<p>"Then you believe we are far enough away from the Woongas?" asked Rod.</p> + +<p>Mukoki grunted.</p> + +<p>"No believe Woongas come over mountain. Heap good game country back +there. They stay."</p> + +<p>During the meal the white boy asked a hundred questions about the vast +wilderness which lay stretched out before them in a great panorama, and +in which they were soon to bury themselves, and every answer added to +his enthusiasm. Immediately after they had finished eating Rod expressed +a desire to begin his study in snow-shoeing, and for an hour after that +Wabi and Mukoki piloted him back and forth along the ridge, instructing +him in this and in that, applauding when he made an especially good dash +and enjoying themselves immensely when he took one of his frequent +tumbles into the snow. By noon Rod secretly believed that he was +becoming quite an adept.</p> + +<p>Although the day in camp was an exceedingly pleasant one for Rod, he +could not but observe that at times something seemed to be troubling +Wabi. Twice he discovered the Indian youth alone within the shelter +sitting in silent and morose dejection, and finally he insisted upon an +explanation.</p> + +<p>"I want you to tell me what the trouble is, Wabi," he demanded. "What +has gone wrong?"</p> + +<p>Wabi jumped to his feet with a little laugh.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever have a dream that bothered you, Rod?" he asked. "Well, I +had one last night, and since then—somehow—I can't keep from worrying +about the people back at the Post, and especially about Minnetaki. It's +all—what do you call it—bosh? Listen! Wasn't that Mukoki's whistle?"</p> + +<p>As he paused Mukoki came running around the end of the rock.</p> + +<p>"See fun!" he cried softly. "Quick—see heem quick!"</p> + +<p>He turned and darted toward the precipitous edge of the ridge, closely +followed by the two boys.</p> + +<p>"Cari-boo-oo!" he whispered excitedly as they came up beside him. +"Cari-boo-oo—making big play!"</p> + +<p>He pointed down into the snowy wilderness. Three-quarters of a mile +away, though to Rod apparently not more than a third of that distance +from where they stood, half a dozen animals were disporting themselves +in a singular fashion in a meadow-like opening between the mountain and +a range of forest. It was Rod's first real glimpse of that wonderful +animal of the North of which he had read so much, the caribou—commonly +known beyond the Sixtieth Degree as the reindeer; and at this moment +those below him were indulging in the queer play known in the Hudson Bay +regions as the "caribou dance."</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with them?" he asked, his voice quivering with +excitement. "What—"</p> + +<p>"Making big fun!" chuckled Mukoki, drawing the boy closer to the rock +that concealed them.</p> + +<p>Wabi had thrust a finger in his mouth and now held it above his head, +the Indian's truest guide for discovering the direction of the wind. The +lee side of his finger remained cold and damp, while that side upon +which the breeze fell was quickly dried.</p> + +<p>"The wind is toward us, Muky," he announced. "There's a fine chance for +a shot. You go! Rod and I will stay here and watch you."</p> + +<p>Roderick heard—knew that Mukoki was creeping back to the camp for his +rifle, but not for an instant did his spellbound eyes leave the +spectacle below him. Two other animals had joined those in the open. He +could see the sun glistening on their long antlers as they tossed their +heads in their amazing antics. Now three or four of them would dash away +with the speed of the wind, as though the deadliest of enemies were +close behind them. Two or three hundred yards away they would stop with +equal suddenness, whirl about in a circle, as though flight were +interrupted on all sides of them, then tear back with lightning speed to +rejoin the herd. In twos and threes and fours they performed these +evolutions again and again. But there was another antic that held Rod's +eyes, and if it had not been so new and wonderful to him he would have +laughed, as Wabi was doing—silently—behind him. From out of the herd +would suddenly dash one of the agile creatures, whirl about, jump and +kick, and finally bounce up and down on all four feet, as though +performing a comedy sketch in pantomime for the amusement of its +companions; and when this was done it would start out in another mad +flight, with others of the herd at its heels.</p> + +<p>"They are the funniest, swiftest, and shrewdest animals in the North," +said Wabi. "They can smell you over a mountain if the wind is right, and +hear you for half a mile. Look!"</p> + +<p>He pointed downward over Rod's shoulder. Mukoki had already reached the +base of the ridge and was stealing straight out in the direction of the +caribou. Rod gave a surprised gasp.</p> + +<p>"Great Scott! They'll see him, won't they?" he cried.</p> + +<p>"Not if Mukoki knows himself," smiled the Indian youth. "Remember that +we are looking down on things. Everything seems clear and open to us, +while in reality it's quite thick down there. I'll bet Muky can't see +one hundred yards ahead of him. He has got his bearings and will go as +straight as though he was on a blazed trail; but he won't see the +caribou until he conies to the edge of the open."</p> + +<p>Each minute now added to Rod's excitement. Each of those minutes brought +the old warrior nearer his game. Seldom, thought Rod, had such a scene +been unfolded to the eyes of a white boy. The complete picture—the +playful rompings of the dumb children of the wilderness; the stealthy +approach of the old Indian; every rock, every tree that was to play its +part—all were revealed to their eyes. Not a phase in this drama in wild +life escaped them. Five minutes, ten, fifteen passed. They could see +Mukoki as he stopped and lifted a hand to test the wind. Then he +crouched, advancing foot by foot, yard by yard, so slowly that he seemed +to be on his hands and knees.</p> + +<p>"He can hear them, but he can't see them!" breathed Wabigoon. "See! He +places his ear to the ground! Now he has got his bearings again—as +straight as a die! Good old Muky!"</p> + +<p>The old Indian crept on. In his excitement Rod clenched his hands and he +seemed to live without breathing. Would Mukoki never shoot? Would he +<i>never</i> shoot? He seemed now to be within a stone's throw of the herd.</p> + +<p>"How far, Wabi?"</p> + +<p>"Four hundred yards, perhaps five," replied the Indian. "It's a long +shot! He can't see them yet."</p> + +<p>Rod gripped his companion's arm.</p> + +<p>Mukoki had stopped. Down and down he slunk, until he became only a blot +in the snow.</p> + +<p>"Now!"</p> + +<p>There came a moment of startled silence. In the midst of their play the +animals in the open stood for a single instant paralyzed by a knowledge +of impending danger, and in that instant there came to the young hunters +the report of Mukoki's rifle.</p> + +<p>"No good!" cried Wabi.</p> + +<p>In his excitement he leaped to his feet. The caribou had turned and the +whole eight of them were racing across the open. Another shot, and +another—three in quick succession, and one of the fleeing animals fell, +scrambled to its knees—and plunged on again! A fifth shot—the last in +Mukoki's rifle! Again the wounded animal fell, struggled to its +knees—to its forefeet—and fell again.</p> + +<p>"Good work! Five hundred yards if it was a foot!" exclaimed Wabigoon +with a relieved laugh. "Fresh steak for supper, Rod!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki came out into the open, reloading his rifle. Quickly he moved +across the wilderness playground, now crimson with blood, unsheathed his +knife, and dropped upon his knees close to the throat of the slain +animal.</p> + +<p>"I'll go down and give him a little help, Rod," said Wabi. "Your legs +are pretty sore, and it's a hard climb down there; so if you will keep +up the fire, Mukoki and I will bring back the meat."</p> + +<p>During the next hour Rod busied himself with collecting firewood for the +night and in practising with his snow-shoes. He was astonished to find +how swiftly and easily he could travel in them, and was satisfied that +he could make twenty miles a day even as a tenderfoot.</p> + +<p>Left to his own thoughts he found his mind recurring once more to the +Woongas and Minnetaki. Why was Wabi worried? Inwardly he did not believe +that it was a dream alone that was troubling him. There was still some +cause for fear. Of that he was certain. And why would not the Woongas +penetrate beyond this mountain? He had asked himself this question a +score of times during the last twenty-four hours, in spite of the fact +that both Mukoki and Wabigoon were quite satisfied that they were well +out of the Woonga territory.</p> + +<p>It was growing dusk when Wabi and the old Indian returned with the meat +of the caribou. No time was lost in preparing supper, for the hunters +had decided that the next day's trail would begin with dawn and probably +end with darkness, which meant that they would require all the rest they +could get before then. They were all eager to begin the winter's hunt. +That day Mukoki's eyes had glistened at each fresh track he encountered. +Wabi and Rod were filled with enthusiasm. Even Wolf, now and then +stretching his gaunt self, would nose the air with eager suspicion, as +if longing for the excitement of the tragedies in which he was to play +such an important part.</p> + +<p>"If you can stand it," said Wabi, nodding at Rod over his caribou steak, +"we won't lose a minute from now on. Over that country we ought to make +twenty-five or thirty miles to-morrow. We may strike our hunting-ground +by noon, or it may take us two or three days; but in either event we +haven't any time to waste. Hurrah for the big camp, I say—and our fun +begins!"</p> + +<p>It seemed to Rod as though he had hardly fallen asleep that night when +somebody began tumbling him about in his bed of balsam. Opening his eyes +he beheld Wabi's laughing face, illuminated in the glow of a roaring +fire.</p> + +<p>"Time's up!" he called cheerily. "Hustle out, Rod. Breakfast is sizzling +hot, everything is packed, and here you are still dreaming of—what?"</p> + +<p>"Minnetaki!" shot back Rod with unblushing honesty.</p> + +<p>In another minute he was outside, straightening his disheveled garments +and smoothing his tousled hair. It was still very dark, but Rod assured +himself by his watch that it was nearly four o'clock. Mukoki had already +placed their breakfast on a flat rock beside the fire and, according to +Wabigoon's previous scheme, no time was lost in disposing of it.</p> + +<p>Dawn was just breaking when the little cavalcade of adventurers set out +from the camp. More keenly than ever Rod now felt the loss of his rifle. +They were about to enter upon a hunter's paradise—and he had no gun! +His disappointment was acute and he could not repress a confession of +his feelings to Wabi. The Indian youth at once suggested a happy remedy. +They would take turns in using his gun, Rod to have it one day and he +the next; and Wabi's heavy revolver would also change hands, so that the +one who did not possess the rifle would be armed with the smaller +weapon. This solution of the difficulty lifted a dampening burden from +Rod's heart, and when the little party began its descent into the +wilderness regions under the mountain the city lad carried the rifle, +for Wabi insisted that he have the first "turn."</p> + +<p>Once free of the rock-strewn ridge the two boys joined forces in pulling +the toboggan while Mukoki struck out a trail ahead of them. As it became +lighter Rod found his eyes glued with keen interest to Mukoki's +snow-shoes, and for the first time in his life he realized what it +really meant to "make a trail." The old Indian was the most famous +trailmaker as well as the keenest trailer of his tribe, and in the +comparatively open bottoms through which they were now traveling he was +in his element. His strides were enormous, and with each stride he threw +up showers of snow, leaving a broad level path behind him in which the +snow was packed by his own weight, so that when Wabi and Rod came to +follow him they were not impeded by sinking into a soft surface.</p> + +<p>Half a mile from the mountain Mukoki stopped and waited for the others +to come up to him.</p> + +<p>"Moose!" he called, pointing at a curious track in the snow.</p> + +<p>Rod leaned eagerly over the track.</p> + +<p>"The snow is still crumbling and falling where he stepped," said Wabi. +"Watch that little chunk, Rod. See—it's slipping—down—down—there! It +was an old bull—a big fellow—and he passed here less than an hour +ago."</p> + +<p>Signs of the night carnival of the wild things now became more and more +frequent as the hunters advanced. They crossed and recrossed the trail +of a fox; and farther on they discovered where this little pirate of +darkness had slaughtered a big white rabbit. The snow was covered with +blood and hair and part of the carcass remained uneaten. Again Wabi +forgot his determination to waste no time and paused to investigate.</p> + +<p>"Now, if we only knew what kind of a fox he was!" he exclaimed to Rod. +"But we don't. All we know is that he's a fox. And all fox tracks are +alike, no matter what kind of a fox makes them. If there was only some +difference our fortunes would be made!"</p> + +<p>"How?" asked Rod.</p> + +<p>Mukoki chuckled as if the mere thought of such a possibility filled him +with glee.</p> + +<p>"Well, that fellow may be an ordinary red fox," explained the Indian +youth. "If so, he is only worth from ten to twenty dollars; or he may be +a black fox, worth fifty or sixty; or what we call a 'cross'—a mixture +of silver and black—worth from seventy-five to a hundred. Or—"</p> + +<p>"Heap big silver!" interrupted Mukoki with another chuckle.</p> + +<p>"Yes, or a silver," finished Wabi. "A poor silver is worth two hundred +dollars, and a good one from five hundred to a thousand! Now do you see +why we would like to have a difference in the tracks? If that was a +silver, a black or a 'cross,' we'd follow him; but in all probability he +is red."</p> + +<p>Every hour added to Rod's knowledge of the wilderness and its people. +For the first time in his life he saw the big dog-like tracks made by +wolves, the dainty hoof-prints of the red deer and the spreading +imprints of a traveling lynx; he pictured the hugeness of the moose that +made a track as big as his head, discovered how to tell the difference +between the hoof-print of a small moose and a big caribou, and in almost +every mile learned something new.</p> + +<p>Half a dozen times during the morning the hunters stopped to rest. By +noon Wabi figured that they had traveled twenty miles, and, although +very tired, Rod declared that he was still "game for another ten." After +dinner the aspect of the country changed. The river which they had been +following became narrower and was so swift in places that it rushed +tumultuously between its frozen edges. Forest-clad hills, huge boulders +and masses of rock now began to mingle again with the bottoms, which in +this country are known as plains. Every mile added to the roughness and +picturesque grandeur of the country. A few miles to the east rose +another range of wild and rugged hills; small lakes became more and more +numerous, and everywhere the hunters crossed and recrossed frozen +creeks.</p> + +<p>And each step they took now added to the enthusiasm of Wabi and his +companions. Evidences of game and fur animals were plenty. A thousand +ideal locations for a winter camp were about them, and their progress +became slow and studied.</p> + +<p>A gently sloping hill of considerable height now lay in their path and +Mukoki led the ascent. At the top the three paused in joyful +astonishment. At their feet lay a "dip," or hollow, a dozen acres in +extent, and in the center of this dip was a tiny lake partly surrounded +by a mixed forest of cedar, balsam and birch that swept back over the +hill, and partly inclosed by a meadow-like opening. One might have +traveled through the country a thousand times without discovering this +bit of wilderness paradise hidden in a hilltop. Without speaking Mukoki +threw off his heavy pack. Wabi unbuckled his harness and relieved his +shoulders of their burden. Rod, following their example, dropped his +small pack beside that of the old Indian, and Wolf, straining at his +babeesh thong, gazed with eager eyes into the hollow as though he, too, +knew that it was to be their winter home.</p> + +<p>Wabi broke the silence.</p> + +<p>"How is that, Muky?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Mukoki chuckled with unbounded satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Ver' fine. No get bad wind—never see smoke—plenty wood—plenty +water."</p> + +<p>Relieved of their burdens, and leaving Wolf tied to the toboggan, the +hunters made their way down to the lake. Hardly had they reached its +edge when Wabi halted with a startled exclamation and pointed into the +forest on the opposite side.</p> + +<p>"Look at that!"</p> + +<p>A hundred yards away, almost concealed among the trees, was a cabin. +Even from where they stood they could see that it was deserted. Snow was +drifted high about it. No chimney surmounted its roof. Nowhere was there +a sign of life.</p> + +<p>Slowly the hunters approached. It was evident that the cabin was very +old. The logs of which it was built were beginning to decay. A mass of +saplings had taken root upon its roof, and everything about it gave +evidence that it had been erected many years before. The door, made of +split timber and opening toward the lake, was closed; the one window, +also opening upon the lake, was tightly barred with lengths of sapling.</p> + +<p>Mukoki tried the door, but it resisted his efforts. Evidently it was +strongly barred from within.</p> + +<p>Curiosity now gave place to astonishment.</p> + +<p>How could the door be locked within, and the window barred from within, +without there being somebody inside?</p> + +<p>For a few moments the three stood speechless, listening.</p> + +<p>"Looks queer, doesn't it?" spoke Wabi softly.</p> + +<p>Mukoki had dropped on his knees beside the door. He could hear no sound. +Then he kicked off his snow-shoes, gripped his belt-ax and stepped to +the window.</p> + +<p>A dozen blows and one of the bars fell. The old Indian sniffed +suspiciously, his ear close to the opening. Damp, stifling air greeted +his nostrils, but still there was no sound. One after another he knocked +off the remaining bars and thrust his head and shoulders inside. +Gradually his eyes became accustomed to the darkness and he pulled +himself in.</p> + +<p>Half-way—and he stopped.</p> + +<p>"Go on, Muky," urged Wabi, who was pressing close behind.</p> + +<p>There came no answer from the old Indian. For a full minute he remained +poised there, as motionless as a stone, as silent as death.</p> + +<p>Then, very slowly—inch by inch, as though afraid of awakening a +sleeping person, he lowered himself to the ground. When he turned toward +the young hunters it was with an expression that Rod had never seen upon +Mukoki's face before.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Mukoki?"</p> + +<p>The old Indian gasped, as if for fresh air.</p> + +<p>"Cabin—she filled with twent' t'ousand dead men!" he replied.</p> + +<center> +<a name="Illus_1"></a><img src="wh001.jpg" width="450" height="730" alt="" title="Knife—fight—heem killed!"> +</center> + +<br> + + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</p> + +<p>RODERICK DISCOVERS THE BUCKSKIN BAG</p> +<br> + +<p>For one long breath Rod and Wabi stared at their companion, only half +believing, yet startled by the strange look in the old warrior's face.</p> + +<p>"Twent' t'ousand dead men!" he repeated. As he raised his hand, partly +to give emphasis and partly to brush the cobwebs from his face, the boys +saw it trembling in a way that even Wabi had never witnessed before.</p> + +<p>"Ugh!"</p> + +<p>In another instant Wabi was at the window, head and shoulders in, as +Mukoki had been before him. After a little he pulled himself back and as +he glanced at Rod he laughed in an odd thrilling way, as though he had +been startled, but not so much so as Mukoki, who had prepared him for +the sight which had struck his own vision with the unexpectedness of a +shot in the back.</p> + +<p>"Take a look, Rod!"</p> + +<p>With his breath coming in little uneasy jerks Rod approached the black +aperture. A queer sensation seized upon him—a palpitation, not of fear, +but of something; a very unpleasant feeling that seemed to choke his +breath, and made him wish that he had not been asked to peer into that +mysterious darkness. Slowly he thrust his head through the hole. It was +as black as night inside. But gradually the darkness seemed to be +dispelled. He saw, in a little while, the opposite wall of the cabin. A +table outlined itself in deep shadows, and near the table there was a +pile of something that he could not name; and tumbled over that was a +chair, with an object that might have been an old rag half covering it.</p> + +<p>His eyes traveled nearer. Outside Wabi and Mukoki heard a startled, +partly suppressed cry. The boy's hands gripped the sides of the window. +Fascinated, he stared down upon an object almost within arm's reach of +him.</p> + +<p>There, leaning against the cabin wall, was what half a century or more +ago had been a living man! Now it was a mere skeleton, a grotesque, +terrible-looking object, its empty eye-sockets gleaming dully with the +light from the window, its grinning mouth, distorted into ghostly life +by the pallid mixture of light and gloom, turned full up at him!</p> + +<p>Rod fell back, trembling and white.</p> + +<p>"I only saw one," he gasped, remembering Mukoki's excited estimate.</p> + +<p>Wabi, who had regained his composure, laughed as he struck him two or +three playful blows on the back. Mukoki only grunted.</p> + +<p>"You didn't look long enough, Rod!" he cried banteringly. "He got on +your nerves too quick. I don't blame you, though. By George, I'll bet +the shivers went up Muky's back when he first saw 'em! I'm going in to +open the door."</p> + +<p>Without trepidation the young Indian crawled through the window. Rod, +whose nervousness was quickly dispelled, made haste to follow him, while +Mukoki again threw his weight against the door. A few blows of Wabi's +belt-ax and the door shot inward so suddenly that the old Indian went +sprawling after it upon all fours.</p> + +<p>A flood of light filled the interior of the cabin. Instinctively Rod's +eyes sought the skeleton against the wall. It was leaning as if, many +years before, a man had died there in a posture of sleep. Quite near +this ghastly tenant of the cabin, stretched at full length upon the log +floor, was a second skeleton, and near the overturned chair was a small +cluttered heap of bones which were evidently those of some animal. Rod +and Wabi drew nearer the skeleton against the wall and were bent upon +making a closer examination when an exclamation from Mukoki attracted +their attention to the old pathfinder. He was upon his knees beside the +second skeleton, and as the boys approached he lifted eyes to them that +were filled with unbounded amazement, at the same time pointing a long +forefinger to come object among the bones.</p> + +<p>"Knife—fight—heem killed!"</p> + +<p>Plunged to the hilt in what had once been the breast of a living being, +the boys saw a long, heavy-bladed knife, its handle rotting with age, +its edges eaten by rust—but still erect, held there by the murderous +road its owner had cleft for it through the flesh and bone of his +victim.</p> + +<p>Rod, who had fallen upon his knees, gazed up blankly; his jaw dropped, +and he asked the first question that popped into his head.</p> + +<p>"Who—did it?"</p> + +<p>Mukoki chuckled, almost gleefully, and nodded toward the gruesome thing +reclining against the wall.</p> + +<p>"Heem!"</p> + +<p>Moved by a common instinct the three drew near the other skeleton. One +of its long arms was resting across what had once been a pail, but +which, long since, had sunk into total collapse between its hoops. The +finger-bones of this arm were still tightly shut, clutching between them +a roll of something that looked like birch-bark. The remaining arm had +fallen close to the skeleton's side, and it was on this side that +Mukoki's critical eyes searched most carefully, his curiosity being +almost immediately satisfied by the discovery of a short, slant-wise cut +in one of the ribs.</p> + +<p>"This un die here!" he explained. "Git um stuck knife in ribs. Bad way +die! Much hurt—no die quick, sometime. Ver' bad way git stuck!"</p> + +<p>"Ugh!" shuddered Rod. "This cabin hasn't had any fresh air in it for a +century, I'll bet. Let's get out!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki, in passing, picked up a skull from the heap of bones near the +chair.</p> + +<p>"Dog!" he grunted. "Door lock'—window shut—men fight—both kill. Dog +starve!"</p> + +<p>As the three retraced their steps to the spot where Wolf was guarding +the toboggan, Rod's imaginative mind quickly painted a picture of the +terrible tragedy that had occurred long ago in the old cabin. To Mukoki +and Wabigoon the discovery of the skeletons was simply an incident in a +long life of wilderness adventure—something of passing interest, but of +small importance. To Rod it was the most tragic event that had ever come +into his city-bound existence, with the exception of the thrilling +conflict at Wabinosh House. He reconstructed that deadly hour in the +cabin; saw the men in fierce altercation, saw them struggling, and +almost heard the fatal blows as they were struck—the blows that slew +one with the suddenness of a lightning bolt and sent the other, +triumphant but dying, to breathe his last moments with his back propped +against the wall. And the dog! What part had he taken? And after +that—long days of maddening loneliness, days of starvation and of +thirst, until he, too, doubled himself up on the floor and died. It was +a terrible, a thrilling picture that burned in Roderick's brain. But why +had they quarreled? What cause had there been for that sanguinary night +duel? Instinctively Rod accepted it as having occurred at night, for the +door had been locked, the window barred. Just then he would have given a +good deal to have had the mystery solved.</p> + +<p>At the top of the hill Rod awoke to present realities. Wabi, who had +harnessed himself to the toboggan, was in high spirits.</p> + +<p>"That cabin is a dandy!" he exclaimed as Rod joined him. "It would have +taken us at least two weeks to build as good a one. Isn't it luck?"</p> + +<p>"We're going to live in it?" inquired his companion.</p> + +<p>"Live in it! I should say we were. It is three times as big as the shack +we had planned to build. I can't understand why two men like those +fellows should have put up such a large cabin. What do you think, +Mukoki?"</p> + +<p>Mukoki shook his head. Evidently the mystery of the whole thing, beyond +the fact that the tenants of the cabin had killed themselves in battle, +was beyond his comprehension.</p> + +<p>The winter outfit was soon in a heap beside the cabin door.</p> + +<p>"Now for cleaning up," announced Wabi cheerfully. "Muky, you lend me a +hand with the bones, will you? Rod can nose around and fetch out +anything he likes."</p> + +<p>This assignment just suited Rod's curiosity. He was now worked up to a +feverish pitch of expectancy. Might he not discover some clue that would +lead to a solution of the mystery?</p> + +<p>One question alone seemed to ring incessantly in his head. Why had they +fought? <i>Why had they fought?</i></p> + +<p>He even found himself repeating this under his breath as he began +rummaging about. He kicked over the old chair, which was made of +saplings nailed together, scrutinized a heap of rubbish that crumbled to +dust under his touch, and gave a little cry of exultation when he found +two guns leaning in a corner of the cabin. Their stocks were decaying; +their locks were encased with rust, their barrels, too, were thick with +the accumulated rust of years. Carefully, almost tenderly, he took one +of these relics of a past age in his hands. It was of ancient pattern, +almost as long as he was tall.</p> + +<p>"Hudson Bay gun—the kind they had before my father was born!" said +Wabi.</p> + +<p>With bated breath and eagerly beating heart Rod pursued his search. On +one of the walls he found the remains of what had once been +garments—part of a hat, that fell in a thousand pieces when he touched +it; the dust-rags of a coat and other things that he could not name. On +the table there were rusty pans, a tin pail, an iron kettle, and the +remains of old knives, forks and spoons. On one end of this table there +was an unusual-looking object, and he touched it. Unlike the other rags +it did not crumble, and when he lifted it he found that it was a small +bag, made of buckskin, tied at the end—and heavy! With trembling +fingers he tore away the rotted string and out upon the table there +rattled a handful of greenish-black, pebbly looking objects.</p> + +<p>Rod gave a sharp quick cry for the others.</p> + +<p>Wabi and Mukoki had just come through the door after bearing out one of +their gruesome loads, and the young Indian hurried to his side. He +weighed one of the pieces in the palm of his hand.</p> + +<p>"It's lead, or—"</p> + +<p>"Gold!" breathed Rod.</p> + +<p>He could hear his own heart thumping as Wabi jumped back to the light of +the door, his sheath-knife in his hand. For an instant the keen blade +sank into the age-discolored object, and before Rod could see into the +crease that it made Wabi's voice rose in an excited cry.</p> + +<p>"It's a gold nugget!"</p> + +<p>"And <i>that's</i> why they fought!" exclaimed Rod exultantly.</p> + +<p>He had hoped—and he had discovered the reason. For a few moments this +was of more importance to him than the fact that he had found gold. Wabi +and Mukoki were now in a panic of excitement. The buckskin bag was +turned inside out; the table was cleared of every other object; every +nook and cranny was searched with new enthusiasm. The searchers hardly +spoke. Each was intent upon finding—finding—finding. Thus does +gold—virgin gold—stir up the sparks of that latent, feverish fire +which is in every man's soul. Again Rod joined in the search. Every rag, +every pile of dust, every bit of unrecognizable debris was torn, sifted +and scattered. At the end of an hour the three paused, hopelessly +baffled, even keenly disappointed for the time.</p> + +<p>"I guess that's all there is," said Wabi.</p> + +<p>It was the longest sentence that he had spoken for half an hour.</p> + +<p>"There is only one thing to do, boys. We'll clean out everything there +is in the cabin, and to-morrow we'll tear up the floor. You can't tell +what there might be under it, and we've got to have a new floor anyway. +It is getting dusk, and if we have this place fit to sleep in to-night +we have got to hustle."</p> + +<p>No time was lost in getting the debris of the cabin outside, and by the +time darkness had fallen a mass of balsam boughs had been spread upon +the log floor just inside the door, blankets were out, packs and +supplies stowed away in one corner, and everything "comfortable and +shipshape," as Rod expressed it. A huge fire was built a few feet away +from the open door and the light and heat from this made the interior of +the cabin quite light and warm, and, with the assistance of a couple of +candles, more home-like than any camp they had slept in thus far. +Mukoki's supper was a veritable feast—broiled caribou, cold beans that +the old Indian had cooked at their last camp, meal cakes and hot coffee. +The three happy hunters ate of it as though they had not tasted food for +a week.</p> + +<p>The day, though a hard one, had been fraught with too much excitement +for them to retire to their blankets immediately after this meal, as +they had usually done in other camps. They realized, too, that they had +reached the end of their journey and that their hardest work was over. +There was no long jaunt ahead of them to-morrow. Their new life—the +happiest life in the world to them—had already begun. Their camp was +established, they were ready for their winter's sport, and from this +moment on they felt that their evenings were their own to do with as +they pleased.</p> + +<p>So for many hours that night Rod, Mukoki and Wabigoon sat up and talked +and kept the fire roaring before the door. Twenty times they went over +the tragedy of the old cabin; twenty times they weighed the half-pound +of precious little lumps in the palms of their hands, and bit by bit +they built up that life romance of the days of long ago, when all this +wilderness was still an unopened book to the white man. And that story +seemed very clear to them now. These men had been prospectors. They had +discovered gold. Afterward they had quarreled, probably over some +division of it—perhaps over the ownership of the very nuggets they had +found; and then, in the heat of their anger, had followed the knife +battle.</p> + +<p>But where had they discovered the gold? That was the question of supreme +interest to the hunters, and they debated it until midnight. There were +no mining tools in the camp; no pick, shovel or pan. Then it occurred to +them that the builders of the cabin had been hunters, had discovered +gold by accident and had collected that in the buckskin bag without the +use of a pan.</p> + +<p>There was little sleep in the camp that night, and with the first light +of day the three were at work again. Immediately after breakfast the +task of tearing up the old and decayed floor began. One by one the split +saplings were pried up and carried out for firewood, until the earth +floor lay bare. Every foot of it was now eagerly turned over with a +shovel which had been brought in the equipment; the base-logs were +undermined, and filled in again; the moss that had been packed in the +chinks between the cabin timbers was dug out, and by noon there was not +a square inch of the interior of the camp that had not been searched.</p> + +<p>There was no more gold.</p> + +<p>In a way this fact brought relief with it. Both Wabi and Rod gradually +recovered from their nervous excitement. The thought of gold gradually +faded from their minds; the joy and exhilaration of the "hunt life" +filled them more and more. Mukoki set to work cutting fresh cedars for +the floor; the two boys scoured every log with water from the lake and +afterward gathered several bushels of moss for refilling the chinks. +That evening supper was cooked on the sheet-iron "section stove" which +they had brought on the toboggan, and which was set up where the ancient +stove of flat stones had tumbled into ruin. By candle-light the work of +"rechinking" with moss progressed rapidly. Wabi was constantly bursting +into snatches of wild Indian song, Rod whistled until his throat was +sore and Mukoki chuckled and grunted and talked with constantly +increasing volubility. A score of times they congratulated one another +upon their good luck. Eight wolf-scalps, a fine lynx and nearly two +hundred dollars in gold—all within their first week! It was enough to +fill them with enthusiasm and they made little effort to repress their +joy.</p> + +<p>During this evening Mukoki boiled up a large pot of caribou fat and +bones, and when Rod asked what kind of soup he was making he responded +by picking up a handful of steel traps and dropping them into the +mixture.</p> + +<p>"Make traps smell good for fox—wolf—fisher, an' marten, too; heem +come—all come—like smell," he explained.</p> + +<p>"If you don't dip the traps," added Wabi, "nine fur animals out of ten, +and wolves most of all, will fight shy of the bait. They can smell the +human odor you leave on the steel when you handle it. But the grease +'draws' them."</p> + +<p>When the hunters wrapped themselves in their blankets that night their +wilderness home was complete. All that remained to be done was the +building of three bunks against the ends of the cabin, and this work it +was agreed could be accomplished at odd hours by any one who happened to +be in camp. In the morning, laden with traps, they would strike out +their first hunting-trails, keeping their eyes especially open for signs +of wolves; for Mukoki was the greatest wolf hunter in all the Hudson Bay +region.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</p> + +<p>HOW WOLF BECAME THE COMPANION OF MEN</p> +<br> + +<p>Twice that night Rod was awakened by Mukoki opening the cabin door. The +second time he raised himself upon his elbows and quietly watched the +old warrior. It was a brilliantly clear night and a flood of moonlight +was pouring into the camp. He could hear Mukoki chuckling and grunting, +as though communicating with himself, and at last, his curiosity getting +the better of him, he wrapped his blanket about him and joined the +Indian at the door.</p> + +<p>Mukoki was peering up into space. Rod followed his gaze. The moon was +directly above the cabin. The sky was clear of clouds and so bright was +the light that objects on the farther side of the lake were plainly +visible.</p> + +<p>Besides, it was bitter cold—so cold that his face began to tingle as he +stood there. These things he noticed, but he could see nothing to hold +Mukoki's vision in the sky above unless it was the glorious beauty of +the night.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Mukoki?" he asked.</p> + +<p>The old Indian looked silently at him for a moment, some mysterious, +all-absorbing joy revealed in every lineament of his face.</p> + +<p>"Wolf night!" he whispered.</p> + +<p>He looked back to where Wabi was sleeping.</p> + +<p>"Wolf night!" he repeated, and slipped like a shadow to the side of the +unconscious young hunter. Rod regarded his actions with growing wonder. +He saw him bend over Wabi, shake him by the shoulders, and heard him +repeat again, "Wolf night! Wolf night!"</p> + +<p>Wabi awoke and sat up in his blankets, and Mukoki came back to the door. +He had dressed himself before this, and now, with his rifle, slipped out +into the night. The young Indian had joined Rod at the open door and +together they watched Mukoki's gaunt figure as it sped swiftly across +the lake, up the hill and over into the wilderness desolation beyond.</p> + +<p>When Rod looked at Wabi he saw that the Indian boy's eyes were wide and +staring, with an expression in them that was something between fright +and horror. Without speaking he went to the table and lighted the +candles and then dressed. When he was done his face still bore traces of +suppressed excitement.</p> + +<p>He ran back to the door and whistled loudly. From his shelter beside the +cabin the captive wolf responded with a snarling whine. Again he +whistled, a dozen times, twenty, but there came no reply. More swiftly +than Mukoki the Indian youth sped across the lake and to the summit of +the hill. Mukoki had completely disappeared in the white, brilliant +vastness of the wilderness that stretched away at his feet.</p> + +<p>When Wabi returned to the cabin Rod had a fire roaring in the stove. He +seated himself beside it, holding out a pair of hands blue with cold.</p> + +<p>"Ugh! It's an awful night!" he shivered.</p> + +<p>He laughed across at Rod, a little uneasily, but with the old light back +in his eyes. Suddenly he asked:</p> + +<p>"Did Minnetaki ever tell you—anything—queer—about Mukoki, Rod?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing more than you have told me yourself."</p> + +<p>"Well, once in a great while Mukoki has—not exactly a fit, but a little +mad spell! I have never determined to my own satisfaction whether he is +really out of his head or not. Sometimes I think he is and sometimes I +think he is not. But the Indians at the Post believe that at certain +times he goes crazy over wolves."</p> + +<p>"Wolves!" exclaimed Rod.</p> + +<p>"Yes, wolves. And he has good reason. A good many years ago, just about +when you and I were born, Mukoki had a wife and child. My mother and +others at the Post say that he was especially gone over the kid. He +wouldn't hunt like other Indians, but would spend whole days at his +shack playing with it and teaching it to do things; and when he did go +hunting he would often tote it on his back, even when it wasn't much +more than a squalling papoose. He was the happiest Indian at the Post, +and one of the poorest. One day Mukoki came to the Post with a little +bundle of fur, and most of the things he got in exchange for it, mother +says, were for the kid. He reached the store at night and expected to +leave for home the next noon, which would bring him to his camp before +dark. But something delayed him and he didn't get started until the +morning after. Meanwhile, late in the afternoon of the day when he was +to have been home, his wife bundled up the kid and they set out to meet +him. Well—"</p> + +<p>A weird howl from the captive wolf interrupted Wabi for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Well, they went on and on, and of course did not meet him. And then, +the people at the Post say, the mother must have slipped and hurt +herself. Anyway, when Mukoki came over the trail the next day he found +them half eaten by wolves. From that day on Mukoki was a different +Indian. He became the greatest wolf hunter in all these regions. Soon +after the tragedy he came to the Post to live and since then he has not +left Minnetaki and me. Once in a great while when the night is just +right, when the moon is shining and it is bitter cold, Mukoki seems to +go a little mad. He calls this a 'wolf night.' No one can stop him from +going out; no one can get him to talk; he will allow no one to accompany +him when in such a mood. He will walk miles and miles to-night. But he +will come back. And when he returns he will be as sane as you and I, and +if you ask him where he has been he will say that he went out to see if +he could get a shot at something."</p> + +<p>Rod had listened in rapt attention. To him, as Wabi proceeded with his +story of the tragedy in Mukoki's life, the old Indian was transformed +into another being. No longer was he a mere savage reclaimed a little +from the wilderness. There had sprung up in Rod's breast a great, human, +throbbing sympathy for him, and in the dim candle-glow his eyes +glistened with a dampness which he made no attempt to conceal.</p> + +<p>"What does Mukoki mean by 'wolf night'?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Muky is a wizard when it comes to hunting wolves," Wabi went on. "He +has studied them and thought of them every day of his life for nearly +twenty years. He knows more about wolves than all the rest of the +hunters in this country together. He can catch them in every trap he +sets, which no other trapper in the world can do; he can tell you a +hundred different things about a certain wolf simply by its track, and +because of his wonderful knowledge he can tell, by some instinct that is +almost supernatural, when a 'wolf night' comes. Something in the air +to-night, something in the sky—in the moon—in the very way the +wilderness looks, tells him that stray wolves in the plains and hills +are 'packing' or banding together to-night, and that in the morning the +sun will be shining, and they will be on the sunny sides of the +mountains. See if I am not right. To-morrow night, if Mukoki comes back +by then, we shall have some exciting sport with the wolves, and then you +will see how Wolf out there does his work!"</p> + +<p>There followed several minutes of silence. The fire roared up the +chimney, the stove glowed red hot and the boys sat and looked and +listened. Rod took out his watch. It lacked only ten minutes of +midnight. Yet neither seemed possessed with a desire to return to their +interrupted sleep.</p> + +<p>"Wolf is a curious beast," mused Wabi softly. "You might think he was a +sneaking, traitorous cur of a wolf to turn against his own breed and +lure them to death. But he isn't. Wolf, as well as Mukoki, has good +cause for what he does. You might call it animal vengeance. Did you ever +notice that a half of one of his ears is gone? And if you thrust back +his head you will find a terrible sear in his throat, and from his left +side just back of the fore leg a chunk of flesh half as big as my hand +has been torn away. We caught Wolf in a lynx trap, Mukoki and I. He +wasn't much more than a whelp then—about six months old, Mukoki said. +And while he was in the trap, helpless and unable to defend himself, +three or four of his lovely tribe jumped upon him and tried to kill him +for breakfast. We hove in sight just in time to drive the cannibals off. +We kept Wolf, sewed up his side and throat, tamed him—and to-morrow +night you will see how Mukoki has taught him to get even with his +people."</p> + +<p>It was two hours later when Rod and Wabigoon extinguished the candles +and returned to their blankets. And for another hour after that the +former found it impossible to sleep. He wondered where Mukoki +was—wondered what he was doing, and how in his strange madness he found +his way in the trackless wilderness.</p> + +<p>When he finally fell asleep it was to dream of the Indian mother and her +child; only after a little there was no child, and the woman changed +into Minnetaki, and the ravenous wolves into men. From this unpleasant +picture he was aroused by a series of prods in his side, and opening his +eyes he beheld Wabi in his blankets a yard away, pointing over and +beyond him and nodding his head. Rod looked, and caught his breath.</p> + +<p>There was Mukoki—peeling potatoes!</p> + +<p>"Hello, Muky!" he shouted.</p> + +<p>The old Indian looked up with a grin. His face bore no signs of his mad +night on the trail. He nodded cheerfully and proceeded with the +preparation of breakfast as though he had just risen from his blankets +after a long night's rest.</p> + +<p>"Better get up," he advised. "Big day's hunt. Much fine sunshine to-day. +Find wolves on mountain—plenty wolves!"</p> + +<p>The boys tumbled from their blankets and began dressing.</p> + +<p>"What time did you get in?" asked Wabi.</p> + +<p>"Now," replied Mukoki, pointing to the hot stove and the peeled +potatoes. "Just make fire good."</p> + +<p>Wabi gave Rod a suggestive look as the old Indian bent over the stove.</p> + +<p>"What were you doing last night?" he questioned.</p> + +<p>"Big moon—might get shot," grunted Mukoki. "See lynx on hill. See +wolf-tracks on red deer trail. No shot."</p> + +<p>This was as much of the history of Mukoki's night on the trail as the +boys could secure, but during their breakfast Wabi shot another glance +at Rod, and as Mukoki left the table for a moment to close the damper in +the stove he found an opportunity to whisper:</p> + +<p>"See if I'm not right. He will choose the mountain trail." When their +companion returned, he said: "We had better split up this morning, +hadn't we, Muky? It looks to me as though there are two mighty good +lines for traps—one over the hill, where that creek leads off through +the range of ridges to the east, and the other along the creek which +runs through the hilly plains to the north. What do you think of it?"</p> + +<p>"Good" agreed the old hunter. "You two go north—I take ridges."</p> + +<p>"No, you and I will take the ridges and Wabi will go north alone," +amended Rod quickly. "I'm going with you, Mukoki!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki, who was somewhat flattered by this preference of the white +youth, grinned and chuckled and began to talk more volubly about the +plans which were in his head. It was agreed that they all would return +to the cabin at an early hour in the afternoon, for the old Indian +seemed positive that they would have their first wolf hunt that night.</p> + +<p>Rod noticed that the captive wolf received no breakfast that morning, +and he easily guessed the reason.</p> + +<p>The traps were now divided. Three different sizes had been brought from +the Post—fifty small ones for mink, marten and other small fur animals; +fifteen fox traps, and as many larger ones for lynx and wolves. Wabi +equipped himself with twenty of the small traps and four each of fox and +lynx traps, while Rod and Mukoki took about forty in all. The remainder +of the caribou meat was then cut into chunks and divided equally among +them for bait.</p> + +<p>The sun was just beginning to show itself above the wilderness when the +hunters left camp. As Mukoki had predicted, it was a glorious day, one +of those bitterly cold, cloudless days when, as the Indians believe, the +great Creator robs the rest of the world of the sun that it may shine in +all its glory upon their own savage land. From the top of the hill that +sheltered their home Rod looked out over the glistening forests and +lakes in rapt and speechless admiration; but only for a few moments did +the three pause, then took up their different trails.</p> + +<p>At the foot of this hill Mukoki and his companion struck the creek. They +had not progressed more than fifty rods when the old Indian stopped and +pointed at a fallen log which spanned the stream. The snow on this log +was beaten by tiny footprints. Mukoki gazed a moment, cast an observant +eye along the trail, and at once threw off his pack.</p> + +<p>"Mink!" he explained. He crossed the frozen creek, taking care not to +touch the log. On the opposite side the tracks spread out over a +windfall of trees. "Whole family mink live here," continued Mukoki. +"T'ree—mebby four—mebby five. Build trap-house right here!"</p> + +<p>Never before had Rod seen a trap set as the old Indian now set his. Very +near the end of the log over which the mink made their trail he quickly +built a shelter of sticks which when completed was in the form of a tiny +wigwam. At the back of this was placed a chunk of the caribou meat, and +in front of this bait, so that an animal would have to spring it in +passing, was set a trap, carefully covered with snow and a few leaves. +Within twenty minutes Mukoki had built two of these shelters and had set +two traps.</p> + +<p>"Why do you build those little houses?" asked Rod, as they again took up +their trail.</p> + +<p>"Much snow come in winter," elucidated the Indian. "Build house to keep +snow off traps. No do that, be digging out traps all winter. When +mink—heem smell meat—go in house he got to go over trap. Make house +for all small animal like heem. No good for lynx. He see house—walk +roun' 'n' roun' 'n' roun'—and then go 'way. Smart fellow—lynx. Wolf +and fox, too."</p> + +<p>"Is a mink worth much?"</p> + +<p>"Fi' dollar—no less that. Seven—eight dollar for good one."</p> + +<p>During the next mile six other mink traps were set. The creek now ran +along the edge of a high rocky ridge and Mukoki's eyes began to shine +with a new interest. No longer did he seem entirely absorbed in the +discovery of signs of fur animals. His eyes were constantly scanning the +sun-bathed side of the ridge ahead and his progress was slow and +cautious. He spoke in whispers, and Rod followed his example. Frequently +the two would stop and scan the openings for signs of life. Twice they +set fox traps where there were evident signs of runways; in a wild +ravine, strewn with tumbled trees and masses of rock, they struck a lynx +track and set a trap for him at each end of the ravine; but even during +these operations Mukoki's interest was divided. The hunters now walked +abreast, about fifty yards apart, Rod never forging a foot ahead of the +cautious Mukoki. Suddenly the youth heard a low call and he saw his +companion beckoning to him with frantic enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"Wolf!" whispered Mukoki as Rod joined him.</p> + +<p>In the snow were a number of tracks that reminded Rod of those made by a +dog.</p> + +<p>"T'ree wolf!" continued the Indian jubilantly. "Travel early this +morning. Somewhere in warm sun on mountain!"</p> + +<p>They followed now in the wolf trail. A little way on Rod found part of +the carcass of a rabbit with fox tracks about it. Here Mukoki set +another trap. A little farther still they came across a fisher trail and +another trap was laid. Caribou and deer tracks crossed and recrossed the +creek, but the Indian paid little attention to them. A fourth wolf +joined the pack, and a fifth, and half an hour later the trail of three +other wolves cut at right angles across the one they were following and +disappeared in the direction of the thickly timbered plains. Mukoki's +face was crinkled with joy.</p> + +<p>"Many wolf near," he exclaimed. "Many wolf off there 'n' off there 'n' +off there. Good place for night hunt."</p> + +<p>Soon the creek swung out from the ridge and cut a circuitous channel +through a small swamp. Here there were signs of wild life which set +Rod's heart thumping and his blood tingling with excitement. In places +the snow was literally packed with deer tracks. Trails ran in every +direction, the bark had been rubbed from scores of saplings, and every +step gave fresh evidence of the near presence of game. The stealth with +which Mukoki now advanced was almost painful. Every twig was pressed +behind him noiselessly, and once when Rod struck his snow-shoe against +the butt of a small tree the old Indian held up his hands in mock +horror. Ten minutes, fifteen—twenty of them passed in this cautious, +breathless trailing of the swamp.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Mukoki stopped, and a hand was held out behind him warningly. +He turned his face back, and Rod knew that he saw game. Inch by inch he +crouched upon his snow-shoes, and beckoned for Rod to approach, slowly, +quietly. When the boy had come near enough he passed back his rifle, and +his lips formed the almost noiseless word, "Shoot!"</p> + +<p>Tremblingly Rod seized the gun and looked into the swamp ahead, Mukoki +doubling down in front of him. What he saw sent him for a moment into +the first nervous tremor of buck fever. Not more than a hundred yards +away stood a magnificent buck browsing the tips of a clump of hazel, and +just beyond him were two does. With a powerful effort Rod steadied +himself. The buck was standing broadside, his head and neck stretched +up, offering a beautiful shot at the vital spot behind his fore leg. At +this the young hunter aimed and fired. With one spasmodic bound the +animal dropped dead.</p> + +<p>Hardly had Rod seen the effect of his shot before Mukoki was traveling +swiftly toward the fallen game, unstrapping his pack as he ran. By the +time the youth reached his quarry the old Indian had produced a large +whisky flask holding about a quart. Without explanation he now proceeded +to thrust his knife into the quivering animal's throat and fill this +flask with blood. When he had finished his task he held it up with an +air of unbounded satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Blood for wolf. Heem like blood. Smell um—come make big shoot +to-night. No blood, no bait—no wolf shoot!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki no longer maintained his usual quiet, and it was evident to Rod +that the Indian considered his mission for that day practically +accomplished. After taking the heart, liver and one of the hind quarters +of the buck Mukoki drew a long rope of babeesh from his pack, tied one +end of it around the animal's neck, flung the other end over a near +limb, and with his companion's assistance hoisted the carcass until it +was clear of the ground.</p> + +<p>"If somethin' happen we no come back to-night heem safe from wolf," he +explained.</p> + +<p>The two now continued through the swamp. At its farther edge the ground +rose gently from the creek toward the hills, and this sloping plain was +covered with huge boulders and a thin growth of large spruce and birch. +Just beyond the creek was a gigantic rock which immediately caught +Mukoki's attention. All sides except one were too precipitous for +ascent, and even this one could not be climbed without the assistance of +a sapling or two. They could see, however, that the top of the, rock was +flat, and Mukoki called attention to this fact with an exultant chuckle.</p> + +<p>"Fine place for wolf hunt!" he exclaimed. "Many wolf off there in swamp +an' in hill. We call heem here. Shoot from there!" He pointed to a clump +of spruce a dozen rods away.</p> + +<p>By Rod's watch it was now nearly noon and the two sat down to eat the +sandwiches they had brought with them. Only a few minutes were lost in +taking up the home trail. Beyond the swamp Mukoki cut at right angles to +their trap-line until he had ascended to the top of the ridge that had +been on their right and which would take them very near their camp. From +this ridge Rod could look about him upon a wild and rugged scene. On one +side it sloped down to the plains, but on the other it fell in almost +sheer walls, forming at its base five hundred feet below a narrow and +gloomy chasm, through which a small stream found its way. Several times +Mukoki stopped and leaned perilously close to the dizzy edge of the +mountain, peering down with critical eyes, and once when he pulled +himself back cautiously by means of a small sapling he explained his +interest by saying:</p> + +<p>"Plenty bear there in spring!"</p> + +<p>But Rod was not thinking of bears. Once more his head was filled with +the thought of gold. Perhaps that very chasm held the priceless secret +that had died with its owners half a century ago. The dark and gloomy +silence that hung between those two walls of rock, the death-like +desolation, the stealthy windings of the creek—everything in that dim +and mysterious world between the two mountains, unshattered by sound and +impenetrable to the winter sun, seemed in his mind to link itself with +the tragedy of long ago.</p> + +<p>Did that chasm hold the secret of the dead men?</p> + +<p>Again and again Rod found himself asking this question as he followed +Mukoki, and the oftener he asked it the nearer he seemed to an answer, +until at last, with a curious, thrilling certainty that set his blood +tingling he caught Mukoki by the arm and pointing back, said:</p> + +<p>"Mukoki—the gold was found between those mountains!"</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</p> + +<p>WOLF TAKES VENGEANCE UPON HIS PEOPLE</p> +<br> + +<p>From that hour was born in Roderick Drew's breast a strange, +imperishable desire. Willingly at this moment would he have given up the +winter trapping to have pursued that golden <i>ignis fatuus</i> of all +ages—the lure of gold. To him the story of the old cabin, the skeletons +and the treasure of the buckskin bag was complete. Those skeletons had +once been men. They had found a mine—a place where they had picked up +nuggets with their fingers. And that treasure ground was somewhere near. +No longer was he puzzled by the fact that they had discovered no more +gold in the old log cabin. In a flash he had solved that mystery. The +men had just begun to gather their treasure when they had fought. What +was more logical than that? One day, two, three—and they had quarreled +over division, over rights. That was the time when they were most likely +to quarrel. Perhaps one had discovered the gold and had therefore +claimed a larger share. Anyway, the contents of the buckskin bag +represented but a few days' labor. Rod was sure of that.</p> + +<p>Mukoki had grinned and shrugged his shoulders with an air of stupendous +doubt when Rod had told him that the gold lay between the mountains, so +now the youth kept his thoughts to himself. It was a silent trail home. +Rod's mind was too active in its new channel, and he was too deeply +absorbed in impressing upon his memory certain landmarks which they +passed to ask questions; and Mukoki, with the natural taciturnity of his +race, seldom found occasion to break into conversation unless spoken to +first. Although his eyes were constantly on the alert, Rod could see no +way in which a descent could be made into the chasm from the ridge they +were on. This was a little disappointing, for he had made up his mind to +explore the gloomy, sunless gulch at his first opportunity. He had no +doubt that Wabi would join in the adventure. Or he might take his own +time, and explore it alone. He was reasonably sure that from somewhere +on the opposite ridge a descent could be made into it.</p> + +<p>Wabi was in camp when they arrived. He had set eighteen traps and had +shot two spruce partridges. The birds were already cleaned for their +early supper, and a thick slice of venison steak was added to the menu. +During the preparation of the meal Rod described their discovery of the +chasm and revealed some of his thoughts concerning it, but Wabi betrayed +only passing flashes of interest. At times he seemed strangely +preoccupied and would stand in an idle, contemplative mood, his hands +buried deep in his pockets, while Rod or Mukoki proceeded with the +little duties about the table or the stove. Finally, after arousing +himself from one of these momentary spells, he pulled a brass shell from +his pocket and held it out to the old Indian.</p> + +<p>"See here," he said. "I don't want to stir up any false fears, or +anything of that sort—but I found that on the trail to-day!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki clutched at the shell as though it had been another newly found +nugget of gold. The shell was empty. The lettering on the rim was still +very distinct. He read ".35 Rem."</p> + +<p>"Why, that's—"</p> + +<p>"A shell from Rod's gun!"</p> + +<p>For a few moments Rod and Mukoki stared at the young Indian in blank +amazement.</p> + +<p>"It's a .35 caliber Remington," continued Wabi, "and it's an auto-loading +shell. There are only three guns like that in this country. I've got +one, Mukoki has another—and you lost the third in your fight with the +Woongas!"</p> + +<p>The venison had begun to burn, and Mukoki quickly transferred it to the +table. Without a word the three sat down to their meal.</p> + +<p>"That means the Woongas are on our trail," declared Rod presently.</p> + +<p>"That is what I have been trying to reason out all the afternoon," +replied Wabi. "It certainly is proof that they are, or have been quite +recently, on this side of the mountain. But I don't believe they know we +are here. The trail I struck was about five miles from camp. It was at +least two days old. Three Indians on snow-shoes were traveling north. I +followed back on their trail and found after a time that the Indians had +come from the north, which leads me to believe that they were simply on +a hunting expedition, cut a circle southward, and then returned to their +camp. I don't believe they will come farther south. But we must keep our +eyes open."</p> + +<p>Wabi's description of the manner in which the strange trail turned gave +great satisfaction to Mukoki, who nodded affirmatively when the young +hunter expressed it as his belief that the Woongas would not come so far +as their camp. But the discovery of their presence chilled the buoyant +spirits of the hunters. There was, however, a new spice of adventure +lurking in this possible peril that was not altogether displeasing, and +by the time the meal was at an end something like a plan of campaign had +been formed. The hunters would not wait to be attacked and then act in +self-defense, possibly at a disadvantage. They would be constantly on +the lookout for the Woongas, and if a fresh trail or a camp was found +they would begin the man-hunt themselves.</p> + +<p>The sun was just beginning to sink behind the distant hills in the +southwest when the hunters again left camp. Wolf had received nothing to +eat since the previous night, and with increasing hunger the fiery +impatience lurking in his eyes and the restlessness of his movements +became more noticeable. Mukoki called attention to these symptoms with a +gloating satisfaction.</p> + +<p>The gloom of early evening was enveloping the wilderness by the time the +three wolf hunters reached the swamp in which Rod had slain the buck. +While he carried the guns and packs, Mukoki and Wabigoon dragged the +buck between them to the huge flat-top rock. Now for the first time the +city youth began to understand the old pathfinder's scheme. Several +saplings were cut, and by means of a long rope of babeesh the deer was +dragged up the side of the rock until it rested securely upon the flat +space. From the dead buck's neck the babeesh rope was now stretched +across the intervening space between the rock and the clump of cedars in +which the hunters were to conceal themselves. In two of these cedars, at +a distance of a dozen feet from the ground, were quickly made three +platforms of saplings, upon which the ambushed watchers could +comfortably seat themselves. By the time complete darkness had fallen +the "trap" was finished, with the exception of a detail which Rod +followed with great interest.</p> + +<p>From inside his clothes, where it had been kept warm by his body, Mukoki +produced the flask of blood. A third of this blood he scattered upon the +face of the rock and upon the snow at its base. The remainder he +distributed, drop by drop, in trails running toward the swamp and +plains.</p> + +<p>There still remained three hours before the moon would be up, and the +hunters now joined Wolf, who had been fastened half-way up the ridge. In +the shelter of a big rock a small fire was built, and during their long +wait the hunters passed the time away by broiling and eating chunks of +venison and in going over again the events of the day.</p> + +<p>It was nine o'clock before the moon rose above the edge of the +wilderness. This great orb of the Northern night seemed to hold a +never-ending fascination for Rod. It crept above the forests, a glowing, +throbbing ball of red, quivering and palpitating in an effulgence that +neither cloud nor mist dimmed in this desolation beyond the sphere of +man; and as it rose, almost with visible movement to the eyes, the blood +in it faded, until at last it seemed a great blaze of soft light between +silver and gold. It was then that the whole world was lighted up under +it. It was then that Mukoki, speaking softly, beckoned the others to +follow him, and with Wolf at his side went down the ridge.</p> + +<p>Making a circuit around the back of the rock, Mukoki paused near a small +sapling twenty yards from the dead buck and secured Wolf by his babeesh +thong. Hardly had he done so when the animal began to exhibit signs of +excitement. He trotted about nervously, sniffing the air, gathering the +wind from every direction, and his jaws dropped with a snarling whine. +Then he struck one of the clots of blood in the snow.</p> + +<p>"Come," whispered Wabi, pulling at Rod's sleeve, "come—quietly."</p> + +<p>They slipped back among the shadows of the spruce and watched Wolf in +unbroken silence. The animal now stood rigidly over the blood clot. His +head was level with his quivering back, his ears half aslant, his +nostrils pointing to a strange thrilling scent that came to him from +somewhere out there in the moonlight. Once more the instinct of his +breed was flooding the soul of the captive wolf. There was the odor of +blood in his widening nostrils. It was not the blood of the camp, of the +slaughtered game dragged in by human hands before his eyes. It was the +blood of the chase!</p> + +<p>A flashing memory of his captors turned the animal's head for an instant +in backward inspection. They were gone. He could neither hear nor see +them. He sniffed the sign of human presence, but that sign was always +with him, and was not disturbing. The blood held him—and the strange +scent, the game scent—that was coming to him more clearly every +instant.</p> + +<p>He crunched about cautiously in the snow. He found other spots of blood, +and to the watchers there came a low long whine that seemed about to end +in the wolf song. The blood trails were leading him away toward the game +scent, and he tugged viciously at the babeesh that held him captive, +gnawing at it vainly, like an angry dog, forgetting what experience had +taught him many times before. Each moment added to his excitement He ran +about the sapling, gulped mouthfuls of the bloody snow, and each time he +paused for a moment with his open dripping jaws held toward the dead +buck on the rock. The game was very near. Brute sense told him that. Oh, +the longing that was in him, the twitching, quivering longing to +kill—kill—kill!</p> + +<p>He made another effort, tore up the snow in his frantic endeavors to +free himself, to break loose, to follow in the wild glad cry of freed +savagery in the calling of his people. He failed again, panting, whining +in piteous helplessness.</p> + +<p>Then he settled upon his haunches at the end of his babeesh thong.</p> + +<p>For a moment his head turned to the moonlit sky, his long nose poised at +right angles to the bristling hollows between his shoulders.</p> + +<p>There came then a low, whining wail, like the beginning of the +"death-song" of a husky dog—a wail that grew in length and in strength +and in volume until it rose weirdly among the mountains and swept far +out over the plains—the hunt call of the wolf on the trail, which calls +to him the famished, gray-gaunt outlaws of the wilderness, as the +bugler's notes call his fellows on the field of battle.</p> + +<p>Three times that blood-thrilling cry went up from the captive wolf's +throat, and before those cries had died away the three hunters were +perched upon their platforms among the spruce.</p> + +<p>There followed now the ominous, waiting silence of an awakened +wilderness. Rod could hear his heart throbbing within him. He forgot the +intense cold. His nerves tingled. He looked out over the endless plains, +white and mysteriously beautiful as they lay bathed in the glow of the +moon. And Wabi knew more than he what was happening. All over that wild +desolation the call of the wolf had carried its meaning. Down there, +where a lake lay silent in its winter sleep, a doe started in trembling +and fear; beyond the mountain a huge bull moose lifted his antlered head +with battle-glaring eyes; half a mile away a fox paused for an instant +in its sleuth-like stalking of a rabbit; and here and there in that +world of wild things the gaunt hungry people of Wolf's blood stopped in +their trails and turned their heads toward the signal that was coming in +wailing echoes to their ears.</p> + +<p>And then the silence was broken. From afar—it might have been a mile +away—there came an answering cry; and at that cry the wolf at the end +of his babeesh thong settled upon his haunches again and sent back the +call that comes only when there is blood upon the trail or when near the +killing time.</p> + +<p>There was not the rustle of a bough, not a word spoken, by the silent +watchers in the spruce. Mukoki had slipped back and half lay across his +support in shooting attitude. Wabi had braced a foot, and his rifle was +half to his shoulder, leveled over a knee. It was Rod's turn with the +big revolver, and he had practised aiming through a crotch that gave a +rest to his arm.</p> + +<p>In a few moments there came again the howl of the distant wolf on the +plains, and this time it was joined by another away to the westward. And +after that there came two from the plains instead of one, and then a far +cry to the north and east. For the first time Rod and Wabi heard the +gloating chuckle of Mukoki in his spruce a dozen feet away.</p> + +<p>At the increasing responses of his brethren Wolf became more frantic in +his efforts. The scent of fresh blood and of wounded game was becoming +maddening to the captive. But his frenzy no longer betrayed itself in +futile efforts to escape from the babeesh thong. Wolf knew that his +cries were assembling the hunt-pack. Nearer and nearer came the +responses of the leaders, and there were now only momentary rests +between the deep-throated exhortations which he sent in all directions +into the night.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, almost from the swamp itself, there came a quick, excited, +yelping reply, and Wabi gripped Rod by the arm.</p> + +<p>"He has struck the place where you killed the buck," he whispered. +"There'll be quick work now!"</p> + +<p>Hardly had he spoken when a series of excited howls broke forth from the +swamp, coming nearer and nearer as the hunger-crazed outlaw of the +plains followed over the rich-scented trail made by the two Indians as +they carried the slaughtered deer. Soon he nosed one of the trails of +blood, and a moment later the watchers saw a gaunt shadow form running +swiftly over the snow toward Wolf.</p> + +<p>For an instant, as the two beasts of prey met, there fell a silence; +then both animals joined in the wailing hunt-pack cry, and the wolf that +was free came to the edge of the great rock and stood with his fore feet +on its side, and his cry changed from that of the chase to the still +more thrilling signal that told the gathering pack of game at bay.</p> + +<p>Swiftly the wolves closed in. From over the edge of the mountain one +came and joined the wolf at the rock without the hunters seeing his +approach. From out of the swamp there came a pack of three, and now +about the rock there grew a maddened, yelping horde, clambering and +scrambling and fighting in their efforts to climb up to the game that +was so near and yet beyond their reach. And sixty feet away Wolf +crouched, watching the gathering of his clan, helpless, panting from his +choking efforts to free himself, and quieting, gradually quieting, until +in sullen silence he looked upon the scene, as though he knew the moment +was very near when that thrilling spectacle would be changed into a +scene of direst tragedy.</p> + +<p>And it was Mukoki who had first said that this was the vengeance of Wolf +upon his people.</p> + +<p>From Mukoki there now came a faint hissing warning, and Wabi threw his +rifle to his shoulder. There were at least a score of wolves at the base +of the rock. Gradually the old Indian pulled upon the babeesh rope that +led to the dead buck—pulled until he was putting a half of his strength +into the effort, and could feel the animal slowly slipping from the flat +ledge. A moment more and the buck tumbled down in the midst of the +waiting pack.</p> + +<p>As flies gather upon a lump of sugar the famished animals now crowded +and crushed and fought over the deer's body, and as they came thus +together there sounded the quick sharp signal to fire from Mukoki.</p> + +<p>For five seconds the edge of the spruce was a blaze of death-dealing +flashes, and the deafening reports of the two rifles and the big Colt +drowned the cries and struggles of the animals. When those five seconds +were over fifteen shots had been fired, and five seconds later the vast, +beautiful silence of the wilderness night had fallen again. About the +rock was the silence of death, broken only faintly by the last gasping +throes of the animals that lay dying in the snow.</p> + +<p>In the trees there sounded the metallic clink of loading shells.</p> + +<p>Wabi spoke first.</p> + +<p>"I believe we did a good job, Mukoki!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki's reply was to slip down his tree. The others followed, and +hastened across to the rock. Five bodies lay motionless in the snow. A +sixth was dragging himself around the side of the rock, and Mukoki +attacked it with his belt-ax. Still a seventh had run for a dozen rods, +leaving a crimson trail behind, and when Wabi and Rod came up to it the +animal was convulsed in its last dying struggles.</p> + +<p>"Seven!" exclaimed the Indian youth. "That is one of the best shoots we +ever had. A hundred and five dollars in a night isn't bad, is it?"</p> + +<p>The two came back to the rock, dragging the wolf with them. Mukoki was +standing as rigid as a statue in the moonlight, his face turned into the +north. He pointed one arm far out over the plains, and said, without +turning his head,</p> + +<p>"See!"</p> + +<p>Far out in that silent desolation the hunters saw a lurid flash of +flame. It climbed up and up, until it filled the night above it with a +dull glow—a single unbroken stream of fire that rose far above the +swamps and forests of the plains.</p> + +<p>"That's a burning jackpine!" said Wabigoon.</p> + +<p>"Burning jackpine!" agreed the old warrior. Then he added, "Woonga +signal fire!"</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</p> + +<p>RODERICK EXPLORES THE CHASM</p> +<br> + +<p>To Rod the blazing pine seemed to be but a short distance away—a mile, +perhaps a little more. In the silence of the two Indians as they +contemplated the strange fire he read an ominous meaning. In Mukoki's +eyes was a dull sullen glare, not unlike that which fills the orbs of a +wild beast in a moment of deadly anger. Wabi's face was filled with an +eager flush, and three times, Rod observed, he turned eyes strangely +burning with some unnatural passion upon Mukoki.</p> + +<p>Slowly, even as the instincts of his race had aroused the latent, +brutish love of slaughter and the chase in the tamed wolf, the long +smothered instincts of these human children of the forest began to +betray themselves in their bronzed countenances. Rod watched, and he was +thrilled to the soul. Back at the old cabin they had declared war upon +the Woongas. Both Mukoki and Wabigoon had slipped the leashes that had +long restrained them from meting first vengeance upon their enemies. Now +the opportunity had come. For five minutes the great pine blazed, and +then died away until it was only a smoldering tower of light. Still +Mukoki gazed, speechless and grim, out into the distance of the night. +At last Wabi broke the silence.</p> + +<p>"How far away is it, Muky?"</p> + +<p>"T'ree mile," answered the old warrior without hesitation.</p> + +<p>"We could make it in forty minutes."</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>Wabi turned to Rod.</p> + +<p>"You can find your way back to camp alone, can't you?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Not if you're going over there!" declared the white boy. "I'm going +with you."</p> + +<p>Mukoki broke in upon them with a harsh disappointed laugh.</p> + +<p>"No go. No go over there." He spoke with emphasis, and shook his head. +"We lose pine in five minutes. No find Woonga camp—make big trail for +Woongas to see in morning. Better wait. Follow um trail in day, then +shoot!"</p> + +<p>Rod found immense relief in the old Indian's decision. He did not fear a +fight; in fact, he was a little too anxious to meet the outlaws who had +stolen his gun, now that they had determined upon opening fire on sight. +But in this instance he was possessed of the cooler judgment of his +race. He believed that as yet the Woongas were not aware of their +presence in this region, and that there was still a large possibility of +the renegades traveling northward beyond their trapping sphere. He hoped +that this would be the case, in spite of his desire to recapture his +gun. A scrimmage with the Woongas just now would spoil the plans he had +made for discovering gold.</p> + +<p>The "Skeleton Mine," as he had come to call it, now absorbed his +thoughts beyond everything else. He felt confident that he would +discover the lost treasure ground if given time, and he was just as +confident that if war was once begun between themselves and the Woongas +it would mean disaster or quick flight from the country. Even Wabi, +worked up more in battle enthusiasm than by gold fever, conceded that if +half of the Woongas were in this country they were much too powerful for +them to cope with successfully, especially as one of them was without a +rifle.</p> + +<p>It was therefore with inward exultation that Rod saw the project of +attack dropped and Mukoki and Wabigoon proceed with their short task of +scalping the seven wolves. During this operation Wolf was allowed to +feast upon the carcass of the buck.</p> + +<p>That night there was but little sleep in the old cabin. It was two +o'clock when the hunters arrived in camp and from that hour until nearly +four they sat about the hot stove making plans for the day that was +nearly at hand. Rod could but contrast the excitement that had now taken +possession of them with the tranquil joy with which they had first taken +up their abode in this dip in the hilltop. And how different were their +plans from those of two or three days ago! Not one of them now but +realized their peril. They were in an ideal hunting range, but it was +evidently very near, if not actually in, the Woonga country. At any +moment they might be forced to fight for their lives or abandon their +camp, and perhaps they would be compelled to do both.</p> + +<p>So the gathering about the stove was in reality a small council of war. +It was decided that the old cabin should immediately be put into a +condition of defense, with a loophole on each side, strong new bars at +the door, and with a thick barricade near at hand that could be quickly +fitted against the window in case of attack. Until the war-clouds +cleared away, if they cleared at all, the camp would be continually +guarded by one of the hunters, and with this garrison would be left both +of the heavy revolvers. At dawn or a little later Mukoki would set out +upon Wabi's trap-line, both to become acquainted with it and to extend +the line of traps, while later in the day the Indian youth would follow +Mukoki's line, visiting the houses already built and setting other +traps. This scheme left to Rod the first day's watch in camp.</p> + +<p>Mukoki aroused himself from his short sleep with the first approach of +dawn but did not awaken his tired companions until breakfast was ready. +When the meal was finished he seized his gun and signified his intention +of visiting the mink traps just beyond the hill before leaving on his +long day's trail. Rod at once joined him, leaving Wabi to wash the +dishes.</p> + +<p>They were shortly within view of the trap-houses near the creek. +Instinctively the eyes of both rested upon these houses and neither gave +very close attention to the country ahead or about them. As a result +both were exceedingly startled when they heard a huge snort and a great +crunching in the deep snow close beside them. From out of a small growth +of alders had dashed a big bull moose, who was now tearing with the +speed of a horse up the hillside toward the hidden camp, evidently +seeking the quick shelter of the dip.</p> + +<p>"Wait heem git top of hill!" shouted Mukoki, swinging his rifle to his +shoulder. "Wait!"</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful shot and Rod was tempted to ignore the old Indian's +advice. But he knew that there was some good reason for it, so he held +his trembling finger. Hardly had the animal's huge antlered head risen +to the sky-line when Mukoki shouted again, and the young hunter pressed +the trigger of his automatic gun three times in rapid succession. It was +a short shot, not more than two hundred yards, and Mukoki fired but once +just as the bull mounted the hilltop.</p> + +<p>The next instant the moose was gone and Rod was just about to dash in +pursuit when his companion caught him by the arm.</p> + +<p>"We got um!" he grinned. "He run downhill, then fall—ver' close to +camp. Ver' good scheme—wait heem git on top hill. No have to carry meat +far!"</p> + +<p>As coolly as though nothing had occurred the Indian turned again in the +direction of the traps. Rod stood as though he had been nailed to the +spot, his mouth half open in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"We go see traps," urged Mukoki. "Find moose dead when we go back."</p> + +<p>But Roderick Drew, who had hunted nothing larger than house rats in his +own city, was not the young man to see the logic of this reasoning, and +before Mukoki could open his mouth again he was hurrying up the hill. On +its summit he saw a huge torn-up blotch in the snow, spattered with +blood, where the moose had fallen first after the shots; and at the foot +of the hill, as the Indian had predicted, the great animal lay dead.</p> + +<p>Wabi was hastening across the lake, attracted by the shots, and both +reached the slain bull at about the same time. Rod quickly perceived +that three shots had taken effect; one, which was undoubtedly Mukoki's +carefully directed ball, in a vital spot behind the fore leg, and two +through the body. The fact that two of his own shots had taken good +effect filled the white youth with enthusiasm, and he was still +gesticulating excitedly in describing the bull's flight to Wabi when the +old Indian came over the hill, grinning broadly, and holding up for +their inspection a magnificent mink.</p> + +<p>The day could not have begun more auspiciously for the hunters, and by +the time Mukoki was ready to leave upon his long trail the adventurers +were in buoyant spirits, the distressing fears of the preceding night +being somewhat dispelled by their present good fortune and the glorious +day which now broke in full splendor upon the wilderness.</p> + +<p>Until their early dinner Wabi remained in camp, securing certain parts +of the moose and assisting Rod in putting the cabin into a state of +defense according to their previous plans. It was not yet noon when he +started over Mukoki's trap-line.</p> + +<p>Left to his own uninterrupted thoughts, Rod's mind was once more +absorbed in his scheme of exploring the mysterious chasm. He had noticed +during his inspection from the top of the ridge that the winter snows +had as yet fallen but little in the gloomy gulch between the mountains, +and he was eager to attempt his adventure before other snows came or the +fierce blizzards of December filled the chasm with drifts. Later in the +afternoon he brought forth the buckskin bag from a niche in the log wall +where it had been concealed, and one after another carefully examined +the golden nuggets. He found, as he had expected, that they were worn to +exceeding smoothness, and that every edge had been dulled and rounded. +Rod's favorite study in school had been a minor branch of geology and +mineralogy, and he knew that only running water could work this +smoothness. He was therefore confident that the nuggets had been +discovered in or on the edge of a running stream. And that stream, he +was sure, was the one in the chasm.</p> + +<p>But Rod's plans for an early investigation were doomed to +disappointment. Late that day both Mukoki and Wabi returned, the latter +with a red fox and another mink, the former with a fisher, which +reminded Rod of a dog just growing out of puppyhood, and another story +of strange trails that renewed their former apprehensions. The old +Indian had discovered the remnants of the burned jackpine, and about it +were the snow-shoe tracks of three Indians. One of these trails came +from the north and two from the west, which led him to believe that the +pine had been fired as a signal to call the two. At the very end of +their trap-line, which extended about four miles from camp, a single +snow-shoe trail had cut across at right angles, also swinging into the +north.</p> + +<p>These discoveries necessitated a new arrangement of the plans that had +been made the preceding night. Hereafter, it was agreed, only one +trap-line would be visited each day, and by two of the hunters in +company, both armed with rifles. Rod saw that this meant the abandonment +of his scheme for exploring the chasm, at least for the present.</p> + +<p>Day after day now passed without evidences of new trails, and each day +added to the hopes of the adventurers that they were at last to be left +alone in the country. Never had Mukoki or Wabigoon been in a better +trapping ground, and every visit to their lines added to their hoard of +furs. If left unmolested it was plainly evident that they would take a +small fortune back to Wabinosh House with them early in the spring. +Besides many mink, several fisher, two red foxes and a lynx, they added +two fine "cross" foxes and three wolf scalps to their treasure during +the next three weeks. Rod began to think occasionally of the joy their +success would bring to the little home hundreds of miles away, where he +knew that the mother was waiting and praying for him every day of her +life; and there were times, too, when he found himself counting the days +that must still elapse before he returned to Minnetaki and the Post.</p> + +<p>But at no time did he give up his determination to explore the chasm. +From the first Mukoki and Wabigoon had regarded this project with little +favor, declaring the impossibility of discovering gold under snow, even +though gold was there; so Rod waited and watched for an opportunity to +make the search alone, saying nothing about his plans.</p> + +<p>On a beautiful day late in December, when the sun rose with dazzling +brightness, his opportunity came. Wabi was to remain in camp, and +Mukoki, who was again of the belief that they were safe from the +Woongas, was to follow one of the trap-lines alone. Supplying himself +well with food, taking Wabi's rifle, a double allowance of cartridges, a +knife, belt-ax, and a heavy blanket in his pack, Rod set out for the +chasm. Wabi laughed as he stood in the doorway to see him off.</p> + +<p>"Good luck to you, Rod; hope you find gold," he cried gaily, waving a +final good-by with his hand.</p> + +<p>"If I don't return to-night don't you fellows worry about me," called +back the youth. "If things look promising I may camp in the chasm and +take up the hunt again in the morning."</p> + +<p>He now passed quickly to the second ridge, knowing from previous +experience that it would be impossible to make a descent into the gulch +from the first mountain. This range, a mile south of the camp, had not +been explored by the hunters, but Rod was sure that there was no danger +of losing himself as long as he followed along the edge of the chasm +which was in itself a constant and infallible guide. Much to his +disappointment he found that the southern walls of this mysterious break +between the mountains were as precipitous as those on the opposite side, +and for two hours he looked in vain for a place where he might climb +down. The country was now becoming densely wooded and he was constantly +encountering signs of big game. But he paid little attention to these. +Finally he came to a point where the forest swept over and down the +steep side of the mountain, and to his great joy he saw that by +strapping his snow-shoes to his back and making good use of his hands it +was possible for him to make a descent.</p> + +<p>Fifteen minutes later, breathless but triumphant, he stood at the bottom +of the chasm. On his right rose the strip of cedar forest; on his left +he was shut in by towering walls of black and shattered rock. At his +feet was the little stream which had played such an important part in +his golden dreams, frozen in places, and in others kept clear of ice by +the swiftness of its current. A little ahead of him was that gloomy, +sunless part of the chasm into which he had peered so often from the top +of the ridge on the north. As he advanced step by step into its +mysterious silence, his eyes alert, his nerves stretched to a tension of +the keenest expectancy, there crept over him a feeling that he was +invading that enchanted territory which, even at this moment, might be +guarded by the spirits of the two mortals who had died because of the +treasure it held.</p> + +<p>Narrower and narrower became the walls high over his head. Not a ray of +sunlight penetrated into the soundless gloom. Not a leaf shivered in the +still air. The creek gurgled and spattered among its rocks, without the +note of a bird or the chirp of a squirrel to interrupt its monotony. +Everything was dead. Now and then Rod could hear the wind whispering +over the top of the chasm. But not a breath of it came down to him. +Under his feet was only sufficient snow to deaden his own footsteps, and +he still carried his snow-shoes upon his back.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, from the thick gloom that hung under one of the cragged walls, +there came a thundering, unearthly sound that made him stop, his rifle +swung half to shoulder. He saw that he had disturbed a great owl, and +passed on. Now and then he paused beside the creek and took up handful +after handful of its pebbles, his heart beating high with hope at every +new gleam he caught among them, and never sinking to disappointment +though he found no gold. The gold was here—somewhere. He was as certain +of that as he was of the fact that he was living, and searching for it. +Everything assured him of that; the towering masses of cleft rock, whole +walls seeming about to crumble into ruin, the broad margins of pebbles +along the creek—everything, to the very stillness and mystery in the +air, spoke this as the abode of the skeletons' secret.</p> + +<p>It was this inexplicable <i>something</i>—this unseen, mysterious element +hovering in the air that caused the white youth to advance step by step, +silently, cautiously, as though the slightest sound under his feet might +awaken the deadliest of enemies. And it was because of this stealth in +his progress that he came very close upon something that was living, and +without startling it. Less than fifty yards ahead of him he saw an +object moving slowly among the rocks. It was a fox. Even before the +animal had detected his presence he had aimed and fired.</p> + +<p>Thunderous echoes rose up about him. They rolled down the chasm, volume +upon volume, until in the ghostly gloom between the mountain walls he +stood and listened, a nervous shiver catching him once or twice. Not +until the last echo had died away did he approach where the fox lay upon +the snow. It was not red. It was not black. It was not—</p> + +<p>His heart gave a big excited thump. The bleeding creature at his feet +was the most beautiful animal he had ever seen—and the tip of its thick +black fur was silver gray.</p> + +<p>Then, in that lonely chasm, there went up a great human whoop of joy.</p> + +<p>"A silver fox!"</p> + +<p>Rod spoke the words aloud. For five minutes he stood and looked upon his +prize. He held it up and stroked it, and from what Wabi and Mukoki had +told him he knew that the silken pelt of this creature was worth more to +them than all the furs at the camp together.</p> + +<p>He made no effort to skin it, but put the animal in his pack and resumed +his slow, noiseless exploration of the gulch.</p> + +<p>He had now passed beyond those points in the range from which he had +looked down into this narrow, shut-in world. Ever more wild and gloomy +became the chasm. At times the two walls of rock seemed almost to meet +far above his head; under gigantic, overhanging crags there lurked the +shadows of night. Fascinated by the grandeur and loneliness of the +scenes through which he was passing Rod forgot the travel of time. Mile +after mile he continued his tireless trail. He had no inclination to +eat. He stopped only once at the creek to drink. And when he looked at +his watch he was astonished to find that it was three o'clock in the +afternoon.</p> + +<p>It was now too late to think of returning to camp. Within an hour the +day gloom of the chasm would be thickening into that of night. So Rod +stopped at the first good camp site, threw off his pack, and proceeded +with the building of a cedar shelter. Not until this was completed and a +sufficient supply of wood for the night's fire was at hand did he begin +getting supper. He had brought a pail with him and soon the appetizing +odors of boiling coffee and broiling moose sirloin filled the air.</p> + +<p>Night had fallen between the mountain walls by the time Rod sat down to +his meal.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</p> + +<p>RODERICK'S DREAM</p> +<br> + +<p>A chilling loneliness now crept over the young adventurer. Even as he +ate he tried to peer out into the mysterious darkness. A sound from up +the chasm, made by some wild prowler of the night, sent a nervous tremor +through him. He was not afraid; he would not have confessed to that. But +still, the absolute, almost gruesome silence between the two mountains, +the mere knowledge that he was alone in a place where the foot of man +had not trod for more than half a century, was not altogether quieting +to his nerves. What mysteries might not these grim walls hold? What +might not happen here, where everything was so strange, so weird, and so +different from the wilderness world just over the range?</p> + +<p>Rod tried to laugh away his nervousness, but the very sound of his own +voice was distressing. It rose in unnatural shivering echoes—a low, +hollow mockery of a laugh beating itself against the walls; a ghost of a +laugh, Rod thought, and that very thought made him hunch closer to the +fire. The young hunter was not superstitious, or at least he was not +unnaturally so; but what man or boy is there in this whole wide world of +ours who does not, at some time, inwardly cringe from something in the +air—something that does not exist and never did exist, but which holds +a peculiar and nameless fear for the soul of a human being?</p> + +<p>And Rod, as he piled his fire high with wood and shrank in the warmth of +his cedar shelter, felt that nameless dread; and there came to him no +thought of sleep, no feeling of fatigue, but only that he was alone, +absolutely alone, in the mystery and almost unending silence of the +chasm. Try as he would he could not keep from his mind the vision of the +skeletons as he had first seen them in the old cabin.</p> + +<p>Many, many years ago, even before his own mother was born, those +skeletons had trod this very chasm. They had drunk from the same creek +as he, they had clambered over the same rocks, they had camped perhaps +where he was camping now! They, too, in flesh and life, had strained +their ears in the grim silence, they had watched the flickering light of +their camp-fire on the walls of rock—and they had found gold!</p> + +<p>Just now, if Rod could have moved himself by magic, he would have been +safely back in camp. He listened. From far back over the trail he had +followed there came a lonely, plaintive, almost pleading cry.</p> + +<p>"'Ello—'ello—'ello!"</p> + +<p>It sounded like a distant human greeting, but Rod knew that it was the +awakening night cry of what Wabi called the "man owl." It was weirdly +human-like; and the echoes came softly, and more softly, until ghostly +voices seemed to be whispering in the blackness about him.</p> + +<p>"'Ello—'ello—'ello!"</p> + +<p>The boy shivered and laid his rifle across his knees. There was +tremendous comfort in the rifle. Rod fondled it with his fingers, and +two or three times he felt as though he would almost like to talk to it. +Only those who have gone far into the silence and desolation of the +unblazed wilderness know just how human a good rifle becomes to its +owner. It is a friend every hour of the night and day, faithful to its +master's desires, keeping starvation at bay and holding death for his +enemies; a guaranty of safety at his bedside by night, a sharp-fanged +watch-dog by day, never treacherous and never found wanting by the one +who bestows upon it the care of a comrade and friend. Thus had Rod come +to look upon his rifle. He rubbed the barrel now with his mittens; he +polished the stock as he sat in his loneliness, and long afterward, +though he had determined to remain awake during the night, he fell +asleep with it clasped tightly in his hands.</p> + +<p>It was an uneasy, troubled slumber in which the young adventurer's +visions and fears took a more realistic form. He half sat, half lay, +upon his cedar boughs; his head fell forward upon his breast, his feet +were stretched out to the fire. Now and then unintelligible sounds fell +from his lips, and he would start suddenly as if about to awaken, but +each time would sink back into his restless sleep, still clutching the +gun.</p> + +<p>The visions in his head began to take a more definite form. Once more he +was on the trail, and had come to the old cabin. But this time he was +alone. The window of the cabin was wide open, but the door was tightly +closed, just as the hunters had found it when they first came down into +the dip. He approached cautiously. When very near the window he heard +sounds—strange sounds—like the clicking of bones!</p> + +<p>Step by step in his dream he approached the window and looked in. And +there he beheld a sight that froze him to the marrow. Two huge skeletons +were struggling in deadly embrace. He could hear no sound but the +click-click-click of their bones. He saw the gleam of knives held +between fleshless fingers, and he saw now that both were struggling for +the possession of something that was upon the table. Now one almost +reached it, now the other, but neither gained possession.</p> + +<p>The clicking of the bones became louder, the struggle fiercer, the +knives of the skeleton combatants rose and fell. Then one staggered back +and sank in a heap on the floor.</p> + +<p>For a moment the victor swayed, tottered to the table, and gripped the +mysterious object in its bony fingers.</p> + +<p>As it stumbled weakly against the cabin wall the gruesome creature held +the object up, and Rod saw that it was a roll of birch-bark!</p> + +<p>An ember in the dying fire snapped with a sound like the report of a +small pistol and Rod sat bolt upright, awake, staring, trembling. What a +horrible dream! He drew in his cramped legs and approached the fire on +his knees, holding his rifle in one hand while he piled on wood with the +other.</p> + +<p>What a horrible dream!</p> + +<p>He shuddered and ran his eyes around the impenetrable wall of blackness +that shut him in, the thought constantly flashing through his mind, what +a horrible dream—what a horrible dream!</p> + +<p>He sat down again and watched the flames of his fire as they climbed +higher and higher. The light and the heat cheered him, and after a +little he allowed his mind to dwell upon the adventure of his slumber. +It had made him sweat. He took off his cap and found that the hair about +his forehead was damp.</p> + +<p>All the different phases of a dream return to one singly when awake, and +it was with the suddenness of a shot that there came to Rod a +remembrance of the skeleton hand held aloft, clutching between its +gleaming fleshless fingers the roll of birch-bark. And with that memory +of his dream there came another—the skeleton in the cabin was clutching +a piece of birch-bark when they had buried it!</p> + +<p>Could that crumpled bit of bark hold the secret of the lost mine?</p> + +<p>Was it for the possession of that bark instead of the buckskin bag that +the men had fought and died?</p> + +<p>As the minutes passed Rod forgot his loneliness, forgot his nervousness +and only thought of the possibilities of the new clue that had come to +him in a dream. Wabi and Mukoki had seen the bark clutched in the +skeleton fingers, but they as well as he had given it no special +significance, believing that it had been caught up in some terrible part +of the struggle when both combatants were upon the floor, or perhaps in +the dying agonies of the wounded man against the wall. Rod remembered +now that they had found no more birch-bark upon the floor, which they +would have done if a supply had been kept there for kindling fires. Step +by step he went over the search they had made in the old cabin, and more +and more satisfied did he become that the skeleton hand held something +of importance for them.</p> + +<p>He replenished his fire and waited impatiently for dawn. At four +o'clock, before day had begun to dispel the gloom of night, he cooked +his breakfast and prepared his pack for the homeward journey. Soon +afterward a narrow rim of light broke through the rift in the chasm. +Slowly it crept downward, until the young hunter could make out objects +near him and the walls of the mountains.</p> + +<p>Thick shadows still defied his vision when he began retracing his steps +over the trail he had made the day before. He returned with the same +caution that he had used in his advance. Even more carefully, if +possible, did he scrutinize the rocks and the creek ahead. He had +already found life in the chasm, and he might find more.</p> + +<p>The full light of day came quickly now, and with it the youth's progress +became more rapid. He figured that if he lost no time in further +investigation of the creek he would arrive at camp by noon, and they +would dig up the skeleton without delay. There was little snow in the +chasm, in spite of the lateness of the season, and if the roll of bark +held the secret of the lost gold it would be possible for them to locate +the treasure before other snows came to baffle them.</p> + +<p>At the spot where he had killed the silver fox Rod paused for a moment. +He wondered if foxes ever traveled in pairs, and regretted that he had +not asked Wabi or Mukoki that question. He could see where the fox had +come straight from the black wall of the mountain. Curiosity led him +over the trail. He had not followed it more than two hundred yards when +he stopped in sudden astonishment. Plainly marked in the snow before him +was the trail of a pair of snow-shoes! Whoever had been there had passed +since he shot the fox, for the imprints of the animal's feet were buried +under those of the snow-shoes.</p> + +<p>Who was the other person in the chasm?</p> + +<p>Was it Wabi?</p> + +<p>Had Mukoki or he come to join him? Or—</p> + +<p>He looked again at the snow-shoe trail. It was a peculiar trail, unlike +the one made by his own shoes. The imprints were a foot longer than his +own, and narrower. Neither Wabi nor Mukoki wore shoes that would make +that trail!</p> + +<p>At this point the strange trail had turned and disappeared among the +rocks along the wall of the mountain, and it occurred to Rod that +perhaps the stranger had not discovered his presence in the chasm. There +was some consolation in this thought, but it was doomed to quick +disappointment. Very cautiously the youth advanced, his rifle held in +readiness and his eyes searching every place of concealment ahead of +him. A hundred yards farther on the stranger had stopped, and from the +way in which the snow was packed Rod knew that he had stood in a +listening and watchful attitude for some time. From this point the trail +took another turn and came down until, from behind a huge rock, the +stranger had cautiously peered out upon the path made by the white +youth.</p> + +<p>It was evident that he was extremely anxious to prevent the discovery of +his own trail, for now the mysterious spy threaded his way behind rocks +until he had again come to the shelter of the mountain wall.</p> + +<p>Rod was perplexed. He realized the peril of his dilemma, and yet he knew +not what course to take to evade it. He had little doubt that the trail +was made by one of the treacherous Woongas, and that the Indian not only +knew of his presence, but was somewhere in the rocks ahead of him, +perhaps even now waiting behind some ambuscade to shoot him. Should he +follow the trail, or would it be safer to steal along among the rocks of +the opposite wall of the chasm?</p> + +<p>He had decided upon the latter course when his eyes caught a narrow +horizontal slit cleaving the face of the mountain on his left, toward +which the snow-shoe tracks seemed to lead. With his rifle ready for +instant use the youth slowly approached the fissure, and was surprised +to find that it was a complete break in the wall of rock, not more than +four feet wide, and continuing on a steady incline to the summit of the +ridge. At the mouth of this fissure his mysterious watcher had taken off +his snow-shoes and Rod could see where he had climbed up the narrow exit +from the chasm.</p> + +<p>With a profound sense of relief the young hunter hurried along the base +of the mountain, keeping well within its shelter so that eyes that might +be spying from above could not see his movements. He now felt no fear of +danger. The stranger's flight up the cleft in the chasm wall and his +careful attempts to conceal his trail among the rocks assured Rod that +he had no designs upon his life. His chief purpose had seemed to be to +keep secret his own presence in the gorge, and this fact in itself added +to the mystification of the white youth. For a long time he had been +secretly puzzled, and had evolved certain ideas of his own because of +the movements of the Woongas. Contrary to the opinions of Mukoki and +Wabigoon, he believed that the red outlaws were perfectly conscious of +their presence in the dip. From the first their actions had been +unaccountable, but not once had one of their snow-shoe trails crossed +their trap-lines.</p> + +<p>Was this fact in itself not significant? Rod was of a contemplative +theoretical turn of mind, one of those wide-awake, interesting young +fellows who find food for conjecture in almost every incident that +occurs, and his suspicions were now aroused to an unusual pitch. A chief +fault, however, was that he kept most of his suspicions to himself, for +he believed that Mukoki and Wabigoon, born and taught in the life of the +wilderness, were infallible in their knowledge of the ways and the laws +and the perils of the world they were in.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</p> + +<p>THE SECRET OF THE SKELETON'S HAND</p> +<br> + +<p>A little before noon Rod arrived at the top of the hill from which he +could look down on their camp. He was filled with pleasurable +anticipation, and with an unbounded swelling satisfaction that caused +him to smile as he proceeded into the dip. He had found a fortune in the +mysterious chasm. The burden of the silver fox upon his shoulders was a +most pleasing reminder of that, and he pictured the moment when the +good-natured raillery of Mukoki and Wabigoon would be suddenly turned +into astonishment and joy.</p> + +<p>As he approached the cabin the young hunter tried to appear disgusted +and half sick, and his effort was not bad in spite of his decided +inclination to laugh. Wabi met him in the doorway, grinning broadly, and +Mukoki greeted him with a throatful of his inimitable chuckles.</p> + +<p>"Aha, here's Rod with a packful of gold!" cried the young Indian, +striking an expectant attitude. "Will you let us see the treasure?" In +spite of his banter there was gladness in his face at Rod's arrival.</p> + +<p>The youth threw off his pack with a spiritless effort and flopped into a +chair as though in the last stage of exhaustion.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to undo the pack," he replied. "I'm too tired and hungry."</p> + +<p>Wabi's manner changed at once to one of real sympathy.</p> + +<p>"I'll bet you're tired, Rod, and half starved. We'll have dinner in a +hurry. Ho, Muky, put on the steak, will you?"</p> + +<p>There followed a rattle of kettles and tin pans and the Indian youth +gave Rod a glad slap on the back as he hurried to the table. He was +evidently in high spirits, and burst into a snatch of song as he cut up +a loaf of bread.</p> + +<p>"I'm tickled to see you back," he admitted, "for I was getting a little +bit nervous. We had splendid luck on our lines yesterday. Brought in +another 'cross' and three mink. Did you see anything?"</p> + +<p>"Aren't you going to look in the pack?"</p> + +<p>Wabi turned and gazed at his companion with a half-curious hesitating +smile.</p> + +<p>"Anything in it?" he asked suspiciously.</p> + +<p>"See here, boys," cried Rod, forgetting himself in his suppressed +enthusiasm. "I said there was a treasure in that chasm, and there was. I +found it. You are welcome to look into that pack if you wish!"</p> + +<p>Wabi dropped the knife with which he was cutting the bread and went to +the pack. He touched it with the toe of his boot, lifted it in his +hands, and glanced at Rod again.</p> + +<p>"It isn't a joke?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>Rod turned his back upon the scene and began to take off his coat as +coolly as though it were the commonest thing in the world for him to +bring silver foxes into camp. Only when Wabi gave a suppressed yell did +he turn about, and then he found the Indian standing erect and holding +out the silver to the astonished gaze of Mukoki.</p> + +<p>"Is it a good one?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"A beauty!" gasped Wabi.</p> + +<p>Mukoki had taken the animal and was examining it with the critical eyes +of a connoisseur.</p> + +<p>"Ver' fine!" he said. "At Post heem worth fi' hundred dollars—at +Montreal t'ree hundred more!"</p> + +<p>Wabi strode across the cabin and thrust out his hand.</p> + +<p>"Shake, Rod!"</p> + +<p>As the two gripped hands he turned to Mukoki.</p> + +<p>"Bear witness, Mukoki, that this young gentleman is no longer a +tenderfoot. He has shot a silver fox. He has done a whole winter's work +in one day. I take off my hat to you, Mr. Drew!"</p> + +<p>Roderick's face reddened with a flush of pleasure.</p> + +<p>"And that isn't all, Wabi," he said. His eyes were filled with a sudden +intense earnestness, and in the strangeness of the change Wabi forgot to +loosen the grip of his fingers about his companion's hand.</p> + +<p>"You don't mean that you found—"</p> + +<p>"No, I didn't find gold," anticipated Rod. "But the gold is there! I +know it. And I think I have found a clue. You remember that when you and +I examined the skeleton against the wall we saw that it clutched +something that looked like birch-bark in its hand? Well, I believe that +birch-bark holds the key to the lost mine!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki had come beside them and stood listening to Rod, his face alive +with keen interest. In Wabi's eyes there was a look half of doubt, half +of belief.</p> + +<p>"It might," he said slowly. "It wouldn't do any harm to see."</p> + +<p>He stepped to the stove and took off the partly cooked steak. Rod +slipped on his coat and hat and Mukoki seized his belt-ax and the +shovel. No words were spoken, but there was a mutual understanding that +the investigation was to precede dinner. Wabi was silent and thoughtful +and Rod could see that his suggestion had at least made a deep +impression upon him. Mukoki's eyes began to gleam again with the old +fire with which he had searched the cabin for gold.</p> + +<p>The skeletons were buried only a few inches deep in the frozen earth in +the edge of the cedar forest, and Mukoki soon exposed them to view. +Almost the first object that met their eyes was the skeleton hand +clutching its roll of birch-bark. It was Rod who dropped upon his knees +to the gruesome task.</p> + +<p>With a shudder at the touch of the cold bones he broke the fingers back. +One of them snapped with a sharp sound, and as he rose with the bark in +his hand his face was bloodlessly white. The bones were covered again +and the three returned to the cabin.</p> + +<p>Still silent, they gathered about the table. With age the bark of the +birch hardens and rolls itself tightly, and the piece Rod held was +almost like thin steel. Inch by inch it was spread out, cracking and +snapping in brittle protest. The hunters could see that the bark was in +a single unbroken strip about ten inches long by six in width. Two +inches, three, four were unrolled—and still the smooth surface was +blank. Another half-inch, and the bark refused to unroll farther.</p> + +<p>"Careful!" whispered Wabi.</p> + +<p>With the point of his knife he loosened the cohesion.</p> + +<p>"I guess—there's—nothing—" began Rod.</p> + +<p>Even as he spoke he caught his breath. A mark had appeared on the bark, +a black, meaningless mark with a line running down from it into the +scroll.</p> + +<p>Another fraction of an inch and the line was joined by a second, and +then with an unexpectedness that was startling the remainder of the roll +released itself like a spring—and to the eyes of the three wolf hunters +was revealed the secret of the skeleton hand.</p> + +<p>Spread out before them was a map, or at least what they at once accepted +as a map, though in reality it was more of a crude diagram of straight +and crooked lines, with here and there a partly obliterated word to give +it meaning. In several places there were mere evidences of words, now +entirely illegible. But what first held the attention of Rod and his +companions were several lines in writing under the rough sketch on the +bark, still quite plain, which formed the names of three men. Roderick +read them aloud.</p> + +<p>"John Ball, Henri Langlois, Peter Plante."</p> + +<p>Through the name of John Ball had been drawn a broad black line which +had almost destroyed the letters, and at the end of this line, in +brackets, was printed a word in French which Wabi quickly translated.</p> + +<p>"Dead!" he breathed. "The Frenchmen killed him!"</p> + +<p>The words shot from him in hot excitement.</p> + +<p>Rod did not reply. Slowly he drew a trembling finger over the map. The +first word he encountered was unintelligible. Of the next he could only +make out one letter, which gave him no clue. Evidently the map had been +made with a different and less durable substance than that with which +the names had been written. He followed down the first straight black +line, and where this formed a junction with a wider crooked line were +two words quite distinct:</p> + +<p>"Second waterfall."</p> + +<p>Half an inch below this Rod could make out the letters T, D and L, +widely scattered.</p> + +<p>"That's the third waterfall," he exclaimed eagerly.</p> + +<p>At this point the crude lines of the diagram stopped, and immediately +below, between the map and the three names, it was evident that there +had been considerable writing. But not a word of it could the young +hunters make out. That writing, without doubt, had given the key to the +lost gold. Rod looked up, his face betraying the keenness of his +disappointment. He knew that under his hand he held all that was left of +the secret of a great treasure. But he was more baffled than ever. +Somewhere in this vast desolation there were three waterfalls, and +somewhere near the third waterfall the Englishman and the two Frenchmen +had found their gold. That was all he knew. He had not found a waterfall +in the chasm; they had not discovered one in all their trapping and +hunting excursions.</p> + +<p>Wabi was looking down into his face in silent thought. Suddenly he +reached out and seized the sheet of bark and examined it closely. As he +looked there came a deeper flush in his face, his eyes brightened and he +gave a cry of excitement.</p> + +<p>"By George, I believe we can peel this!" he cried. "See here, Muky!" He +thrust the birch under the old Indian's eyes. Even Mukoki's hands were +trembling.</p> + +<p>"Birch-bark is made up of a good many layers, each as thin as the +thinnest paper," he explained to Rod as Mukoki continued his +examination. "If we can peel off that first layer, and then hold it up +to the light, we shall be able to see the impression of every word that +was ever made on it—even though they were written a hundred years ago!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki had gone to the door, and now he turned, grinning exultantly.</p> + +<p>"She peel!"</p> + +<p>He showed them where he had stripped back a corner of the film-like +layer. Then he sat down in the light, his head bent over, and for many +minutes he worked at his tedious task while Wabi and Rod hung back in +soundless suspense. Half an hour later Mukoki straightened himself, rose +to his feet and held out the precious film to Rod.</p> + +<p>As tenderly as though his own life depended upon its care, Rod held the +piece of birch, now a silken, almost transparent sheet, between himself +and the light. A cry welled up into his throat. It was repeated by Wabi. +And then there was silence—a silence broken only by their bated breaths +and the excited thumpings of their hearts.</p> + +<p>As though they had been written but yesterday, the mysterious words on +the map were disclosed to their eyes. Where Rod had made out only three +letters there were now plainly discernible the two words "third +waterfall," and very near to these was the word "cabin." Below them were +several lines, clearly impressed in the birch film. Slowly, his voice +trembling, Rod read them to his companions.</p> + +<p>"We, John Ball, Henri Langlois, and Peter Plante, having discovered gold +at this fall, do hereby agree to joint partnership in the same, and do +pledge ourselves to forget our past differences and work in mutual good +will and honesty, so help us God. Signed,</p> + +<p>"JOHN BALL, HENRI LANGLOIS, PETER PLANTE."</p> + +<p>At the very top of the map the impression of several other words caught +Rod's eyes. They were more indistinct than any of the others, but one by +one he made them out. A hot blurring film seemed to fall over his eyes +and he felt as though his heart had suddenly come up into his throat. +Wabi's breath was burning against his cheek, and it was Wabi who spoke +the words aloud.</p> + +<p>"Cabin and head of chasm."</p> + +<p>Rod went back to the table and sat down, the precious bit of birch-bark +under his hand. Mukoki, standing mute, had listened and heard, and was +as if stunned by their discovery. But now his mind returned to the moose +steak, and he placed it on the stove. Wabi stood with his hands in his +pockets, and after a little he laughed a trembling, happy laugh.</p> + +<p>"Well, Rod, you've found your mine. You are as good as rich!"</p> + +<p>"You mean that we have found our mine," corrected the white youth. "We +are three, and we just naturally fill the places of John Ball, Henri +Langlois and Peter Plante. They are all dead. The gold is ours!"</p> + +<p>Wabi had taken up the map.</p> + +<p>"I can't see the slightest possibility of our not finding it," he said. +"The directions are as plain as day. We follow the chasm, and somewhere +in that chasm we come to a waterfall. A little beyond this the creek +that runs through the gorge empties into a larger stream, and we follow +this second creek or river until we come to the third fall. The cabin is +there, and the gold can not be far away."</p> + +<p>He had carried the map to the door again, and Rod joined him.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing that gives us an idea of distance on the map," he +continued. "How far did you travel down the chasm?"</p> + +<p>"Ten miles, at least," replied Rod.</p> + +<p>"And you discovered no fall?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>With a splinter picked up from the floor Wabi measured the distances +between the different points on the diagram.</p> + +<p>"There is no doubt but what this map was drawn by John Ball," he said +after a few moments of silent contemplation. "Everything points to that +fact. Notice that all of the writing is in one hand, except the +signatures of Langlois and Plante, and you could hardly decipher the +letters in those signatures if you did not already know their names from +this writing below. Ball wrote a good hand, and from the construction of +the agreement over the signatures he was a man of pretty fair education. +Don't you think so? Well, he must have drawn this map with some idea of +distance in his mind. The second fall is only half as far from the first +fall as the third fall is from the second, which seems to me conclusive +evidence of this. If he had not had distance in mind he would not have +separated the falls in this way on the map."</p> + +<p>"Then if we can find the first fall we can figure pretty nearly how far +the last fall is from the head of the chasm," said Rod.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I believe the distance from here to the first fall will give us a +key to the whole thing."</p> + +<p>Rod had produced a pencil from one of his pockets and was figuring on +the smooth side of a chip.</p> + +<p>"The gold is a long way from here at the best, Wabi. I explored the +chasm for ten miles. Say that we find the first fall within fifteen +miles. Then, according to the map, the second fall would be about twenty +miles from the first, and the third forty miles from the second. If the +first fall is within fifteen miles of this cabin the third fall is at +least seventy-five miles away."</p> + +<p>Wabi nodded.</p> + +<p>"But we may not find the first fall within that distance," he said. "By +George—" He stopped and looked at Rod with an odd look of doubt in his +face. "If the gold is seventy-five or a hundred miles away, why were +those men here, and with only a handful of nuggets in their possession? +Is it possible that the gold played out—that they found only what was +in the buckskin bag?"</p> + +<p>"If that were so, why should they have fought to the death for the +possession of the map?" argued Rod.</p> + +<p>Mukoki was turning the steak. He had not spoken, but now he said:</p> + +<p>"Mebby going to Post for supplies."</p> + +<p>"That's exactly what they were doing!" shouted the Indian youth. "Muky, +you have solved the whole problem. They were going for supplies. And +they didn't fight for the map—not for the map alone!"</p> + +<p>His face flushed with new excitement.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I am wrong, but it all seems clear to me now," he continued. +"Ball and the two Frenchmen worked their find until they ran out of +supplies. Wabinosh House is over a hundred years old, and fifty years +ago that was the nearest point where they could get more. In some way it +fell to the Frenchmen to go. They had probably accumulated a hoard of +gold, and before they left they murdered Ball. They brought with them +only enough gold to pay for their supplies, for it was their purpose not +to arouse the suspicion of any adventurers who happened to be at the +Post. They could easily have explained their possession of those few +nuggets. In this cabin either Langlois or Plante tried to kill his +companion, and thus become the sole possessor of the treasure, and the +fight, fatal to both, ensued. I may be wrong, but—by George, I believe +that is what happened!"</p> + +<p>"And that they buried the bulk of their gold somewhere back near the +third fall?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; or else they brought the gold here and buried it somewhere near +this very cabin!"</p> + +<p>They were interrupted by Mukoki.</p> + +<p>"Dinner ready!" he called.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</p> + +<p>SNOWED IN</p> +<br> + +<p>Until the present moment Rod had forgotten to speak of the mysterious +man-trail he had encountered in the chasm. The excitement of the past +hour had made him oblivious to all other things, but now as they ate +their dinner he described the strange maneuvers of the spying Woonga. He +did not, however, voice those fears which had come to him in the gorge, +preferring to allow Mukoki and Wabigoon to draw their own conclusions. +By this time the two Indians were satisfied that the Woongas were not +contemplating attack, but that for some unaccountable reason they were +as anxious to evade the hunters as the hunters were to evade them. +Everything that had passed seemed to give evidence of this. The outlaw +in the chasm, for instance, could easily have waylaid Rod; a dozen times +the almost defenseless camp could have been attacked, and there were +innumerable places where ambushes might have been laid for them along +the trap-lines.</p> + +<p>So Rod's experience with the Woonga trail between the mountains +occasioned little uneasiness, and instead of forming a scheme for the +further investigation of this trail on the south, plans were made for +locating the first fall. Mukoki was the swiftest and most tireless +traveler on snow-shoes, and it was he who volunteered to make the first +search. He would leave the following morning, taking with him a supply +of food, and during his absence Rod and Wabigoon would attend to the +traps.</p> + +<p>"We must have the location of the first fall before we return to the +Post," declared Wabi. "If from that we find that the third fall is not +within a hundred miles of our present camp it will be impossible for us +to go in search of our gold during this trip. In that event we shall +have to go back to Wabinosh House and form a new expedition, with fresh +supplies and the proper kind of tools. We can not do anything until the +spring freshets are over, anyway."</p> + +<p>"I have been thinking of that," replied Rod, his eyes softening. "You +know mother is alone, and—her—"</p> + +<p>"I understand," interrupted the Indian boy, laying a hand fondly across +his companion's arm.</p> + +<p>"—her funds are small, you know," Rod finished. "If she has been +sick—or—anything like that—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, we've got to get back with our furs," helped Wabi, a tremor of +tenderness in his own voice. "And if you don't mind, Rod, I might take a +little run down to Detroit with you. Do you suppose she would care?"</p> + +<p>"Care!" shouted Rod, bringing his free hand down upon Wabi's arm with a +force that hurt. "Care! Why, she thinks as much of you as she does of +me, Wabi! She'd be tickled to death! Do you mean it?"</p> + +<p>Wabi's bronzed face flushed a deeper red at his friend's enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"I won't promise—for sure," he said. "But I'd like to see her—almost +as much as you, I guess. If I can, I'll go."</p> + +<p>Rod's face was suffused with a joyful glow.</p> + +<p>"And I'll come back with you early in the summer and we'll start out for +the gold," he cried. He jumped to his feet and slapped Mukoki on the +back in the happy turn his mind had taken. "Will you come, too, Mukoki? +I'll give you the biggest 'city time' you ever had in your life!"</p> + +<p>The old Indian grinned and chuckled and grunted, but did not reply in +words. Wabi laughed, and answered for him.</p> + +<p>"He is too anxious to become Minnetaki's slave again, Rod. No, Muky +won't go, I'll wager that. He will stay at the Post to see that she +doesn't get lost, or hurt, or stolen by the Woongas. Eh, Mukoki?" Mukoki +nodded, grinning good-humoredly. He went to the door, opened it and +looked out.</p> + +<p>"Devil—she snow!" he cried. "She snow like twent' t'ousand—like +devil!"</p> + +<p>This was the strongest English in the old warrior's vocabulary, and it +meant something more than usual. Wabi and Rod quickly joined him. Never +in his life had the city youth seen a snow-storm like that which he now +gazed out into. The great north storm had arrived—a storm which comes +just once each year in the endless Arctic desolation. For days and weeks +the Indians had expected it and wondered at its lateness. It fell +softly, silently, without a breath of air to stir it; a smothering, +voiceless sea of white, impenetrable to human vision, so thick that it +seemed as though it might stifle one's breath. Rod held out the palm of +his hand and in an instant it was covered with a film of white. He +walked out into it, and a dozen yards away he became a ghostly, almost +invisible shadow.</p> + +<p>When he came back a minute later he brought a load of snow into the +cabin with him.</p> + +<p>All that afternoon the snow fell like this, and all that night the storm +continued. When he awoke in the morning Rod heard the wind whistling and +howling through the trees and around the ends of the cabin. He rose and +built the fire while the others were still sleeping. He attempted to +open the door, but it was blocked. He lowered the barricade at the +window, and a barrel of snow tumbled in about his feet. He could see no +sign of day, and when he turned he saw Wabi sitting up in his blankets, +laughing silently at his wonder and consternation.</p> + +<p>"What in the world—" he gasped.</p> + +<p>"We're snowed in," grinned Wabi. "Does the stove smoke?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Rod, throwing a bewildered glance at the roaring fire. +"You don't mean to say—"</p> + +<p>"Then we are not completely, buried," interrupted the other. "At least +the top of the chimney is sticking out!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki sat up and stretched himself.</p> + +<p>"She blow," he said, as a tremendous howl of wind swept over the cabin. +"Bime-by she blow some more!"</p> + +<p>Rod shoveled the snow into a corner and replaced the barricade while his +companions dressed.</p> + +<p>"This means a week's work digging out traps," declared Wabi. "And only +Mukoki's Great Spirit, who sends all blessings to this country, knows +when the blizzard is going to stop. It may last a week. There is no +chance of finding our waterfall in this."</p> + +<p>"We can play dominoes," suggested Rod cheerfully. "You remember we +haven't finished that series we began at the Post. But you don't expect +me to believe that it snowed enough yesterday afternoon and last night +to cover this cabin, do you?"</p> + +<p>"It didn't exactly <i>snow</i> enough to cover it," explained his comrade. +"But we're covered for all of that. The cabin is on the edge of an open, +and of course the snow just naturally drifts around us, blown there by +the wind. If this blizzard keeps up we shall be under a small mountain +by night."</p> + +<p>"Won't it—smother us?" faltered Rod.</p> + +<p>Wabi gave a joyous whoop of merriment at the city-bred youth's +half-expressed fear and a volley of Mukoki's chuckles came from where he +was slicing moose-steak on the table.</p> + +<p>"Snow mighty nice thing live under," he asserted with emphasis.</p> + +<p>"If you were under a mountain of snow you could live, if you weren't +crushed to death," said Wabi. "Snow is filled with air. Mukoki was +caught under a snow-slide once and was buried under thirty feet for ten +hours. He had made a nest about as big as a barrel and was nice and +comfortable when we dug him out. We won't have to burn much wood to keep +warm now."</p> + +<p>After breakfast the boys again lowered the barricade at the window and +Wabi began to bring small avalanches of snow down into the cabin with +his shovel. At the third or fourth upward thrust a huge mass plunged +through the window, burying them to the waist, and when they looked out +they could see the light of day and the whirling blizzard above their +heads.</p> + +<p>"It's up to the roof," gasped Rod. "Great Scott, what a snow-storm!"</p> + +<p>"Now for some fun!" cried the Indian youth. "Come on, Rod, if you want +to be in it."</p> + +<p>He crawled through the window into the cavity he had made in the drift, +and Rod followed. Wabi waited, a mischievous smile on his face, and no +sooner had his companion joined him than he plunged his shovel deep into +the base of the drift. Half a dozen quick thrusts and there tumbled down +upon their heads a mass of light snow that for a few moments completely +buried them. The suddenness of it knocked Rod to his knees, where he +floundered, gasped and made a vain effort to yell. Struggling like a +fish he first kicked his feet free, and Wabi, who had thrust out his +head and shoulders, shrieked with laughter as he saw only Rod's boots +sticking out of the snow.</p> + +<p>"You're going the wrong way, Rod!" he shouted. "Wow—wow!"</p> + +<p>He seized his companion's legs and helped to drag him out, and then +stood shaking, the tears streaming down his face, and continued to laugh +until he leaned back in the drift, half exhausted. Rod was a curious and +ludicrous-looking object. His eyes were wide and blinking; the snow was +in his ears, his mouth, and in his floundering he had packed his coat +collar full of it. Slowly he recovered from his astonishment, saw Wabi +and Mukoki quivering with laughter, grinned—and then joined them in +their merriment.</p> + +<p>It was not difficult now for the boys to force their way through the +drift and they were soon standing waist-deep in the snow twenty yards +from the cabin.</p> + +<p>"The snow is only about four feet deep in the open," said Wabi. "But +look at that!"</p> + +<p>He turned and gazed at the cabin, or rather at the small part of it +which still rose triumphant above the huge drift which had almost +completely buried it. Only a little of the roof, with the smoking +chimney rising out of it, was to be seen. Rod now turned in all +directions to survey the wild scene about him. There had come a brief +lull in the blizzard, and his vision extended beyond the lake and to the +hilltop. There was not a spot of black to meet his eyes; every rock was +hidden; the trees hung silent and lifeless under their heavy mantles and +even their trunks were beaten white with the clinging volleys of the +storm. There came to him then a thought of the wild things in this +seemingly uninhabitable desolation. How could they live in this endless +desert of snow? What could they find to eat? Where could they find water +to drink? He asked Wabi these questions after they had returned to the +cabin.</p> + +<p>"Just now, if you traveled from here to the end of this storm zone you +wouldn't find a living four-legged creature," said Wabigoon. "Every +moose in this country, every deer and caribou, every fox and wolf, is +buried in the snow. And as the snow falls deeper about them the warmer +and more comfortable do they become, so that even as the blizzard +increases in fury the kind Creator makes it easier for them to bear. +When the storm ceases the wilderness will awaken into life again. The +moose and deer and caribou will rise from their snow-beds and begin to +eat the boughs of trees and saplings; a crust will have formed on the +snow, and all the smaller animals, like foxes, lynx and wolves, will +begin to travel again, and to prey upon others for food. Until they find +running water again snow and ice take the place of liquid drink; warm +caverns dug in the snow give refuge in place of thick swamp moss and +brush and leaves. All the big animals, like moose, deer and caribou, +will soon make 'yards' for themselves by trampling down large areas of +snow, and in these yards they will gather in big herds, eating their way +through the forests, fighting the wolves and waiting for spring. Oh, +life isn't altogether bad for the animals in a deep winter like this!"</p> + +<p>Until noon the hunters were busy cleaning away the snow from the cabin +door. As the day advanced the blizzard increased in its fury, until, +with the approach of night, it became impossible for the hunters to +expose themselves to it. For three days the storm continued with only +intermittent lulls, but with the dawn of the fourth day the sky was +again cloudless, and the sun rose with a blinding effulgence. Rod now +found himself suffering from that sure affliction of every tenderfoot in +the far North—snow-blindness. For only a few minutes at a time could he +stand the dazzling reflections of the snow-waste where nothing but +white, flashing, scintillating white, seemingly a vast sea of burning +electric points in the sunlight, met his aching eyes. On the second day +after the storm, while Wabi was still inuring Rod to the changed world +and teaching him how to accustom his eyes to it gradually, Mukoki left +the cabin to follow the chasm in his search for the first waterfall.</p> + +<p>That same day Wabi began his work of digging out and resetting the +traps, but it was not until the day following that Rod's eyes would +allow him to assist. The task was a most difficult one; rocks and other +landmarks were completely hidden, and the lost traps averaged one out of +four. It was not until the end of the second day after Mukoki's +departure that the young hunters finished the mountain trap-line, and +when they turned their faces toward camp just at the beginning of dusk +it was with the expectant hope that they would find the old Indian +awaiting them. But Mukoki had not returned. The next day came and +passed, and a fourth dawned without his arrival. Hope now gave way to +fear. In three days Mukoki could travel nearly a hundred miles. Was it +possible that something had happened to him? Many times there recurred +to Rod a thought of the Woonga in the chasm. Had the mysterious spy, or +some of his people, waylaid and killed him?</p> + +<p>Neither of the hunters had a desire to leave camp during the fourth day. +Trapping was exceptionally good now on account of the scarcity of animal +food and since the big storm they had captured a wolf, two lynx, a red +fox and eight mink. But as Mukoki's absence lengthened their enthusiasm +grew less.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon, as they were watching, they saw a figure climb wearily +to the summit of the hill.</p> + +<p>It was Mukoki.</p> + +<p>With shouts of greeting both youths hurried through the snow toward him, +not taking time to strap on their snow-shoes. The old Indian was at +their side a couple of minutes later. He smiled in a tired good-natured +way, and answered the eagerness in their eyes with a nod of his head.</p> + +<p>"Found fall. Fift' mile down mountain."</p> + +<p>Once in the cabin he dropped into a chair, exhausted, and both Rod and +Wabigoon joined in relieving him of his boots and outer garments. It was +evident that Mukoki had been traveling hard, for only once or twice +before in his life had Wabi seen him so completely fatigued. Quickly the +young Indian had a huge steak broiling over the fire, and Rod put an +extra handful of coffee in the pot.</p> + +<p>"Fifty miles!" ejaculated Wabi for the twentieth time. "It was an awful +jaunt, wasn't it, Muky?"</p> + +<p>"Rough—rough like devil th'ough mountains," replied Mukoki. "Not like +that!" He swung an arm in the direction of the chasm.</p> + +<p>Rod stood silent, open-eyed with wonder. Was it possible that the old +warrior had discovered a wilder country than that through which he had +passed in the chasm?</p> + +<p>"She little fall," went on Mukoki, brightening as the odor of coffee and +meat filled his nostrils. "No bigger than—that!" He pointed to the roof +of the cabin.</p> + +<p>Rod was figuring on the table. Soon he looked up.</p> + +<p>"According to Mukoki and the map we are at least two hundred and fifty +miles from the third fall," he said.</p> + +<p>Mukoki shrugged his shoulders and his face was crinkled in a suggestive +grimace.</p> + +<p>"Hudson Bay," he grunted.</p> + +<p>Wabi turned from his steak in sudden astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't the chasm continue east?" he almost shouted.</p> + +<p>"No. She turn—straight north."</p> + +<p>Rod could not understand the change that came over Wabi's face.</p> + +<p>"Boys," he said finally, "if that is the case I can tell you where the +gold is. If the stream in the chasm turns northward it is bound for just +one place—the Albany River, and the Albany River empties into James +Bay! The third waterfall, where our treasure in gold is waiting for us, +is in the very heart of the wildest and most savage wilderness in North +America. It is safe. No other man has ever found it. But to get it means +one of the longest and most adventurous expeditions we ever planned in +all our lives!"</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!" shouted Rod. "Hurrah—"</p> + +<p>He had leaped to his feet, forgetful of everything but that their gold +was safe, and that their search for it would lead them even to the last +fastnesses of the snow-bound and romantic North.</p> + +<p>"Next spring, Wabi!" He held out his hand and the two boys joined their +pledge in a hearty grip.</p> + +<p>"Next spring!" reiterated Wabi.</p> + +<p>"And we go in canoe," joined Mukoki. "Creek grow bigger. We make +birch-bark canoe at first fall."</p> + +<p>"That is better still," added Wabi. "It will be a glorious trip! We'll +take a little vacation at the third fall and run up to James Bay."</p> + +<p>"James Bay is practically the same as Hudson Bay, isn't it?" asked Rod.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I could never see a good reason for calling it James Bay. It is in +reality the lower end, or tail, of Hudson Bay."</p> + +<p>There was no thought of visiting any of the traps that day, and the next +morning Mukoki insisted upon going with Rod, in spite of his four days +of hard travel. If he remained in camp his joints would get stiff, he +said, and Wabigoon thought he was right. This left the young Indian to +care for the trap-line leading into the north.</p> + +<p>Two weeks of ideal trapping weather now followed. It had been more than +two months since the hunters had left Wabinosh House, and Rod now began +to count the days before they would turn back over the homeward trail. +Wabi had estimated that they had sixteen hundred dollars' worth of furs +and scalps and two hundred dollars in gold, and the white youth was +satisfied to return to his mother with his share of six hundred dollars, +which was as much as he would have earned in a year at his old position +in the city. Neither did he attempt to conceal from Wabi his desire to +see Minnetaki; and his Indian friend, thoroughly pleased at Rod's liking +for his sister, took much pleasure in frequent good-natured banter on +the subject. In fact, Rod possessed a secret hope that he might induce +the princess mother to allow her daughter to accompany himself and Wabi +to Detroit, where he knew that his own mother would immediately fall in +love with the beautiful little maiden from the North.</p> + +<p>In the third week after the great storm Rod and Mukoki had gone over the +mountain trap-line, leaving Wabi in camp. They had decided that the +following week would see them headed for Wabinosh House, where they +would arrive about the first of February, and Roderick was in high +spirits.</p> + +<p>On this day they had started toward camp early in the afternoon, and +soon after they had passed through the swamp Rod expressed his intention +of ascending the ridge, hoping to get a shot at game somewhere along the +mountain trail home. Mukoki, however, decided not to accompany him, but +to take the nearer and easier route.</p> + +<p>On the top of the mountain Rod paused to take a survey of the country +about him. He could see Mukoki, now hardly more than a moving speck on +the edge of the plain; northward the same fascinating, never-ending +wilderness rolled away under his eyes; eastward, two miles away, he saw +a moving object which he knew was a moose or a caribou; and westward—</p> + +<p>Instinctively his eyes sought the location of their camp. Instantly the +expectant light went out of his face. He gave an involuntary cry of +horror, and there followed it a single, unheard shriek for Mukoki.</p> + +<p>Over the spot where he knew their camp to be now rose a huge volume of +smoke. The sky was black with it, and in the terrible moment that +followed his piercing cry for Mukoki he fancied that he heard the sound +of rifle-shots.</p> + +<p>"Mukoki! Mukoki!" he shouted.</p> + +<p>The old Indian was beyond hearing. Quickly it occurred to Rod that early +in their trip they had arranged rifle signals for calling help—two +quick shots, and then, after a moment's interval, three others in rapid +succession.</p> + +<p>He threw his rifle to his shoulder and fired into the air; once, +twice—and then three times as fast as he could press the trigger.</p> + +<p>As he watched Mukoki he reloaded. He saw the Indian pause, turn about +and look back toward the mountain.</p> + +<p>Again the thrilling signals for help went echoing over the plains. In a +few seconds the sounds had reached Mukoki's ears and the old warrior +came swinging back at running speed.</p> + +<p>Rod darted along the ridge to meet him, firing a single shot now and +then to let him know where he was, and in fifteen minutes Mukoki came +panting up the mountain.</p> + +<p>"The Woongas!" shouted Rod. "They've attacked the camp! See!" He pointed +to the cloud of smoke. "I heard shots—I heard shots—"</p> + +<p>For an instant the grim pathfinder gazed in the direction of the burning +camp, and then without a word he started at terrific speed down the +mountain.</p> + +<p>The half-hour race that followed was one of the most exciting +experiences of Rod's life. How he kept up with Mukoki was more than he +ever could explain afterward. But from the time they struck the old +trail he was close at the Indian's heels. When they reached the hill +that sheltered the dip his face was scratched and bleeding from contact +with swinging bushes; his heart seemed ready to burst from its +tremendous exertion; his breath came in an audible hissing, rattling +sound, and he could not speak. But up the hill he plunged behind Mukoki, +his rifle cocked and ready. At the top they paused.</p> + +<p>The camp was a smoldering mass of ruins. Not a sign of life was about +it. But—</p> + +<p>With a gasping, wordless cry Rod caught Mukoki's arm and pointed to an +object lying in the snow a dozen yards from where the cabin had been. +The warrior had seen it. He turned one look upon the white youth, and it +was a look that Rod had never thought could come into the face of a +human being. If that was Wabi down there—if Wabi had been killed—what +would Mukoki's vengeance be! His companion was no longer Mukoki—as he +had known him; he was the savage. There was no mercy, no human instinct, +no suggestion of the human soul in that one terrible look. If it was +Wabi—</p> + +<p>They plunged down the hill, into the dip, across the lake, and Mukoki +was on his knees beside the figure in the snow. He turned it over—and +rose without a sound, his battle-glaring eyes peering into the smoking +ruins.</p> + +<p>Rod looked, and shuddered.</p> + +<p>The figure in the snow was not Wabi.</p> + +<p>It was a strange, terrible-looking object—a giant Indian, distorted in +death—and a half of his head was shot away!</p> + +<p>When he again looked at Mukoki the old Indian was in the midst of the +hot ruins, kicking about with his booted feet and poking with the butt +of his rifle.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</p> + +<p>THE RESCUE OF WABIGOON</p> +<br> + +<p>Rod had sunk into the snow close to the dead man. His endurance was gone +and he was as weak as a child. He watched every movement Mukoki made; +saw every start, every glance, and became almost sick with fear whenever +the warrior bent down to examine some object.</p> + +<p>Was Wabi dead—and burned in those ruins?</p> + +<p>Foot by foot Mukoki searched. His feet became hot; the smell of burning +leather filled his nostrils; glowing coals burned through to his feet. +But the old Indian was beyond pain. Only two things filled his soul. One +of these was love for Minnetaki; the other was love for Wabigoon. And +there was only one other thing that could take the place of these, and +that was merciless, undying, savage passion—passion at any wrong or +injury that might be done to them. The Woongas had sneaked upon Wabi. He +knew that. They had caught him unaware, like cowards; and perhaps he was +dead—and in those ruins!</p> + +<p>He searched until his feet were scorched and burned in a score of +places, and then he came out, smoke-blackened, but with some of the +terrible look gone out of his face.</p> + +<p>"He no there!" he said, speaking for the first time.</p> + +<p>Again he crouched beside the dead man, and grimaced at Rod with a +triumphant, gloating chuckle.</p> + +<p>"Much dead!" he grinned.</p> + +<p>In a moment the grimace had gone from his face, and while Rod still +rested he continued his examination of the camp. Close around it the +snow was beaten down with human tracks. Mukoki saw where the outlaws had +stolen up behind the cabin from the forest and he saw where they had +gone away after the attack.</p> + +<p>Five had come down from the cedars, only four had gone away!</p> + +<p>Where was Wabi?</p> + +<p>If he had been captured, and taken with the Indians, there would have +been five trails. Rod understood this as well as Mukoki, and he also +understood why his companion went back to make another investigation of +the smoldering ruins. This second search, however, convinced the Indian +that Wabi's body had not been thrown into the fire. There was only one +conclusion to draw. The youth had made a desperate fight, had killed one +of the outlaws, and after being wounded in the conflict had been carried +off bodily. Wabi and his captors could not be more than two or three +miles away. A quick pursuit would probably overtake them within an hour.</p> + +<p>Mukoki came to Rod's side.</p> + +<p>"Me follow—kill!" he said. "Me kill so many quick!" He pointed toward +the four trails. "You stay—"</p> + +<p>Rod clambered to his feet.</p> + +<p>"You mean we'll kill 'em, Muky," he broke in. "I can follow you again. +Set the pace!"</p> + +<p>There came the click of the safety on Mukoki's rifle, and Rod, following +suit, cocked his own.</p> + +<p>"Much quiet," whispered the Indian when they had come to the farther +side of the dip. "No noise—come up still—shoot!"</p> + +<p>The snow-shoe trail of the outlaws turned from the dip into the timbered +bottoms to the north, and Mukoki, partly crouched, his rifle always to +the front, followed swiftly. They had not progressed a hundred yards +into the plain when the old hunter stopped, a puzzled look in his face. +He pointed to one of the snow-shoe trails which was much deeper than the +others.</p> + +<p>"Heem carry Wabi," he spoke softly. "But—" His eyes gleamed in sudden +excitement. "They go slow! They no hurry! Walk very slow! Take much +time!"</p> + +<p>Rod now observed for the first time that the individual tracks made by +the outlaws were much shorter than their own, showing that instead of +being in haste they were traveling quite slowly. This was a mystery +which was not easy to explain. Did the Woongas not fear pursuit? Was it +possible that they believed the hunters would not hasten to give them +battle? Or were they relying upon the strength of their numbers, or, +perhaps, planning some kind of ambush?</p> + +<p>Mukoki's advance now became slower and more cautious. His keen eyes took +in every tree and clump of bushes ahead. Only when he could see the +trail leading straight away for a considerable distance did he hasten +the pursuit. Never for an instant did he turn his head to Rod. But +suddenly he caught sight of something that brought from him a guttural +sound of astonishment. A fifth track had joined the trail! Without +questioning Rod knew what it meant. Wabi had been lowered from the back +of his captor and was now walking. He was on snow-shoes and his strides +were quite even and of equal length with the others. Evidently he was +not badly wounded.</p> + +<p>Half a mile ahead of them was a high hill and between them and this hill +was a dense growth of cedar, filled with tangled windfalls. It was an +ideal place for an ambush, but the old warrior did not hesitate. The +Woongas had followed a moose trail, with which they were apparently well +acquainted, and in this traveling was easy. But Rod gave an involuntary +shudder as he gazed ahead into the chaotic tangle through which it led. +At any moment he expected to hear the sharp crack of a rifle and to see +Mukoki tumble forward upon his face. Or there might be a fusillade of +shots and he himself might feel the burning sting that comes with rifle +death. At the distance from which they would shoot the outlaws could not +miss. Did not Mukoki realize this? Maddened by the thought that his +beloved Wabi was in the hands of merciless enemies, was the old +pathfinder becoming reckless?</p> + +<p>But when he looked into his companion's face and saw the cool deadly +resolution glittering in his eyes, the youth's confidence was restored. +For some reason Mukoki knew that there would not be an ambush.</p> + +<p>Over the moose-run the two traveled more swiftly and soon they came to +the foot of the high hill. Up this the Woongas had gone, their trail +clearly defined and unswerving in its direction. Mukoki now paused with +a warning gesture to Rod, and pointed down at one of the snow-shoe +tracks. The snow was still crumbling and falling about the edges of this +imprint.</p> + +<p>"Ver' close!" whispered the Indian.</p> + +<p>It was not the light of the game hunt in Mukoki's eyes now; there was a +trembling, terrible tenseness in his whispered words. He crept up the +hill with Rod so near that he could have touched him. At the summit of +that hill he dragged himself up like an animal, and then, crouching, ran +swiftly to the opposite side, his rifle within six inches of his +shoulder. In the plain below them was unfolded to their eyes a scene +which, despite his companion's warning, wrung an exclamation of dismay +from Roderick's lips.</p> + +<center> +<a name="Illus_2"></a><img src="wh002.jpg" width="450" height="708" alt="" title="The leader stopped in his snow-shoes"> +</center> + +<p>Plainly visible to them in the edge of the plain were the outlaw Woongas +and their captive. They were in single file, with Wabi following the +leader, and the hunters perceived that their comrade's arms were tied +behind him.</p> + +<p>But it was another sight that caused Rod's dismay.</p> + +<p>From an opening beside a small lake half a mile beyond the Indians below +there rose the smoke of two camp-fires, and Mukoki and he could make out +at least a score of figures about these fires.</p> + +<p>Within rifle-shot of them, almost within shouting distance, there was +not only the small war party that had attacked the camp, but a third of +the fighting men of the Woonga tribe! Rod understood their terrible +predicament. To attack the outlaws in an effort to rescue Wabi meant +that an overwhelming force would be upon them within a few minutes; to +allow Wabi to remain a captive meant—he shuddered at the thought of +what it might mean, for he knew of the merciless vengeance of the +Woongas upon the House of Wabinosh.</p> + +<p>And while he was thinking of these things the faithful old warrior +beside him had already formed his plan of attack. He would die with +Wabi, gladly—a fighting, terrible slave to devotion to the last; but he +would not see Wabi die alone. A whispered word, a last look at his +rifle, and Mukoki hurried down into the plains.</p> + +<p>At the foot of the hill he abandoned the outlaw trail and Rod realized +that his plan was to sweep swiftly in a semicircle, surprising the +Woongas from the front or side instead of approaching from the rear. +Again he was taxed to his utmost to keep pace with the avenging Mukoki. +Less than ten minutes later the Indian peered cautiously from behind a +clump of hazel, and then looked back at Rod, a smile of satisfaction on +his face.</p> + +<p>"They come," he breathed, just loud enough to hear. "They come!"</p> + +<p>Rod peered over his shoulder, and his heart smote mightily within him. +Unconscious of their peril the Woongas were approaching two hundred +yards away. Mukoki gazed into his companion's face and his eyes were +almost pleading as he laid a bronzed crinkled hand upon the white boy's +arm.</p> + +<p>"You take front man—ahead of Wabi," he whispered. "I take other t'ree. +See that tree—heem birch, with bark off? Shoot heem there. You no +tremble? You no miss?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Rod. He gripped the red hand in his own. "I'll kill, +Mukoki. I'll kill him dead—in one shot!"</p> + +<p>They could hear the voices of the outlaws now, and soon they saw that +Wabi's face was disfigured with blood.</p> + +<p>Step by step, slowly and carelessly, the Woongas approached. They were +fifty yards from the marked birch now—forty—thirty—now only ten. +Roderick's rifle was at his shoulder. Already it held a deadly bead on +the breast of the leader.</p> + +<p>Five yards more—</p> + +<p>The outlaw passed behind the tree; he came out, and the young hunter +pressed the trigger. The leader stopped in his snow-shoes. Even before +he had crumpled down into a lifeless heap in the snow a furious volley +of shots spat forth from Mukoki's gun, and when Rod swung his own rifle +to join again in the fray he found that only one of the four was +standing, and he with his hands to his breast as he tottered about to +fall. But from some one of those who had fallen there had gone out a +wild, terrible cry, and even as Rod and Makoki rushed out to free +Wabigoon there came an answering yell from the direction of the Woonga +camp.</p> + +<p>Mukoki's knife was in his hand by the time he reached Wabi, and with one +or two slashes he had released his hands.</p> + +<p>"You hurt—bad?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No—no!" replied Wabi. "I knew you'd come, boys—dear old friends!"</p> + +<p>As he spoke he turned to the fallen leader and Rod saw him take +possession of the rifle and revolver which he had lost in their fight +with the Woongas weeks before. Mukoki had already spied their precious +pack of furs on one of the outlaw's backs, and he flung it over his own.</p> + +<p>"You saw the camp?" queried Wabi excitedly.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"They will be upon us in a minute! Which way, Mukoki?"</p> + +<p>"The chasm!" half shouted Rod. "The chasm! If we can reach the chasm—"</p> + +<p>"The chasm!" reiterated Wabigoon.</p> + +<p>Mukoki had fallen behind and motioned for Wabi and Rod to take the lead. +Even now he was determined to take the brunt of danger by bringing up +the rear.</p> + +<p>There was no time for argument and Wabigoon set off at a rapid pace. +From behind there came the click of shells as the Indian loaded his +rifle on the run. While the other two had been busy at the scene of the +ambush Rod had replaced his empty shell, and now, as he led, Wabi +examined the armament that had been stolen from them by the outlaws.</p> + +<p>"How many shells have you got, Rod?" he asked over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Forty-nine."</p> + +<p>"There's only four left in this belt besides five in the gun," called +back the Indian youth. "Give me—some."</p> + +<p>Without halting Rod plucked a dozen cartridges from his belt and passed +them on.</p> + +<p>Now they had reached the hill. At its summit they paused to recover +their breath and take a look at the camp.</p> + +<p>The fires were deserted. A quarter of a mile out on the plain they saw +half a dozen of their pursuers speeding toward the hill. The rest were +already concealed in the nearer thickets of the bottom.</p> + +<p>"We must beat them to the chasm!" said the young Indian.</p> + +<p>As he spoke Wabi turned and led the way again.</p> + +<p>Rod's heart fell like a lump within him. We must beat them to the chasm! +Those words of Wabi's brought him to the terrible realization that his +own powers of endurance were rapidly ebbing. His race behind Mukoki to +the burning cabin had seemed to rob the life from the muscles of his +limbs, and each step now added to his weakness. And the chasm was a mile +beyond the dip, and the entrance into that chasm still two miles +farther. Three miles! Could he hold out?</p> + +<p>He heard Mukoki thumping along behind him; ahead of him Wabi was +unconsciously widening the distance between them. He made a powerful +effort to close the breach, but it was futile. Then from close in his +rear there came a warning halloo from the old Indian, and Wabi turned.</p> + +<p>"He run t'ree mile to burning cabin," said Mukoki. "He no make chasm!"</p> + +<p>Rod was deathly white and breathing so hard that he could not speak. The +quick-witted Wabi at once realized their situation.</p> + +<p>"There is just one thing for us to do, Muky. We must stop the Woongas at +the dip. We'll fire down upon them from the top of the hill beyond the +lake. We can drop three or four of them and they won't dare to come +straight after us then. They will think we are going to fight them from +there and will take time to sneak around us. Meanwhile we'll get a good +lead in the direction of the chasm."</p> + +<p>He led off again, this time a little slower. Three minutes later they +entered into the dip, crossed it safely, and were already at the foot of +the hill, when from the opposite side of the hollow there came a +triumphant blood-curdling yell.</p> + +<p>"Hurry!" shouted Wabi. "They see us!" Even as he spoke there came the +crack of a rifle.</p> + +<p>Bzzzzzzz-inggggg!</p> + +<p>For the first time in his life Rod heard that terrible death-song of a +bullet close to his head and saw the snow fly up a dozen feet beyond the +young Indian.</p> + +<p>For an interval of twenty seconds there was silence; then there came +another shot, and after that three others in quick succession. Wabi +stumbled.</p> + +<p>"Not hit!" he called, scrambling to his feet. "Confound—that rock!"</p> + +<p>He rose to the hilltop with Rod close behind him, and from the opposite +side of the lake there came a fusillade of half a dozen shots. +Instinctively Rod dropped upon his face. And in that instant, as he lay +in the snow, he heard the sickening thud of a bullet and a sharp sudden +cry of pain from Mukoki. But the old warrior came up beside him and they +passed into the shelter of the hilltop together.</p> + +<p>"Is it bad? Is it bad, Mukoki? Is it bad—" Wabi was almost sobbing as +he turned and threw an arm around the old Indian. "Are you hit—bad?"</p> + +<p>Mukoki staggered, but caught himself.</p> + +<p>"In here," he said, putting a hand to his left shoulder. "She—no—bad." +He smiled, courage gleaming with pain in his eyes, and swung off the +light pack of furs. "We give 'em—devil—here!"</p> + +<p>Crouching, they peered over the edge of the hill. Half a dozen Woongas +had already left the cedars and were following swiftly across the open. +Others broke from the cover, and Wabi saw that a number of them were +without snow-shoes. He exultantly drew Mukoki's attention to this fact, +but the latter did not lift his eyes. In a few moments he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Now we give 'em—devil!"</p> + +<p>Eight pursuers on snow-shoes were in the open of the dip. Six of them +had reached the lake. Rod held his fire. He knew that it was now more +important for him to recover his wind than to fight, and he drew great +drafts of air into his lungs while his two comrades leveled their +rifles. He could fire after they were done if it was necessary.</p> + +<p>There was slow deadly deliberation in the way Mukoki and Wabigoon +sighted along their rifle-barrels. Mukoki fired first; one shot, +two—with a second's interval between—and an outlaw half-way across the +lake pitched forward into the snow. As he fell, Wabi fired once, and +there came to their ears shriek after shriek of agony as a second +pursuer fell with a shattered leg. At the cries and shots of battle the +hot blood rushed through Rod's veins, and with an excited shout of +defiance he brought his rifle to his shoulder and in unison the three +guns sent fire and death into the dip below.</p> + +<p>Only three of the eight Woongas remained and they had turned and were +running toward the shelter of the cedars.</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!" shouted Rod.</p> + +<p>In his excitement he got upon his feet and sent his fifth and last shot +after the fleeing outlaws. "Hurrah! Wow! Let's go after 'em!"</p> + +<p>"Get down!" commanded Wabi. "Load in a hurry!"</p> + +<p>Clink—clink—clink sounded the new shells as Mukoki and Wabigoon thrust +them into their magazines. Five seconds more and they were sending a +terrific fusillade of shots into the edge of the cedars—ten in all—and +by the time he had reloaded his own gun Rod could see nothing to shoot +at.</p> + +<p>"That will hold them for a while," spoke Wabi. "Most of them came in too +big a hurry, and without their snow-shoes, Muky. We'll beat them to the +chasm—easy!" He put an arm around the shoulders of the old Indian, who +was still lying upon his face in the snow. "Let me see, Muky—let me +see—"</p> + +<p>"Chasm first," replied Mukoki. "She no bad. No hit bone. No +bleed—much."</p> + +<p>From behind Rod could see that Mukoki's coat was showing a growing +blotch of red.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure—you can reach the chasm?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>In proof of his assertion the wounded Indian rose to his feet and +approached the pack of furs. Wabi was ahead of him, and placed it upon +his own shoulders.</p> + +<p>"You and Rod lead the way," he said. "You two know where to find the +opening into the chasm. I've never been there."</p> + +<p>Mukoki started down the hill, and Rod, close behind, could hear him +breathing heavily; there was no longer fear for himself in his soul, but +for that grim faithful warrior ahead, who would die in his tracks +without a murmur and with a smile of triumph and fearlessness on his +lips.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</p> + +<p>RODERICK HOLDS THE WOONGAS AT BAY</p> +<br> + +<p>They traveled more slowly now and Rod found his strength returning. When +they reached the second ridge he took Mukoki by the arm and assisted him +up, and the old Indian made no demur. This spoke more strongly of his +hurt than words. There was still no sign of their enemies behind. From +the top of the second ridge they could look back upon a quarter of a +mile of the valley below, and it was here that Rod suggested that he +remain on watch for a few minutes while Wabigoon went on with Mukoki. +The young hunters could see that the Indian was becoming weaker at every +step, and Mukoki could no longer conceal this weakness in spite of the +tremendous efforts he made to appear natural.</p> + +<p>"I believe it is bad," whispered Wabi to Rod, his face strangely white. +"I believe it is worse than we think. He is bleeding hard. Your idea is +a good one. Watch here, and if the Woongas show up in the valley open +fire on them. I'll leave you my gun, too, so they'll think we are going +to give them another fight. That will keep them back for a time. I'm +going to stop Muky up here a little way and dress his wound. He will +bleed to death if I don't."</p> + +<p>"And then go on," added Rod. "Don't stop if you hear me fire, but hurry +on to the chasm. I know the way and will join you. I'm as strong as I +ever was now, and can catch up with you easily with Mukoki traveling as +slowly as he does."</p> + +<p>During this brief conversation Mukoki had continued his way along the +ridge and Wabi hurried to overtake him. Meanwhile Rod concealed himself +behind a rock, from which vantage-point he could see the whole of that +part of the valley across which they had come.</p> + +<p>He looked at his watch and in tense anxiety counted every minute after +that. He allowed ten minutes for the dressing of Mukoki's wound. Every +second gained from then on would be priceless. For a quarter of an hour +he kept his eyes with ceaseless vigilance upon their back trail. Surely +the Woongas had secured their snow-shoes by this time! Was it possible +that they had given up the pursuit—that their terrible experience in +the dip had made them afraid of further battle? Rod answered this +question in the negative. He was sure that the Woongas knew that Wabi +was the son of the factor of Wabinosh House. Therefore they would make +every effort to recapture him, even though they had to follow far and a +dozen lives were lost before that feat was accomplished.</p> + +<p>A movement in the snow across the valley caught Rod's eyes. He +straightened himself, and his breath came quickly. Two figures had +appeared in the open. Another followed close behind, and after that +there came others, until the waiting youth had counted sixteen. They +were all on snow-shoes, following swiftly over the trail of the +fugitives.</p> + +<p>The young hunter looked at his watch again. Twenty-five minutes had +passed. Mukoki and Wabigoon had secured a good start. If he could only +hold the outlaws in the valley for a quarter of an hour more—just +fifteen short minutes—they would almost have reached the entrance into +the chasm.</p> + +<p>Alone, with his own life and those of his comrades depending upon him, +the boy was cool. There was no tremble in his hands to destroy the +accuracy of his rifle-fire, no blurring excitement or fear in his brain +to trouble his judgment of distance and range. He made up his mind that +he would not fire until they had come within four hundred yards. Between +that distance and three hundred he was sure he could drop at least one +or two of them.</p> + +<p>He measured his range by a jackpine stub, and when two of the Woongas +had reached and passed that stub he fired. He saw the snow thrown up six +feet in front of the leader. He fired again, and again, and one of the +shots, a little high, struck the second outlaw. The leader had darted +back to the shelter of the stub and Rod sent another bullet whizzing +past his ears. His fifth he turned into the main body of the pursuers, +and then, catching up Wabi's rifle, he poured a hail of five bullets +among them in as many seconds.</p> + +<p>The effect was instantaneous. The outlaws scattered in retreat and Rod +saw that a second figure was lying motionless in the snow. He began to +reload his rifles and by the time he had finished the Woongas had +separated and were running to the right and the left of him. For the +last time he looked at his watch. Wabi and Mukoki had been gone +thirty-five minutes.</p> + +<p>The boy crept back from his rock, straightened himself, and followed in +their trail. He mentally calculated that it would be ten minutes before +the Woongas, coming up from the sides and rear, would discover his +flight, and by that time he would have nearly a mile the start of them. +He saw, without stopping, where Wabi had dressed Mukoki's wound. There +were spots of blood and a red rag upon the snow. Half a mile farther on +the two had paused again, and this time he knew that Mukoki had stopped +to rest. From now on they had rested every quarter of a mile or so, and +soon Roderick saw them toiling slowly through the snow ahead of him.</p> + +<p>He ran up, panting, anxious.</p> + +<p>"How—" he began.</p> + +<p>Wabi looked at him grimly.</p> + +<p>"How much farther, Rod?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Not more than half a mile."</p> + +<p>Wabi motioned for him to take Mukoki's other arm.</p> + +<p>"He has bled a good deal," he said. There was a hardness in his voice +that made Rod shudder, and he caught his breath as Wabi shot him a +meaning glance behind the old warrior's doubled shoulders.</p> + +<p>They went faster now, almost carrying their wounded comrade between +them. Suddenly, Wabi paused, threw his rifle to his shoulder, and fired. +A few yards ahead a huge white rabbit kicked in his death struggles in +the snow.</p> + +<p>"If we do reach the chasm Mukoki must have something to eat," he said.</p> + +<p>"We'll reach it!" gasped Rod. "We'll reach it! There's the woods. We go +down there!"</p> + +<p>They almost ran, with Mukoki's snow-shod feet dragging between them, and +five minutes later they were carrying the half-unconscious Indian down +the steep side of the mountain. At its foot Wabi turned, and his eyes +flashed with vengeful hatred.</p> + +<p>"Now, you devils!" he shouted up defiantly. "Now!"</p> + +<p>Mukoki aroused himself for a few moments and Rod helped him back to the +shelter of the chasm wall. He found a nook between great masses of rock, +almost clear of snow, and left him there while he hurried back to +Wabigoon.</p> + +<p>"You stand on guard here, Rod," said the latter. "We must cook that +rabbit and get some life back into Mukoki. I think he has stopped +bleeding, but I am going to look again. The wound isn't fatal, but it +has weakened him. If we can get something hot into him I believe he will +be able to walk again. Did you have anything left over from your dinner +on the trail to-day?"</p> + +<p>Rod unstrapped the small pack in which the hunters carried their food +while on the trail, and which had been upon his shoulders since noon.</p> + +<p>"There is a double handful of coffee, a cupful of tea, plenty of salt +and a little bread," he said.</p> + +<p>"Good! Few enough supplies for three people in this kind of a +wilderness—but they'll save Mukoki!"</p> + +<p>Wabi went back, while Rod, sheltered behind a rock, watched the narrow +incline into the chasm. He almost hoped the Woongas would dare to +attempt a descent, for he was sure that he and Wabi would have them at a +terrible disadvantage and with their revolvers and three rifles could +inflict a decisive blow upon them before they reached the bottom. But he +saw no sign of their enemies. He heard no sound from above, yet he knew +that the outlaws were very near—only waiting for the protecting +darkness of night.</p> + +<p>He heard the crackling of Wabi's fire and the odor of coffee came to +him; and Wabi, assured that their presence was known to the Woongas, +began whistling cheerily. In a few minutes he rejoined Rod behind the +rock.</p> + +<p>"They will attack us as soon as it gets good and dark," he said coolly. +"That is, if they can find us. As soon as they are no longer able to see +down into the chasm we will find some kind of a hiding-place. Mukoki +will be able to travel then."</p> + +<p>A memory of the cleft in the chasm wall came to Rod and he quickly +described it to his companion. It was an ideal hiding-place at night, +and if Mukoki was strong enough they could steal up out of the chasm and +secure a long start into the south before the Woongas discovered their +flight in the morning. There was just one chance of failure. If the spy +whose trail had revealed the break in the mountain to Rod was not among +the outlaws' wounded or dead the cleft might be guarded, or the Woongas +themselves might employ it in making a descent upon them.</p> + +<p>"It's worth the risk anyway," said Wabi. "The chances are even that your +outlaw ran across the fissure by accident and that his companions are +not aware of its existence. And they'll not follow our trail down the +chasm to-night, I'll wager. In the cover of darkness they will steal +down among the rocks and then wait for daylight. Meanwhile we can be +traveling southward and when they catch up with us we will give them +another fight if they want it."</p> + +<p>"We can start pretty soon?"</p> + +<p>"Within an hour."</p> + +<p>For some time the two stood in silent watchfulness. Suddenly Rod asked:</p> + +<p>"Where is Wolf?"</p> + +<p>Wabi laughed, softly, exultantly.</p> + +<p>"Gone back to his people, Rod. He will be crying in the wild hunt-pack +to-night. Good old Wolf!" The laugh left his lips and there was a +tremble of regret in his voice. "The Woongas came from the back of the +cabin—took me by surprise—and we had it hot and heavy for a few +minutes. We fell back where Wolf was tied and just as I knew they'd got +me sure I cut his babeesh with the knife I had in my hand."</p> + +<p>"Didn't he show fight?"</p> + +<p>"For a minute. Then one of the Indians shot, at him and he hiked off +into the woods."</p> + +<p>"Queer they didn't wait for Mukoki and me," mused Rod. "Why didn't they +ambush us?"</p> + +<p>"Because they didn't want you, and they were sure they'd reach their +camp before you took up the trail. I was their prize. With me in their +power they figured on communicating with you and Mukoki and sending you +back to the Post with their terms. They would have bled father to his +last cent—and then killed me. Oh, they talked pretty plainly to me when +they thought they had me!"</p> + +<p>There came a noise from above them and the young hunters held their +rifles in readiness. Nearer and nearer came the crashing sound, until a +small boulder shot past them into the chasm.</p> + +<p>"They're up there," grinned Wabi, lowering his gun. "That was an +accident, but you'd better keep your eyes open. I'll bet the whole tribe +feel like murdering the fellow who rolled over that stone!"</p> + +<p>He crept cautiously back to Mukoki, and Rod crouched with his face to +the narrow trail leading down from the top of the mountain. Deep shadows +were beginning to lurk among the trees and he was determined that any +movement there would draw his fire. Fifteen minutes later Wabi returned, +eating ravenously at a big hind quarter of broiled rabbit.</p> + +<p>"I've had my coffee," he greeted. "Go back and eat and drink, and build +the fire up high. Don't mind me when I shoot. I am going to fire just to +let the Woongas know we are on guard, and after that we'll hustle for +that break in the mountain."</p> + +<p>Rod found Mukoki with a chunk of rabbit in one hand and a cup of coffee +in the other. The wounded Indian smiled with something like the old +light in his eyes and a mighty load was lifted from Rod's heart.</p> + +<p>"You're better?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Fine!" replied Mukoki. "No much hurt. Good fight some more. Wabi say, +'No, you stay.'" His face became a map of grimaces to show his +disapproval of Wabi's command.</p> + +<p>Rod helped himself to the meat and coffee. He was hungry, but after he +was done there remained some of the rabbit and a biscuit and these he +placed in his pack for further use. Soon after this there came two shots +from the rock and before the echoes had died away down the chasm Wabi +approached through the gathering gloom.</p> + +<p>It was easy for the hunters to steal along the concealment of the +mountain wall, and even if there had been prying eyes on the opposite +ridge they could not have penetrated the thickening darkness in the +bottom of the gulch. For some time the flight was continued with extreme +caution, no sound being made to arouse the suspicion of any outlaw who +might be patrolling the edge of the precipice. At the end of half an +hour Mukoki, who was in the lead that he might set a pace according to +his strength, quickened his steps. Rod was close beside him now, his +eyes ceaselessly searching the chasm wall for signs that would tell him +when they were nearing the rift. Suddenly Wabi halted in his tracks and +gave a low hiss that stopped them.</p> + +<p>"It's snowing!" he whispered.</p> + +<p>Mukoki lifted his face. Great solitary flakes of snow fell upon it.</p> + +<p>"She snow hard—soon. Mebby cover snow-shoe trails!"</p> + +<p>"And if it does—we're safe!" There was a vibrant joy in Wabi's voice.</p> + +<p>For a full minute Mukoki held his face to the sky.</p> + +<p>"Hear small wind over chasm," he said.</p> + +<p>"She come from south. She snow hard—now—up there!"</p> + +<p>They went on, stirred by new hope. Rod could feel that the flakes were +coming thicker. The three now kept close to the chasm wall in their +search for the rift. How changed all things were at night! Rod's heart +throbbed now with hope, now with doubt, now with actual fear. Was it +possible that he could not find it? Had they passed it among some of the +black shadows behind? He saw no rock that he recognized, no overhanging +crag, no sign to guide him. He stopped, and his voice betrayed his +uneasiness as he asked:</p> + +<p>"How far do you think we have come?"</p> + +<p>Mukoki had gone a few steps ahead, and before Wabi answered he called +softly to them from close up against the chasm wall. They hurried to him +and found him standing beside the rift.</p> + +<p>"Here!"</p> + +<p>Wabi handed his rifle to Rod.</p> + +<p>"I'm going up first," he announced. "If the coast is clear I'll whistle +down."</p> + +<p>For a few moments Mukoki and Rod could hear him as he crawled up the +fissure. Then all was silent. A quarter of an hour passed, and a low +whistle came to their ears. Another ten minutes and the three stood +together at the top of the mountain, Rod and the wounded Mukoki +breathing hard from their exertions.</p> + +<p>For a time the three sat down in the snow and waited, watched, listened; +and from Rod's heart there went up something that was almost a prayer, +for it was snowing—snowing hard, and it seemed to him that the storm +was something which God had specially directed should fall in their path +that it might shield them and bring them safely home.</p> + +<p>And when he rose to his feet Wabi was still silent, and the three +gripped hands in mute thankfulness at their deliverance.</p> + +<p>Still speechless, they turned instinctively for a moment back to the +dark desolation beyond the chasm—the great, white wilderness in which +they had passed so many adventurous yet happy weeks; and as they gazed +into the chaos beyond the second mountain there came to them the lonely, +wailing howl of a wolf.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said Wabi softly. "I wonder—if that—is Wolf?"</p> + +<p>And then, Indian file, they trailed into the south.</p> + +<br> + +<p><a name="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</p> + +<p>THE SURPRISE AT THE POST</p> +<br> + +<p>From the moment that the adventurers turned their backs upon the Woonga +country Mukoki was in command. With the storm in their favor everything +else now depended upon the craft of the old pathfinder. There was +neither moon nor wind to guide them, and even Wabi felt that he was not +competent to strike a straight trail in a strange country and a night +storm. But Mukoki, still a savage in the ways of the wilderness, seemed +possessed of that mysterious sixth sense which is known as the sense of +orientation—that almost supernatural instinct which guides the carrier +pigeon as straight as a die to its home-cote hundreds of miles away. +Again and again during that thrilling night's flight Wabi or Rod would +ask the Indian where Wabinosh House lay, and he would point out its +direction to them without hesitation. And each time it seemed to the +city youth that he pointed a different way, and it proved to him how +easy it was to become hopelessly lost in the wilderness.</p> + +<p>Not until midnight did they pause to rest. They had traveled slowly but +steadily and Wabi figured that they had covered fifteen miles. Five +miles behind them their trail was completely obliterated by the falling +snow. Morning would betray to the Woongas no sign of the direction taken +by the fugitives.</p> + +<p>"They will believe that we have struck directly westward for the Post," +said Wabi. "To-morrow night we'll be fifty miles apart."</p> + +<p>During this stop a small fire was built behind a fallen log and the +hunters refreshed themselves with a pot of strong coffee and what little +remained of the rabbit and biscuits. The march was then resumed.</p> + +<p>It seemed to Rod that they had climbed an interminable number of ridges +and had picked their way through an interminable number of swampy +bottoms between them, and he, even more than Mukoki, was relieved when +they struck the easier traveling of open plains. In fact, Mukoki seemed +scarcely to give a thought to his wound and Roderick was almost ready to +drop in his tracks by the time a halt was called an hour before dawn. +The old warrior was confident that they were now well out of danger and +a rousing camp-fire was built in the shelter of a thick growth of +spruce.</p> + +<p>"Spruce partridge in mornin'," affirmed Mukoki. "Plenty here for +breakfast."</p> + +<p>"How do you know?" asked Rod, whose hunger was ravenous.</p> + +<p>"Fine thick spruce, all in shelter of dip," explained the Indian. "Birds +winter here."</p> + +<p>Wabi had unpacked the furs, and the larger of these, including six lynx +and three especially fine wolf skins, he divided into three piles.</p> + +<p>"They'll make mighty comfortable beds if you keep close enough to the +fire," he explained. "Get a few spruce boughs, Rod, and cover them over +with one of the wolf skins. The two lynx pelts will make the warmest +blankets you ever had."</p> + +<p>Rod quickly availed himself of this idea, and within half an hour he was +sleeping soundly. Mukoki and Wabigoon, more inured to the hardships of +the wilderness, took only brief snatches of slumber, one or both +awakening now and then to replenish the fire. As soon as it was light +enough the two Indians went quietly out into the spruce with their guns, +and their shots a little later awakened Rod. When they returned they +brought three partridges with them.</p> + +<p>"There are dozens of them among the spruce," said Wabi, "but just now we +do not want to shoot any oftener than is absolutely necessary. Have you +noticed our last night's trail?"</p> + +<p>Rod rubbed his eyes, thus confessing that as yet he had not been out +from between his furs.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you go out there in the open for a hundred yards you won't +find it," finished his comrade. "The snow has covered it completely."</p> + +<p>Although they lacked everything but meat, this breakfast in the spruce +thicket was one of the happiest of the entire trip, and when the three +hunters were done each had eaten of his partridge until only the bones +were left. There was now little cause for fear, for it was still snowing +and their enemies were twenty-five miles to the north of them. This fact +did not deter the adventurers from securing an early start, however, and +they traveled southward through the storm until noon, when they built a +camp of spruce and made preparations to rest until the following day.</p> + +<p>"We must be somewhere near the Kenogami trail," Wabi remarked to Mukoki. +"We may have passed it."</p> + +<p>"No pass it," replied Mukoki. "She off there." He pointed to the south.</p> + +<p>"You see the Kenogami trail is a sled trail leading from the little town +of Nipigon, on the railroad, to Kenogami House, which is a Hudson Bay +Post at the upper end of Long Lake," explained Wabi to his white +companion. "The factor of Kenogami is a great friend of ours and we have +visited back and forth often, but I've been over the Kenogami trail only +once. Mukoki has traveled it many times."</p> + +<p>Several rabbits were killed before dinner. No other hunting was done +during the afternoon, most of which was passed in sleep by the exhausted +adventurers. When Rod awoke he found that it had stopped snowing and was +nearly dark.</p> + +<p>Mukoki's wound was beginning to trouble him again, and it was decided +that at least a part of the next day should be passed in camp, and that +both Rod and Wabigoon should make an effort to kill some animal that +would furnish them with the proper kind of oil to dress it with, the fat +of almost any species of animal except mink or rabbit being valuable for +this purpose. With dawn the two started out, while Mukoki, much against +his will, was induced to remain in camp. A short distance away the +hunters separated, Rod striking to the eastward and Wabi into the south.</p> + +<p>For an hour Roderick continued without seeing game, though there were +plenty of signs of deer and caribou about him. At last he determined to +strike for a ridge a mile to the south, from the top of which he was +more likely to get a shot than in the thick growth of the plains. He had +not traversed more than a half of the distance when much to his surprise +he came upon a well-beaten trail running slightly diagonally with his +own, almost due north. Two dog-teams had passed since yesterday's storm, +and on either side of the sleds were the snow-shoe trails of men. Rod +saw that there were three of these, and at least a dozen dogs in the two +teams. It at once occurred to him that this was the Kenogami trail, and +impelled by nothing more than curiosity he began to follow it.</p> + +<p>Half a mile farther on he found where the party had stopped to cook a +meal. The remains of their camp-fire lay beside a huge log, which was +partly burned away, and about it were scattered bones and bits of bread. +But what most attracted Rod's attention were other tracks which joined +those of the three people on snow-shoes. He was sure that these tracks +had been made by women, for the footprints made by one of them were +unusually small. Close to the log he found a single impression in the +snow that caused his heart to give a sudden unexpected thump within him. +In this spot the snow had been packed by one of the snow-shoes, and in +this comparatively hard surface the footprint was clearly defined. It +had been made by a moccasin. Rod knew that. And the moccasin wore a +slight heel! He remembered, now, that thrilling day in the forest near +Wabinosh House when he had stopped to look at Minnetaki's footprints in +the soft earth through which she had been driven by her Woonga +abductors, and he remembered, too, that she was the only person at the +Post who wore heels on her moccasins. It was a queer coincidence! Could +Minnetaki have been here? Had she made that footprint in the snow? +Impossible, declared the young hunter's better sense. And yet his blood +ran a little faster as he touched the delicate impression with his bare +fingers. It reminded him of Minnetaki, anyway; her foot would have made +just such a trail, and he wondered if the girl who had stepped there was +as pretty as she.</p> + +<p>He followed now a little faster than before, and ten minutes later he +came to where a dozen snow-shoe trails had come in from the north and +had joined the three. After meeting, the two parties had evidently +joined forces and had departed over the trail made by those who had +appeared from the direction of the Post.</p> + +<p>"Friends from Kenogami House came down to meet them," mused Rod, and as +he turned back in the direction of the camp he formed a picture of that +meeting in the heart of the wilderness, of the glad embraces of husband +and wife, and the joy of the pretty girl with the tiny feet as she +kissed her father, and perhaps her big brother; for no girl could +possess feet just like Minnetaki's and not be pretty!</p> + +<p>He found that Wabi had preceded him when he returned. The young Indian +had shot a small doe, and that noon witnessed a feast in camp. For his +lack of luck Rod had his story to tell of the people on the trail. The +passing of this party formed the chief topic of conversation during the +rest of the day, for after weeks of isolation in the wilderness even +this momentary nearness of living civilized men and women was a great +event to them. But there was one fact which Rod dwelt but slightly upon. +He did not emphasize the similarity of the pretty footprint and that +made by Minnetaki's moccasin, for he knew that a betrayal of his +knowledge and admiration of the Indian maiden's feet would furnish Wabi +with fun-making ammunition for a week. He did say, however, that the +footprint in the snow struck him as being just about the size that +Minnetaki would make.</p> + +<p>All that day and night the hunters remained in camp, sleeping, eating +and taking care of Mukoki's wound, but the next morning saw them ready +for their homeward journey with the coming of dawn. They struck due +westward now, satisfied that they were well beyond the range of the +outlaw Woongas.</p> + +<p>As the boys talked over their adventure on the long journey back toward +the Post, Wabi thought with regret of the moose head which he had left +buried in the "Indian ice-box," and even wished, for a moment, to go +home by the northern trail, despite the danger from the hostile Woongas, +in order to recover the valuable antlers. But Mukoki shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Woonga make good fight. What for go again into wolf trap?"</p> + +<p>And so they reluctantly gave up the notion of carrying the big head of +the bull moose back to the Post.</p> + +<p>A little before noon of the second day they saw Lake Nipigon from the +top of a hill. Columbus when he first stepped upon the shore of his +newly discovered land was not a whit happier than Roderick Drew when +that joyous youth, running out upon the snow-covered ice, attempted to +turn a somersault with his snow-shoes on!</p> + +<p>Just over there, thought Rod—just over there—a hundred miles or so, is +Minnetaki and the Post! Happy visions filled his mind all that afternoon +as they traveled across the foot of the lake. Three weeks more and he +would see his mother—and home. And Wabi was going with him! He seemed +tireless; his spirits were never exhausted; he laughed, whistled, even +attempted to sing. He wondered if Minnetaki would be very glad to see +him. He knew that she would be glad—but how glad?</p> + +<p>Two days more were spent in circling the lower end of the lake. Then +their trail turned northward, and on the second evening after this, as +the cold red sun was sinking in all that heatless glory of the great +North's day-end, they came out upon a forest-clad ridge and looked down +upon the House of Wabinosh.</p> + +<p>And as they looked—and as the burning disk of the sun, falling down and +down behind forest, mountain and plain, bade its last adieu to the land +of the wild, there came to them, strangely clear and beautiful, the +notes of a bugle.</p> + +<p>And Wabi, listening, grew rigid with wonder. As the last notes died away +the cheers that had been close to his lips gave way to the question, +"What does that mean?"</p> + +<p>"A bugle!" said Rod.</p> + +<p>As he spoke there came to their ears the heavy, reverberating boom of a +big gun.</p> + +<p>"If I'm not mistaken," he added, "that is a sunset salute. I didn't know +you had—soldiers—at the Post!"</p> + +<p>"We haven't," replied the Indian youth. "By George, what do you suppose +it means?"</p> + +<p>He hurried down the ridge, the others close behind him. Fifteen minutes +later they trailed out into the open near the Post. A strange change had +occurred since Rod and his companions had last seen Wabinosh House. In +the open half a dozen rude log shelters had been erected, and about +these were scores of soldiers in the uniform of his Majesty, the King of +England. Shouts of greeting died on the hunters' lips. They hastened to +the dwelling of the factor, and while Wabi rushed in to meet his mother +and father Rod cut across to the Company's store. He had often found +Minnetaki there. But his present hope was shattered, and after looking +in he turned back to the house. By the time he had reached the steps a +second time the princess mother, with Wabi close behind her, came out to +welcome him.</p> + +<p>Wabi's face was flushed with excitement. His eyes sparkled.</p> + +<p>"Rod, what do you think!" he exclaimed, after his mother had gone back +to see to the preparation of their supper. "The government has declared +war on the Woongas and has sent up a company of regulars to wipe'em out! +They have been murdering and robbing as never before during the last two +months. The regulars start after them to-morrow!"</p> + +<p>He was breathing hard and excitedly.</p> + +<p>"Can't you stay—and join in the campaign?" he pleaded.</p> + +<p>"I can't," replied Rod. "I can't, Wabi; I've got to go home. You know +that. And you're going with me. The regulars can get along without you. +Go back to Detroit with me—and get your mother to let Minnetaki go with +us."</p> + +<p>"Not now, Rod," said the Indian youth, taking his friend's hand. "I +won't be able to go—now. Nor Minnetaki either. They have been having +such desperate times here that father has sent her away. He wanted +mother to go, but she wouldn't."</p> + +<p>"Sent Minnetaki away?" gasped Rod.</p> + +<p>"Yes. She started for Kenogami House four days ago in company with an +Indian woman and three guides. That was undoubtedly their trail you +found."</p> + +<p>"And the footprint—"</p> + +<p>"Was hers," laughed Wabi, putting an arm affectionately around his +chum's shoulders. "Won't you stay, Rod?"</p> + +<p>"It is impossible."</p> + +<p>He went to his old room, and until suppertime sat alone in silent +dejection. Two great disappointments had fallen upon him. Wabi could not +go home with him—and he had missed Minnetaki. The young girl had left a +note in her mother's care for him, and he read it again and again. She +had written it believing that she would return to Wabinosh House before +the hunters, but at the end she had added a paragraph in which she said +that if she did not do this Rod must make the Post a second visit very +soon, and bring his mother with him.</p> + +<p>At supper the princess mother several times pressed Minnetaki's +invitation upon the young hunter. She read to him parts of certain +letters which she had received from Mrs. Drew during the winter, and Rod +was overjoyed to find that his mother was not only in good health, but +that she had given her promise to visit Wabinosh House the following +summer. Wabi broke all table etiquette by giving vent to a warlike whoop +of joy at this announcement, and once more Rod's spirits rose high above +his temporary disappointments.</p> + +<p>That night the furs were appraised and purchased by the factor for his +Company, and Rod's share, including his third of the gold, was nearly +seven hundred dollars. The next morning the bi-monthly sled party, was +leaving for civilization, and he prepared to go with it, after writing a +long letter to Minnetaki, which was to be carried to her by the faithful +Mukoki. Most of that night Wabi and his friend sat up and talked, and +made plans. It was believed that the campaign against the Woongas would +be a short and decisive one. By spring all trouble would be over.</p> + +<p>"And you'll come back as soon as you can?" pleaded Wabi for the +hundredth time. "You'll come back by the time the ice breaks up?"</p> + +<p>"If I am alive!" pledged the city youth.</p> + +<p>"And you'll bring your mother?"</p> + +<p>"She has promised."</p> + +<p>"And then—for the gold!"</p> + +<p>"For the gold!"</p> + +<p>Wabi held out his hand and the two gripped heartily.</p> + +<p>"And Minnetaki will be here then—I swear it!" said the Indian youth, +laughing.</p> + +<p>Rod blushed.</p> + +<p>And that night alone he slipped quietly out into the still, white night; +and he looked, longingly, far into the southeast where he had found the +footprint in the snow; and he turned to the north, and the east, and the +west, and lastly to the south, and his eyes seemed to travel through the +distance of a thousand miles to where a home and a mother lay sleeping +in a great city. And as he turned back to the House of Wabinosh, where +all the lights were out, he spoke softly to himself:</p> + +<p>"It's home—to-morrow!"</p> + +<p>And then he added:</p> + +<p>"But you bet I'll be back by the time the ice breaks up!"</p> + +<p>THE END</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Wolf Hunters, by James Oliver Curwood + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOLF HUNTERS *** + +***** This file should be named 12170-h.htm or 12170-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/1/7/12170/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Dave Macfarlane and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Wolf Hunters + A Tale of Adventure in the Wilderness + +Author: James Oliver Curwood + +Release Date: April 27, 2004 [EBook #12170] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOLF HUNTERS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Dave Macfarlane and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + + + + +THE WOLF HUNTERS + +A Tale of Adventure in the Wilderness + +BY +JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD + +1908 + +To my comrades of the great northern wilderness, those faithful +companions with whom I have shared the joys and hardships of the "long +silent trail," and especially to Mukoki, my red guide and beloved +friend, does the writer gratefully dedicate this volume + + +CONTENTS + +Chapter + +I The Fight in the Forest +II How Wabigoon Became a White Man +III Roderick Sees the Footprint +IV Roderick's First Taste of the Hunter's Life +V Shots in the Wilderness +VI Mukoki Disturbs the Ancient Skeletons +VII Roderick Discovers the Buckskin Bag +VIII How Wolf Became the Companion of Men +IX Wolf Takes Vengeance Upon His People +X Roderick Explores the Chasm +XI Roderick's Dream +XII The Secret of the Skeleton's Hand +XIII Snowed In +XIV The Rescue of Wabigoon +XV Roderick Holds the Woongas at Bay +XVI The Surprise at the Post + + +Illustrations: + +With his rifle ready Rob approached the fissure (Frontispiece) +Knife--fight--heem killed! +The leader stopped in his snow-shoes + + +THE WOLF HUNTERS + + +CHAPTER I + +THE FIGHT IN THE FOREST + + +Cold winter lay deep in the Canadian wilderness. Over it the moon was +rising, like a red pulsating ball, lighting up the vast white silence of +the night in a shimmering glow. Not a sound broke the stillness of the +desolation. It was too late for the life of day, too early for the +nocturnal roamings and voices of the creatures of the night. Like the +basin of a great amphitheater the frozen lake lay revealed in the light +of the moon and a billion stars. Beyond it rose the spruce forest, black +and forbidding. Along its nearer edges stood hushed walls of tamarack, +bowed in the smothering clutch of snow and ice, shut in by impenetrable +gloom. + +A huge white owl flitted out of this rim of blackness, then back again, +and its first quavering hoot came softly, as though the mystic hour of +silence had not yet passed for the night-folk. The snow of the day had +ceased, hardly a breath of air stirred the ice-coated twigs of the +trees. Yet it was bitter cold--so cold that a man, remaining motionless, +would have frozen to death within an hour. + +Suddenly there was a break in the silence, a weird, thrilling sound, +like a great sigh, but not human--a sound to make one's blood run faster +and fingers twitch on rifle-stock. It came from the gloom of the +tamaracks. After it there fell a deeper silence than before, and the +owl, like a noiseless snowflake, drifted out over the frozen lake. After +a few moments it came again, more faintly than before. One versed in +woodcraft would have slunk deeper into the rim of blackness, and +listened, and wondered, and watched; for in the sound he would have +recognized the wild, half-conquered note of a wounded beast's suffering +and agony. + +Slowly, with all the caution born of that day's experience, a huge bull +moose walked out into the glow of the moon. His magnificent head, +drooping under the weight of massive antlers, was turned inquisitively +across the lake to the north. His nostrils were distended, his eyes +glaring, and he left behind a trail of blood. Half a mile away he caught +the edge of the spruce forest. There something told him he would find +safety. A hunter would have known that he was wounded unto death as he +dragged himself out into the foot-deep snow of the lake. + +A dozen rods out from the tamaracks he stopped, head thrown high, long +ears pitched forward, and nostrils held half to the sky. It is in this +attitude that a moose listens when he hears a trout splash +three-quarters of a mile away. Now there was only the vast, unending +silence, broken only by the mournful hoot of the snow owl on the other +side of the lake. Still the great beast stood immovable, a little pool +of blood growing upon the snow under his forward legs. What was the +mystery that lurked in the blackness of yonder forest? Was it danger? +The keenest of human hearing would have detected nothing. Yet to those +long slender ears of the bull moose, slanting beyond the heavy plates of +his horns, there came a sound. The animal lifted his head still higher +to the sky, sniffed to the east, to the west, and back to the shadows of +the tamaracks. But it was the north that held him. + +From beyond that barrier of spruce there soon came a sound that man +might have heard--neither the beginning nor the end of a wail, but +something like it. Minute by minute it came more clearly, now growing in +volume, now almost dying away, but every instant approaching--the +distant hunting call of the wolf-pack! What the hangman's noose is to +the murderer, what the leveled rifles are to the condemned spy, that +hunt-cry of the wolves is to the wounded animal of the forests. + +Instinct taught this to the old bull. His head dropped, his huge antlers +leveled themselves with his shoulders, and he set off at a slow trot +toward the east. He was taking chances in thus crossing the open, but to +him the spruce forest was home, and there he might find refuge. In his +brute brain he reasoned that he could get there before the wolves broke +cover. And then-- + +Again he stopped, so suddenly that his forward legs doubled under him +and he pitched into the snow. This time, from the direction of the +wolf-pack, there came the ringing report of a rifle! It might have been +a mile or two miles away, but distance did not lessen the fear it +brought to the dying king of the North. That day he had heard the same +sound, and it had brought mysterious and weakening pain in his vitals. +With a supreme effort he brought himself to his feet, once more sniffed +into the north, the east, and the west, then turned and buried himself +in the black and frozen wilderness of tamarack. + +Stillness fell again with the sound of the rifle-shot. It might have +lasted five minutes or ten, when a long, solitary howl floated from +across the lake. It ended in the sharp, quick yelp of a wolf on the +trail, and an instant later was taken up by others, until the pack was +once more in full cry. Almost simultaneously a figure darted out upon +the ice from the edge of the forest. A dozen paces and it paused and +turned back toward the black wall of spruce. + +"Are you coming, Wabi?" + +A voice answered from the woods. "Yes. Hurry up--run!" + +Thus urged, the other turned his face once more across the lake. He was +a youth of not more than eighteen. In his right hand he carried a club. +His left arm, as if badly injured, was done up in a sling improvised +from a lumberman's heavy scarf. His face was scratched and bleeding, and +his whole appearance showed that he was nearing complete exhaustion. For +a few moments he ran through the snow, then halted to a staggering walk. +His breath came in painful gasps. The club slipped from his nerveless +fingers, and conscious of the deathly weakness that was overcoming him +he did not attempt to regain it. Foot by foot he struggled on, until +suddenly his knees gave way under him and he sank down into the snow. + +From the edge of the spruce forest a young Indian now ran out upon the +surface of the lake. His breath was coming quickly, but with excitement +rather than fatigue. Behind him, less than half a mile away, he could +hear the rapidly approaching cry of the hunt-pack, and for an instant he +bent his lithe form close to the snow, measuring with the acuteness of +his race the distance of the pursuers. Then he looked for his white +companion, and failed to see the motionless blot that marked where the +other had fallen. A look of alarm shot into his eyes, and resting his +rifle between his knees he placed his hands, trumpet fashion, to his +mouth and gave a signal call which, on a still night like this, carried +for a mile. + +"Wa-hoo-o-o-o-o-o! Wa-hoo-o-o-o-o-o!" + +At that cry the exhausted boy in the snow staggered to his feet, and +with an answering shout which came but faintly to the ears of the +Indian, resumed his flight across the lake. Two or three minutes later +Wabi came up beside him. + +"Can you make it, Rod?" he cried. + +The other made an effort to answer, but his reply was hardly more than a +gasp. Before Wabi could reach out to support him he had lost his little +remaining strength and fallen for a second time into the snow. + +"I'm afraid--I--can't do it--Wabi," he whispered. "I'm--bushed--" + +The young Indian dropped his rifle and knelt beside the wounded boy, +supporting his head against his own heaving shoulders. + +"It's only a little farther, Rod," he urged. "We can make it, and take +to a tree. We ought to have taken to a tree back there, but I didn't +know that you were so far gone; and there was a good chance to make +camp, with three cartridges left for the open lake." + +"Only three!" + +"That's all, but I ought to make two of them count in this light. Here, +take hold of my shoulders! Quick!" + +He doubled himself like a jack-knife in front of his half-prostrate +companion. From behind them there came a sudden chorus of the wolves, +louder and clearer than before. + +"They've hit the open and we'll have them on the lake inside of two +minutes," he cried. "Give me your arms, Rod! There! Can you hold the +gun?" + +He straightened himself, staggering under the other's weight, and set +off on a half-trot for the distant tamaracks. Every muscle in his +powerful young body was strained to its utmost tension. Even more fully +than his helpless burden did he realize the peril at their backs. + +Three minutes, four minutes more, and then-- + +A terrible picture burned in Wabi's brain, a picture he had carried from +boyhood of another child, torn and mangled before his very eyes by these +outlaws of the North, and he shuddered. Unless he sped those three +remaining bullets true, unless that rim of tamaracks was reached in +time, he knew what their fate would be. There flashed into his mind one +last resource. He might drop his wounded companion and find safety for +himself. But it was a thought that made Wabi smile grimly. This was not +the first time that these two had risked their lives together, and that +very day Roderick had fought valiantly for the other, and had been the +one to suffer. If they died, it would be in company. Wabi made up his +mind to that and clutched the other's arms in a firmer grip. He was +pretty certain that death faced them both. They might escape the wolves, +but the refuge of a tree, with the voracious pack on guard below, meant +only a more painless end by cold. Still, while there was life there was +hope, and he hurried on through the snow, listening for the wolves +behind him and with each moment feeling more keenly that his own powers +of endurance were rapidly reaching an end. + +For some reason that Wabi could not explain the hunt-pack had ceased to +give tongue. Not only the allotted two minutes, but five of them, passed +without the appearance of the animals on the lake. Was it possible that +they! had lost the trail? Then it occurred to the Indian that perhaps he +had wounded one of the pursuers, and that the others, discovering his +injury, had set upon him and were now participating in one of the +cannibalistic feasts that had saved them thus far. Hardly had he thought +of this possibility when he was thrilled by a series of long howls, and +looking back he discerned a dozen or more dark objects moving swiftly +over their trail. + +Not an eighth of a mile ahead was the tamarack forest. Surely Rod could +travel that distance! + +"Run for it, Rod!" he cried. "You're rested now. I'll stay here and +stop 'em!" + +He loosened the other's arms, and as he did so his rifle fell from the +white boy's nerveless grip and buried itself in the snow. As he relieved +himself of his burden he saw for the first time the deathly pallor and +partly closed eyes of his companion. With a new terror filling his own +faithful heart he knelt beside the form which lay so limp and lifeless, +his blazing eyes traveling from the ghastly face to the oncoming wolves, +his rifle ready in his hands. He could now discern the wolves trailing +out from the spruce forest like ants. A dozen of them were almost within +rifle-shot. Wabi knew that it was with this vanguard of the pack that he +must deal if he succeeded in stopping the scores behind. Nearer and +nearer he allowed them to come, until the first were scarce two hundred +feet away. Then, with a sudden shout, the Indian leaped to his feet and +dashed fearlessly toward them. This unexpected move, as he had intended, +stopped the foremost wolves in a huddled group for an instant, and in +this opportune moment Wabi leveled his gun and fired. A long howl of +pain testified to the effect of the shot. Hardly had it begun when Wabi +fired again, this time with such deadly precision that one of the +wolves, springing high into the air, tumbled back lifeless among the +pack without so much as making a sound. + +Running to the prostrate Roderick, Wabi drew him quickly upon his back, +clutched his rifle in the grip of his arm, and started again for the +tamaracks. Only once did he look back, and then he saw the wolves +gathering in a snarling, fighting crowd about their slaughtered +comrades. Not until he had reached the shelter of the tamaracks did the +Indian youth lay down his burden, and then in his own exhaustion he fell +prone upon the snow, his black eyes fixed cautiously upon the feasting +pack. A few minutes later he discerned dark spots appearing here and +there upon the whiteness of the snow, and at these signs of the +termination of the feast he climbed up into the low branches of a spruce +and drew Roderick after him. Not until then did the wounded boy show +visible signs of life. Slowly he recovered from the faintness which had +overpowered him, and after a little, with some assistance from Wabi, was +able to place himself safely on a higher limb. + +"That's the second time, Wabi," he said, reaching a hand down +affectionately to the other's shoulder. "Once from drowning, once from +the wolves. I've got a lot to even up with you!" + +"Not after what happened to-day!" + +The Indian's dusky face was raised until the two were looking into each +other's eyes, with a gaze of love, and trust. Only a moment thus, and +instinctively their glance turned toward the lake. The wolf-pack was in +plain view. It was the biggest pack that Wabi, in all his life in the +wilderness, had ever seen, and he mentally figured that there were at +least half a hundred animals in it. Like ravenous dogs after having a +few scraps of meat flung among them, the wolves were running about, +nosing here and there, as if hoping to find a morsel that might have +escaped discovery. Then one of them stopped on the trail and, throwing +himself half on his haunches, with his head turned to the sky like a +baying hound, started the hunt-cry. + +"There's two packs. I thought it was too big for one," exclaimed the +Indian. "See! Part of them are taking up the trail and the others are +lagging behind gnawing the bones of the dead wolf. Now if we only had +our ammunition and the other gun those murderers got away from us, we'd +make a fortune. What--" + +Wabi stopped with a suddenness that spoke volumes, and the supporting +arm that he had thrown around Rod's waist tightened until it caused the +wounded youth to flinch. Both boys stared in rigid silence. The wolves +were crowding around a spot in the snow half-way between the tamarack +refuge and the scene of the recent feast. The starved animals betrayed +unusual excitement. They had struck the pool of blood and red trail made +by the dying moose! + +"What is it, Wabi?" whispered Rod. + +The Indian did not answer. His black eyes gleamed with a new fire, his +lips were parted in anxious anticipation, and he seemed hardly to +breathe in his tense interest. The wounded boy repeated his question, +and as if in reply the pack swerved to the west and in a black silent +mass swept in a direction that would bring them into the tamaracks a +hundred yards from the young hunters. + +"A new trail!" breathed Wabi. "A new trail, and a hot one! Listen! They +make no sound. It is always that way when they are close to a kill!" + +As they looked the last of the wolves disappeared in the forest. For a +few moments there was silence, then a chorus of howls came from deep in +the woods behind them. + +"Now is our chance," cried the Indian. "They've broken again, and their +game--" + +He had partly slipped from his limb, withdrawing his supporting arm from +Rod's waist, and was about to descend to the ground when the pack again +turned in their direction. A heavy crashing in the underbrush not a +dozen rods away sent Wabi in a hurried scramble for his perch. + +"Quick--higher up!" he warned excitedly. "They're coming out here--right +under us! If we can get up so that they can't see us, or smell us--" + +The words were scarcely out of his mouth when a huge shadowy bulk rushed +past them not more than fifty feet from the spruce in which they had +sought refuge. Both of the boys recognized it as a bull moose, though it +did not occur to either of them that it was the same animal at which +Wabi had taken a long shot that same day a couple of miles back. In +close pursuit came the ravenous pack. Their heads hung close to the +bloody trail, hungry, snarling cries coming from between their gaping +jaws, they swept across the little opening almost at the young hunters' +feet. It was a sight which Rod had never expected to see, and one which +held even the more experienced Wabi fascinated. Not a sound fell from +either of the youths' lips as they stared down upon the fierce, hungry +outlaws of the wilderness. To Wabi this near view of the pack told a +fateful story; to Rod it meant nothing more than the tragedy about to be +enacted before his eyes. The Indian's keen vision saw in the white +moonlight long, thin bodies, starved almost to skin and bone; to his +companion the onrushing pack seemed filled only with agile, powerful +beasts, maddened to almost fiendish exertions by the nearness of their +prey. + +In a flash they were gone, but in that moment of their passing there was +painted a picture to endure a lifetime in the memory of Roderick Drew. +And it was to be followed by one even more tragic, even more thrilling. +To the dazed, half-fainting young hunter it seemed but another instant +before the pack overhauled the old bull. He saw the doomed monster turn, +in the stillness heard the snapping of jaws, the snarling of +hunger-crazed animals, and a sound that might have been a great, heaving +moan or a dying bellow. In Wabi's veins the blood danced with the +excitement that stirred his forefathers to battle. Not a line of the +tragedy that was being enacted before his eyes escaped this native son +of the wilderness. It was a magnificent fight! He knew that the old bull +would die by inches in the one-sided duel, and that when it was over +there would be more than one carcass for the survivors to gorge +themselves upon. Quietly he reached up and touched his companion. + +"Now is our time," he said. "Come on--still--and on this side of the +tree!" + +He slipped down, foot by foot, assisting Rod as he did so, and when both +had reached the ground he bent over as before, that the other might get +upon his back. + +"I can make it alone, Wabi," whispered the wounded boy. "Give me a lift +on the arm, will you?" + +With the Indian's arm about his waist, the two set off into the +tamaracks. Fifteen minutes later they came to the bank of a small frozen +river. On the opposite side of this, a hundred yards down, was a sight +which both, as if by a common impulse, welcomed with a glad cry. Close +to the shore, sheltered by a dense growth of spruce, was a bright +camp-fire. In response to Wabi's far-reaching whoop a shadowy figure +appeared in the glow and returned the shout. + +"Mukoki!" cried the Indian. + +"Mukoki!" laughed Rod, happy that the end was near. + +Even as he spoke he swayed dizzily, and Wabi dropped his gun that he +might keep his companion from falling into the snow. + + + +CHAPTER II + +HOW WABIGOON BECAME A WHITE MAN + + +Had the young hunters the power of looking into the future, their +camp-fire that night on the frozen Ombabika might have been one of their +last, and a few days later would have seen them back on the edges of +civilization. Possibly, could they have foreseen the happy culmination +of the adventures that lay before them, they would still have gone on, +for the love of excitement is strong in the heart of robust youth. But +this power of discernment was denied them, and only in after years, with +the loved ones of their own firesides close about them, was the whole +picture revealed. And in those days, when they would gather with their +families about the roaring logs of winter and live over again their +early youth, they knew that all the gold in the world would not induce +them to part with their memories of the life that had gone before. + +A little less than thirty years previous to the time of which we write, +a young man named John Newsome left the great city of London for the New +World. Fate had played a hard game with young Newsome--had first robbed +him of both parents, and then in a single fitful turn of her wheel +deprived him of what little property he had inherited. A little later he +came to Montreal, and being a youth of good education and considerable +ambition, he easily secured a position and worked himself into the +confidence of his employers, obtaining an appointment as factor at +Wabinosh House, a Post deep in the wilderness of Lake Nipigon. + +In the second year of his reign at Wabinosh--a factor is virtually king +in his domain--there came to the Post an Indian chief named Wabigoon, +and with him his daughter, Minnetaki, in honor of whose beauty and +virtue a town was named in after years. Minnetaki was just budding into +the early womanhood of her race, and possessed a beauty seldom seen +among Indian maidens. If there is such a thing as love at first sight, +it sprang into existence the moment John Newsome's eyes fell upon this +lovely princess. Thereafter his visits to Wabigoon's village, thirty +miles deeper in the wilderness, were of frequent occurrence. From the +beginning Minnetaki returned the young factor's affections, but a most +potent reason prevented their marriage. For a long time Minnetaki had +been ardently wooed by a powerful young chief named Woonga, whom she +cordially detested, but upon whose favor and friendship depended the +existence of her father's sway over his hunting-grounds. + +With the advent of the young factor the bitterest rivalry sprang up +between the two suitors, which resulted in two attempts upon Newsome's +life, and an ultimatum sent by Woonga to Minnetaki's father. Minnetaki +herself replied to this ultimatum. It was a reply that stirred the fires +of hatred and revenge to fever heat in Woonga's breast. One dark night, +at the head of a score of his tribe, he fell upon Wabigoon's camp, his +object being the abduction of the princess. While the attack was +successful in a way, its main purpose failed. Wabigoon and a dozen of +his tribesmen were slain, but in the end Woonga was driven off. + +A swift messenger brought news of the attack and of the old chief's +death to Wabinosh House, and with a dozen men Newsome hastened to the +assistance of his betrothed and her people. A counter attack was made +upon Woonga and he was driven deep into the wilderness with great loss. +Three days later Minnetaki became Newsome's wife at the Hudson Bay Post. + +From that hour dated one of the most sanguinary feuds in the history of +the great trading company; a feud which, as we shall see, was destined +to live even unto the second generation. + +Woonga and his tribe now became no better than outlaws, and preyed so +effectively upon the remnants of the dead Wabigoon's people that the +latter were almost exterminated. Those who were left moved to the +vicinity of the Post. Hunters from Wabinosh House were ambushed and +slain. Indians who came to the Post to trade were regarded as enemies, +and the passing of years seemed to make but little difference. The feud +still existed. The outlaws came to be spoken of as "Woongas," and a +Woonga was regarded as a fair target for any man's rifle. + +Meanwhile two children came to bless the happy union of Newsome and his +lovely Indian wife. One of these, the eldest, was a boy, and in honor of +the old chief he was named Wabigoon, and called Wabi for short. The +other was a girl, three years younger, and Newsome insisted that she be +called Minnetaki. Curiously enough, the blood of Wabi ran almost pure to +his Indian forefathers, while Minnetaki, as she became older, developed +less of the wild beauty of her mother and more of the softer loveliness +of the white race, her wealth of soft, jet black hair and her great dark +eyes contrasting with the lighter skin of her father's blood. Wabi, on +the other hand, was an Indian in appearance from his moccasins to the +crown of his head, swarthy, sinewy, as agile as a lynx, and with every +instinct in him crying for the life of the wild. Yet born in him was a +Caucasian shrewdness and intelligence that reached beyond the factor +himself. + +One of Newsome's chief pleasures in life had been the educating of his +woodland bride, and it was the ambition of both that the little +Minnetaki and her brother be reared in the ways of white children. +Consequently both mother and father began their education at the Post; +they were sent to the factor's school and two winters were passed in +Port Arthur that they might have the advantage of thoroughly equipped +schools. The children proved themselves unusually bright pupils, and by +the time Wabi was sixteen and Minnetaki twelve one would not have known +from their manner of speech that Indian blood ran in their veins. Yet +both, by the common desire of their parents, were familiar with the life +of the Indian and could talk fluently the tongue of their mother's +people. + +It was at about this time in their lives that the Woongas became +especially daring in their depredations. These outlaws no longer +pretended to earn their livelihood by honest means, but preyed upon +trappers and other Indians without discrimination, robbing and killing +whenever safe opportunities offered themselves. The hatred for the +people of Wabinosh House became hereditary, and the Woonga children grew +up with it in their hearts. The real cause of the feud had been +forgotten by many, though not by Woonga himself. At last so daring did +he become that the provincial government placed a price upon his head +and upon those of a number of his most notorious followers. For a time +the outlaws were driven from the country, but the bloodthirsty chief +himself could not be captured. + +When Wabi was seventeen years of age it was decided that he should be +sent to some big school in the States for a year. Against this plan the +young Indian--nearly all people regarded him as an Indian, and Wabi was +proud of the fact--fought with all of the arguments at his command. He +loved the wilds with the passion of his mother's race. His nature +revolted at the thoughts of a great city with its crowded streets, its +noise, and bustle, and dirt. It was then that Minnetaki pleaded with +him, begged him to go for just one year, and to come back and tell her +of all he had seen and teach her what he had learned. Wabi loved his +beautiful little sister beyond anything else on earth, and it was she +more than his parents who finally induced him to go. + +For three months Wabi devoted himself faithfully to his studies in +Detroit. But each week added to his loneliness and his longings for +Minnetaki and his forests. The passing of each day became a painful task +to him. To Minnetaki he wrote three times each week, and three times +each week the little maiden at Wabinosh House wrote long, cheering +letters to her brother--though they came to Wabi only about twice a +month, because only so often did the mail-carrier go out from the Post. + +It was at this time in his lonely school life that Wabigoon became +acquainted with Roderick Drew. Roderick, even as Wabi fancied himself to +be just at this time, was a child of misfortune. His father had died +before he could remember, and the property he had left had dwindled +slowly away during the passing of years. Rod was spending his last week +in school when he met Wabigoon. Necessity had become his grim master, +and the following week he was going to work. As the boy described the +situation to his Indian friend, his mother "had fought to the last ditch +to keep him in school, but now his time was up." Wabi seized upon the +white youth as an oasis in a vast desert. After a little the two became +almost inseparable, and their friendship culminated in Wabi's going to +live in the Drew home. Mrs. Drew was a woman of education and +refinement, and her interest in Wabigoon was almost that of a mother. In +this environment the ragged edges were smoothed away from the Indian +boy's deportment, and his letters to Minnetaki were more and more filled +with enthusiastic descriptions of his new friends. After a little Mrs. +Drew received a grateful letter of thanks from the princess mother at +Wabinosh House, and thus a pleasant correspondence sprang up between the +two. + +There were now few lonely hours for the two boys. During the long winter +evenings, when Roderick was through with his day's work and Wabi had +completed his studies, they would sit before the fire and the Indian +youth would describe the glorious life of the vast northern wilderness; +and day by day, and week by week, there steadily developed within Rod's +breast a desire to see and live that life. A thousand plans were made, a +thousand adventures pictured, and the mother would smile and laugh and +plan with them. + +But in time the end of it all came, and Wabi went back to the princess +mother, to Minnetaki, and to his forests. There were tears in the boys' +eyes when they parted, and the mother cried for the Indian boy who was +returning to his people. Many of the days that followed were painful to +Roderick Drew. Eight months had bred a new nature in him, and when Wabi +left it was as if a part of his own life had gone with him. Spring came +and passed, and then summer. Every mail from Wabinosh House brought +letters for the Drews, and never did an Indian courier drop a pack at +the Post that did not carry a bundle of letters for Wabigoon. + +Then in the early autumn, when September frosts were turning the leaves +of the North to red and gold, there came the long letter from Wabi which +brought joy, excitement and misgiving into the little home of the mother +and her son. It was accompanied by one from the factor himself, another +from the princess mother, and by a tiny note from Minnetaki, who pleaded +with the others that Roderick and Mrs. Drew might spend the winter with +them at Wabinosh House. + +"You need not fear about losing your position." wrote Wabigoon. "We +shall make more money up here this winter than you could earn in Detroit +in three years. We will hunt wolves. The country is alive with them, and +the government gives a bounty of fifteen dollars for every scalp taken. +Two winters ago I killed forty and I did not make a business of it at +that. I have a tame wolf which we use as a decoy. Don't bother about a +gun or anything like that. We have everything here." + +For several days Mrs. Drew and her son deliberated upon the situation +before a reply was sent to the Newsomes. Roderick pleaded, pictured the +glorious times they would have, the health that it would give them, and +marshaled in a dozen different ways his arguments in favor of accepting +the invitation. On the other hand, his mother was filled with doubt. +Their finances were alarmingly low, and Rod would be giving up a sure +though small income, which was now supporting them comfortably. His +future was bright, and that winter would see him promoted to ten dollars +a week in the mercantile house where he was employed. In the end they +came to an understanding. Mrs. Drew would not go to Wabinosh House, but +she would allow Roderick to spend the winter there--and word to this +effect was sent off into the wilderness. + +Three weeks later came Wabigoon's reply. On the tenth of October he +would meet Rod at Sprucewood, on the Black Sturgeon River. Thence they +would travel by canoe up the Sturgeon River to Sturgeon Lake, take +portage to Lake Nipigon, and arrive at Wabinosh House before the ice of +early winter shut them in. There was little time to lose in making +preparations, and the fourth day following the receipt of Wabi's letter +found Rod and his mother waiting for the train which was to whirl the +boy into his new life. Not until the eleventh did he arrive at +Sprucewood. Wabi was there to meet him, accompanied by an Indian from +the Post; and that same afternoon the journey up Black Sturgeon River +was begun. + + + +CHAPTER III + +RODERICK SEES THE FOOTPRINT + + +Rod was now plunged for the first time in his life into the heart of the +Wilderness. Seated in the bow of the birch-bark canoe which was carrying +them up the Sturgeon, with Wabi close behind him, he drank in the wild +beauties of the forests and swamps through which they slipped almost as +noiselessly as shadows, his heart thumping in joyous excitement, his +eyes constantly on the alert for signs of the big game which Wabi told +him was on all sides of them. Across his knees, ready for instant use, +was Wabi's repeating rifle. The air was keen with the freshness left by +night frosts. At times deep masses of gold and crimson forests shut them +in, at others, black forests of spruce came down to the river's edge; +again they would pass silently through great swamps of tamaracks. In +this vast desolation there was a mysterious quiet, except for the +occasional sounds of wild life. Partridges drummed back in the woods, +flocks of ducks got up with a great rush of wings at almost every turn, +and once, late in the morning of the first day out, Rod was thrilled by +a crashing in the undergrowth scarcely a stone's throw from the canoe. +He could see saplings twisting and bending, and heard Wabi whisper +behind him: + +"A moose!" + +They were words to set his hands trembling and his whole body quivering +with anticipation. There was in him now none of the old hunter's +coolness, none of the almost stoical indifference with which the men of +the big North hear these sounds of the wild things about them. Rod had +yet to see his first big game. + +That moment came in the afternoon. The canoe had skimmed lightly around +a bend in the river. Beyond this bend a mass of dead driftwood had +wedged against the shore, and this driftwood, as the late sun sank +behind the forests, was bathed in a warm yellow glow. And basking in +this glow, as he loves to do at the approach of winter nights, was an +animal, the sight of which drew a sharp, excited cry from between Rod's +lips. In an instant he had recognized it as a bear. The animal was taken +completely by surprise and was less than half a dozen rods away. Quick +as a flash, and hardly realizing what he was doing, the boy drew his +rifle to his shoulder, took quick aim and fired. The bear was already +clambering up the driftwood, but stopped suddenly at the report, slipped +as if about to fall back--then continued his retreat. + +"You hit 'im!" shouted Wabi. "Quick-try 'im again!" + +Rod's second shot seemed to have no effect In his excitement he jumped +to his feet, forgetting that he was in a frail canoe, and took a last +shot at the big black beast that was just about to disappear over the +edge of the driftwood. Both Wabi and his Indian companion flung +themselves on the shore side of their birch and dug their paddles deep +into the water, but their efforts were unavailing to save their reckless +comrade. Unbalanced by the concussion of his gun, Rod plunged backward +into the river, but before he had time to sink, Wabi reached over and +grabbed him by the arm. + +"Don't make a move--and hang on to the gun!" he warned. "If we try to +get you in here we'll all go over!" He made a sign to the Indian, who +swung the canoe slowly inshore. Then he grinned down into Rod's +dripping, unhappy face. + +"By George, that last shot was a dandy for a tenderfoot! You got your +bear!" + +Despite his uncomfortable position, Rod gave a whoop of joy, and no +sooner did his feet touch solid bottom than he loosened himself from +Wabi's grip and plunged toward the driftwood. On its very top he found +the bear, as dead as a bullet through its side and another through its +head could make it. Standing there beside his first big game, dripping +and shivering, he looked down upon the two who were pulling their canoe +ashore and gave, a series of triumphant whoops that could have been +heard half a mile away. + +"It's camp and a fire for you," laughed Wabi, hurrying up to him. "This +is better luck than I thought you'd have, Rod. We'll have a glorious +feast to-night, and a fire of this driftwood that will show you what +makes life worth the living up here in the North. Ho, Muky," he called +to the old Indian, "cut this fellow up, will you? I'll make camp." + +"Can we keep the skin?" asked Rod. "It's my first, you know, and--" + +"Of course we can. Give us a hand with the fire, Rod; it will keep you +from catching cold." + +In the excitement of making their first camp, Rod almost forgot that he +was soaked to the skin, and that night was falling about them. The first +step was the building of a fire, and soon a great, crackling, almost +smokeless blaze was throwing its light and heat for thirty feet around. +Wabi now brought blankets from the canoe, stripped off a part of his own +clothes, made Rod undress, and soon had that youth swathed in dry togs, +while his wet ones were hung close up to the fire. For the first time +Rod saw the making of a wilderness shelter. Whistling cheerily, Wabi got +an ax from the canoe, went into the edge of the cedars and cut armful +after armful of saplings and boughs. Tying his blankets about himself, +Rod helped to carry these, a laughable and grotesque figure as he +stumbled about clumsily in his efforts. Within half an hour the cedar +shelter was taking form. Two crotched saplings were driven into the +ground eight feet apart, and from one to the other, resting in the +crotches, was placed another sapling, which formed the ridge-pole; and +from this pole there ran slantwise to the earth half a dozen others, +making a framework upon which the cedar boughs were piled. By the time +the old Indian had finished his bear the home was completed, and with +its beds of sweet-smelling boughs, the great camp-fire in front and the +dense wilderness about them growing black with the approach of night, +Rod thought that nothing in picture-book or story could quite equal the +reality of that moment. And when, a few moments later, great bear-steaks +were broiling over a mass of coals, and the odor of coffee mingled with +that of meal-cakes sizzling on a heated stone, he knew that his dearest +dreams had come true. + +That night in the glow of the camp-fire Rod listened to the thrilling +stories of Wabi and the old Indian, and lay awake until nearly dawn, +listening to the occasional howl of a wolf, mysterious splashings in the +river and the shrill notes of the night birds. There were varied +experiences in the following three days: one frosty morning before the +others were awake he stole out from the camp with Wabi's rifle and shot +twice at a red deer--which he missed both times; there was an exciting +but fruitless race with a swimming caribou in Sturgeon Lake, at which +Wabi himself took three long-range shots without effect. + +It was on a glorious autumn afternoon that Wabi's keen eyes first +descried the log buildings of the Post snuggled in the edge of the +seemingly unending forest. As they approached he joyfully pointed out +the different buildings to Rod--the Company store, the little cluster of +employees' homes and the factor's house, where Rod was to meet his +welcome. At least Roderick himself had thought it would be there. But as +they came nearer a single canoe shot out suddenly from the shore and the +young hunters could see a white handkerchief waving them greeting. Wabi +replied with a whoop of pleasure and fired his gun into the air. + +"It's Minnetaki!" he cried. "She said she would watch for us and come +out to meet us!" + +Minnetaki! A little nervous thrill shot through Rod. Wabi had described +her to him a thousand times in those winter evenings at home; with a +brother's love and pride he had always brought her into their talks and +plans, and somehow, little by little, Rod had grown to like her very +much without ever having seen her. + +The two canoes swiftly approached each other, and in a few minutes more +were alongside. With a glad laughing cry Minnetaki leaned over and +kissed her brother, while at the same time her dark eyes shot a curious +glance at the youth of whom she had read and heard so much. + +At this time Minnetaki was fifteen. Like her mother's race she was +slender, of almost woman's height, and unconsciously as graceful as a +fawn in her movements. A slightly waving wealth of raven hair framed +what Rod thought to be one of the prettiest faces he had ever seen, and +entwined in the heavy silken braid that fell over her shoulder were a +number of red autumn leaves. As she straightened herself in her canoe +she looked at Rod and smiled, and he in making a polite effort to lift +his cap in civilized style, lost that article of apparel in a sudden +gust of wind. In an instant there was a general laugh of merriment in +which even the old Indian joined. The little incident did more toward +making comradeship than anything else that might have happened, and +laughing again into Rod's face Minnetaki urged her canoe toward the +floating cap. + +"You shouldn't wear such things until it gets cold," she said, after +retrieving the cap and handing it to him. "Wabi does--but I don't!" + +"Then I won't," replied Rod gallantly, and at Wabi's burst of laughter +both blushed. + +That first night at the Post Rod found that Wabi had already made all +plans for the winter's hunting, and the white youth's complete equipment +was awaiting him in the room assigned to him in the factor's house--a +deadly looking five-shot Remington, similar to Wabi's, a long-barreled, +heavy-caliber revolver, snow-shoes, and a dozen other articles necessary +to one about to set out upon a long expedition in the wilderness. Wabi +had also mapped out their hunting-grounds. Wolves in the immediate +neighborhood of the Post, where they were being constantly sought by the +Indians and the factor's men, had become exceedingly cautious and were +not numerous, but in the almost untraveled wilderness a hundred miles to +the north and east they were literally overrunning the country, killing +moose, caribou and deer in great numbers. + +In this region Wabi planned to make their winter quarters. And no time +was to be lost in taking up the trail, for the log house in which they +would pass the bitterly cold months should be built before the heavy +snows set in. It was therefore decided that the young hunters should +start within a week, accompanied by Mukoki, the old Indian, a cousin of +the slain Wabigoon, whom Wabi had given the nickname of Muky and who had +been a faithful comrade to him from his earliest childhood. + +Rod made the most of the six days which were allotted to him at the +Post, and while Wabi helped to handle the affairs of the Company's store +during a short absence of his father at Port Arthur, the lovely little +Minnetaki gave our hero his first lessons in woodcraft. In canoe, with +the rifle, and in reading the signs of forest life Wabi's sister +awakened constantly increasing admiration in Rod. To see her bending +over some freshly made trail, her cheeks flushed, her eyes sparkling +with excitement, her rich hair filled with the warmth of the sun, was a +picture to arouse enthusiasm even in the heart of a youngster of +eighteen, and a hundred times the boy mentally vowed that "she was a +brick" from the tips of her pretty moccasined feet to the top of her +prettier head. Half a dozen times at least he voiced this sentiment to +Wabi, and Wabi agreed with great enthusiasm. In fact, by the time the +week was almost gone Minnetaki and Rod had become great chums, and it +was not without some feeling of regret that the young wolf hunter +greeted the dawn of the day that was to see them begin their journey +deeper into the wilds. + +Minnetaki was one of the earliest risers at the Post. Rod was seldom +behind her. But on this particular morning he was late and heard the +girl whistling outside half an hour before he was dressed--for Minnetaki +could whistle in a manner that often filled him with envy. By the time +he came down she had disappeared in the edge of the forest, and Wabi, +who was also ahead of him, was busy with Mukoki tying up their equipment +in packs. It was a glorious morning, clear and frosty, and Rod noticed +that a thin shell of ice had formed on the lake during the night. Once +or twice Wabi turned toward the forest and gave his signal whoop, but +received no reply. + +"I don't see why Minnetaki doesn't come back," he remarked carelessly, +as he fastened a shoulder-strap about a bundle. "Breakfast will be ready +in a jiffy. Hunt her up, will you, Rod?" + +Nothing loath, Rod started out on a brisk run along the path which he +knew to be a favorite with Minnetaki and shortly it brought him down to +a pebbly stretch of the beach where she frequently left her canoe. That +she had been here a few minutes before he could tell by the fact that +the ice about the birch-bark was broken, as though the girl had tested +its thickness by shoving the light craft out into it for a few feet. Her +footsteps led plainly up the shelving shore and into the forest. + +"O Minnetaki--Minnetaki!" + +Rod called loudly and listened. There was no response. As if impelled by +some presentiment which he himself could not explain, the boy hurried +deeper into the forest along the narrow path which Minnetaki must have +taken. Five minutes--ten minutes--and he called again. Still there was +no answer. Possibly the girl had not gone so far, or she might have left +the path for the thick woods. A little farther on there was a soft spot +in the path where a great tree-trunk had rotted half a century before, +leaving a rich black soil. Clearly traced in this were the imprints of +Minnetaki's moccasins. For a full minute Rod stopped and listened, +making not a sound. Why he maintained silence he could not have +explained. But he knew that he was half a mile from the Post, and that +Wabi's sister should not be here at breakfast time. In this minute's +quiet he unconsciously studied the tracks in the ground. How small the +pretty Indian maiden's feet were! And he noticed, too, that her +moccasins, unlike most moccasins, had a slight heel. + +But in a moment more his inspection was cut short. Was that a cry he +heard far ahead? His heart seemed to stop beating, his blood +thrilled--and in another instant he was running down the path like a +deer. Twenty rods beyond this point the path entered an opening in the +forest made by a great fire, and half-way across this opening the youth +saw a sight which chilled him to the marrow. There was Minnetaki, her +long hair tumbling loosely down her back, a cloth tied around her +head--and on either side an Indian dragging her swiftly toward the +opposite forest! + +For as long as he might have drawn three breaths Rod stood transfixed +with horror. Then his senses returned to him, and every muscle in his +body seemed to bound with action. For days he had been practising with +his revolver and it was now in the holster at his side. Should he use +it? Or might he hit Minnetaki? At his feet he saw a club and snatching +this up he sped across the opening, the soft earth holding the sound of +his steps. When he was a dozen feet behind the Indians Minnetaki +stumbled in a sudden effort to free herself, and as one of her captors +half turned to drag her to her feet he saw the enraged youth, club +uplifted, bearing down upon them like a demon. A terrific yell from Rod, +a warning cry from the Indian, and the fray began. With crushing force, +the boy's club fell upon the shoulder of the second Indian, and before +he could recover from the delivery of this blow the youth was caught in +a choking, deadly grip by the other from behind. + +Freed by the sudden attack, Minnetaki tore away the cloth that bound her +eyes and mouth. As quick as a flash she took in the situation. At her +feet the wounded Indian was half rising, and upon the ground near him, +struggling in close embrace, were Rod and the other. She saw the +Indian's fatal grip upon her preserver's throat, the whitening face and +wide-open eyes, and with a great, sobbing cry she caught up the fallen +club and brought it down with all her strength upon the redskin's head. +Twice, three times the club rose and fell, and the grip on Rod's throat +relaxed. A fourth time it rose, but this time was caught from behind, +and a huge hand clutched the brave girl's throat so that the cry on her +lips died in a gasp. But the relief gave Rod his opportunity. With a +tremendous effort he reached his pistol holster, drew out the gun, and +pressed it close up against his assailant's body. There was a muffled +report and with a shriek of agony the Indian pitched backward. Hearing +the shot and seeing the effect upon his comrade, the second Indian +released his hold on Minnetaki and ran for the forest. Rod, seeing +Minnetaki fall in a sobbing, frightened heap, forgot all else but to run +to her, smooth back her hair and comfort her with all of the assurances +at his boyish command. + +It was here that Wabi and the old Indian guide found them five minutes +later. Hearing Rod's first piercing yell of attack, they had raced into +the forest, afterward guided by the two or three shrill screams which +Minnetaki had unconsciously emitted during the struggle. Close behind +them, smelling trouble, followed two of the Post employees. + +The attempted abduction of Wabi's sister, Rod's heroic rescue and the +death of one of the captors, who was recognized as one of Woonga's men, +caused a seven-day sensation at the Post. + +There was now no thought of leaving on the part of the young wolf +hunters. It was evident that Woonga was again in the neighborhood, and +Wabi and Rod, together with a score of Indians and hunters, spent days +in scouring the forests and swamps. But the Woongas disappeared as +suddenly as they came. Not until Wabi had secured a promise from +Minnetaki that she would no longer go into the forests unaccompanied did +the Indian youth again allow himself to take up their interrupted plans. + +Minnetaki had been within easy calling distance of help when the +Woongas, without warning, sprang upon her, smothered her attempted cries +and dragged her away, compelling her to walk alone over the soft earth +where Rod had seen her footsteps, so that any person who followed might +suppose she was alone and safe. This fact stirred the dozen white +families at the Post into aggressive action, and four of the most +skillful Indian track-hunters in the service were detailed to devote +themselves exclusively to hunting down the outlaws, their operations not +to include a territory extending more than twenty miles from Wabinosh +House in any direction. With these precautions it was believed that no +harm could come to Minnetaki or other young girls of the Post. + +It was, therefore, on a Monday, the fourth day of November, that Rod, +Wabi and Mukoki turned their faces at last to the adventures that +awaited them in the great North. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +RODERICK'S FIRST TASTE OF THE HUNTER'S LIFE + + +By this time it was bitter cold. The lakes and rivers were frozen deep +and a light snow covered the ground. Already two weeks behind their +plans, the young wolf hunters and the old Indian made forced marches +around the northern extremity of Lake Nipigon and on the sixth day found +themselves on the Ombabika River, where they were compelled to stop on +account of a dense snow-storm. A temporary camp was made, and it was +while constructing this camp that Mukoki discovered signs of wolves. It +was therefore decided to remain for a day or two and investigate the +hunting-grounds. On the morning of the second day Wabi shot at and +wounded the old bull moose which met such a tragic end a few hours +later, and that same morning the two boys made a long tour to the north +in the hope of finding that they were in a good game country, which +would mean also that there were plenty of wolves. + +This left Mukoki alone in camp. Thus far, in their desire to cover as +much ground as possible before the heavy snows came, Wabi and his +companions had not stopped to hunt for game and for six days their only +meat had been bacon and jerked venison. Mukoki, whose prodigious +appetite was second only to the shrewdness with which he stalked game to +satisfy it, determined to add to their larder if possible during the +others' absence, and with this object in view he left camp late in the +afternoon to be gone, as he anticipated, not longer than an hour or so. + +With him he carried two powerful wolf-traps slung over his shoulders. +Stealing cautiously along the edge of the river, his eyes and ears alert +for game, Mukoki suddenly came upon the frozen and half-eaten carcass of +a red deer. It was evident that the animal had been killed by wolves +either the day or night before, and from the tracks in the snow the +Indian concluded that not more than four wolves had participated in the +slaughter and feast. That these wolves would return to continue their +banquet, probably that night, Mukoki's many experiences as a wolf hunter +assured him; and he paused long enough to set his traps, afterward +covering them over with three or four inches of snow. + +Continuing his hunt, the old Indian soon struck the fresh spoor of a +deer. Believing that the animal would not travel for any great distance +in the deep snow, he swiftly took up the trail. Half a mile farther on +he stopped abruptly with a grunt of unbounded surprise. Another hunter +had taken up the trail! + +With increased caution Mukoki now advanced. Two hundred feet more and a +second pair of moccasined feet joined in the pursuit, and a little later +still a third! + +Led on by curiosity more than by the hope of securing a partnership +share in the quarry, the Indian slipped silently and swiftly through the +forest. As he emerged from a dense growth of spruce through which the +tracks led him Mukoki was treated to another surprise by almost +stumbling over the carcass of the deer he had been following. A brief +examination satisfied him that the doe had been shot at least two hours +before. The three hunters had cut out her heart, liver and tongue and +had also taken the hind quarters, leaving the remainder of the carcass +and the skin! Why had they neglected this most valuable part of their +spoils? With a new gleam of interest in his eyes Mukoki carefully +scrutinized the moccasin trails. He soon discovered that the Indians +ahead of him were in great haste, and that after cutting the choicest +meat from the doe they had started off to make up for lost time by +running! + +With another grunt of astonishment the old Indian returned to the +carcass, quickly stripped off the skin, wrapped in it the fore quarters +and ribs of the doe, and thus loaded, took up the home trail. It was +dark when he reached camp. Wabi and Rod had not yet returned. Building a +huge fire and hanging the ribs of the doe on a spit before it, he +anxiously awaited their appearance. + +Half an hour later he heard the shout which brought him quickly to where +Wabi was holding the partly unconscious form of Rod in his arms. + +It took but a few moments to carry the injured youth to camp, and not +until Rod was resting upon a pile of blankets in their shack, with the +warmth of the fire reviving him, did Wabi vouchsafe an explanation to +the old Indian. + +"I guess he's got a broken arm, Muky," he said. "Have you any hot +water?" + +"Shot?" asked the old hunter, paying no attention to the question. He +dropped upon his knees beside Rod, his long brown fingers reaching out +anxiously. "Shot?" + +"No--hit with a club. We met three Indian hunters who were in camp and +who invited us to eat with them. While we were eating they jumped upon +our backs. Rod got that--and lost his rifle!" + +Mukoki quickly stripped the wounded boy of his garments, baring his left +arm and side. The arm was swollen and almost black and there was a great +bruise on Rod's body a little above the waist. Mukoki was a surgeon by +necessity, a physician such as one finds only in the vast unblazed +wildernesses, where Nature is the teacher. Crudely he made his +examination, pinching and twisting the flesh and bones until Rod cried +out in pain, but in the end there was a glad triumph in his voice as he +said: + +"No bone broke--hurt most here!" and he touched the bruise. "Near broke +rib--not quite. Took wind out and made great deal sick. Want good +supper, hot coffee--rub in bear's grease, then be better!" + +Rod, who had opened his eyes, smiled faintly and Wabi gave a half-shout +of delight. + +"Not so bad as we thought, eh, Rod?" he cried. "You can't fool Muky! If +he says your arm isn't broken--why, it _isn't_, and that's all there is +to it. Let me bolster you up in these blankets and we'll soon have a +supper that will sizzle the aches out of you. I smell meat--fresh meat!" + +With a chuckle of pleasure Mukoki jumped to his feet and ran out to +where the ribs of the doe were slowly broiling over the fire. They were +already done to a rich brown and their dripping juice filled the +nostrils with an appetizing odor. By the time Wabi had applied Mukoki's +prescription to his comrade's wounds, and had done them up in bandages, +the tempting feast was spread before them. + +As a liberal section of the ribs was placed before him, together with +corn-meal cakes and a cup of steaming coffee, Rod could not suppress a +happy though somewhat embarrassed laugh. + +"I'm ashamed of myself, Wabi," he said. "Here I've been causing so much +bother, like some helpless kid; and now I find I haven't even the excuse +of a broken arm, and that I'm as hungry as a bear! Looks pretty yellow, +doesn't it? Just as though I was scared to death! So help me, I almost +wish my arm _was_ broken!" + +Mukoki had buried his teeth in a huge chunk of fat rib, but he lowered +it with a great chuckling grunt, half of his face smeared with the first +results of his feast. + +"Whole lot sick," he explained. "Be sick some more--mighty sick! Maybe +vomit lots!" + +"Waugh!" shrieked Wabi. "How is that for cheerful news, Rod?" His +merriment echoed far out into the night. Suddenly he caught himself and +peered suspiciously into the gloom beyond the circle of firelight. + +"Do you suppose they would follow?" he asked. + +A more cautious silence followed, and the Indian youth quickly related +the adventures of the day to Mukoki--how, in the heart of the forest +several miles beyond the lake, they had come upon the Indian hunters, +had accepted of their seemingly honest hospitality, and in the midst of +their meal had suffered an attack from them. So sudden and unexpected +had been the assault that one of the Indians got away with Rod's rifle, +ammunition belt and revolver before any effort could be made to stop +him. Wabi was under the other two Indians when Rod came to his +assistance, with the result that the latter was struck two heavy blows, +either with a club or a gun-stock. So tenaciously had the Indian boy +clung to his own weapon that his assailants, after a brief struggle, +darted into the dense underbrush, evidently satisfied with the white +boy's equipment. + +"They were of Woonga's people, without a doubt," finished Wabi. "It +puzzles me why they didn't kill us. They had half a dozen chances to +shoot us, but didn't seem to want to do us any great injury. Either the +measures taken at the Post are making them reform, or--" + +He paused, a troubled look in his eyes. Immediately Mukoki told of his +own experience and of the mysterious haste of the three Indians who had +slain the doe. + +"It is certainly curious," rejoined the young Indian. "They couldn't +have been the ones we met, but I'll wager they belong to the same gang. +I wouldn't be surprised if we had hit upon one of Woonga's retreats. +We've always thought he was in the Thunder Bay regions to the west, and +that is where father is watching for him now. We've hit the hornets' +nest, Muky, and the only thing for us to do is to get out of this +country as fast as we can!" + +"We'd make a nice pot-shot just at this moment," volunteered Rod, +looking across to the dense blackness on the opposite side of the river, +where the moonlight seemed to make even more impenetrable the wall of +gloom. + +As he spoke there came a slight sound from behind him, the commotion of +a body moving softly beyond the wall of spruce boughs, then a curious, +suspicious sniffing, and after that a low whine. + +"Listen!" + +Wabi's command came in a tense whisper. He leaned close against the +boughs, stealthily parted them, and slowly thrust his head through the +aperture. + +"Hello, Wolf!" he whispered. "What's up?" + +An arm's length away, tied before a smaller shelter of spruce, a gaunt, +dog-like animal stood in a rigid listening attitude. An instant's +glance, however, would have assured one that it was not a dog, but a +full-grown wolf. From the days of its puppyhood Wabi had taught it in +the ways of dogdom, yet had the animal perversely clung to its wild +instincts. A weakness in that thong, a slip of the collar, and Wolf +would have bounded joyously into the forests to seek for ever the packs +of his fathers. Now the babeesh rope was taut, Wolf's muzzle was turned +half to the sky, his ears were alert, half-sounding notes rattled in his +throat. + +"There is something near our camp!" announced the Indian boy, drawing +himself back quickly. "Muky--" + +He was interrupted by a long mournful howl from the captive wolf. + +Mukoki had jumped to his feet with the alertness of a cat, and now with +his gun in his hand slunk around the edge of the shelter and buried +himself in the gloom. Roderick lay quiet while Wabi, seizing the +remaining rifle, followed him. + +"Lie over there in the dark, Rod, where the firelight doesn't show you +up," he cautioned in a low voice. "Probably it is only some animal that +has stumbled on to our camp, but we want to make sure." + +Ten minutes later the young hunter returned alone. + +"False alarm!" he laughed cheerfully. "There's a part of a carcass of a +red deer up the creek a bit. It has been killed by wolves, and Wolf +smells some of his own blood coming in to the feast. Muky has set traps +there and we may have our first scalp in the morning." + +"Where is Mukoki?" + +"On watch. He is going to keep guard until a little after midnight, and +then I'll turn out. We can't be too careful, with the Woongas in the +neighborhood." + +Rod shifted himself uneasily. + +"What shall we do--to-morrow?" he asked. + +"Get out!" replied Wabi with emphasis. "That is, if you are able to +travel. From what Mukoki tells me, and from what you and I already know, +Woonga's people must be in the forests beyond the lake. We'll cut a +trail up the Ombabika for two or three days before we strike camp. You +and Muky can start out as soon as it is light enough." + +"And you--" began Rod. + +"Oh, I'm going to take a run back over our old wolf-trail and collect +the scalps we shot to-day. There's a month's salary back there for you, +Rod! Now, let's turn in. Good night--sleep tight--and be sure to wake up +early in the morning." + +The boys, exhausted by the adventures of the day, were soon in profound +slumber. And though midnight came, and hour after hour passed between +then and dawn, the faithful Mukoki did not awaken them. Never for a +moment neglecting his caution the old Indian watched tirelessly over the +camp. With the first appearance of day he urged the fire into a roaring +blaze, raked out a great mass of glowing coals, and proceeded to get +breakfast. Wabi discovered him at this task when he awoke from his +slumber. + +"I didn't think you would play this trick on me, Muky," he said, a flush +of embarrassment gathering in his brown face. "It's awfully good of you, +and all that, but I wish you wouldn't treat me as if I were a child any +longer, old friend!" + +He placed his hand affectionately upon the kneeling Mukoki's shoulder, +and the old hunter looked up at him with a happy, satisfied grin on his +weather-beaten visage, wrinkled and of the texture of leather by nearly +fifty years of life in the wilderness. It was Mukoki who had first +carried the baby Wabi about the woods upon his shoulders; it was he who +had played with him, cared for him, and taught him in the ways of the +wild in early childhood, and it was he who had missed him most, with +little Minnetaki, when he went away to school. All the love in the grim +old redskin's heart was for the Indian youth and his sister, and to them +Mukoki was a second father, a silent, watchful guardian and comrade. +This one loving touch of Wabi's hand was ample reward for the long +night's duty, and his pleasure expressed itself in two or three low +chuckling grunts. + +"Had heap bad day," he replied. "Very much tired. Me feel good--better +than sleep!" He rose to his feet and handed Wabi the long fork with +which he manipulated the meat on the spits. "You can tend to that," he +added. "I go see traps." + +Rod, who had awakened and overheard these last remarks, called out from +the shack: + +"Wait a minute, Mukoki. I'm going with you. If you've got a wolf, I want +to see him." + +"Got one sure 'nuff," grinned the old Indian. + +In a few minutes Rod came out, fully dressed and with a much healthier +color in his face than when he went to bed the preceding night. He stood +before the fire, stretched one arm then the other, gave a slight grimace +of pain, and informed his anxious comrades that he seemed to be as well +as ever, except that his arm and side were very sore. + +Walking slowly, that Rod might "find himself," as Wabi expressed it, the +two went up the river. It was a dull gray morning and occasionally large +flakes of snow fell, giving evidence that before the day was far +advanced another storm would set in. Mukoki's traps were not more than +an eighth of a mile from camp, and as the two rounded a certain bend in +the river the old hunter suddenly stopped with a huge grant of +satisfaction. Following the direction in which he pointed Rod saw a dark +object lying in the snow a short distance away. + +"That's heem!" exclaimed the Indian. + +As they approached, the object became animate, pulling and tearing in +the snow as though in the agonies of death. A few moments more and they +were close up to the captive. + +"She wolf!" explained Mukoki. + +He gripped the ax he had brought with him and approached within a few +feet of the crouching animal. Rod could see that one of the big steel +traps had caught the wolf on the forward leg and that the other had +buried its teeth in one of the hind legs. Thus held the doomed animal +could make little effort to protect itself and crouched in sullen quiet, +its white fangs gleaming in a noiseless, defiant snarl, its eyes shining +with pain and anger, and with only its thin starved body, which jerked +and trembled as the Indian came nearer, betraying signs of fear. To Rod +it might have been a pitiful sight had not there come to him a thought +of the preceding night and of his own and Wabi's narrow escape from the +pack. + +Two or three quick blows of the ax and the wolf was dead. With a skill +which can only be found among those of his own race, Mukoki drew his +knife, cut deftly around the wolf's head just below the ears, and with +one downward, one upward, and two sidewise jerks tore off the scalp. + +Suddenly, without giving a thought to his speech, there shot from Rod, + +"Is that the way you scalp people?" + +Mukoki looked up, his jaw fell--and then he gave the nearest thing to a +real laugh that Rod ever heard come from between his lips. When Mukoki +laughed it was usually in a half-chuckle, a half-gurgle--something that +neither Rod nor Wabi could have imitated if they had tried steadily for +a month. + +"Never scalped white people," the old Indian shot back. "Father did +when--young man. Did great scalp business!" + +Mukoki had not done chuckling to himself even when they reached camp. + +Scarcely ten minutes were taken in eating breakfast. Snow was already +beginning to fall, and if the hunters took up their trail at once their +tracks would undoubtedly be entirely obliterated by midday, which was +the best possible thing that could happen for them in the Woonga +country. On the other hand, Wabi was anxious to follow back over the +wolf-trail before the snow shut it in. There was no danger of their +becoming separated and lost, for it was agreed that Rod and Mukoki +should travel straight up the frozen river. Wabi would overtake them +before nightfall. + +Arming himself with his rifle, revolver, knife, and a keen-edged +belt-ax, the Indian boy lost no time in leaving camp. A quarter of an +hour later Wabi came out cautiously on the end of the lake where had +occurred the unequal duel between the old bull moose and the wolves. A +single glance told him what the outcome of that duel had been. Twenty +rods out upon the snow he saw parts of a great skeleton, and a huge pair +of antlers. + +As he stood on the arena of the mighty battle, Wabi would have given a +great deal if Rod could have been with him. There lay the heroic old +moose, now nothing more than a skeleton. But the magnificent head and +horns still remained--the largest head that the Indian youth, in all his +wilderness life, had ever seen--and it occurred to him that if this head +could be preserved and taken back to civilization it would be worth a +hundred dollars or more. That the old bull had put up a magnificent +fight was easily discernible. Fifty feet away were the bones of a wolf, +and almost under the skeleton of the moose were those of another. The +heads of both still remained, and Wabi, after taking their scalps, +hurried on over the trail. + +Half-way across the lake, where he had taken his last two shots, were +the skeletons of two more wolves, and in the edge of the spruce forest +he found another. This animal had evidently been wounded farther back +and had later been set upon by some of the pack and killed. Half a mile +deeper in the forest he came upon a spot where he had emptied five +shells into the pack and here he found the bones of two more wolves. He +had seven scalps in his possession when he turned back over the home +trail. + +Beside the remains of the old bull Wabi paused again. He knew that the +Indians frequently preserved moose and caribou heads through the winter +by keeping them frozen, and the head at his feet was a prize worth some +thought. But how could he keep it preserved until their return, months +later? He could not suspend it from the limb of a tree, as was the +custom when in camp, for it would either be stolen by some passing +hunter or spoiled by the first warm days of spring. Suddenly an idea +came to him. Why could it not be preserved in what white hunters called +an "Indian ice-box"? In an instant he was acting upon this inspiration. +It was not a small task to drag the huge head to the shelter of the +tamaracks, where, safely hidden from view, he made a closer examination. +The head was gnawed considerably by the wolves, but Wabi had seen worse +ones skillfully repaired by the Indians at the Post. + +Under a dense growth of spruce, where the rays of the sun seldom +penetrated, the Indian boy set to work with his belt-ax. For an hour and +a half he worked steadily, and at the end of that time had dug a hole in +the frozen earth three feet deep and four feet square. This hole he now +lined with about two inches of snow, packed as tight as he could jam it +with the butt of his gun. Then placing in the head he packed snow +closely about it and afterward filled in the earth, stamping upon the +hard chunks with his feet. When all was done he concealed the signs of +his work under a covering of snow, blazed two trees with his ax, and +resumed his journey. + +"There is thirty dollars for each of us if there's a cent," he mused +softly, as he hurried toward the Ombabika. "That ground won't thaw out +until June. A moose-head and eight scalps at fifteen dollars each isn't +bad for one day's work, Rod, old boy!" + +He had been absent for three hours. It had been snowing steadily and by +the time he reached their old camp the trail left by Rod and Mukoki was +already partly obliterated, showing that they had secured an early start +up the river. + +Bowing his head in the white clouds falling silently about him, Wabi +started in swift pursuit. He could not see ten rods ahead of him, so +dense was the storm, and at times one side or the other of the river was +lost to view. Conditions could not have been better for their flight out +of the Woonga country, thought the young hunter. By nightfall they would +be many miles up the river, and no sign would be left behind to reveal +their former presence or to show in which direction they had gone. For +two hours he followed tirelessly over the trail, which became more and +more distinct as he proceeded, showing that he was rapidly gaining on +his comrades. But even now, though the trail was fresher and deeper, so +disguised had it become by falling snow that a passing hunter might have +thought a moose or caribou had passed that way. + +At the end of the third hour, by which time he figured that he had made +at least ten miles, Wabi sat down to rest, and to refresh himself with +the lunch which he had taken from the camp that morning. He was +surprised at Rod's endurance. That Mukoki and the white boy were still +three or four miles ahead of him he did not doubt, unless they, too, had +stopped for dinner. This, on further thought, he believed was highly +probable. + +The wilderness about him was intensely still. Not even the twitter of a +snow-bird marred its silence. For a long time Wabi sat as immovable as +the log upon which he had seated himself, resting and listening. Such a +day as this held a peculiar and unusual fascination for him. It was as +if the whole world was shut out, and that even the wild things of the +forest dared not go abroad in this supreme moment of Nature's handiwork, +when with lavish hand she spread the white mantle that was to stretch +from the border to Hudson Bay. + +As he listened there came to him suddenly a sound that forced from +between his lips a half-articulate cry. It was the clear, ringing report +of a rifle! And following it there came another, and another, until in +quick succession he had counted five! + +What did it mean? He sprang to his feet, his heart thumping, every nerve +in him prepared for action. He would have sworn it was Mukoki's +rifle--yet Mukoki would not have fired at game! They had agreed upon +that. + +Had Rod and the old Indian been attacked? In another instant Wabi was +bounding over the trail with the speed of a deer. + + + +CHAPTER V + +MYSTERIOUS SHOTS IN THE WILDERNESS + + +As the Indian youth sped over the trail in the direction of the +rifle-shots he flung his usual caution to the winds. His blood thrilled +with the knowledge that there was not a moment to lose--that even now, +in all probability, he would be too late to assist his friends. This +fear was emphasized by the absolute silence which followed the five +shots. Eagerly, almost prayerfully, he listened as he ran for other +sounds of battle--for the report of Mukoki's revolver, or the whoops of +the victors. If there had been an ambush it was all over now. Each +moment added to his conviction, and as he thrust the muzzle of his gun +ahead of him, his finger hovering near the trigger and his snow-blinded +eyes staring ahead into the storm, something like a sob escaped his +lips. + +Ahead of him the stream narrowed until it almost buried itself under a +mass of towering cedars. The closeness of the forest walls now added to +the general gloom, intensified by the first gray pallor of the Northern +dusk, which begins to fall in these regions early in the afternoon of +November days. For a moment, just before plunging into the gloomy trail +between the cedars, Wabi stopped and listened. He heard nothing but the +beating of his own heart, which worked like a trip-hammer within his +breast. The stillness was oppressive. And the longer he listened the +more some invisible power seemed to hold him back. It was not fear, it +was not lack of courage, but-- + +What was there just beyond those cedars, lurking cautiously in the snow +gloom? + +With instinct that was almost animal in its unreasonableness Wabi sank +upon his knees. He had seen nothing, he had heard nothing; but he +crouched close, until he was no larger than a waiting wolf, and there +was a deadly earnestness in the manner in which he turned his rifle into +the deeper gloom of those close-knit walls of forest. Something was +approaching, cautiously, stealthily, and with extreme slowness. The +Indian boy felt that this was so, and yet if his life had depended upon +it he could not have told why. He huddled himself lower in the snow. His +eyes gleamed with excitement. Minute after minute passed, and still +there came no sound. Then, from far up that dusky avenue of cedars, +there came the sudden startled chatter of a moose-bird. It was a warning +which years of experience had taught Wabi always to respect. Perhaps a +roving fox had frightened it, perhaps the bird had taken to noisy flight +at the near tread of a moose, a caribou, or a deer. But-- + +To Wabi the soft, quick notes of the moose-bird spelled man! In an +instant he was upon his feet, darting quickly into the sheltering cedars +of the shore. Through these he now made his way with extreme caution, +keeping close to the bank of the frozen stream. After a little he paused +again and concealed himself behind the end of a fallen log. Ahead of him +he could look into the snow gloom between the cedars, and whatever was +coming through that gloom would have to pass within a dozen yards of +him. Each moment added to his excitement. He heard the chatter of a red +squirrel, much nearer than the moose-bird. Once he fancied that he heard +the striking of two objects, as though a rifle barrel had accidentally +come into contact with the dead limb of a tree. + +Suddenly the Indian youth imagined that he saw something--an indistinct +shadow that came in the snow gloom, then disappeared, and came again. He +brushed the water and snow from his eyes with one of his mittened hands +and stared hard and steadily. Once more the shadow disappeared, then +came again, larger and more distinct than before. There was no doubt +now. Whatever had startled the moose-bird was coming slowly, +noiselessly. + +Wabi brought his rifle to his shoulder. Life and death hovered with his +anxious, naked finger over the gun trigger. But he was too well trained +in the ways of the wilderness to fire just yet. Yard by yard the shadow +approached, and divided itself into two shadows. Wabi could now see that +they were men. They were advancing in a cautious, crouching attitude, as +though they expected to meet enemies somewhere ahead of them. Wabi's +heart thumped with joy. There could be no surer sign that Mukoki and Rod +were still among the living, for why should the Woongas employ this +caution if they had already successfully ambushed the hunters? With the +chill of a cold hand at his throat the answer flashed into Wabigoon's +brain. His friends had been ambushed, and these two Woongas were +stealing back over the trail to slay him! + +Very slowly, very gently, the young Indian's finger pressed against the +trigger of his rifle. A dozen feet more, and then-- + +The shadows had stopped, and now drew together as if in consultation. +They were not more than twenty yards away, and for a moment Wabi lowered +his rifle and listened hard. He could hear the low unintelligible +mutterings of their conversation. Then there came to him a single +incautious reply from one of the shadows. + +"All right!" + +Surely that was not the English of a Woonga! It sounded like-- + +In a flash Wabi had called softly. + +"Ho, Muky--Muky--Rod!" + +In another moment the three wolf hunters were together, silently +wringing one another's hands, the death-like pallor of Rod's face and +the tense lines in the bronzed countenances of Mukoki and Wabigoon +plainly showing the tremendous strain they had been under. + +"You shoot?" whispered Mukoki. + +"No!" replied Wabi, his eyes widening in surprise. "Didn't _you_ shoot?" + +"No!" + +Only the one word fell from the old Indian, but it was filled with a new +warning. Who had fired the five shots? The hunters gazed blankly at one +another, mute questioning in their eyes. Without speaking, Mukoki +pointed suggestively to the clearer channel of the river beyond the +cedars. Evidently he thought the shots had come from there. Wabi shook +his head. + +"There was no trail," he whispered. "Nobody has crossed the river." + +"I thought they were there!" breathed Rod. He pointed into the forest. +"But Mukoki said no." + +For a long time the three stood and listened. Half a mile back in the +forest they heard the howl of a single wolf, and Wabi flashed a curious +glance into the eyes of the old Indian. + +"That's a man's cry," he whispered. "The wolf has struck a human trail. +It isn't mine!" + +"Nor ours," replied Rod. + +This one long howl of the wolf was the only sound that broke the +stillness of approaching night. Mukoki turned, and the others followed +in his trail. A quarter of a mile farther on the stream became still +narrower and plunged between great masses of rock which rose into wild +and precipitous hills that were almost mountains a little way back. No +longer could the hunters now follow the channel of the rushing torrent. +Through a break in a gigantic wall of rock and huge boulders led the +trail of Rod and Mukoki. Ten minutes more and the three had clambered to +the top of the ridge where, in the lee of a great rock, the remains of a +fire were still burning. Here the old Indian and his companion had +struck camp and were waiting for Wabigoon when they heard the shots +which they, too, believed were those of an ambush. + +A comfortable shelter of balsam had already been erected against the +rock, and close beside the fire, where Mukoki had dropped it at the +sound of the shots, was a large piece of spitted venison. The situation +was ideal for a camp and after the hard day's tramp through the snow the +young wolf hunters regarded it with expressions of pleasure, in spite of +the enemies whom they knew might be lurking near them. Both Wabi and Rod +had accepted the place as their night's home, and were stirring up the +fire, when their attention was drawn to the singular attitude of Mukoki. +The old warrior stood leaning on his rifle, speechless and motionless, +his eyes regarding the process of rekindling the fire with mute +disapprobation. Wabi, poised on one knee, looked at him questioningly. + +"No make more fire," said the old Indian, shaking his head. "No dare +stay here. Go on--beyond mountain!" + +Mukoki straightened himself and stretched a long arm toward the north. + +"River go like much devil 'long edge of mountain," he continued. "Make +heap noise through rock, then make swamp thick for cow moose--then run +through mountain and make wide, smooth river once more. We go over +mountain. Snow all night. Morning come--no trail for Woonga. We stay +here--make big trail in morning. Woonga follow like devil, ver' plain to +see!" + +Wabi rose to his feet, his face showing the keenness of his +disappointment. Since early morning he had been traveling, even running +at times, and he was tired enough to risk willingly a few dangers for +the sake of sleep and supper. Rod was in even worse condition, though +his trail had been much shorter. For a few moments the two boys looked +at each other in silence, neither attempting to conceal the lack of +favor with which Mukoki's suggestion was received. But Wabi was too wise +openly to oppose the old pathfinder. If Mukoki said that it was +dangerous for them to remain where they were during the night--well, it +was dangerous, and it would be foolish of him to dispute it. He knew +Mukoki to be the greatest hunter of his tribe, a human bloodhound on the +trail, and what he said was law. So with a cheerful grin at Rod, who +needed all the encouragement that could be given to him, Wabi began the +readjustment of the pack which he had flung from his shoulders a few +minutes before. + +"Mountain not ver' far. Two--t'ree mile, then camp," encouraged Mukoki. +"Walk slow--have big supper." + +Only a few articles had been taken from the toboggan-sled on which the +hunters were dragging the greater part of their equipment into the +wilderness, and Mukoki soon had these packed again. The three +adventurers now took up the new trail along the top of one of those wild +and picturesque ridges which both the Indians and white hunters of this +great Northland call mountains. Wabigoon led, weighted under his pack, +selecting the clearest road for the toboggan and clipping down +obstructing saplings with his keen-edged belt-ax. A dozen feet behind +him followed Mukoki, dragging the sled; and behind the sled, securely +tied with a thong of babeesh, or moose-skin rope, slunk the wolf. Rod, +less experienced in making a trail and burdened with a lighter pack, +formed the rear of the little cavalcade. + +Darkness was now falling rapidly. Though Wabigoon was not more than a +dozen yards ahead, Rod could only now and then catch a fleeting vision +of him through the gloom. Mukoki, doubled over in his harness, was +hardly more than a blotch in the early night. Only the wolf was near +enough to offer companionship to the tired and down-spirited youth. +Rod's enthusiasm was not easily cooled, but just now he mentally wished +that, for this one night at least, he was back at the Post, with the +lovely little Minnetaki relating to him some legend of bird or beast +they had encountered that day. How much pleasanter that would be! The +vision of the bewitching little maiden was suddenly knocked out of his +head in a most unexpected and startling way. Mukoki had paused for a +moment and Rod, unconscious of the fact, continued on his journey until +he tumbled in a sprawling heap over the sled, knocking Mukoki's legs +completely from under him in his fall. When Wabi ran back he found Rod +flattened out, face downward, and Mukoki entangled in his site harness +on top of him. + +In a way this accident was fortunate. Wabi, who possessed a Caucasian +sense of humor, shook with merriment as he gave his assistance, and Rod, +after he had dug the snow from his eyes and ears and had emptied a +handful of it from his neck, joined with him. + +The ridge now became narrower as the trio advanced. On one side, far +down, could be heard the thunderous rush of the river, and from the +direction of the sound Rod knew they were near a precipice. Great beds +of boulders and broken rock, thrown there by some tumultuous upheaval of +past ages, now impeded their progress, and every step was taken with +extreme caution. The noise of the torrent became louder and louder as +they advanced and on one side of him Rod now thought that he could +distinguish a dim massive shadow towering above them, like the +precipitous side of a mountain. A few steps farther and Mukoki exchanged +places with Wabigoon. + +"Muky has been here before," cried Wabi close up to Rod's ear. His voice +was almost drowned by the tumult below. "That's where the river rushes +through the mountain!" + +Rod forgot his fatigue in the new excitement. Never in his wildest +dreams of adventure had he foreseen an hour like this. Each step seemed +to bring them nearer the edge of the vast chasm through which the river +plunged, and yet not a sign of it could he see. He strained his eyes and +ears, each moment expecting to hear the warning voice of the old +warrior. With a suddenness that chilled him he saw the great shadow +close in upon them from the opposite side, and for the first time he +realized their position. On their left was the precipice--on their right +the sheer wall of the mountain! How wide was the ledge along which they +were traveling? His foot struck a stick under the snow. Catching it up +he flung it out into space. For a single instant he paused to listen, +but there came no sound of the falling object. The precipice was very +near--a little chill ran up his spine. It was a sensation he had never +experienced in walking the streets of a city! + +Though he could not see, he knew that the ledge was now leading them up. +He could hear Wabigoon straining ahead of the toboggan and he began to +assist by pushing on the rear of the loaded sled. For half an hour this +upward climb continued, until the sound of the river had entirely died +away. No longer was the mountain on the right. Five minutes later Mukoki +called a halt. + +"On top mountain," he said briefly. "Camp here!" + +Rod could not repress an exclamation of joy, and Wabigoon, as he threw +off his harness, gave a suppressed whoop. Mukoki, who seemed tireless, +began an immediate search for a site for their camp and after a short +breathing-spell Rod and Wabi joined him. The spot chosen was in the +shelter of a huge rock, and while Mukoki cleaned away the snow the young +hunters set to work with their axes in a near growth of balsam, cutting +armful after armful of the soft odorous boughs. Inside of an hour a +comfortable camp was completed, with an exhilarating fire throwing its +crackling flames high up into the night before it. + +For the first time since leaving the abandoned camp at the other end of +the ridge the hunters fully realized how famished they were, and Mukoki +was at once delegated to prepare supper while Wabi and Rod searched in +the darkness for their night's supply of wood. Fortunately quite near at +hand they discovered several dead poplars, the best fuel in the world +for a camp-fire, and by the time the venison and coffee were ready they +had collected a huge pile of this, together with several good-sized +backlogs. + +Mukoki had spread the feast in the opening of the shelter where the heat +of the fire, reflected from the face of the rock, fell upon them in +genial warmth, suffusing their faces with a most comfortable glow. The +heat, together with the feast, were almost overpowering in their +effects, and hardly was his supper completed when Rod felt creeping over +him a drowsiness which he attempted in vain to fight off a little +longer. Dragging himself back in the shelter he wrapped himself in his +blanket, burrowed into the mass of balsam boughs, and passed quickly +into oblivion. His last intelligible vision was Mukoki piling logs upon +the fire, while the flames shot up a dozen feet into the air, illumining +to his drowsy eyes for an instant a wild chaos of rock, beyond which lay +the mysterious and impenetrable blackness of the wilderness. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MUKOKI DISTURBS THE ANCIENT SKELETONS + + +Completely exhausted, every muscle in his aching body still seeming to +strain with exertion, the night was one of restless and uncomfortable +dreams for Roderick Drew. While Wabi and the old Indian, veterans in +wilderness hardship, slept in peace and tranquillity, the city boy found +himself in the most unusual and thrilling situations from which he would +extricate himself with a grunt or sharp cry, several times sitting bolt +upright in his bed of balsam until he realized where he was, and that +his adventures were only those of dreamland. + +From one of these dreams Rod had aroused himself into drowsy +wakefulness. He fancied that he had heard steps. For the tenth time he +raised himself upon an elbow, stretched, rubbed his eyes, glanced at the +dark, inanimate forms of his sleeping companions, and snuggled down into +his balsam boughs again. A few moments later he sat bolt upright. He +could have sworn that he heard real steps this time--a soft cautious +crunching in the snow very near his head. Breathlessly he listened. Not +a sound broke the silence except the snapping of a dying ember in the +fire. Another dream! Once more he settled back, drawing his blanket +closely about him. Then, for a full breath, the very beating of his +heart seemed to cease. + +What was that! + +He was awake now, wide awake, with every faculty in him striving to +arrange itself. He had heard--a step! Slowly, very cautiously this time, +he raised himself. There came distinctly to his ears a light crunching +in the snow. It seemed back of the shelter--then was moving away, then +stopped. The flickering light of the dying fire still played on the face +of the great rock. Suddenly, at the very end of that rock, something +moved. + +Some object was creeping cautiously upon the sleeping camp! + +For a moment his thrilling discovery froze the young hunter into +inaction. But in a moment the whole situation flashed upon him. The +Woongas had followed them! They were about to fall upon the helpless +camp! Unexpectedly one of his hands came in contact with the barrel of +Wabi's rifle. The touch of the cold steel aroused him. There was no time +to awaken his companions. Even as he drew the gun to him he saw the +object grow larger and larger at the end of the rock, until it stood +crouching, as if about to spring. + +One bated breath--a thunderous report--a snarling scream of pain, and +the camp was awake! + +"We're attacked!" cried Rod. "Quick--Wabi--Mukoki!" + +The white boy was on his knees now, the smoking rifle still leveled +toward the rocks. Out there, in the thick shadows beyond the fire, a +body was groveling and kicking in death agonies. In another instant the +gaunt form of the old warrior was beside Rod, his rifle at his shoulder, +and over their heads reached Wabigoon's arm, the barrel of his heavy +revolver glinting in the firelight. + +For a full minute they crouched there, breathless, waiting. + +"They've gone!" broke Wabi in a tense whisper. + +"I got one of them!" replied Rod, his voice trembling with excitement. + +Mukoki slipped back and burrowed a hole through the side of the shelter. +He could see nothing. Slowly he slipped out, his rifle ready. The others +could hear him as he went. Foot by foot the old warrior slunk along in +the deep gloom toward the end of the rock. Now he was almost there, +now-- + +The young hunters saw him suddenly straighten. There came to them a low +chuckling grunt. He bent over, seized an object, and flung it in the +light of the fire. + +"Heap big Woonga! Kill nice fat lynx!" + +With a wail, half feigned, half real, Rod flung himself back upon the +balsam while Wabi set up a roar that made the night echo. Mukoki's face +was creased in a broad grin. + +"Heap big Woonga--heem!" he repeated, chuckling. "Nice fat lynx shot +well in face. No look like bad man Woonga to Mukoki!" + +When Rod finally emerged from his den to join the others his face was +flushed and wore what Wabi described as a "sheepish grin." + +"It's all right for you fellows to make fun of me," he declared. "But +what if they had been Woongas? By George, if we're ever attacked again I +won't do a thing. I'll let you fellows fight 'em off!" + +In spite of the general merriment at his expense, Rod was immensely +proud of his first lynx. It was an enormous creature of its kind, drawn +by hunger to the scraps of the camp-fire feast; and it was this animal, +as it cautiously inspected the camp, that the young hunter had heard +crunching in the snow. Wolf, whose instinct had told him what a mix-up +would mean, had slunk into his shelter without betraying his whereabouts +to this arch-enemy of his tribe. + +With the craft of his race, Mukoki was skinning the animal while it was +still warm. + +"You go back bed," he said to his companions. "I build big fire +again--then sleep." + +The excitement of his adventure at least freed Rod from the +unpleasantness of further dreams, and it was late the following morning +before he awoke again. He was astonished to find that a beautiful sun +was shining. Wabi and the old Indian were already outside preparing +breakfast, and the cheerful whistling of the former assured Rod that +there was now little to be feared from the Woongas. Without lingering to +take a beauty nap he joined them. + +Everywhere about them lay white winter. The rocks, the trees, and the +mountain behind them were covered with two feet of snow and upon it the +sun shone with dazzling brilliancy. But it was not until Rod looked into +the north that he saw the wilderness in all of its grandeur. The camp +had been made at the extreme point of the ridge, and stretching away +under his eyes, mile after mile, was the vast white desolation that +reached to Hudson Bay. In speechless wonder he gazed down upon the +unblazed forests, saw plains and hills unfold themselves as his vision +gained distance, followed a river until it was lost in the bewildering +picture, and let his eyes rest here and there upon the glistening, +snow-smothered bosoms of lakes, rimmed in by walls of black forest. This +was not the wilderness as he had expected it to be, nor as he had often +read of it in books. It was beautiful! It was magnificent! His heart +throbbed with pleasure as he gazed down on it, the blood rose to his +face in an excited flush, and he seemed hardly to breathe in his tense +interest. + +Mukoki had come up beside him softly, and spoke in his low guttural +voice. + +"Twent' t'ousand moose down there--twent' t'ousand caribou-oo! No +man--no house--more twent' t'ousand miles!" + +Roderick, even trembling in his new emotion, looked into the old +warrior's face. In Mukoki's eyes there was a curious, thrilling gleam. +He stared straight out into the unending distance as though his keen +vision would penetrate far beyond the last of that visible +desolation--on and on, even to the grim and uttermost fastnesses of +Hudson Bay. Wabi came up and placed his hand on Rod's shoulder. + +"Muky was born off there," he said. "Away beyond where we can see. Those +were his hunting-grounds when a boy. See that mountain yonder? You might +take it for a cloud. It's thirty miles from here! And that lake down +there--you might think a rifle-shot would reach it--is five miles away! +If a moose or a caribou or a wolf should cross it how you could see +him." + +For a few moments longer the three stood silent, then Wabi and the old +Indian returned to the fire to finish the preparation of breakfast, +leaving Rod alone in his enchantment. What unsolved mysteries, what +unwritten tragedies, what romance, what treasure of gold that vast North +must hold! For a thousand, perhaps a million centuries, it had lain thus +undisturbed in the embrace of nature; few white men had broken its +solitudes, and the wild things still lived there as they had lived in +the winters of ages and ages ago. + +The call to breakfast came almost as an unpleasant interruption to Rod. +But it did not shock his appetite as it had his romantic fancies, and he +performed his part at the morning meal with considerable credit. Wabi +and Mukoki had already decided that they would not take up the trail +again that day but would remain in their present camp until the +following morning. There were several reasons for this delay. + +"We can't travel without snow-shoes now," explained Wabi to Rod, "and +we've got to take a day off to teach you how to use them. Then, all the +wild things are lying low. Moose, deer, caribou, and especially wolves +and fur animals, won't begin traveling much until this afternoon and +to-night, and if we took up the trail now we would have no way of +telling what kind of a game country we were in. And that is the +important thing just now. If we strike a first-rate game country during +the next couple days we'll stop and build our winter camp." + +"Then you believe we are far enough away from the Woongas?" asked Rod. + +Mukoki grunted. + +"No believe Woongas come over mountain. Heap good game country back +there. They stay." + +During the meal the white boy asked a hundred questions about the vast +wilderness which lay stretched out before them in a great panorama, and +in which they were soon to bury themselves, and every answer added to +his enthusiasm. Immediately after they had finished eating Rod expressed +a desire to begin his study in snow-shoeing, and for an hour after that +Wabi and Mukoki piloted him back and forth along the ridge, instructing +him in this and in that, applauding when he made an especially good dash +and enjoying themselves immensely when he took one of his frequent +tumbles into the snow. By noon Rod secretly believed that he was +becoming quite an adept. + +Although the day in camp was an exceedingly pleasant one for Rod, he +could not but observe that at times something seemed to be troubling +Wabi. Twice he discovered the Indian youth alone within the shelter +sitting in silent and morose dejection, and finally he insisted upon an +explanation. + +"I want you to tell me what the trouble is, Wabi," he demanded. "What +has gone wrong?" + +Wabi jumped to his feet with a little laugh. + +"Did you ever have a dream that bothered you, Rod?" he asked. "Well, I +had one last night, and since then--somehow--I can't keep from worrying +about the people back at the Post, and especially about Minnetaki. It's +all--what do you call it--bosh? Listen! Wasn't that Mukoki's whistle?" + +As he paused Mukoki came running around the end of the rock. + +"See fun!" he cried softly. "Quick--see heem quick!" + +He turned and darted toward the precipitous edge of the ridge, closely +followed by the two boys. + +"Cari-boo-oo!" he whispered excitedly as they came up beside him. +"Cari-boo-oo--making big play!" + +He pointed down into the snowy wilderness. Three-quarters of a mile +away, though to Rod apparently not more than a third of that distance +from where they stood, half a dozen animals were disporting themselves +in a singular fashion in a meadow-like opening between the mountain and +a range of forest. It was Rod's first real glimpse of that wonderful +animal of the North of which he had read so much, the caribou--commonly +known beyond the Sixtieth Degree as the reindeer; and at this moment +those below him were indulging in the queer play known in the Hudson Bay +regions as the "caribou dance." + +"What's the matter with them?" he asked, his voice quivering with +excitement. "What--" + +"Making big fun!" chuckled Mukoki, drawing the boy closer to the rock +that concealed them. + +Wabi had thrust a finger in his mouth and now held it above his head, +the Indian's truest guide for discovering the direction of the wind. The +lee side of his finger remained cold and damp, while that side upon +which the breeze fell was quickly dried. + +"The wind is toward us, Muky," he announced. "There's a fine chance for +a shot. You go! Rod and I will stay here and watch you." + +Roderick heard--knew that Mukoki was creeping back to the camp for his +rifle, but not for an instant did his spellbound eyes leave the +spectacle below him. Two other animals had joined those in the open. He +could see the sun glistening on their long antlers as they tossed their +heads in their amazing antics. Now three or four of them would dash away +with the speed of the wind, as though the deadliest of enemies were +close behind them. Two or three hundred yards away they would stop with +equal suddenness, whirl about in a circle, as though flight were +interrupted on all sides of them, then tear back with lightning speed to +rejoin the herd. In twos and threes and fours they performed these +evolutions again and again. But there was another antic that held Rod's +eyes, and if it had not been so new and wonderful to him he would have +laughed, as Wabi was doing--silently--behind him. From out of the herd +would suddenly dash one of the agile creatures, whirl about, jump and +kick, and finally bounce up and down on all four feet, as though +performing a comedy sketch in pantomime for the amusement of its +companions; and when this was done it would start out in another mad +flight, with others of the herd at its heels. + +"They are the funniest, swiftest, and shrewdest animals in the North," +said Wabi. "They can smell you over a mountain if the wind is right, and +hear you for half a mile. Look!" + +He pointed downward over Rod's shoulder. Mukoki had already reached the +base of the ridge and was stealing straight out in the direction of the +caribou. Rod gave a surprised gasp. + +"Great Scott! They'll see him, won't they?" he cried. + +"Not if Mukoki knows himself," smiled the Indian youth. "Remember that +we are looking down on things. Everything seems clear and open to us, +while in reality it's quite thick down there. I'll bet Muky can't see +one hundred yards ahead of him. He has got his bearings and will go as +straight as though he was on a blazed trail; but he won't see the +caribou until he conies to the edge of the open." + +Each minute now added to Rod's excitement. Each of those minutes brought +the old warrior nearer his game. Seldom, thought Rod, had such a scene +been unfolded to the eyes of a white boy. The complete picture--the +playful rompings of the dumb children of the wilderness; the stealthy +approach of the old Indian; every rock, every tree that was to play its +part--all were revealed to their eyes. Not a phase in this drama in wild +life escaped them. Five minutes, ten, fifteen passed. They could see +Mukoki as he stopped and lifted a hand to test the wind. Then he +crouched, advancing foot by foot, yard by yard, so slowly that he seemed +to be on his hands and knees. + +"He can hear them, but he can't see them!" breathed Wabigoon. "See! He +places his ear to the ground! Now he has got his bearings again--as +straight as a die! Good old Muky!" + +The old Indian crept on. In his excitement Rod clenched his hands and he +seemed to live without breathing. Would Mukoki never shoot? Would he +_never_ shoot? He seemed now to be within a stone's throw of the herd. + +"How far, Wabi?" + +"Four hundred yards, perhaps five," replied the Indian. "It's a long +shot! He can't see them yet." + +Rod gripped his companion's arm. + +Mukoki had stopped. Down and down he slunk, until he became only a blot +in the snow. + +"Now!" + +There came a moment of startled silence. In the midst of their play the +animals in the open stood for a single instant paralyzed by a knowledge +of impending danger, and in that instant there came to the young hunters +the report of Mukoki's rifle. + +"No good!" cried Wabi. + +In his excitement he leaped to his feet. The caribou had turned and the +whole eight of them were racing across the open. Another shot, and +another--three in quick succession, and one of the fleeing animals fell, +scrambled to its knees--and plunged on again! A fifth shot--the last in +Mukoki's rifle! Again the wounded animal fell, struggled to its +knees--to its forefeet--and fell again. + +"Good work! Five hundred yards if it was a foot!" exclaimed Wabigoon +with a relieved laugh. "Fresh steak for supper, Rod!" + +Mukoki came out into the open, reloading his rifle. Quickly he moved +across the wilderness playground, now crimson with blood, unsheathed his +knife, and dropped upon his knees close to the throat of the slain +animal. + +"I'll go down and give him a little help, Rod," said Wabi. "Your legs +are pretty sore, and it's a hard climb down there; so if you will keep +up the fire, Mukoki and I will bring back the meat." + +During the next hour Rod busied himself with collecting firewood for the +night and in practising with his snow-shoes. He was astonished to find +how swiftly and easily he could travel in them, and was satisfied that +he could make twenty miles a day even as a tenderfoot. + +Left to his own thoughts he found his mind recurring once more to the +Woongas and Minnetaki. Why was Wabi worried? Inwardly he did not believe +that it was a dream alone that was troubling him. There was still some +cause for fear. Of that he was certain. And why would not the Woongas +penetrate beyond this mountain? He had asked himself this question a +score of times during the last twenty-four hours, in spite of the fact +that both Mukoki and Wabigoon were quite satisfied that they were well +out of the Woonga territory. + +It was growing dusk when Wabi and the old Indian returned with the meat +of the caribou. No time was lost in preparing supper, for the hunters +had decided that the next day's trail would begin with dawn and probably +end with darkness, which meant that they would require all the rest they +could get before then. They were all eager to begin the winter's hunt. +That day Mukoki's eyes had glistened at each fresh track he encountered. +Wabi and Rod were filled with enthusiasm. Even Wolf, now and then +stretching his gaunt self, would nose the air with eager suspicion, as +if longing for the excitement of the tragedies in which he was to play +such an important part. + +"If you can stand it," said Wabi, nodding at Rod over his caribou steak, +"we won't lose a minute from now on. Over that country we ought to make +twenty-five or thirty miles to-morrow. We may strike our hunting-ground +by noon, or it may take us two or three days; but in either event we +haven't any time to waste. Hurrah for the big camp, I say--and our fun +begins!" + +It seemed to Rod as though he had hardly fallen asleep that night when +somebody began tumbling him about in his bed of balsam. Opening his eyes +he beheld Wabi's laughing face, illuminated in the glow of a roaring +fire. + +"Time's up!" he called cheerily. "Hustle out, Rod. Breakfast is sizzling +hot, everything is packed, and here you are still dreaming of--what?" + +"Minnetaki!" shot back Rod with unblushing honesty. + +In another minute he was outside, straightening his disheveled garments +and smoothing his tousled hair. It was still very dark, but Rod assured +himself by his watch that it was nearly four o'clock. Mukoki had already +placed their breakfast on a flat rock beside the fire and, according to +Wabigoon's previous scheme, no time was lost in disposing of it. + +Dawn was just breaking when the little cavalcade of adventurers set out +from the camp. More keenly than ever Rod now felt the loss of his rifle. +They were about to enter upon a hunter's paradise--and he had no gun! +His disappointment was acute and he could not repress a confession of +his feelings to Wabi. The Indian youth at once suggested a happy remedy. +They would take turns in using his gun, Rod to have it one day and he +the next; and Wabi's heavy revolver would also change hands, so that the +one who did not possess the rifle would be armed with the smaller +weapon. This solution of the difficulty lifted a dampening burden from +Rod's heart, and when the little party began its descent into the +wilderness regions under the mountain the city lad carried the rifle, +for Wabi insisted that he have the first "turn." + +Once free of the rock-strewn ridge the two boys joined forces in pulling +the toboggan while Mukoki struck out a trail ahead of them. As it became +lighter Rod found his eyes glued with keen interest to Mukoki's +snow-shoes, and for the first time in his life he realized what it +really meant to "make a trail." The old Indian was the most famous +trailmaker as well as the keenest trailer of his tribe, and in the +comparatively open bottoms through which they were now traveling he was +in his element. His strides were enormous, and with each stride he threw +up showers of snow, leaving a broad level path behind him in which the +snow was packed by his own weight, so that when Wabi and Rod came to +follow him they were not impeded by sinking into a soft surface. + +Half a mile from the mountain Mukoki stopped and waited for the others +to come up to him. + +"Moose!" he called, pointing at a curious track in the snow. + +Rod leaned eagerly over the track. + +"The snow is still crumbling and falling where he stepped," said Wabi. +"Watch that little chunk, Rod. See--it's slipping--down--down--there! It +was an old bull--a big fellow--and he passed here less than an hour +ago." + +Signs of the night carnival of the wild things now became more and more +frequent as the hunters advanced. They crossed and recrossed the trail +of a fox; and farther on they discovered where this little pirate of +darkness had slaughtered a big white rabbit. The snow was covered with +blood and hair and part of the carcass remained uneaten. Again Wabi +forgot his determination to waste no time and paused to investigate. + +"Now, if we only knew what kind of a fox he was!" he exclaimed to Rod. +"But we don't. All we know is that he's a fox. And all fox tracks are +alike, no matter what kind of a fox makes them. If there was only some +difference our fortunes would be made!" + +"How?" asked Rod. + +Mukoki chuckled as if the mere thought of such a possibility filled him +with glee. + +"Well, that fellow may be an ordinary red fox," explained the Indian +youth. "If so, he is only worth from ten to twenty dollars; or he may be +a black fox, worth fifty or sixty; or what we call a 'cross'--a mixture +of silver and black--worth from seventy-five to a hundred. Or--" + +"Heap big silver!" interrupted Mukoki with another chuckle. + +"Yes, or a silver," finished Wabi. "A poor silver is worth two hundred +dollars, and a good one from five hundred to a thousand! Now do you see +why we would like to have a difference in the tracks? If that was a +silver, a black or a 'cross,' we'd follow him; but in all probability he +is red." + +Every hour added to Rod's knowledge of the wilderness and its people. +For the first time in his life he saw the big dog-like tracks made by +wolves, the dainty hoof-prints of the red deer and the spreading +imprints of a traveling lynx; he pictured the hugeness of the moose that +made a track as big as his head, discovered how to tell the difference +between the hoof-print of a small moose and a big caribou, and in almost +every mile learned something new. + +Half a dozen times during the morning the hunters stopped to rest. By +noon Wabi figured that they had traveled twenty miles, and, although +very tired, Rod declared that he was still "game for another ten." After +dinner the aspect of the country changed. The river which they had been +following became narrower and was so swift in places that it rushed +tumultuously between its frozen edges. Forest-clad hills, huge boulders +and masses of rock now began to mingle again with the bottoms, which in +this country are known as plains. Every mile added to the roughness and +picturesque grandeur of the country. A few miles to the east rose +another range of wild and rugged hills; small lakes became more and more +numerous, and everywhere the hunters crossed and recrossed frozen +creeks. + +And each step they took now added to the enthusiasm of Wabi and his +companions. Evidences of game and fur animals were plenty. A thousand +ideal locations for a winter camp were about them, and their progress +became slow and studied. + +A gently sloping hill of considerable height now lay in their path and +Mukoki led the ascent. At the top the three paused in joyful +astonishment. At their feet lay a "dip," or hollow, a dozen acres in +extent, and in the center of this dip was a tiny lake partly surrounded +by a mixed forest of cedar, balsam and birch that swept back over the +hill, and partly inclosed by a meadow-like opening. One might have +traveled through the country a thousand times without discovering this +bit of wilderness paradise hidden in a hilltop. Without speaking Mukoki +threw off his heavy pack. Wabi unbuckled his harness and relieved his +shoulders of their burden. Rod, following their example, dropped his +small pack beside that of the old Indian, and Wolf, straining at his +babeesh thong, gazed with eager eyes into the hollow as though he, too, +knew that it was to be their winter home. + +Wabi broke the silence. + +"How is that, Muky?" he asked. + +Mukoki chuckled with unbounded satisfaction. + +"Ver' fine. No get bad wind--never see smoke--plenty wood--plenty +water." + +Relieved of their burdens, and leaving Wolf tied to the toboggan, the +hunters made their way down to the lake. Hardly had they reached its +edge when Wabi halted with a startled exclamation and pointed into the +forest on the opposite side. + +"Look at that!" + +A hundred yards away, almost concealed among the trees, was a cabin. +Even from where they stood they could see that it was deserted. Snow was +drifted high about it. No chimney surmounted its roof. Nowhere was there +a sign of life. + +Slowly the hunters approached. It was evident that the cabin was very +old. The logs of which it was built were beginning to decay. A mass of +saplings had taken root upon its roof, and everything about it gave +evidence that it had been erected many years before. The door, made of +split timber and opening toward the lake, was closed; the one window, +also opening upon the lake, was tightly barred with lengths of sapling. + +Mukoki tried the door, but it resisted his efforts. Evidently it was +strongly barred from within. + +Curiosity now gave place to astonishment. + +How could the door be locked within, and the window barred from within, +without there being somebody inside? + +For a few moments the three stood speechless, listening. + +"Looks queer, doesn't it?" spoke Wabi softly. + +Mukoki had dropped on his knees beside the door. He could hear no sound. +Then he kicked off his snow-shoes, gripped his belt-ax and stepped to +the window. + +A dozen blows and one of the bars fell. The old Indian sniffed +suspiciously, his ear close to the opening. Damp, stifling air greeted +his nostrils, but still there was no sound. One after another he knocked +off the remaining bars and thrust his head and shoulders inside. +Gradually his eyes became accustomed to the darkness and he pulled +himself in. + +Half-way--and he stopped. + +"Go on, Muky," urged Wabi, who was pressing close behind. + +There came no answer from the old Indian. For a full minute he remained +poised there, as motionless as a stone, as silent as death. + +Then, very slowly--inch by inch, as though afraid of awakening a +sleeping person, he lowered himself to the ground. When he turned toward +the young hunters it was with an expression that Rod had never seen upon +Mukoki's face before. + +"What is it, Mukoki?" + +The old Indian gasped, as if for fresh air. + +"Cabin--she filled with twent' t'ousand dead men!" he replied. + +[Illustration: "Knife--fight--heem killed!"] + + + +CHAPTER VII + +RODERICK DISCOVERS THE BUCKSKIN BAG + + +For one long breath Rod and Wabi stared at their companion, only half +believing, yet startled by the strange look in the old warrior's face. + +"Twent' t'ousand dead men!" he repeated. As he raised his hand, partly +to give emphasis and partly to brush the cobwebs from his face, the boys +saw it trembling in a way that even Wabi had never witnessed before. + +"Ugh!" + +In another instant Wabi was at the window, head and shoulders in, as +Mukoki had been before him. After a little he pulled himself back and as +he glanced at Rod he laughed in an odd thrilling way, as though he had +been startled, but not so much so as Mukoki, who had prepared him for +the sight which had struck his own vision with the unexpectedness of a +shot in the back. + +"Take a look, Rod!" + +With his breath coming in little uneasy jerks Rod approached the black +aperture. A queer sensation seized upon him--a palpitation, not of fear, +but of something; a very unpleasant feeling that seemed to choke his +breath, and made him wish that he had not been asked to peer into that +mysterious darkness. Slowly he thrust his head through the hole. It was +as black as night inside. But gradually the darkness seemed to be +dispelled. He saw, in a little while, the opposite wall of the cabin. A +table outlined itself in deep shadows, and near the table there was a +pile of something that he could not name; and tumbled over that was a +chair, with an object that might have been an old rag half covering it. + +His eyes traveled nearer. Outside Wabi and Mukoki heard a startled, +partly suppressed cry. The boy's hands gripped the sides of the window. +Fascinated, he stared down upon an object almost within arm's reach of +him. + +There, leaning against the cabin wall, was what half a century or more +ago had been a living man! Now it was a mere skeleton, a grotesque, +terrible-looking object, its empty eye-sockets gleaming dully with the +light from the window, its grinning mouth, distorted into ghostly life +by the pallid mixture of light and gloom, turned full up at him! + +Rod fell back, trembling and white. + +"I only saw one," he gasped, remembering Mukoki's excited estimate. + +Wabi, who had regained his composure, laughed as he struck him two or +three playful blows on the back. Mukoki only grunted. + +"You didn't look long enough, Rod!" he cried banteringly. "He got on +your nerves too quick. I don't blame you, though. By George, I'll bet +the shivers went up Muky's back when he first saw 'em! I'm going in to +open the door." + +Without trepidation the young Indian crawled through the window. Rod, +whose nervousness was quickly dispelled, made haste to follow him, while +Mukoki again threw his weight against the door. A few blows of Wabi's +belt-ax and the door shot inward so suddenly that the old Indian went +sprawling after it upon all fours. + +A flood of light filled the interior of the cabin. Instinctively Rod's +eyes sought the skeleton against the wall. It was leaning as if, many +years before, a man had died there in a posture of sleep. Quite near +this ghastly tenant of the cabin, stretched at full length upon the log +floor, was a second skeleton, and near the overturned chair was a small +cluttered heap of bones which were evidently those of some animal. Rod +and Wabi drew nearer the skeleton against the wall and were bent upon +making a closer examination when an exclamation from Mukoki attracted +their attention to the old pathfinder. He was upon his knees beside the +second skeleton, and as the boys approached he lifted eyes to them that +were filled with unbounded amazement, at the same time pointing a long +forefinger to come object among the bones. + +"Knife--fight--heem killed!" + +Plunged to the hilt in what had once been the breast of a living being, +the boys saw a long, heavy-bladed knife, its handle rotting with age, +its edges eaten by rust--but still erect, held there by the murderous +road its owner had cleft for it through the flesh and bone of his +victim. + +Rod, who had fallen upon his knees, gazed up blankly; his jaw dropped, +and he asked the first question that popped into his head. + +"Who--did it?" + +Mukoki chuckled, almost gleefully, and nodded toward the gruesome thing +reclining against the wall. + +"Heem!" + +Moved by a common instinct the three drew near the other skeleton. One +of its long arms was resting across what had once been a pail, but +which, long since, had sunk into total collapse between its hoops. The +finger-bones of this arm were still tightly shut, clutching between them +a roll of something that looked like birch-bark. The remaining arm had +fallen close to the skeleton's side, and it was on this side that +Mukoki's critical eyes searched most carefully, his curiosity being +almost immediately satisfied by the discovery of a short, slant-wise cut +in one of the ribs. + +"This un die here!" he explained. "Git um stuck knife in ribs. Bad way +die! Much hurt--no die quick, sometime. Ver' bad way git stuck!" + +"Ugh!" shuddered Rod. "This cabin hasn't had any fresh air in it for a +century, I'll bet. Let's get out!" + +Mukoki, in passing, picked up a skull from the heap of bones near the +chair. + +"Dog!" he grunted. "Door lock'--window shut--men fight--both kill. Dog +starve!" + +As the three retraced their steps to the spot where Wolf was guarding +the toboggan, Rod's imaginative mind quickly painted a picture of the +terrible tragedy that had occurred long ago in the old cabin. To Mukoki +and Wabigoon the discovery of the skeletons was simply an incident in a +long life of wilderness adventure--something of passing interest, but of +small importance. To Rod it was the most tragic event that had ever come +into his city-bound existence, with the exception of the thrilling +conflict at Wabinosh House. He reconstructed that deadly hour in the +cabin; saw the men in fierce altercation, saw them struggling, and +almost heard the fatal blows as they were struck--the blows that slew +one with the suddenness of a lightning bolt and sent the other, +triumphant but dying, to breathe his last moments with his back propped +against the wall. And the dog! What part had he taken? And after +that--long days of maddening loneliness, days of starvation and of +thirst, until he, too, doubled himself up on the floor and died. It was +a terrible, a thrilling picture that burned in Roderick's brain. But why +had they quarreled? What cause had there been for that sanguinary night +duel? Instinctively Rod accepted it as having occurred at night, for the +door had been locked, the window barred. Just then he would have given a +good deal to have had the mystery solved. + +At the top of the hill Rod awoke to present realities. Wabi, who had +harnessed himself to the toboggan, was in high spirits. + +"That cabin is a dandy!" he exclaimed as Rod joined him. "It would have +taken us at least two weeks to build as good a one. Isn't it luck?" + +"We're going to live in it?" inquired his companion. + +"Live in it! I should say we were. It is three times as big as the shack +we had planned to build. I can't understand why two men like those +fellows should have put up such a large cabin. What do you think, +Mukoki?" + +Mukoki shook his head. Evidently the mystery of the whole thing, beyond +the fact that the tenants of the cabin had killed themselves in battle, +was beyond his comprehension. + +The winter outfit was soon in a heap beside the cabin door. + +"Now for cleaning up," announced Wabi cheerfully. "Muky, you lend me a +hand with the bones, will you? Rod can nose around and fetch out +anything he likes." + +This assignment just suited Rod's curiosity. He was now worked up to a +feverish pitch of expectancy. Might he not discover some clue that would +lead to a solution of the mystery? + +One question alone seemed to ring incessantly in his head. Why had they +fought? _Why had they fought?_ + +He even found himself repeating this under his breath as he began +rummaging about. He kicked over the old chair, which was made of +saplings nailed together, scrutinized a heap of rubbish that crumbled to +dust under his touch, and gave a little cry of exultation when he found +two guns leaning in a corner of the cabin. Their stocks were decaying; +their locks were encased with rust, their barrels, too, were thick with +the accumulated rust of years. Carefully, almost tenderly, he took one +of these relics of a past age in his hands. It was of ancient pattern, +almost as long as he was tall. + +"Hudson Bay gun--the kind they had before my father was born!" said +Wabi. + +With bated breath and eagerly beating heart Rod pursued his search. On +one of the walls he found the remains of what had once been +garments--part of a hat, that fell in a thousand pieces when he touched +it; the dust-rags of a coat and other things that he could not name. On +the table there were rusty pans, a tin pail, an iron kettle, and the +remains of old knives, forks and spoons. On one end of this table there +was an unusual-looking object, and he touched it. Unlike the other rags +it did not crumble, and when he lifted it he found that it was a small +bag, made of buckskin, tied at the end--and heavy! With trembling +fingers he tore away the rotted string and out upon the table there +rattled a handful of greenish-black, pebbly looking objects. + +Rod gave a sharp quick cry for the others. + +Wabi and Mukoki had just come through the door after bearing out one of +their gruesome loads, and the young Indian hurried to his side. He +weighed one of the pieces in the palm of his hand. + +"It's lead, or--" + +"Gold!" breathed Rod. + +He could hear his own heart thumping as Wabi jumped back to the light of +the door, his sheath-knife in his hand. For an instant the keen blade +sank into the age-discolored object, and before Rod could see into the +crease that it made Wabi's voice rose in an excited cry. + +"It's a gold nugget!" + +"And _that's_ why they fought!" exclaimed Rod exultantly. + +He had hoped--and he had discovered the reason. For a few moments this +was of more importance to him than the fact that he had found gold. Wabi +and Mukoki were now in a panic of excitement. The buckskin bag was +turned inside out; the table was cleared of every other object; every +nook and cranny was searched with new enthusiasm. The searchers hardly +spoke. Each was intent upon finding--finding--finding. Thus does +gold--virgin gold--stir up the sparks of that latent, feverish fire +which is in every man's soul. Again Rod joined in the search. Every rag, +every pile of dust, every bit of unrecognizable debris was torn, sifted +and scattered. At the end of an hour the three paused, hopelessly +baffled, even keenly disappointed for the time. + +"I guess that's all there is," said Wabi. + +It was the longest sentence that he had spoken for half an hour. + +"There is only one thing to do, boys. We'll clean out everything there +is in the cabin, and to-morrow we'll tear up the floor. You can't tell +what there might be under it, and we've got to have a new floor anyway. +It is getting dusk, and if we have this place fit to sleep in to-night +we have got to hustle." + +No time was lost in getting the debris of the cabin outside, and by the +time darkness had fallen a mass of balsam boughs had been spread upon +the log floor just inside the door, blankets were out, packs and +supplies stowed away in one corner, and everything "comfortable and +shipshape," as Rod expressed it. A huge fire was built a few feet away +from the open door and the light and heat from this made the interior of +the cabin quite light and warm, and, with the assistance of a couple of +candles, more home-like than any camp they had slept in thus far. +Mukoki's supper was a veritable feast--broiled caribou, cold beans that +the old Indian had cooked at their last camp, meal cakes and hot coffee. +The three happy hunters ate of it as though they had not tasted food for +a week. + +The day, though a hard one, had been fraught with too much excitement +for them to retire to their blankets immediately after this meal, as +they had usually done in other camps. They realized, too, that they had +reached the end of their journey and that their hardest work was over. +There was no long jaunt ahead of them to-morrow. Their new life--the +happiest life in the world to them--had already begun. Their camp was +established, they were ready for their winter's sport, and from this +moment on they felt that their evenings were their own to do with as +they pleased. + +So for many hours that night Rod, Mukoki and Wabigoon sat up and talked +and kept the fire roaring before the door. Twenty times they went over +the tragedy of the old cabin; twenty times they weighed the half-pound +of precious little lumps in the palms of their hands, and bit by bit +they built up that life romance of the days of long ago, when all this +wilderness was still an unopened book to the white man. And that story +seemed very clear to them now. These men had been prospectors. They had +discovered gold. Afterward they had quarreled, probably over some +division of it--perhaps over the ownership of the very nuggets they had +found; and then, in the heat of their anger, had followed the knife +battle. + +But where had they discovered the gold? That was the question of supreme +interest to the hunters, and they debated it until midnight. There were +no mining tools in the camp; no pick, shovel or pan. Then it occurred to +them that the builders of the cabin had been hunters, had discovered +gold by accident and had collected that in the buckskin bag without the +use of a pan. + +There was little sleep in the camp that night, and with the first light +of day the three were at work again. Immediately after breakfast the +task of tearing up the old and decayed floor began. One by one the split +saplings were pried up and carried out for firewood, until the earth +floor lay bare. Every foot of it was now eagerly turned over with a +shovel which had been brought in the equipment; the base-logs were +undermined, and filled in again; the moss that had been packed in the +chinks between the cabin timbers was dug out, and by noon there was not +a square inch of the interior of the camp that had not been searched. + +There was no more gold. + +In a way this fact brought relief with it. Both Wabi and Rod gradually +recovered from their nervous excitement. The thought of gold gradually +faded from their minds; the joy and exhilaration of the "hunt life" +filled them more and more. Mukoki set to work cutting fresh cedars for +the floor; the two boys scoured every log with water from the lake and +afterward gathered several bushels of moss for refilling the chinks. +That evening supper was cooked on the sheet-iron "section stove" which +they had brought on the toboggan, and which was set up where the ancient +stove of flat stones had tumbled into ruin. By candle-light the work of +"rechinking" with moss progressed rapidly. Wabi was constantly bursting +into snatches of wild Indian song, Rod whistled until his throat was +sore and Mukoki chuckled and grunted and talked with constantly +increasing volubility. A score of times they congratulated one another +upon their good luck. Eight wolf-scalps, a fine lynx and nearly two +hundred dollars in gold--all within their first week! It was enough to +fill them with enthusiasm and they made little effort to repress their +joy. + +During this evening Mukoki boiled up a large pot of caribou fat and +bones, and when Rod asked what kind of soup he was making he responded +by picking up a handful of steel traps and dropping them into the +mixture. + +"Make traps smell good for fox--wolf--fisher, an' marten, too; heem +come--all come--like smell," he explained. + +"If you don't dip the traps," added Wabi, "nine fur animals out of ten, +and wolves most of all, will fight shy of the bait. They can smell the +human odor you leave on the steel when you handle it. But the grease +'draws' them." + +When the hunters wrapped themselves in their blankets that night their +wilderness home was complete. All that remained to be done was the +building of three bunks against the ends of the cabin, and this work it +was agreed could be accomplished at odd hours by any one who happened to +be in camp. In the morning, laden with traps, they would strike out +their first hunting-trails, keeping their eyes especially open for signs +of wolves; for Mukoki was the greatest wolf hunter in all the Hudson Bay +region. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +HOW WOLF BECAME THE COMPANION OF MEN + + +Twice that night Rod was awakened by Mukoki opening the cabin door. The +second time he raised himself upon his elbows and quietly watched the +old warrior. It was a brilliantly clear night and a flood of moonlight +was pouring into the camp. He could hear Mukoki chuckling and grunting, +as though communicating with himself, and at last, his curiosity getting +the better of him, he wrapped his blanket about him and joined the +Indian at the door. + +Mukoki was peering up into space. Rod followed his gaze. The moon was +directly above the cabin. The sky was clear of clouds and so bright was +the light that objects on the farther side of the lake were plainly +visible. + +Besides, it was bitter cold--so cold that his face began to tingle as he +stood there. These things he noticed, but he could see nothing to hold +Mukoki's vision in the sky above unless it was the glorious beauty of +the night. + +"What is it, Mukoki?" he asked. + +The old Indian looked silently at him for a moment, some mysterious, +all-absorbing joy revealed in every lineament of his face. + +"Wolf night!" he whispered. + +He looked back to where Wabi was sleeping. + +"Wolf night!" he repeated, and slipped like a shadow to the side of the +unconscious young hunter. Rod regarded his actions with growing wonder. +He saw him bend over Wabi, shake him by the shoulders, and heard him +repeat again, "Wolf night! Wolf night!" + +Wabi awoke and sat up in his blankets, and Mukoki came back to the door. +He had dressed himself before this, and now, with his rifle, slipped out +into the night. The young Indian had joined Rod at the open door and +together they watched Mukoki's gaunt figure as it sped swiftly across +the lake, up the hill and over into the wilderness desolation beyond. + +When Rod looked at Wabi he saw that the Indian boy's eyes were wide and +staring, with an expression in them that was something between fright +and horror. Without speaking he went to the table and lighted the +candles and then dressed. When he was done his face still bore traces of +suppressed excitement. + +He ran back to the door and whistled loudly. From his shelter beside the +cabin the captive wolf responded with a snarling whine. Again he +whistled, a dozen times, twenty, but there came no reply. More swiftly +than Mukoki the Indian youth sped across the lake and to the summit of +the hill. Mukoki had completely disappeared in the white, brilliant +vastness of the wilderness that stretched away at his feet. + +When Wabi returned to the cabin Rod had a fire roaring in the stove. He +seated himself beside it, holding out a pair of hands blue with cold. + +"Ugh! It's an awful night!" he shivered. + +He laughed across at Rod, a little uneasily, but with the old light back +in his eyes. Suddenly he asked: + +"Did Minnetaki ever tell you--anything--queer--about Mukoki, Rod?" + +"Nothing more than you have told me yourself." + +"Well, once in a great while Mukoki has--not exactly a fit, but a little +mad spell! I have never determined to my own satisfaction whether he is +really out of his head or not. Sometimes I think he is and sometimes I +think he is not. But the Indians at the Post believe that at certain +times he goes crazy over wolves." + +"Wolves!" exclaimed Rod. + +"Yes, wolves. And he has good reason. A good many years ago, just about +when you and I were born, Mukoki had a wife and child. My mother and +others at the Post say that he was especially gone over the kid. He +wouldn't hunt like other Indians, but would spend whole days at his +shack playing with it and teaching it to do things; and when he did go +hunting he would often tote it on his back, even when it wasn't much +more than a squalling papoose. He was the happiest Indian at the Post, +and one of the poorest. One day Mukoki came to the Post with a little +bundle of fur, and most of the things he got in exchange for it, mother +says, were for the kid. He reached the store at night and expected to +leave for home the next noon, which would bring him to his camp before +dark. But something delayed him and he didn't get started until the +morning after. Meanwhile, late in the afternoon of the day when he was +to have been home, his wife bundled up the kid and they set out to meet +him. Well--" + +A weird howl from the captive wolf interrupted Wabi for a moment. + +"Well, they went on and on, and of course did not meet him. And then, +the people at the Post say, the mother must have slipped and hurt +herself. Anyway, when Mukoki came over the trail the next day he found +them half eaten by wolves. From that day on Mukoki was a different +Indian. He became the greatest wolf hunter in all these regions. Soon +after the tragedy he came to the Post to live and since then he has not +left Minnetaki and me. Once in a great while when the night is just +right, when the moon is shining and it is bitter cold, Mukoki seems to +go a little mad. He calls this a 'wolf night.' No one can stop him from +going out; no one can get him to talk; he will allow no one to accompany +him when in such a mood. He will walk miles and miles to-night. But he +will come back. And when he returns he will be as sane as you and I, and +if you ask him where he has been he will say that he went out to see if +he could get a shot at something." + +Rod had listened in rapt attention. To him, as Wabi proceeded with his +story of the tragedy in Mukoki's life, the old Indian was transformed +into another being. No longer was he a mere savage reclaimed a little +from the wilderness. There had sprung up in Rod's breast a great, human, +throbbing sympathy for him, and in the dim candle-glow his eyes +glistened with a dampness which he made no attempt to conceal. + +"What does Mukoki mean by 'wolf night'?" he asked. + +"Muky is a wizard when it comes to hunting wolves," Wabi went on. "He +has studied them and thought of them every day of his life for nearly +twenty years. He knows more about wolves than all the rest of the +hunters in this country together. He can catch them in every trap he +sets, which no other trapper in the world can do; he can tell you a +hundred different things about a certain wolf simply by its track, and +because of his wonderful knowledge he can tell, by some instinct that is +almost supernatural, when a 'wolf night' comes. Something in the air +to-night, something in the sky--in the moon--in the very way the +wilderness looks, tells him that stray wolves in the plains and hills +are 'packing' or banding together to-night, and that in the morning the +sun will be shining, and they will be on the sunny sides of the +mountains. See if I am not right. To-morrow night, if Mukoki comes back +by then, we shall have some exciting sport with the wolves, and then you +will see how Wolf out there does his work!" + +There followed several minutes of silence. The fire roared up the +chimney, the stove glowed red hot and the boys sat and looked and +listened. Rod took out his watch. It lacked only ten minutes of +midnight. Yet neither seemed possessed with a desire to return to their +interrupted sleep. + +"Wolf is a curious beast," mused Wabi softly. "You might think he was a +sneaking, traitorous cur of a wolf to turn against his own breed and +lure them to death. But he isn't. Wolf, as well as Mukoki, has good +cause for what he does. You might call it animal vengeance. Did you ever +notice that a half of one of his ears is gone? And if you thrust back +his head you will find a terrible sear in his throat, and from his left +side just back of the fore leg a chunk of flesh half as big as my hand +has been torn away. We caught Wolf in a lynx trap, Mukoki and I. He +wasn't much more than a whelp then--about six months old, Mukoki said. +And while he was in the trap, helpless and unable to defend himself, +three or four of his lovely tribe jumped upon him and tried to kill him +for breakfast. We hove in sight just in time to drive the cannibals off. +We kept Wolf, sewed up his side and throat, tamed him--and to-morrow +night you will see how Mukoki has taught him to get even with his +people." + +It was two hours later when Rod and Wabigoon extinguished the candles +and returned to their blankets. And for another hour after that the +former found it impossible to sleep. He wondered where Mukoki +was--wondered what he was doing, and how in his strange madness he found +his way in the trackless wilderness. + +When he finally fell asleep it was to dream of the Indian mother and her +child; only after a little there was no child, and the woman changed +into Minnetaki, and the ravenous wolves into men. From this unpleasant +picture he was aroused by a series of prods in his side, and opening his +eyes he beheld Wabi in his blankets a yard away, pointing over and +beyond him and nodding his head. Rod looked, and caught his breath. + +There was Mukoki--peeling potatoes! + +"Hello, Muky!" he shouted. + +The old Indian looked up with a grin. His face bore no signs of his mad +night on the trail. He nodded cheerfully and proceeded with the +preparation of breakfast as though he had just risen from his blankets +after a long night's rest. + +"Better get up," he advised. "Big day's hunt. Much fine sunshine to-day. +Find wolves on mountain--plenty wolves!" + +The boys tumbled from their blankets and began dressing. + +"What time did you get in?" asked Wabi. + +"Now," replied Mukoki, pointing to the hot stove and the peeled +potatoes. "Just make fire good." + +Wabi gave Rod a suggestive look as the old Indian bent over the stove. + +"What were you doing last night?" he questioned. + +"Big moon--might get shot," grunted Mukoki. "See lynx on hill. See +wolf-tracks on red deer trail. No shot." + +This was as much of the history of Mukoki's night on the trail as the +boys could secure, but during their breakfast Wabi shot another glance +at Rod, and as Mukoki left the table for a moment to close the damper in +the stove he found an opportunity to whisper: + +"See if I'm not right. He will choose the mountain trail." When their +companion returned, he said: "We had better split up this morning, +hadn't we, Muky? It looks to me as though there are two mighty good +lines for traps--one over the hill, where that creek leads off through +the range of ridges to the east, and the other along the creek which +runs through the hilly plains to the north. What do you think of it?" + +"Good" agreed the old hunter. "You two go north--I take ridges." + +"No, you and I will take the ridges and Wabi will go north alone," +amended Rod quickly. "I'm going with you, Mukoki!" + +Mukoki, who was somewhat flattered by this preference of the white +youth, grinned and chuckled and began to talk more volubly about the +plans which were in his head. It was agreed that they all would return +to the cabin at an early hour in the afternoon, for the old Indian +seemed positive that they would have their first wolf hunt that night. + +Rod noticed that the captive wolf received no breakfast that morning, +and he easily guessed the reason. + +The traps were now divided. Three different sizes had been brought from +the Post--fifty small ones for mink, marten and other small fur animals; +fifteen fox traps, and as many larger ones for lynx and wolves. Wabi +equipped himself with twenty of the small traps and four each of fox and +lynx traps, while Rod and Mukoki took about forty in all. The remainder +of the caribou meat was then cut into chunks and divided equally among +them for bait. + +The sun was just beginning to show itself above the wilderness when the +hunters left camp. As Mukoki had predicted, it was a glorious day, one +of those bitterly cold, cloudless days when, as the Indians believe, the +great Creator robs the rest of the world of the sun that it may shine in +all its glory upon their own savage land. From the top of the hill that +sheltered their home Rod looked out over the glistening forests and +lakes in rapt and speechless admiration; but only for a few moments did +the three pause, then took up their different trails. + +At the foot of this hill Mukoki and his companion struck the creek. They +had not progressed more than fifty rods when the old Indian stopped and +pointed at a fallen log which spanned the stream. The snow on this log +was beaten by tiny footprints. Mukoki gazed a moment, cast an observant +eye along the trail, and at once threw off his pack. + +"Mink!" he explained. He crossed the frozen creek, taking care not to +touch the log. On the opposite side the tracks spread out over a +windfall of trees. "Whole family mink live here," continued Mukoki. +"T'ree--mebby four--mebby five. Build trap-house right here!" + +Never before had Rod seen a trap set as the old Indian now set his. Very +near the end of the log over which the mink made their trail he quickly +built a shelter of sticks which when completed was in the form of a tiny +wigwam. At the back of this was placed a chunk of the caribou meat, and +in front of this bait, so that an animal would have to spring it in +passing, was set a trap, carefully covered with snow and a few leaves. +Within twenty minutes Mukoki had built two of these shelters and had set +two traps. + +"Why do you build those little houses?" asked Rod, as they again took up +their trail. + +"Much snow come in winter," elucidated the Indian. "Build house to keep +snow off traps. No do that, be digging out traps all winter. When +mink--heem smell meat--go in house he got to go over trap. Make house +for all small animal like heem. No good for lynx. He see house--walk +roun' 'n' roun' 'n' roun'--and then go 'way. Smart fellow--lynx. Wolf +and fox, too." + +"Is a mink worth much?" + +"Fi' dollar--no less that. Seven--eight dollar for good one." + +During the next mile six other mink traps were set. The creek now ran +along the edge of a high rocky ridge and Mukoki's eyes began to shine +with a new interest. No longer did he seem entirely absorbed in the +discovery of signs of fur animals. His eyes were constantly scanning the +sun-bathed side of the ridge ahead and his progress was slow and +cautious. He spoke in whispers, and Rod followed his example. Frequently +the two would stop and scan the openings for signs of life. Twice they +set fox traps where there were evident signs of runways; in a wild +ravine, strewn with tumbled trees and masses of rock, they struck a lynx +track and set a trap for him at each end of the ravine; but even during +these operations Mukoki's interest was divided. The hunters now walked +abreast, about fifty yards apart, Rod never forging a foot ahead of the +cautious Mukoki. Suddenly the youth heard a low call and he saw his +companion beckoning to him with frantic enthusiasm. + +"Wolf!" whispered Mukoki as Rod joined him. + +In the snow were a number of tracks that reminded Rod of those made by a +dog. + +"T'ree wolf!" continued the Indian jubilantly. "Travel early this +morning. Somewhere in warm sun on mountain!" + +They followed now in the wolf trail. A little way on Rod found part of +the carcass of a rabbit with fox tracks about it. Here Mukoki set +another trap. A little farther still they came across a fisher trail and +another trap was laid. Caribou and deer tracks crossed and recrossed the +creek, but the Indian paid little attention to them. A fourth wolf +joined the pack, and a fifth, and half an hour later the trail of three +other wolves cut at right angles across the one they were following and +disappeared in the direction of the thickly timbered plains. Mukoki's +face was crinkled with joy. + +"Many wolf near," he exclaimed. "Many wolf off there 'n' off there 'n' +off there. Good place for night hunt." + +Soon the creek swung out from the ridge and cut a circuitous channel +through a small swamp. Here there were signs of wild life which set +Rod's heart thumping and his blood tingling with excitement. In places +the snow was literally packed with deer tracks. Trails ran in every +direction, the bark had been rubbed from scores of saplings, and every +step gave fresh evidence of the near presence of game. The stealth with +which Mukoki now advanced was almost painful. Every twig was pressed +behind him noiselessly, and once when Rod struck his snow-shoe against +the butt of a small tree the old Indian held up his hands in mock +horror. Ten minutes, fifteen--twenty of them passed in this cautious, +breathless trailing of the swamp. + +Suddenly Mukoki stopped, and a hand was held out behind him warningly. +He turned his face back, and Rod knew that he saw game. Inch by inch he +crouched upon his snow-shoes, and beckoned for Rod to approach, slowly, +quietly. When the boy had come near enough he passed back his rifle, and +his lips formed the almost noiseless word, "Shoot!" + +Tremblingly Rod seized the gun and looked into the swamp ahead, Mukoki +doubling down in front of him. What he saw sent him for a moment into +the first nervous tremor of buck fever. Not more than a hundred yards +away stood a magnificent buck browsing the tips of a clump of hazel, and +just beyond him were two does. With a powerful effort Rod steadied +himself. The buck was standing broadside, his head and neck stretched +up, offering a beautiful shot at the vital spot behind his fore leg. At +this the young hunter aimed and fired. With one spasmodic bound the +animal dropped dead. + +Hardly had Rod seen the effect of his shot before Mukoki was traveling +swiftly toward the fallen game, unstrapping his pack as he ran. By the +time the youth reached his quarry the old Indian had produced a large +whisky flask holding about a quart. Without explanation he now proceeded +to thrust his knife into the quivering animal's throat and fill this +flask with blood. When he had finished his task he held it up with an +air of unbounded satisfaction. + +"Blood for wolf. Heem like blood. Smell um--come make big shoot +to-night. No blood, no bait--no wolf shoot!" + +Mukoki no longer maintained his usual quiet, and it was evident to Rod +that the Indian considered his mission for that day practically +accomplished. After taking the heart, liver and one of the hind quarters +of the buck Mukoki drew a long rope of babeesh from his pack, tied one +end of it around the animal's neck, flung the other end over a near +limb, and with his companion's assistance hoisted the carcass until it +was clear of the ground. + +"If somethin' happen we no come back to-night heem safe from wolf," he +explained. + +The two now continued through the swamp. At its farther edge the ground +rose gently from the creek toward the hills, and this sloping plain was +covered with huge boulders and a thin growth of large spruce and birch. +Just beyond the creek was a gigantic rock which immediately caught +Mukoki's attention. All sides except one were too precipitous for +ascent, and even this one could not be climbed without the assistance of +a sapling or two. They could see, however, that the top of the, rock was +flat, and Mukoki called attention to this fact with an exultant chuckle. + +"Fine place for wolf hunt!" he exclaimed. "Many wolf off there in swamp +an' in hill. We call heem here. Shoot from there!" He pointed to a clump +of spruce a dozen rods away. + +By Rod's watch it was now nearly noon and the two sat down to eat the +sandwiches they had brought with them. Only a few minutes were lost in +taking up the home trail. Beyond the swamp Mukoki cut at right angles to +their trap-line until he had ascended to the top of the ridge that had +been on their right and which would take them very near their camp. From +this ridge Rod could look about him upon a wild and rugged scene. On one +side it sloped down to the plains, but on the other it fell in almost +sheer walls, forming at its base five hundred feet below a narrow and +gloomy chasm, through which a small stream found its way. Several times +Mukoki stopped and leaned perilously close to the dizzy edge of the +mountain, peering down with critical eyes, and once when he pulled +himself back cautiously by means of a small sapling he explained his +interest by saying: + +"Plenty bear there in spring!" + +But Rod was not thinking of bears. Once more his head was filled with +the thought of gold. Perhaps that very chasm held the priceless secret +that had died with its owners half a century ago. The dark and gloomy +silence that hung between those two walls of rock, the death-like +desolation, the stealthy windings of the creek--everything in that dim +and mysterious world between the two mountains, unshattered by sound and +impenetrable to the winter sun, seemed in his mind to link itself with +the tragedy of long ago. + +Did that chasm hold the secret of the dead men? + +Again and again Rod found himself asking this question as he followed +Mukoki, and the oftener he asked it the nearer he seemed to an answer, +until at last, with a curious, thrilling certainty that set his blood +tingling he caught Mukoki by the arm and pointing back, said: + +"Mukoki--the gold was found between those mountains!" + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WOLF TAKES VENGEANCE UPON HIS PEOPLE + + +From that hour was born in Roderick Drew's breast a strange, +imperishable desire. Willingly at this moment would he have given up the +winter trapping to have pursued that golden _ignis fatuus_ of all +ages--the lure of gold. To him the story of the old cabin, the skeletons +and the treasure of the buckskin bag was complete. Those skeletons had +once been men. They had found a mine--a place where they had picked up +nuggets with their fingers. And that treasure ground was somewhere near. +No longer was he puzzled by the fact that they had discovered no more +gold in the old log cabin. In a flash he had solved that mystery. The +men had just begun to gather their treasure when they had fought. What +was more logical than that? One day, two, three--and they had quarreled +over division, over rights. That was the time when they were most likely +to quarrel. Perhaps one had discovered the gold and had therefore +claimed a larger share. Anyway, the contents of the buckskin bag +represented but a few days' labor. Rod was sure of that. + +Mukoki had grinned and shrugged his shoulders with an air of stupendous +doubt when Rod had told him that the gold lay between the mountains, so +now the youth kept his thoughts to himself. It was a silent trail home. +Rod's mind was too active in its new channel, and he was too deeply +absorbed in impressing upon his memory certain landmarks which they +passed to ask questions; and Mukoki, with the natural taciturnity of his +race, seldom found occasion to break into conversation unless spoken to +first. Although his eyes were constantly on the alert, Rod could see no +way in which a descent could be made into the chasm from the ridge they +were on. This was a little disappointing, for he had made up his mind to +explore the gloomy, sunless gulch at his first opportunity. He had no +doubt that Wabi would join in the adventure. Or he might take his own +time, and explore it alone. He was reasonably sure that from somewhere +on the opposite ridge a descent could be made into it. + +Wabi was in camp when they arrived. He had set eighteen traps and had +shot two spruce partridges. The birds were already cleaned for their +early supper, and a thick slice of venison steak was added to the menu. +During the preparation of the meal Rod described their discovery of the +chasm and revealed some of his thoughts concerning it, but Wabi betrayed +only passing flashes of interest. At times he seemed strangely +preoccupied and would stand in an idle, contemplative mood, his hands +buried deep in his pockets, while Rod or Mukoki proceeded with the +little duties about the table or the stove. Finally, after arousing +himself from one of these momentary spells, he pulled a brass shell from +his pocket and held it out to the old Indian. + +"See here," he said. "I don't want to stir up any false fears, or +anything of that sort--but I found that on the trail to-day!" + +Mukoki clutched at the shell as though it had been another newly found +nugget of gold. The shell was empty. The lettering on the rim was still +very distinct. He read ".35 Rem." + +"Why, that's--" + +"A shell from Rod's gun!" + +For a few moments Rod and Mukoki stared at the young Indian in blank +amazement. + +"It's a .35 caliber Remington," continued Wabi, "and it's an auto-loading +shell. There are only three guns like that in this country. I've got +one, Mukoki has another--and you lost the third in your fight with the +Woongas!" + +The venison had begun to burn, and Mukoki quickly transferred it to the +table. Without a word the three sat down to their meal. + +"That means the Woongas are on our trail," declared Rod presently. + +"That is what I have been trying to reason out all the afternoon," +replied Wabi. "It certainly is proof that they are, or have been quite +recently, on this side of the mountain. But I don't believe they know we +are here. The trail I struck was about five miles from camp. It was at +least two days old. Three Indians on snow-shoes were traveling north. I +followed back on their trail and found after a time that the Indians had +come from the north, which leads me to believe that they were simply on +a hunting expedition, cut a circle southward, and then returned to their +camp. I don't believe they will come farther south. But we must keep our +eyes open." + +Wabi's description of the manner in which the strange trail turned gave +great satisfaction to Mukoki, who nodded affirmatively when the young +hunter expressed it as his belief that the Woongas would not come so far +as their camp. But the discovery of their presence chilled the buoyant +spirits of the hunters. There was, however, a new spice of adventure +lurking in this possible peril that was not altogether displeasing, and +by the time the meal was at an end something like a plan of campaign had +been formed. The hunters would not wait to be attacked and then act in +self-defense, possibly at a disadvantage. They would be constantly on +the lookout for the Woongas, and if a fresh trail or a camp was found +they would begin the man-hunt themselves. + +The sun was just beginning to sink behind the distant hills in the +southwest when the hunters again left camp. Wolf had received nothing to +eat since the previous night, and with increasing hunger the fiery +impatience lurking in his eyes and the restlessness of his movements +became more noticeable. Mukoki called attention to these symptoms with a +gloating satisfaction. + +The gloom of early evening was enveloping the wilderness by the time the +three wolf hunters reached the swamp in which Rod had slain the buck. +While he carried the guns and packs, Mukoki and Wabigoon dragged the +buck between them to the huge flat-top rock. Now for the first time the +city youth began to understand the old pathfinder's scheme. Several +saplings were cut, and by means of a long rope of babeesh the deer was +dragged up the side of the rock until it rested securely upon the flat +space. From the dead buck's neck the babeesh rope was now stretched +across the intervening space between the rock and the clump of cedars in +which the hunters were to conceal themselves. In two of these cedars, at +a distance of a dozen feet from the ground, were quickly made three +platforms of saplings, upon which the ambushed watchers could +comfortably seat themselves. By the time complete darkness had fallen +the "trap" was finished, with the exception of a detail which Rod +followed with great interest. + +From inside his clothes, where it had been kept warm by his body, Mukoki +produced the flask of blood. A third of this blood he scattered upon the +face of the rock and upon the snow at its base. The remainder he +distributed, drop by drop, in trails running toward the swamp and +plains. + +There still remained three hours before the moon would be up, and the +hunters now joined Wolf, who had been fastened half-way up the ridge. In +the shelter of a big rock a small fire was built, and during their long +wait the hunters passed the time away by broiling and eating chunks of +venison and in going over again the events of the day. + +It was nine o'clock before the moon rose above the edge of the +wilderness. This great orb of the Northern night seemed to hold a +never-ending fascination for Rod. It crept above the forests, a glowing, +throbbing ball of red, quivering and palpitating in an effulgence that +neither cloud nor mist dimmed in this desolation beyond the sphere of +man; and as it rose, almost with visible movement to the eyes, the blood +in it faded, until at last it seemed a great blaze of soft light between +silver and gold. It was then that the whole world was lighted up under +it. It was then that Mukoki, speaking softly, beckoned the others to +follow him, and with Wolf at his side went down the ridge. + +Making a circuit around the back of the rock, Mukoki paused near a small +sapling twenty yards from the dead buck and secured Wolf by his babeesh +thong. Hardly had he done so when the animal began to exhibit signs of +excitement. He trotted about nervously, sniffing the air, gathering the +wind from every direction, and his jaws dropped with a snarling whine. +Then he struck one of the clots of blood in the snow. + +"Come," whispered Wabi, pulling at Rod's sleeve, "come--quietly." + +They slipped back among the shadows of the spruce and watched Wolf in +unbroken silence. The animal now stood rigidly over the blood clot. His +head was level with his quivering back, his ears half aslant, his +nostrils pointing to a strange thrilling scent that came to him from +somewhere out there in the moonlight. Once more the instinct of his +breed was flooding the soul of the captive wolf. There was the odor of +blood in his widening nostrils. It was not the blood of the camp, of the +slaughtered game dragged in by human hands before his eyes. It was the +blood of the chase! + +A flashing memory of his captors turned the animal's head for an instant +in backward inspection. They were gone. He could neither hear nor see +them. He sniffed the sign of human presence, but that sign was always +with him, and was not disturbing. The blood held him--and the strange +scent, the game scent--that was coming to him more clearly every +instant. + +He crunched about cautiously in the snow. He found other spots of blood, +and to the watchers there came a low long whine that seemed about to end +in the wolf song. The blood trails were leading him away toward the game +scent, and he tugged viciously at the babeesh that held him captive, +gnawing at it vainly, like an angry dog, forgetting what experience had +taught him many times before. Each moment added to his excitement He ran +about the sapling, gulped mouthfuls of the bloody snow, and each time he +paused for a moment with his open dripping jaws held toward the dead +buck on the rock. The game was very near. Brute sense told him that. Oh, +the longing that was in him, the twitching, quivering longing to +kill--kill--kill! + +He made another effort, tore up the snow in his frantic endeavors to +free himself, to break loose, to follow in the wild glad cry of freed +savagery in the calling of his people. He failed again, panting, whining +in piteous helplessness. + +Then he settled upon his haunches at the end of his babeesh thong. + +For a moment his head turned to the moonlit sky, his long nose poised at +right angles to the bristling hollows between his shoulders. + +There came then a low, whining wail, like the beginning of the +"death-song" of a husky dog--a wail that grew in length and in strength +and in volume until it rose weirdly among the mountains and swept far +out over the plains--the hunt call of the wolf on the trail, which calls +to him the famished, gray-gaunt outlaws of the wilderness, as the +bugler's notes call his fellows on the field of battle. + +Three times that blood-thrilling cry went up from the captive wolf's +throat, and before those cries had died away the three hunters were +perched upon their platforms among the spruce. + +There followed now the ominous, waiting silence of an awakened +wilderness. Rod could hear his heart throbbing within him. He forgot the +intense cold. His nerves tingled. He looked out over the endless plains, +white and mysteriously beautiful as they lay bathed in the glow of the +moon. And Wabi knew more than he what was happening. All over that wild +desolation the call of the wolf had carried its meaning. Down there, +where a lake lay silent in its winter sleep, a doe started in trembling +and fear; beyond the mountain a huge bull moose lifted his antlered head +with battle-glaring eyes; half a mile away a fox paused for an instant +in its sleuth-like stalking of a rabbit; and here and there in that +world of wild things the gaunt hungry people of Wolf's blood stopped in +their trails and turned their heads toward the signal that was coming in +wailing echoes to their ears. + +And then the silence was broken. From afar--it might have been a mile +away--there came an answering cry; and at that cry the wolf at the end +of his babeesh thong settled upon his haunches again and sent back the +call that comes only when there is blood upon the trail or when near the +killing time. + +There was not the rustle of a bough, not a word spoken, by the silent +watchers in the spruce. Mukoki had slipped back and half lay across his +support in shooting attitude. Wabi had braced a foot, and his rifle was +half to his shoulder, leveled over a knee. It was Rod's turn with the +big revolver, and he had practised aiming through a crotch that gave a +rest to his arm. + +In a few moments there came again the howl of the distant wolf on the +plains, and this time it was joined by another away to the westward. And +after that there came two from the plains instead of one, and then a far +cry to the north and east. For the first time Rod and Wabi heard the +gloating chuckle of Mukoki in his spruce a dozen feet away. + +At the increasing responses of his brethren Wolf became more frantic in +his efforts. The scent of fresh blood and of wounded game was becoming +maddening to the captive. But his frenzy no longer betrayed itself in +futile efforts to escape from the babeesh thong. Wolf knew that his +cries were assembling the hunt-pack. Nearer and nearer came the +responses of the leaders, and there were now only momentary rests +between the deep-throated exhortations which he sent in all directions +into the night. + +Suddenly, almost from the swamp itself, there came a quick, excited, +yelping reply, and Wabi gripped Rod by the arm. + +"He has struck the place where you killed the buck," he whispered. +"There'll be quick work now!" + +Hardly had he spoken when a series of excited howls broke forth from the +swamp, coming nearer and nearer as the hunger-crazed outlaw of the +plains followed over the rich-scented trail made by the two Indians as +they carried the slaughtered deer. Soon he nosed one of the trails of +blood, and a moment later the watchers saw a gaunt shadow form running +swiftly over the snow toward Wolf. + +For an instant, as the two beasts of prey met, there fell a silence; +then both animals joined in the wailing hunt-pack cry, and the wolf that +was free came to the edge of the great rock and stood with his fore feet +on its side, and his cry changed from that of the chase to the still +more thrilling signal that told the gathering pack of game at bay. + +Swiftly the wolves closed in. From over the edge of the mountain one +came and joined the wolf at the rock without the hunters seeing his +approach. From out of the swamp there came a pack of three, and now +about the rock there grew a maddened, yelping horde, clambering and +scrambling and fighting in their efforts to climb up to the game that +was so near and yet beyond their reach. And sixty feet away Wolf +crouched, watching the gathering of his clan, helpless, panting from his +choking efforts to free himself, and quieting, gradually quieting, until +in sullen silence he looked upon the scene, as though he knew the moment +was very near when that thrilling spectacle would be changed into a +scene of direst tragedy. + +And it was Mukoki who had first said that this was the vengeance of Wolf +upon his people. + +From Mukoki there now came a faint hissing warning, and Wabi threw his +rifle to his shoulder. There were at least a score of wolves at the base +of the rock. Gradually the old Indian pulled upon the babeesh rope that +led to the dead buck--pulled until he was putting a half of his strength +into the effort, and could feel the animal slowly slipping from the flat +ledge. A moment more and the buck tumbled down in the midst of the +waiting pack. + +As flies gather upon a lump of sugar the famished animals now crowded +and crushed and fought over the deer's body, and as they came thus +together there sounded the quick sharp signal to fire from Mukoki. + +For five seconds the edge of the spruce was a blaze of death-dealing +flashes, and the deafening reports of the two rifles and the big Colt +drowned the cries and struggles of the animals. When those five seconds +were over fifteen shots had been fired, and five seconds later the vast, +beautiful silence of the wilderness night had fallen again. About the +rock was the silence of death, broken only faintly by the last gasping +throes of the animals that lay dying in the snow. + +In the trees there sounded the metallic clink of loading shells. + +Wabi spoke first. + +"I believe we did a good job, Mukoki!" + +Mukoki's reply was to slip down his tree. The others followed, and +hastened across to the rock. Five bodies lay motionless in the snow. A +sixth was dragging himself around the side of the rock, and Mukoki +attacked it with his belt-ax. Still a seventh had run for a dozen rods, +leaving a crimson trail behind, and when Wabi and Rod came up to it the +animal was convulsed in its last dying struggles. + +"Seven!" exclaimed the Indian youth. "That is one of the best shoots we +ever had. A hundred and five dollars in a night isn't bad, is it?" + +The two came back to the rock, dragging the wolf with them. Mukoki was +standing as rigid as a statue in the moonlight, his face turned into the +north. He pointed one arm far out over the plains, and said, without +turning his head, + +"See!" + +Far out in that silent desolation the hunters saw a lurid flash of +flame. It climbed up and up, until it filled the night above it with a +dull glow--a single unbroken stream of fire that rose far above the +swamps and forests of the plains. + +"That's a burning jackpine!" said Wabigoon. + +"Burning jackpine!" agreed the old warrior. Then he added, "Woonga +signal fire!" + + + +CHAPTER X + +RODERICK EXPLORES THE CHASM + + +To Rod the blazing pine seemed to be but a short distance away--a mile, +perhaps a little more. In the silence of the two Indians as they +contemplated the strange fire he read an ominous meaning. In Mukoki's +eyes was a dull sullen glare, not unlike that which fills the orbs of a +wild beast in a moment of deadly anger. Wabi's face was filled with an +eager flush, and three times, Rod observed, he turned eyes strangely +burning with some unnatural passion upon Mukoki. + +Slowly, even as the instincts of his race had aroused the latent, +brutish love of slaughter and the chase in the tamed wolf, the long +smothered instincts of these human children of the forest began to +betray themselves in their bronzed countenances. Rod watched, and he was +thrilled to the soul. Back at the old cabin they had declared war upon +the Woongas. Both Mukoki and Wabigoon had slipped the leashes that had +long restrained them from meting first vengeance upon their enemies. Now +the opportunity had come. For five minutes the great pine blazed, and +then died away until it was only a smoldering tower of light. Still +Mukoki gazed, speechless and grim, out into the distance of the night. +At last Wabi broke the silence. + +"How far away is it, Muky?" + +"T'ree mile," answered the old warrior without hesitation. + +"We could make it in forty minutes." + +"Yes." + +Wabi turned to Rod. + +"You can find your way back to camp alone, can't you?" he asked. + +"Not if you're going over there!" declared the white boy. "I'm going +with you." + +Mukoki broke in upon them with a harsh disappointed laugh. + +"No go. No go over there." He spoke with emphasis, and shook his head. +"We lose pine in five minutes. No find Woonga camp--make big trail for +Woongas to see in morning. Better wait. Follow um trail in day, then +shoot!" + +Rod found immense relief in the old Indian's decision. He did not fear a +fight; in fact, he was a little too anxious to meet the outlaws who had +stolen his gun, now that they had determined upon opening fire on sight. +But in this instance he was possessed of the cooler judgment of his +race. He believed that as yet the Woongas were not aware of their +presence in this region, and that there was still a large possibility of +the renegades traveling northward beyond their trapping sphere. He hoped +that this would be the case, in spite of his desire to recapture his +gun. A scrimmage with the Woongas just now would spoil the plans he had +made for discovering gold. + +The "Skeleton Mine," as he had come to call it, now absorbed his +thoughts beyond everything else. He felt confident that he would +discover the lost treasure ground if given time, and he was just as +confident that if war was once begun between themselves and the Woongas +it would mean disaster or quick flight from the country. Even Wabi, +worked up more in battle enthusiasm than by gold fever, conceded that if +half of the Woongas were in this country they were much too powerful for +them to cope with successfully, especially as one of them was without a +rifle. + +It was therefore with inward exultation that Rod saw the project of +attack dropped and Mukoki and Wabigoon proceed with their short task of +scalping the seven wolves. During this operation Wolf was allowed to +feast upon the carcass of the buck. + +That night there was but little sleep in the old cabin. It was two +o'clock when the hunters arrived in camp and from that hour until nearly +four they sat about the hot stove making plans for the day that was +nearly at hand. Rod could but contrast the excitement that had now taken +possession of them with the tranquil joy with which they had first taken +up their abode in this dip in the hilltop. And how different were their +plans from those of two or three days ago! Not one of them now but +realized their peril. They were in an ideal hunting range, but it was +evidently very near, if not actually in, the Woonga country. At any +moment they might be forced to fight for their lives or abandon their +camp, and perhaps they would be compelled to do both. + +So the gathering about the stove was in reality a small council of war. +It was decided that the old cabin should immediately be put into a +condition of defense, with a loophole on each side, strong new bars at +the door, and with a thick barricade near at hand that could be quickly +fitted against the window in case of attack. Until the war-clouds +cleared away, if they cleared at all, the camp would be continually +guarded by one of the hunters, and with this garrison would be left both +of the heavy revolvers. At dawn or a little later Mukoki would set out +upon Wabi's trap-line, both to become acquainted with it and to extend +the line of traps, while later in the day the Indian youth would follow +Mukoki's line, visiting the houses already built and setting other +traps. This scheme left to Rod the first day's watch in camp. + +Mukoki aroused himself from his short sleep with the first approach of +dawn but did not awaken his tired companions until breakfast was ready. +When the meal was finished he seized his gun and signified his intention +of visiting the mink traps just beyond the hill before leaving on his +long day's trail. Rod at once joined him, leaving Wabi to wash the +dishes. + +They were shortly within view of the trap-houses near the creek. +Instinctively the eyes of both rested upon these houses and neither gave +very close attention to the country ahead or about them. As a result +both were exceedingly startled when they heard a huge snort and a great +crunching in the deep snow close beside them. From out of a small growth +of alders had dashed a big bull moose, who was now tearing with the +speed of a horse up the hillside toward the hidden camp, evidently +seeking the quick shelter of the dip. + +"Wait heem git top of hill!" shouted Mukoki, swinging his rifle to his +shoulder. "Wait!" + +It was a beautiful shot and Rod was tempted to ignore the old Indian's +advice. But he knew that there was some good reason for it, so he held +his trembling finger. Hardly had the animal's huge antlered head risen +to the sky-line when Mukoki shouted again, and the young hunter pressed +the trigger of his automatic gun three times in rapid succession. It was +a short shot, not more than two hundred yards, and Mukoki fired but once +just as the bull mounted the hilltop. + +The next instant the moose was gone and Rod was just about to dash in +pursuit when his companion caught him by the arm. + +"We got um!" he grinned. "He run downhill, then fall--ver' close to +camp. Ver' good scheme--wait heem git on top hill. No have to carry meat +far!" + +As coolly as though nothing had occurred the Indian turned again in the +direction of the traps. Rod stood as though he had been nailed to the +spot, his mouth half open in astonishment. + +"We go see traps," urged Mukoki. "Find moose dead when we go back." + +But Roderick Drew, who had hunted nothing larger than house rats in his +own city, was not the young man to see the logic of this reasoning, and +before Mukoki could open his mouth again he was hurrying up the hill. On +its summit he saw a huge torn-up blotch in the snow, spattered with +blood, where the moose had fallen first after the shots; and at the foot +of the hill, as the Indian had predicted, the great animal lay dead. + +Wabi was hastening across the lake, attracted by the shots, and both +reached the slain bull at about the same time. Rod quickly perceived +that three shots had taken effect; one, which was undoubtedly Mukoki's +carefully directed ball, in a vital spot behind the fore leg, and two +through the body. The fact that two of his own shots had taken good +effect filled the white youth with enthusiasm, and he was still +gesticulating excitedly in describing the bull's flight to Wabi when the +old Indian came over the hill, grinning broadly, and holding up for +their inspection a magnificent mink. + +The day could not have begun more auspiciously for the hunters, and by +the time Mukoki was ready to leave upon his long trail the adventurers +were in buoyant spirits, the distressing fears of the preceding night +being somewhat dispelled by their present good fortune and the glorious +day which now broke in full splendor upon the wilderness. + +Until their early dinner Wabi remained in camp, securing certain parts +of the moose and assisting Rod in putting the cabin into a state of +defense according to their previous plans. It was not yet noon when he +started over Mukoki's trap-line. + +Left to his own uninterrupted thoughts, Rod's mind was once more +absorbed in his scheme of exploring the mysterious chasm. He had noticed +during his inspection from the top of the ridge that the winter snows +had as yet fallen but little in the gloomy gulch between the mountains, +and he was eager to attempt his adventure before other snows came or the +fierce blizzards of December filled the chasm with drifts. Later in the +afternoon he brought forth the buckskin bag from a niche in the log wall +where it had been concealed, and one after another carefully examined +the golden nuggets. He found, as he had expected, that they were worn to +exceeding smoothness, and that every edge had been dulled and rounded. +Rod's favorite study in school had been a minor branch of geology and +mineralogy, and he knew that only running water could work this +smoothness. He was therefore confident that the nuggets had been +discovered in or on the edge of a running stream. And that stream, he +was sure, was the one in the chasm. + +But Rod's plans for an early investigation were doomed to +disappointment. Late that day both Mukoki and Wabi returned, the latter +with a red fox and another mink, the former with a fisher, which +reminded Rod of a dog just growing out of puppyhood, and another story +of strange trails that renewed their former apprehensions. The old +Indian had discovered the remnants of the burned jackpine, and about it +were the snow-shoe tracks of three Indians. One of these trails came +from the north and two from the west, which led him to believe that the +pine had been fired as a signal to call the two. At the very end of +their trap-line, which extended about four miles from camp, a single +snow-shoe trail had cut across at right angles, also swinging into the +north. + +These discoveries necessitated a new arrangement of the plans that had +been made the preceding night. Hereafter, it was agreed, only one +trap-line would be visited each day, and by two of the hunters in +company, both armed with rifles. Rod saw that this meant the abandonment +of his scheme for exploring the chasm, at least for the present. + +Day after day now passed without evidences of new trails, and each day +added to the hopes of the adventurers that they were at last to be left +alone in the country. Never had Mukoki or Wabigoon been in a better +trapping ground, and every visit to their lines added to their hoard of +furs. If left unmolested it was plainly evident that they would take a +small fortune back to Wabinosh House with them early in the spring. +Besides many mink, several fisher, two red foxes and a lynx, they added +two fine "cross" foxes and three wolf scalps to their treasure during +the next three weeks. Rod began to think occasionally of the joy their +success would bring to the little home hundreds of miles away, where he +knew that the mother was waiting and praying for him every day of her +life; and there were times, too, when he found himself counting the days +that must still elapse before he returned to Minnetaki and the Post. + +But at no time did he give up his determination to explore the chasm. +From the first Mukoki and Wabigoon had regarded this project with little +favor, declaring the impossibility of discovering gold under snow, even +though gold was there; so Rod waited and watched for an opportunity to +make the search alone, saying nothing about his plans. + +On a beautiful day late in December, when the sun rose with dazzling +brightness, his opportunity came. Wabi was to remain in camp, and +Mukoki, who was again of the belief that they were safe from the +Woongas, was to follow one of the trap-lines alone. Supplying himself +well with food, taking Wabi's rifle, a double allowance of cartridges, a +knife, belt-ax, and a heavy blanket in his pack, Rod set out for the +chasm. Wabi laughed as he stood in the doorway to see him off. + +"Good luck to you, Rod; hope you find gold," he cried gaily, waving a +final good-by with his hand. + +"If I don't return to-night don't you fellows worry about me," called +back the youth. "If things look promising I may camp in the chasm and +take up the hunt again in the morning." + +He now passed quickly to the second ridge, knowing from previous +experience that it would be impossible to make a descent into the gulch +from the first mountain. This range, a mile south of the camp, had not +been explored by the hunters, but Rod was sure that there was no danger +of losing himself as long as he followed along the edge of the chasm +which was in itself a constant and infallible guide. Much to his +disappointment he found that the southern walls of this mysterious break +between the mountains were as precipitous as those on the opposite side, +and for two hours he looked in vain for a place where he might climb +down. The country was now becoming densely wooded and he was constantly +encountering signs of big game. But he paid little attention to these. +Finally he came to a point where the forest swept over and down the +steep side of the mountain, and to his great joy he saw that by +strapping his snow-shoes to his back and making good use of his hands it +was possible for him to make a descent. + +Fifteen minutes later, breathless but triumphant, he stood at the bottom +of the chasm. On his right rose the strip of cedar forest; on his left +he was shut in by towering walls of black and shattered rock. At his +feet was the little stream which had played such an important part in +his golden dreams, frozen in places, and in others kept clear of ice by +the swiftness of its current. A little ahead of him was that gloomy, +sunless part of the chasm into which he had peered so often from the top +of the ridge on the north. As he advanced step by step into its +mysterious silence, his eyes alert, his nerves stretched to a tension of +the keenest expectancy, there crept over him a feeling that he was +invading that enchanted territory which, even at this moment, might be +guarded by the spirits of the two mortals who had died because of the +treasure it held. + +Narrower and narrower became the walls high over his head. Not a ray of +sunlight penetrated into the soundless gloom. Not a leaf shivered in the +still air. The creek gurgled and spattered among its rocks, without the +note of a bird or the chirp of a squirrel to interrupt its monotony. +Everything was dead. Now and then Rod could hear the wind whispering +over the top of the chasm. But not a breath of it came down to him. +Under his feet was only sufficient snow to deaden his own footsteps, and +he still carried his snow-shoes upon his back. + +Suddenly, from the thick gloom that hung under one of the cragged walls, +there came a thundering, unearthly sound that made him stop, his rifle +swung half to shoulder. He saw that he had disturbed a great owl, and +passed on. Now and then he paused beside the creek and took up handful +after handful of its pebbles, his heart beating high with hope at every +new gleam he caught among them, and never sinking to disappointment +though he found no gold. The gold was here--somewhere. He was as certain +of that as he was of the fact that he was living, and searching for it. +Everything assured him of that; the towering masses of cleft rock, whole +walls seeming about to crumble into ruin, the broad margins of pebbles +along the creek--everything, to the very stillness and mystery in the +air, spoke this as the abode of the skeletons' secret. + +It was this inexplicable _something_--this unseen, mysterious element +hovering in the air that caused the white youth to advance step by step, +silently, cautiously, as though the slightest sound under his feet might +awaken the deadliest of enemies. And it was because of this stealth in +his progress that he came very close upon something that was living, and +without startling it. Less than fifty yards ahead of him he saw an +object moving slowly among the rocks. It was a fox. Even before the +animal had detected his presence he had aimed and fired. + +Thunderous echoes rose up about him. They rolled down the chasm, volume +upon volume, until in the ghostly gloom between the mountain walls he +stood and listened, a nervous shiver catching him once or twice. Not +until the last echo had died away did he approach where the fox lay upon +the snow. It was not red. It was not black. It was not-- + +His heart gave a big excited thump. The bleeding creature at his feet +was the most beautiful animal he had ever seen--and the tip of its thick +black fur was silver gray. + +Then, in that lonely chasm, there went up a great human whoop of joy. + +"A silver fox!" + +Rod spoke the words aloud. For five minutes he stood and looked upon his +prize. He held it up and stroked it, and from what Wabi and Mukoki had +told him he knew that the silken pelt of this creature was worth more to +them than all the furs at the camp together. + +He made no effort to skin it, but put the animal in his pack and resumed +his slow, noiseless exploration of the gulch. + +He had now passed beyond those points in the range from which he had +looked down into this narrow, shut-in world. Ever more wild and gloomy +became the chasm. At times the two walls of rock seemed almost to meet +far above his head; under gigantic, overhanging crags there lurked the +shadows of night. Fascinated by the grandeur and loneliness of the +scenes through which he was passing Rod forgot the travel of time. Mile +after mile he continued his tireless trail. He had no inclination to +eat. He stopped only once at the creek to drink. And when he looked at +his watch he was astonished to find that it was three o'clock in the +afternoon. + +It was now too late to think of returning to camp. Within an hour the +day gloom of the chasm would be thickening into that of night. So Rod +stopped at the first good camp site, threw off his pack, and proceeded +with the building of a cedar shelter. Not until this was completed and a +sufficient supply of wood for the night's fire was at hand did he begin +getting supper. He had brought a pail with him and soon the appetizing +odors of boiling coffee and broiling moose sirloin filled the air. + +Night had fallen between the mountain walls by the time Rod sat down to +his meal. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +RODERICK'S DREAM + + +A chilling loneliness now crept over the young adventurer. Even as he +ate he tried to peer out into the mysterious darkness. A sound from up +the chasm, made by some wild prowler of the night, sent a nervous tremor +through him. He was not afraid; he would not have confessed to that. But +still, the absolute, almost gruesome silence between the two mountains, +the mere knowledge that he was alone in a place where the foot of man +had not trod for more than half a century, was not altogether quieting +to his nerves. What mysteries might not these grim walls hold? What +might not happen here, where everything was so strange, so weird, and so +different from the wilderness world just over the range? + +Rod tried to laugh away his nervousness, but the very sound of his own +voice was distressing. It rose in unnatural shivering echoes--a low, +hollow mockery of a laugh beating itself against the walls; a ghost of a +laugh, Rod thought, and that very thought made him hunch closer to the +fire. The young hunter was not superstitious, or at least he was not +unnaturally so; but what man or boy is there in this whole wide world of +ours who does not, at some time, inwardly cringe from something in the +air--something that does not exist and never did exist, but which holds +a peculiar and nameless fear for the soul of a human being? + +And Rod, as he piled his fire high with wood and shrank in the warmth of +his cedar shelter, felt that nameless dread; and there came to him no +thought of sleep, no feeling of fatigue, but only that he was alone, +absolutely alone, in the mystery and almost unending silence of the +chasm. Try as he would he could not keep from his mind the vision of the +skeletons as he had first seen them in the old cabin. + +Many, many years ago, even before his own mother was born, those +skeletons had trod this very chasm. They had drunk from the same creek +as he, they had clambered over the same rocks, they had camped perhaps +where he was camping now! They, too, in flesh and life, had strained +their ears in the grim silence, they had watched the flickering light of +their camp-fire on the walls of rock--and they had found gold! + +Just now, if Rod could have moved himself by magic, he would have been +safely back in camp. He listened. From far back over the trail he had +followed there came a lonely, plaintive, almost pleading cry. + +"'Ello--'ello--'ello!" + +It sounded like a distant human greeting, but Rod knew that it was the +awakening night cry of what Wabi called the "man owl." It was weirdly +human-like; and the echoes came softly, and more softly, until ghostly +voices seemed to be whispering in the blackness about him. + +"'Ello--'ello--'ello!" + +The boy shivered and laid his rifle across his knees. There was +tremendous comfort in the rifle. Rod fondled it with his fingers, and +two or three times he felt as though he would almost like to talk to it. +Only those who have gone far into the silence and desolation of the +unblazed wilderness know just how human a good rifle becomes to its +owner. It is a friend every hour of the night and day, faithful to its +master's desires, keeping starvation at bay and holding death for his +enemies; a guaranty of safety at his bedside by night, a sharp-fanged +watch-dog by day, never treacherous and never found wanting by the one +who bestows upon it the care of a comrade and friend. Thus had Rod come +to look upon his rifle. He rubbed the barrel now with his mittens; he +polished the stock as he sat in his loneliness, and long afterward, +though he had determined to remain awake during the night, he fell +asleep with it clasped tightly in his hands. + +It was an uneasy, troubled slumber in which the young adventurer's +visions and fears took a more realistic form. He half sat, half lay, +upon his cedar boughs; his head fell forward upon his breast, his feet +were stretched out to the fire. Now and then unintelligible sounds fell +from his lips, and he would start suddenly as if about to awaken, but +each time would sink back into his restless sleep, still clutching the +gun. + +The visions in his head began to take a more definite form. Once more he +was on the trail, and had come to the old cabin. But this time he was +alone. The window of the cabin was wide open, but the door was tightly +closed, just as the hunters had found it when they first came down into +the dip. He approached cautiously. When very near the window he heard +sounds--strange sounds--like the clicking of bones! + +Step by step in his dream he approached the window and looked in. And +there he beheld a sight that froze him to the marrow. Two huge skeletons +were struggling in deadly embrace. He could hear no sound but the +click-click-click of their bones. He saw the gleam of knives held +between fleshless fingers, and he saw now that both were struggling for +the possession of something that was upon the table. Now one almost +reached it, now the other, but neither gained possession. + +The clicking of the bones became louder, the struggle fiercer, the +knives of the skeleton combatants rose and fell. Then one staggered back +and sank in a heap on the floor. + +For a moment the victor swayed, tottered to the table, and gripped the +mysterious object in its bony fingers. + +As it stumbled weakly against the cabin wall the gruesome creature held +the object up, and Rod saw that it was a roll of birch-bark! + +An ember in the dying fire snapped with a sound like the report of a +small pistol and Rod sat bolt upright, awake, staring, trembling. What a +horrible dream! He drew in his cramped legs and approached the fire on +his knees, holding his rifle in one hand while he piled on wood with the +other. + +What a horrible dream! + +He shuddered and ran his eyes around the impenetrable wall of blackness +that shut him in, the thought constantly flashing through his mind, what +a horrible dream--what a horrible dream! + +He sat down again and watched the flames of his fire as they climbed +higher and higher. The light and the heat cheered him, and after a +little he allowed his mind to dwell upon the adventure of his slumber. +It had made him sweat. He took off his cap and found that the hair about +his forehead was damp. + +All the different phases of a dream return to one singly when awake, and +it was with the suddenness of a shot that there came to Rod a +remembrance of the skeleton hand held aloft, clutching between its +gleaming fleshless fingers the roll of birch-bark. And with that memory +of his dream there came another--the skeleton in the cabin was clutching +a piece of birch-bark when they had buried it! + +Could that crumpled bit of bark hold the secret of the lost mine? + +Was it for the possession of that bark instead of the buckskin bag that +the men had fought and died? + +As the minutes passed Rod forgot his loneliness, forgot his nervousness +and only thought of the possibilities of the new clue that had come to +him in a dream. Wabi and Mukoki had seen the bark clutched in the +skeleton fingers, but they as well as he had given it no special +significance, believing that it had been caught up in some terrible part +of the struggle when both combatants were upon the floor, or perhaps in +the dying agonies of the wounded man against the wall. Rod remembered +now that they had found no more birch-bark upon the floor, which they +would have done if a supply had been kept there for kindling fires. Step +by step he went over the search they had made in the old cabin, and more +and more satisfied did he become that the skeleton hand held something +of importance for them. + +He replenished his fire and waited impatiently for dawn. At four +o'clock, before day had begun to dispel the gloom of night, he cooked +his breakfast and prepared his pack for the homeward journey. Soon +afterward a narrow rim of light broke through the rift in the chasm. +Slowly it crept downward, until the young hunter could make out objects +near him and the walls of the mountains. + +Thick shadows still defied his vision when he began retracing his steps +over the trail he had made the day before. He returned with the same +caution that he had used in his advance. Even more carefully, if +possible, did he scrutinize the rocks and the creek ahead. He had +already found life in the chasm, and he might find more. + +The full light of day came quickly now, and with it the youth's progress +became more rapid. He figured that if he lost no time in further +investigation of the creek he would arrive at camp by noon, and they +would dig up the skeleton without delay. There was little snow in the +chasm, in spite of the lateness of the season, and if the roll of bark +held the secret of the lost gold it would be possible for them to locate +the treasure before other snows came to baffle them. + +At the spot where he had killed the silver fox Rod paused for a moment. +He wondered if foxes ever traveled in pairs, and regretted that he had +not asked Wabi or Mukoki that question. He could see where the fox had +come straight from the black wall of the mountain. Curiosity led him +over the trail. He had not followed it more than two hundred yards when +he stopped in sudden astonishment. Plainly marked in the snow before him +was the trail of a pair of snow-shoes! Whoever had been there had passed +since he shot the fox, for the imprints of the animal's feet were buried +under those of the snow-shoes. + +Who was the other person in the chasm? + +Was it Wabi? + +Had Mukoki or he come to join him? Or-- + +He looked again at the snow-shoe trail. It was a peculiar trail, unlike +the one made by his own shoes. The imprints were a foot longer than his +own, and narrower. Neither Wabi nor Mukoki wore shoes that would make +that trail! + +At this point the strange trail had turned and disappeared among the +rocks along the wall of the mountain, and it occurred to Rod that +perhaps the stranger had not discovered his presence in the chasm. There +was some consolation in this thought, but it was doomed to quick +disappointment. Very cautiously the youth advanced, his rifle held in +readiness and his eyes searching every place of concealment ahead of +him. A hundred yards farther on the stranger had stopped, and from the +way in which the snow was packed Rod knew that he had stood in a +listening and watchful attitude for some time. From this point the trail +took another turn and came down until, from behind a huge rock, the +stranger had cautiously peered out upon the path made by the white +youth. + +It was evident that he was extremely anxious to prevent the discovery of +his own trail, for now the mysterious spy threaded his way behind rocks +until he had again come to the shelter of the mountain wall. + +Rod was perplexed. He realized the peril of his dilemma, and yet he knew +not what course to take to evade it. He had little doubt that the trail +was made by one of the treacherous Woongas, and that the Indian not only +knew of his presence, but was somewhere in the rocks ahead of him, +perhaps even now waiting behind some ambuscade to shoot him. Should he +follow the trail, or would it be safer to steal along among the rocks of +the opposite wall of the chasm? + +He had decided upon the latter course when his eyes caught a narrow +horizontal slit cleaving the face of the mountain on his left, toward +which the snow-shoe tracks seemed to lead. With his rifle ready for +instant use the youth slowly approached the fissure, and was surprised +to find that it was a complete break in the wall of rock, not more than +four feet wide, and continuing on a steady incline to the summit of the +ridge. At the mouth of this fissure his mysterious watcher had taken off +his snow-shoes and Rod could see where he had climbed up the narrow exit +from the chasm. + +With a profound sense of relief the young hunter hurried along the base +of the mountain, keeping well within its shelter so that eyes that might +be spying from above could not see his movements. He now felt no fear of +danger. The stranger's flight up the cleft in the chasm wall and his +careful attempts to conceal his trail among the rocks assured Rod that +he had no designs upon his life. His chief purpose had seemed to be to +keep secret his own presence in the gorge, and this fact in itself added +to the mystification of the white youth. For a long time he had been +secretly puzzled, and had evolved certain ideas of his own because of +the movements of the Woongas. Contrary to the opinions of Mukoki and +Wabigoon, he believed that the red outlaws were perfectly conscious of +their presence in the dip. From the first their actions had been +unaccountable, but not once had one of their snow-shoe trails crossed +their trap-lines. + +Was this fact in itself not significant? Rod was of a contemplative +theoretical turn of mind, one of those wide-awake, interesting young +fellows who find food for conjecture in almost every incident that +occurs, and his suspicions were now aroused to an unusual pitch. A chief +fault, however, was that he kept most of his suspicions to himself, for +he believed that Mukoki and Wabigoon, born and taught in the life of the +wilderness, were infallible in their knowledge of the ways and the laws +and the perils of the world they were in. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE SECRET OF THE SKELETON'S HAND + + +A little before noon Rod arrived at the top of the hill from which he +could look down on their camp. He was filled with pleasurable +anticipation, and with an unbounded swelling satisfaction that caused +him to smile as he proceeded into the dip. He had found a fortune in the +mysterious chasm. The burden of the silver fox upon his shoulders was a +most pleasing reminder of that, and he pictured the moment when the +good-natured raillery of Mukoki and Wabigoon would be suddenly turned +into astonishment and joy. + +As he approached the cabin the young hunter tried to appear disgusted +and half sick, and his effort was not bad in spite of his decided +inclination to laugh. Wabi met him in the doorway, grinning broadly, and +Mukoki greeted him with a throatful of his inimitable chuckles. + +"Aha, here's Rod with a packful of gold!" cried the young Indian, +striking an expectant attitude. "Will you let us see the treasure?" In +spite of his banter there was gladness in his face at Rod's arrival. + +The youth threw off his pack with a spiritless effort and flopped into a +chair as though in the last stage of exhaustion. + +"You'll have to undo the pack," he replied. "I'm too tired and hungry." + +Wabi's manner changed at once to one of real sympathy. + +"I'll bet you're tired, Rod, and half starved. We'll have dinner in a +hurry. Ho, Muky, put on the steak, will you?" + +There followed a rattle of kettles and tin pans and the Indian youth +gave Rod a glad slap on the back as he hurried to the table. He was +evidently in high spirits, and burst into a snatch of song as he cut up +a loaf of bread. + +"I'm tickled to see you back," he admitted, "for I was getting a little +bit nervous. We had splendid luck on our lines yesterday. Brought in +another 'cross' and three mink. Did you see anything?" + +"Aren't you going to look in the pack?" + +Wabi turned and gazed at his companion with a half-curious hesitating +smile. + +"Anything in it?" he asked suspiciously. + +"See here, boys," cried Rod, forgetting himself in his suppressed +enthusiasm. "I said there was a treasure in that chasm, and there was. I +found it. You are welcome to look into that pack if you wish!" + +Wabi dropped the knife with which he was cutting the bread and went to +the pack. He touched it with the toe of his boot, lifted it in his +hands, and glanced at Rod again. + +"It isn't a joke?" he asked. + +"No." + +Rod turned his back upon the scene and began to take off his coat as +coolly as though it were the commonest thing in the world for him to +bring silver foxes into camp. Only when Wabi gave a suppressed yell did +he turn about, and then he found the Indian standing erect and holding +out the silver to the astonished gaze of Mukoki. + +"Is it a good one?" he asked. + +"A beauty!" gasped Wabi. + +Mukoki had taken the animal and was examining it with the critical eyes +of a connoisseur. + +"Ver' fine!" he said. "At Post heem worth fi' hundred dollars--at +Montreal t'ree hundred more!" + +Wabi strode across the cabin and thrust out his hand. + +"Shake, Rod!" + +As the two gripped hands he turned to Mukoki. + +"Bear witness, Mukoki, that this young gentleman is no longer a +tenderfoot. He has shot a silver fox. He has done a whole winter's work +in one day. I take off my hat to you, Mr. Drew!" + +Roderick's face reddened with a flush of pleasure. + +"And that isn't all, Wabi," he said. His eyes were filled with a sudden +intense earnestness, and in the strangeness of the change Wabi forgot to +loosen the grip of his fingers about his companion's hand. + +"You don't mean that you found--" + +"No, I didn't find gold," anticipated Rod. "But the gold is there! I +know it. And I think I have found a clue. You remember that when you and +I examined the skeleton against the wall we saw that it clutched +something that looked like birch-bark in its hand? Well, I believe that +birch-bark holds the key to the lost mine!" + +Mukoki had come beside them and stood listening to Rod, his face alive +with keen interest. In Wabi's eyes there was a look half of doubt, half +of belief. + +"It might," he said slowly. "It wouldn't do any harm to see." + +He stepped to the stove and took off the partly cooked steak. Rod +slipped on his coat and hat and Mukoki seized his belt-ax and the +shovel. No words were spoken, but there was a mutual understanding that +the investigation was to precede dinner. Wabi was silent and thoughtful +and Rod could see that his suggestion had at least made a deep +impression upon him. Mukoki's eyes began to gleam again with the old +fire with which he had searched the cabin for gold. + +The skeletons were buried only a few inches deep in the frozen earth in +the edge of the cedar forest, and Mukoki soon exposed them to view. +Almost the first object that met their eyes was the skeleton hand +clutching its roll of birch-bark. It was Rod who dropped upon his knees +to the gruesome task. + +With a shudder at the touch of the cold bones he broke the fingers back. +One of them snapped with a sharp sound, and as he rose with the bark in +his hand his face was bloodlessly white. The bones were covered again +and the three returned to the cabin. + +Still silent, they gathered about the table. With age the bark of the +birch hardens and rolls itself tightly, and the piece Rod held was +almost like thin steel. Inch by inch it was spread out, cracking and +snapping in brittle protest. The hunters could see that the bark was in +a single unbroken strip about ten inches long by six in width. Two +inches, three, four were unrolled--and still the smooth surface was +blank. Another half-inch, and the bark refused to unroll farther. + +"Careful!" whispered Wabi. + +With the point of his knife he loosened the cohesion. + +"I guess--there's--nothing--" began Rod. + +Even as he spoke he caught his breath. A mark had appeared on the bark, +a black, meaningless mark with a line running down from it into the +scroll. + +Another fraction of an inch and the line was joined by a second, and +then with an unexpectedness that was startling the remainder of the roll +released itself like a spring--and to the eyes of the three wolf hunters +was revealed the secret of the skeleton hand. + +Spread out before them was a map, or at least what they at once accepted +as a map, though in reality it was more of a crude diagram of straight +and crooked lines, with here and there a partly obliterated word to give +it meaning. In several places there were mere evidences of words, now +entirely illegible. But what first held the attention of Rod and his +companions were several lines in writing under the rough sketch on the +bark, still quite plain, which formed the names of three men. Roderick +read them aloud. + +"John Ball, Henri Langlois, Peter Plante." + +Through the name of John Ball had been drawn a broad black line which +had almost destroyed the letters, and at the end of this line, in +brackets, was printed a word in French which Wabi quickly translated. + +"Dead!" he breathed. "The Frenchmen killed him!" + +The words shot from him in hot excitement. + +Rod did not reply. Slowly he drew a trembling finger over the map. The +first word he encountered was unintelligible. Of the next he could only +make out one letter, which gave him no clue. Evidently the map had been +made with a different and less durable substance than that with which +the names had been written. He followed down the first straight black +line, and where this formed a junction with a wider crooked line were +two words quite distinct: + +"Second waterfall." + +Half an inch below this Rod could make out the letters T, D and L, +widely scattered. + +"That's the third waterfall," he exclaimed eagerly. + +At this point the crude lines of the diagram stopped, and immediately +below, between the map and the three names, it was evident that there +had been considerable writing. But not a word of it could the young +hunters make out. That writing, without doubt, had given the key to the +lost gold. Rod looked up, his face betraying the keenness of his +disappointment. He knew that under his hand he held all that was left of +the secret of a great treasure. But he was more baffled than ever. +Somewhere in this vast desolation there were three waterfalls, and +somewhere near the third waterfall the Englishman and the two Frenchmen +had found their gold. That was all he knew. He had not found a waterfall +in the chasm; they had not discovered one in all their trapping and +hunting excursions. + +Wabi was looking down into his face in silent thought. Suddenly he +reached out and seized the sheet of bark and examined it closely. As he +looked there came a deeper flush in his face, his eyes brightened and he +gave a cry of excitement. + +"By George, I believe we can peel this!" he cried. "See here, Muky!" He +thrust the birch under the old Indian's eyes. Even Mukoki's hands were +trembling. + +"Birch-bark is made up of a good many layers, each as thin as the +thinnest paper," he explained to Rod as Mukoki continued his +examination. "If we can peel off that first layer, and then hold it up +to the light, we shall be able to see the impression of every word that +was ever made on it--even though they were written a hundred years ago!" + +Mukoki had gone to the door, and now he turned, grinning exultantly. + +"She peel!" + +He showed them where he had stripped back a corner of the film-like +layer. Then he sat down in the light, his head bent over, and for many +minutes he worked at his tedious task while Wabi and Rod hung back in +soundless suspense. Half an hour later Mukoki straightened himself, rose +to his feet and held out the precious film to Rod. + +As tenderly as though his own life depended upon its care, Rod held the +piece of birch, now a silken, almost transparent sheet, between himself +and the light. A cry welled up into his throat. It was repeated by Wabi. +And then there was silence--a silence broken only by their bated breaths +and the excited thumpings of their hearts. + +As though they had been written but yesterday, the mysterious words on +the map were disclosed to their eyes. Where Rod had made out only three +letters there were now plainly discernible the two words "third +waterfall," and very near to these was the word "cabin." Below them were +several lines, clearly impressed in the birch film. Slowly, his voice +trembling, Rod read them to his companions. + +"We, John Ball, Henri Langlois, and Peter Plante, having discovered gold +at this fall, do hereby agree to joint partnership in the same, and do +pledge ourselves to forget our past differences and work in mutual good +will and honesty, so help us God. Signed, + +"JOHN BALL, HENRI LANGLOIS, PETER PLANTE." + +At the very top of the map the impression of several other words caught +Rod's eyes. They were more indistinct than any of the others, but one by +one he made them out. A hot blurring film seemed to fall over his eyes +and he felt as though his heart had suddenly come up into his throat. +Wabi's breath was burning against his cheek, and it was Wabi who spoke +the words aloud. + +"Cabin and head of chasm." + +Rod went back to the table and sat down, the precious bit of birch-bark +under his hand. Mukoki, standing mute, had listened and heard, and was +as if stunned by their discovery. But now his mind returned to the moose +steak, and he placed it on the stove. Wabi stood with his hands in his +pockets, and after a little he laughed a trembling, happy laugh. + +"Well, Rod, you've found your mine. You are as good as rich!" + +"You mean that we have found our mine," corrected the white youth. "We +are three, and we just naturally fill the places of John Ball, Henri +Langlois and Peter Plante. They are all dead. The gold is ours!" + +Wabi had taken up the map. + +"I can't see the slightest possibility of our not finding it," he said. +"The directions are as plain as day. We follow the chasm, and somewhere +in that chasm we come to a waterfall. A little beyond this the creek +that runs through the gorge empties into a larger stream, and we follow +this second creek or river until we come to the third fall. The cabin is +there, and the gold can not be far away." + +He had carried the map to the door again, and Rod joined him. + +"There is nothing that gives us an idea of distance on the map," he +continued. "How far did you travel down the chasm?" + +"Ten miles, at least," replied Rod. + +"And you discovered no fall?" + +"No." + +With a splinter picked up from the floor Wabi measured the distances +between the different points on the diagram. + +"There is no doubt but what this map was drawn by John Ball," he said +after a few moments of silent contemplation. "Everything points to that +fact. Notice that all of the writing is in one hand, except the +signatures of Langlois and Plante, and you could hardly decipher the +letters in those signatures if you did not already know their names from +this writing below. Ball wrote a good hand, and from the construction of +the agreement over the signatures he was a man of pretty fair education. +Don't you think so? Well, he must have drawn this map with some idea of +distance in his mind. The second fall is only half as far from the first +fall as the third fall is from the second, which seems to me conclusive +evidence of this. If he had not had distance in mind he would not have +separated the falls in this way on the map." + +"Then if we can find the first fall we can figure pretty nearly how far +the last fall is from the head of the chasm," said Rod. + +"Yes. I believe the distance from here to the first fall will give us a +key to the whole thing." + +Rod had produced a pencil from one of his pockets and was figuring on +the smooth side of a chip. + +"The gold is a long way from here at the best, Wabi. I explored the +chasm for ten miles. Say that we find the first fall within fifteen +miles. Then, according to the map, the second fall would be about twenty +miles from the first, and the third forty miles from the second. If the +first fall is within fifteen miles of this cabin the third fall is at +least seventy-five miles away." + +Wabi nodded. + +"But we may not find the first fall within that distance," he said. "By +George--" He stopped and looked at Rod with an odd look of doubt in his +face. "If the gold is seventy-five or a hundred miles away, why were +those men here, and with only a handful of nuggets in their possession? +Is it possible that the gold played out--that they found only what was +in the buckskin bag?" + +"If that were so, why should they have fought to the death for the +possession of the map?" argued Rod. + +Mukoki was turning the steak. He had not spoken, but now he said: + +"Mebby going to Post for supplies." + +"That's exactly what they were doing!" shouted the Indian youth. "Muky, +you have solved the whole problem. They were going for supplies. And +they didn't fight for the map--not for the map alone!" + +His face flushed with new excitement. + +"Perhaps I am wrong, but it all seems clear to me now," he continued. +"Ball and the two Frenchmen worked their find until they ran out of +supplies. Wabinosh House is over a hundred years old, and fifty years +ago that was the nearest point where they could get more. In some way it +fell to the Frenchmen to go. They had probably accumulated a hoard of +gold, and before they left they murdered Ball. They brought with them +only enough gold to pay for their supplies, for it was their purpose not +to arouse the suspicion of any adventurers who happened to be at the +Post. They could easily have explained their possession of those few +nuggets. In this cabin either Langlois or Plante tried to kill his +companion, and thus become the sole possessor of the treasure, and the +fight, fatal to both, ensued. I may be wrong, but--by George, I believe +that is what happened!" + +"And that they buried the bulk of their gold somewhere back near the +third fall?" + +"Yes; or else they brought the gold here and buried it somewhere near +this very cabin!" + +They were interrupted by Mukoki. + +"Dinner ready!" he called. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SNOWED IN + + +Until the present moment Rod had forgotten to speak of the mysterious +man-trail he had encountered in the chasm. The excitement of the past +hour had made him oblivious to all other things, but now as they ate +their dinner he described the strange maneuvers of the spying Woonga. He +did not, however, voice those fears which had come to him in the gorge, +preferring to allow Mukoki and Wabigoon to draw their own conclusions. +By this time the two Indians were satisfied that the Woongas were not +contemplating attack, but that for some unaccountable reason they were +as anxious to evade the hunters as the hunters were to evade them. +Everything that had passed seemed to give evidence of this. The outlaw +in the chasm, for instance, could easily have waylaid Rod; a dozen times +the almost defenseless camp could have been attacked, and there were +innumerable places where ambushes might have been laid for them along +the trap-lines. + +So Rod's experience with the Woonga trail between the mountains +occasioned little uneasiness, and instead of forming a scheme for the +further investigation of this trail on the south, plans were made for +locating the first fall. Mukoki was the swiftest and most tireless +traveler on snow-shoes, and it was he who volunteered to make the first +search. He would leave the following morning, taking with him a supply +of food, and during his absence Rod and Wabigoon would attend to the +traps. + +"We must have the location of the first fall before we return to the +Post," declared Wabi. "If from that we find that the third fall is not +within a hundred miles of our present camp it will be impossible for us +to go in search of our gold during this trip. In that event we shall +have to go back to Wabinosh House and form a new expedition, with fresh +supplies and the proper kind of tools. We can not do anything until the +spring freshets are over, anyway." + +"I have been thinking of that," replied Rod, his eyes softening. "You +know mother is alone, and--her--" + +"I understand," interrupted the Indian boy, laying a hand fondly across +his companion's arm. + +"--her funds are small, you know," Rod finished. "If she has been +sick--or--anything like that--" + +"Yes, we've got to get back with our furs," helped Wabi, a tremor of +tenderness in his own voice. "And if you don't mind, Rod, I might take a +little run down to Detroit with you. Do you suppose she would care?" + +"Care!" shouted Rod, bringing his free hand down upon Wabi's arm with a +force that hurt. "Care! Why, she thinks as much of you as she does of +me, Wabi! She'd be tickled to death! Do you mean it?" + +Wabi's bronzed face flushed a deeper red at his friend's enthusiasm. + +"I won't promise--for sure," he said. "But I'd like to see her--almost +as much as you, I guess. If I can, I'll go." + +Rod's face was suffused with a joyful glow. + +"And I'll come back with you early in the summer and we'll start out for +the gold," he cried. He jumped to his feet and slapped Mukoki on the +back in the happy turn his mind had taken. "Will you come, too, Mukoki? +I'll give you the biggest 'city time' you ever had in your life!" + +The old Indian grinned and chuckled and grunted, but did not reply in +words. Wabi laughed, and answered for him. + +"He is too anxious to become Minnetaki's slave again, Rod. No, Muky +won't go, I'll wager that. He will stay at the Post to see that she +doesn't get lost, or hurt, or stolen by the Woongas. Eh, Mukoki?" Mukoki +nodded, grinning good-humoredly. He went to the door, opened it and +looked out. + +"Devil--she snow!" he cried. "She snow like twent' t'ousand--like +devil!" + +This was the strongest English in the old warrior's vocabulary, and it +meant something more than usual. Wabi and Rod quickly joined him. Never +in his life had the city youth seen a snow-storm like that which he now +gazed out into. The great north storm had arrived--a storm which comes +just once each year in the endless Arctic desolation. For days and weeks +the Indians had expected it and wondered at its lateness. It fell +softly, silently, without a breath of air to stir it; a smothering, +voiceless sea of white, impenetrable to human vision, so thick that it +seemed as though it might stifle one's breath. Rod held out the palm of +his hand and in an instant it was covered with a film of white. He +walked out into it, and a dozen yards away he became a ghostly, almost +invisible shadow. + +When he came back a minute later he brought a load of snow into the +cabin with him. + +All that afternoon the snow fell like this, and all that night the storm +continued. When he awoke in the morning Rod heard the wind whistling and +howling through the trees and around the ends of the cabin. He rose and +built the fire while the others were still sleeping. He attempted to +open the door, but it was blocked. He lowered the barricade at the +window, and a barrel of snow tumbled in about his feet. He could see no +sign of day, and when he turned he saw Wabi sitting up in his blankets, +laughing silently at his wonder and consternation. + +"What in the world--" he gasped. + +"We're snowed in," grinned Wabi. "Does the stove smoke?" + +"No," replied Rod, throwing a bewildered glance at the roaring fire. +"You don't mean to say--" + +"Then we are not completely, buried," interrupted the other. "At least +the top of the chimney is sticking out!" + +Mukoki sat up and stretched himself. + +"She blow," he said, as a tremendous howl of wind swept over the cabin. +"Bime-by she blow some more!" + +Rod shoveled the snow into a corner and replaced the barricade while his +companions dressed. + +"This means a week's work digging out traps," declared Wabi. "And only +Mukoki's Great Spirit, who sends all blessings to this country, knows +when the blizzard is going to stop. It may last a week. There is no +chance of finding our waterfall in this." + +"We can play dominoes," suggested Rod cheerfully. "You remember we +haven't finished that series we began at the Post. But you don't expect +me to believe that it snowed enough yesterday afternoon and last night +to cover this cabin, do you?" + +"It didn't exactly _snow_ enough to cover it," explained his comrade. +"But we're covered for all of that. The cabin is on the edge of an open, +and of course the snow just naturally drifts around us, blown there by +the wind. If this blizzard keeps up we shall be under a small mountain +by night." + +"Won't it--smother us?" faltered Rod. + +Wabi gave a joyous whoop of merriment at the city-bred youth's +half-expressed fear and a volley of Mukoki's chuckles came from where he +was slicing moose-steak on the table. + +"Snow mighty nice thing live under," he asserted with emphasis. + +"If you were under a mountain of snow you could live, if you weren't +crushed to death," said Wabi. "Snow is filled with air. Mukoki was +caught under a snow-slide once and was buried under thirty feet for ten +hours. He had made a nest about as big as a barrel and was nice and +comfortable when we dug him out. We won't have to burn much wood to keep +warm now." + +After breakfast the boys again lowered the barricade at the window and +Wabi began to bring small avalanches of snow down into the cabin with +his shovel. At the third or fourth upward thrust a huge mass plunged +through the window, burying them to the waist, and when they looked out +they could see the light of day and the whirling blizzard above their +heads. + +"It's up to the roof," gasped Rod. "Great Scott, what a snow-storm!" + +"Now for some fun!" cried the Indian youth. "Come on, Rod, if you want +to be in it." + +He crawled through the window into the cavity he had made in the drift, +and Rod followed. Wabi waited, a mischievous smile on his face, and no +sooner had his companion joined him than he plunged his shovel deep into +the base of the drift. Half a dozen quick thrusts and there tumbled down +upon their heads a mass of light snow that for a few moments completely +buried them. The suddenness of it knocked Rod to his knees, where he +floundered, gasped and made a vain effort to yell. Struggling like a +fish he first kicked his feet free, and Wabi, who had thrust out his +head and shoulders, shrieked with laughter as he saw only Rod's boots +sticking out of the snow. + +"You're going the wrong way, Rod!" he shouted. "Wow--wow!" + +He seized his companion's legs and helped to drag him out, and then +stood shaking, the tears streaming down his face, and continued to laugh +until he leaned back in the drift, half exhausted. Rod was a curious and +ludicrous-looking object. His eyes were wide and blinking; the snow was +in his ears, his mouth, and in his floundering he had packed his coat +collar full of it. Slowly he recovered from his astonishment, saw Wabi +and Mukoki quivering with laughter, grinned--and then joined them in +their merriment. + +It was not difficult now for the boys to force their way through the +drift and they were soon standing waist-deep in the snow twenty yards +from the cabin. + +"The snow is only about four feet deep in the open," said Wabi. "But +look at that!" + +He turned and gazed at the cabin, or rather at the small part of it +which still rose triumphant above the huge drift which had almost +completely buried it. Only a little of the roof, with the smoking +chimney rising out of it, was to be seen. Rod now turned in all +directions to survey the wild scene about him. There had come a brief +lull in the blizzard, and his vision extended beyond the lake and to the +hilltop. There was not a spot of black to meet his eyes; every rock was +hidden; the trees hung silent and lifeless under their heavy mantles and +even their trunks were beaten white with the clinging volleys of the +storm. There came to him then a thought of the wild things in this +seemingly uninhabitable desolation. How could they live in this endless +desert of snow? What could they find to eat? Where could they find water +to drink? He asked Wabi these questions after they had returned to the +cabin. + +"Just now, if you traveled from here to the end of this storm zone you +wouldn't find a living four-legged creature," said Wabigoon. "Every +moose in this country, every deer and caribou, every fox and wolf, is +buried in the snow. And as the snow falls deeper about them the warmer +and more comfortable do they become, so that even as the blizzard +increases in fury the kind Creator makes it easier for them to bear. +When the storm ceases the wilderness will awaken into life again. The +moose and deer and caribou will rise from their snow-beds and begin to +eat the boughs of trees and saplings; a crust will have formed on the +snow, and all the smaller animals, like foxes, lynx and wolves, will +begin to travel again, and to prey upon others for food. Until they find +running water again snow and ice take the place of liquid drink; warm +caverns dug in the snow give refuge in place of thick swamp moss and +brush and leaves. All the big animals, like moose, deer and caribou, +will soon make 'yards' for themselves by trampling down large areas of +snow, and in these yards they will gather in big herds, eating their way +through the forests, fighting the wolves and waiting for spring. Oh, +life isn't altogether bad for the animals in a deep winter like this!" + +Until noon the hunters were busy cleaning away the snow from the cabin +door. As the day advanced the blizzard increased in its fury, until, +with the approach of night, it became impossible for the hunters to +expose themselves to it. For three days the storm continued with only +intermittent lulls, but with the dawn of the fourth day the sky was +again cloudless, and the sun rose with a blinding effulgence. Rod now +found himself suffering from that sure affliction of every tenderfoot in +the far North--snow-blindness. For only a few minutes at a time could he +stand the dazzling reflections of the snow-waste where nothing but +white, flashing, scintillating white, seemingly a vast sea of burning +electric points in the sunlight, met his aching eyes. On the second day +after the storm, while Wabi was still inuring Rod to the changed world +and teaching him how to accustom his eyes to it gradually, Mukoki left +the cabin to follow the chasm in his search for the first waterfall. + +That same day Wabi began his work of digging out and resetting the +traps, but it was not until the day following that Rod's eyes would +allow him to assist. The task was a most difficult one; rocks and other +landmarks were completely hidden, and the lost traps averaged one out of +four. It was not until the end of the second day after Mukoki's +departure that the young hunters finished the mountain trap-line, and +when they turned their faces toward camp just at the beginning of dusk +it was with the expectant hope that they would find the old Indian +awaiting them. But Mukoki had not returned. The next day came and +passed, and a fourth dawned without his arrival. Hope now gave way to +fear. In three days Mukoki could travel nearly a hundred miles. Was it +possible that something had happened to him? Many times there recurred +to Rod a thought of the Woonga in the chasm. Had the mysterious spy, or +some of his people, waylaid and killed him? + +Neither of the hunters had a desire to leave camp during the fourth day. +Trapping was exceptionally good now on account of the scarcity of animal +food and since the big storm they had captured a wolf, two lynx, a red +fox and eight mink. But as Mukoki's absence lengthened their enthusiasm +grew less. + +In the afternoon, as they were watching, they saw a figure climb wearily +to the summit of the hill. + +It was Mukoki. + +With shouts of greeting both youths hurried through the snow toward him, +not taking time to strap on their snow-shoes. The old Indian was at +their side a couple of minutes later. He smiled in a tired good-natured +way, and answered the eagerness in their eyes with a nod of his head. + +"Found fall. Fift' mile down mountain." + +Once in the cabin he dropped into a chair, exhausted, and both Rod and +Wabigoon joined in relieving him of his boots and outer garments. It was +evident that Mukoki had been traveling hard, for only once or twice +before in his life had Wabi seen him so completely fatigued. Quickly the +young Indian had a huge steak broiling over the fire, and Rod put an +extra handful of coffee in the pot. + +"Fifty miles!" ejaculated Wabi for the twentieth time. "It was an awful +jaunt, wasn't it, Muky?" + +"Rough--rough like devil th'ough mountains," replied Mukoki. "Not like +that!" He swung an arm in the direction of the chasm. + +Rod stood silent, open-eyed with wonder. Was it possible that the old +warrior had discovered a wilder country than that through which he had +passed in the chasm? + +"She little fall," went on Mukoki, brightening as the odor of coffee and +meat filled his nostrils. "No bigger than--that!" He pointed to the roof +of the cabin. + +Rod was figuring on the table. Soon he looked up. + +"According to Mukoki and the map we are at least two hundred and fifty +miles from the third fall," he said. + +Mukoki shrugged his shoulders and his face was crinkled in a suggestive +grimace. + +"Hudson Bay," he grunted. + +Wabi turned from his steak in sudden astonishment. + +"Doesn't the chasm continue east?" he almost shouted. + +"No. She turn--straight north." + +Rod could not understand the change that came over Wabi's face. + +"Boys," he said finally, "if that is the case I can tell you where the +gold is. If the stream in the chasm turns northward it is bound for just +one place--the Albany River, and the Albany River empties into James +Bay! The third waterfall, where our treasure in gold is waiting for us, +is in the very heart of the wildest and most savage wilderness in North +America. It is safe. No other man has ever found it. But to get it means +one of the longest and most adventurous expeditions we ever planned in +all our lives!" + +"Hurrah!" shouted Rod. "Hurrah--" + +He had leaped to his feet, forgetful of everything but that their gold +was safe, and that their search for it would lead them even to the last +fastnesses of the snow-bound and romantic North. + +"Next spring, Wabi!" He held out his hand and the two boys joined their +pledge in a hearty grip. + +"Next spring!" reiterated Wabi. + +"And we go in canoe," joined Mukoki. "Creek grow bigger. We make +birch-bark canoe at first fall." + +"That is better still," added Wabi. "It will be a glorious trip! We'll +take a little vacation at the third fall and run up to James Bay." + +"James Bay is practically the same as Hudson Bay, isn't it?" asked Rod. + +"Yes. I could never see a good reason for calling it James Bay. It is in +reality the lower end, or tail, of Hudson Bay." + +There was no thought of visiting any of the traps that day, and the next +morning Mukoki insisted upon going with Rod, in spite of his four days +of hard travel. If he remained in camp his joints would get stiff, he +said, and Wabigoon thought he was right. This left the young Indian to +care for the trap-line leading into the north. + +Two weeks of ideal trapping weather now followed. It had been more than +two months since the hunters had left Wabinosh House, and Rod now began +to count the days before they would turn back over the homeward trail. +Wabi had estimated that they had sixteen hundred dollars' worth of furs +and scalps and two hundred dollars in gold, and the white youth was +satisfied to return to his mother with his share of six hundred dollars, +which was as much as he would have earned in a year at his old position +in the city. Neither did he attempt to conceal from Wabi his desire to +see Minnetaki; and his Indian friend, thoroughly pleased at Rod's liking +for his sister, took much pleasure in frequent good-natured banter on +the subject. In fact, Rod possessed a secret hope that he might induce +the princess mother to allow her daughter to accompany himself and Wabi +to Detroit, where he knew that his own mother would immediately fall in +love with the beautiful little maiden from the North. + +In the third week after the great storm Rod and Mukoki had gone over the +mountain trap-line, leaving Wabi in camp. They had decided that the +following week would see them headed for Wabinosh House, where they +would arrive about the first of February, and Roderick was in high +spirits. + +On this day they had started toward camp early in the afternoon, and +soon after they had passed through the swamp Rod expressed his intention +of ascending the ridge, hoping to get a shot at game somewhere along the +mountain trail home. Mukoki, however, decided not to accompany him, but +to take the nearer and easier route. + +On the top of the mountain Rod paused to take a survey of the country +about him. He could see Mukoki, now hardly more than a moving speck on +the edge of the plain; northward the same fascinating, never-ending +wilderness rolled away under his eyes; eastward, two miles away, he saw +a moving object which he knew was a moose or a caribou; and westward-- + +Instinctively his eyes sought the location of their camp. Instantly the +expectant light went out of his face. He gave an involuntary cry of +horror, and there followed it a single, unheard shriek for Mukoki. + +Over the spot where he knew their camp to be now rose a huge volume of +smoke. The sky was black with it, and in the terrible moment that +followed his piercing cry for Mukoki he fancied that he heard the sound +of rifle-shots. + +"Mukoki! Mukoki!" he shouted. + +The old Indian was beyond hearing. Quickly it occurred to Rod that early +in their trip they had arranged rifle signals for calling help--two +quick shots, and then, after a moment's interval, three others in rapid +succession. + +He threw his rifle to his shoulder and fired into the air; once, +twice--and then three times as fast as he could press the trigger. + +As he watched Mukoki he reloaded. He saw the Indian pause, turn about +and look back toward the mountain. + +Again the thrilling signals for help went echoing over the plains. In a +few seconds the sounds had reached Mukoki's ears and the old warrior +came swinging back at running speed. + +Rod darted along the ridge to meet him, firing a single shot now and +then to let him know where he was, and in fifteen minutes Mukoki came +panting up the mountain. + +"The Woongas!" shouted Rod. "They've attacked the camp! See!" He pointed +to the cloud of smoke. "I heard shots--I heard shots--" + +For an instant the grim pathfinder gazed in the direction of the burning +camp, and then without a word he started at terrific speed down the +mountain. + +The half-hour race that followed was one of the most exciting +experiences of Rod's life. How he kept up with Mukoki was more than he +ever could explain afterward. But from the time they struck the old +trail he was close at the Indian's heels. When they reached the hill +that sheltered the dip his face was scratched and bleeding from contact +with swinging bushes; his heart seemed ready to burst from its +tremendous exertion; his breath came in an audible hissing, rattling +sound, and he could not speak. But up the hill he plunged behind Mukoki, +his rifle cocked and ready. At the top they paused. + +The camp was a smoldering mass of ruins. Not a sign of life was about +it. But-- + +With a gasping, wordless cry Rod caught Mukoki's arm and pointed to an +object lying in the snow a dozen yards from where the cabin had been. +The warrior had seen it. He turned one look upon the white youth, and it +was a look that Rod had never thought could come into the face of a +human being. If that was Wabi down there--if Wabi had been killed--what +would Mukoki's vengeance be! His companion was no longer Mukoki--as he +had known him; he was the savage. There was no mercy, no human instinct, +no suggestion of the human soul in that one terrible look. If it was +Wabi-- + +They plunged down the hill, into the dip, across the lake, and Mukoki +was on his knees beside the figure in the snow. He turned it over--and +rose without a sound, his battle-glaring eyes peering into the smoking +ruins. + +Rod looked, and shuddered. + +The figure in the snow was not Wabi. + +It was a strange, terrible-looking object--a giant Indian, distorted in +death--and a half of his head was shot away! + +When he again looked at Mukoki the old Indian was in the midst of the +hot ruins, kicking about with his booted feet and poking with the butt +of his rifle. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE RESCUE OF WABIGOON + + +Rod had sunk into the snow close to the dead man. His endurance was gone +and he was as weak as a child. He watched every movement Mukoki made; +saw every start, every glance, and became almost sick with fear whenever +the warrior bent down to examine some object. + +Was Wabi dead--and burned in those ruins? + +Foot by foot Mukoki searched. His feet became hot; the smell of burning +leather filled his nostrils; glowing coals burned through to his feet. +But the old Indian was beyond pain. Only two things filled his soul. One +of these was love for Minnetaki; the other was love for Wabigoon. And +there was only one other thing that could take the place of these, and +that was merciless, undying, savage passion--passion at any wrong or +injury that might be done to them. The Woongas had sneaked upon Wabi. He +knew that. They had caught him unaware, like cowards; and perhaps he was +dead--and in those ruins! + +He searched until his feet were scorched and burned in a score of +places, and then he came out, smoke-blackened, but with some of the +terrible look gone out of his face. + +"He no there!" he said, speaking for the first time. + +Again he crouched beside the dead man, and grimaced at Rod with a +triumphant, gloating chuckle. + +"Much dead!" he grinned. + +In a moment the grimace had gone from his face, and while Rod still +rested he continued his examination of the camp. Close around it the +snow was beaten down with human tracks. Mukoki saw where the outlaws had +stolen up behind the cabin from the forest and he saw where they had +gone away after the attack. + +Five had come down from the cedars, only four had gone away! + +Where was Wabi? + +If he had been captured, and taken with the Indians, there would have +been five trails. Rod understood this as well as Mukoki, and he also +understood why his companion went back to make another investigation of +the smoldering ruins. This second search, however, convinced the Indian +that Wabi's body had not been thrown into the fire. There was only one +conclusion to draw. The youth had made a desperate fight, had killed one +of the outlaws, and after being wounded in the conflict had been carried +off bodily. Wabi and his captors could not be more than two or three +miles away. A quick pursuit would probably overtake them within an hour. + +Mukoki came to Rod's side. + +"Me follow--kill!" he said. "Me kill so many quick!" He pointed toward +the four trails. "You stay--" + +Rod clambered to his feet. + +"You mean we'll kill 'em, Muky," he broke in. "I can follow you again. +Set the pace!" + +There came the click of the safety on Mukoki's rifle, and Rod, following +suit, cocked his own. + +"Much quiet," whispered the Indian when they had come to the farther +side of the dip. "No noise--come up still--shoot!" + +The snow-shoe trail of the outlaws turned from the dip into the timbered +bottoms to the north, and Mukoki, partly crouched, his rifle always to +the front, followed swiftly. They had not progressed a hundred yards +into the plain when the old hunter stopped, a puzzled look in his face. +He pointed to one of the snow-shoe trails which was much deeper than the +others. + +"Heem carry Wabi," he spoke softly. "But--" His eyes gleamed in sudden +excitement. "They go slow! They no hurry! Walk very slow! Take much +time!" + +Rod now observed for the first time that the individual tracks made by +the outlaws were much shorter than their own, showing that instead of +being in haste they were traveling quite slowly. This was a mystery +which was not easy to explain. Did the Woongas not fear pursuit? Was it +possible that they believed the hunters would not hasten to give them +battle? Or were they relying upon the strength of their numbers, or, +perhaps, planning some kind of ambush? + +Mukoki's advance now became slower and more cautious. His keen eyes took +in every tree and clump of bushes ahead. Only when he could see the +trail leading straight away for a considerable distance did he hasten +the pursuit. Never for an instant did he turn his head to Rod. But +suddenly he caught sight of something that brought from him a guttural +sound of astonishment. A fifth track had joined the trail! Without +questioning Rod knew what it meant. Wabi had been lowered from the back +of his captor and was now walking. He was on snow-shoes and his strides +were quite even and of equal length with the others. Evidently he was +not badly wounded. + +Half a mile ahead of them was a high hill and between them and this hill +was a dense growth of cedar, filled with tangled windfalls. It was an +ideal place for an ambush, but the old warrior did not hesitate. The +Woongas had followed a moose trail, with which they were apparently well +acquainted, and in this traveling was easy. But Rod gave an involuntary +shudder as he gazed ahead into the chaotic tangle through which it led. +At any moment he expected to hear the sharp crack of a rifle and to see +Mukoki tumble forward upon his face. Or there might be a fusillade of +shots and he himself might feel the burning sting that comes with rifle +death. At the distance from which they would shoot the outlaws could not +miss. Did not Mukoki realize this? Maddened by the thought that his +beloved Wabi was in the hands of merciless enemies, was the old +pathfinder becoming reckless? + +But when he looked into his companion's face and saw the cool deadly +resolution glittering in his eyes, the youth's confidence was restored. +For some reason Mukoki knew that there would not be an ambush. + +Over the moose-run the two traveled more swiftly and soon they came to +the foot of the high hill. Up this the Woongas had gone, their trail +clearly defined and unswerving in its direction. Mukoki now paused with +a warning gesture to Rod, and pointed down at one of the snow-shoe +tracks. The snow was still crumbling and falling about the edges of this +imprint. + +"Ver' close!" whispered the Indian. + +It was not the light of the game hunt in Mukoki's eyes now; there was a +trembling, terrible tenseness in his whispered words. He crept up the +hill with Rod so near that he could have touched him. At the summit of +that hill he dragged himself up like an animal, and then, crouching, ran +swiftly to the opposite side, his rifle within six inches of his +shoulder. In the plain below them was unfolded to their eyes a scene +which, despite his companion's warning, wrung an exclamation of dismay +from Roderick's lips. + +[Illustration: The leader stopped in his snow-shoes] + +Plainly visible to them in the edge of the plain were the outlaw Woongas +and their captive. They were in single file, with Wabi following the +leader, and the hunters perceived that their comrade's arms were tied +behind him. + +But it was another sight that caused Rod's dismay. + +From an opening beside a small lake half a mile beyond the Indians below +there rose the smoke of two camp-fires, and Mukoki and he could make out +at least a score of figures about these fires. + +Within rifle-shot of them, almost within shouting distance, there was +not only the small war party that had attacked the camp, but a third of +the fighting men of the Woonga tribe! Rod understood their terrible +predicament. To attack the outlaws in an effort to rescue Wabi meant +that an overwhelming force would be upon them within a few minutes; to +allow Wabi to remain a captive meant--he shuddered at the thought of +what it might mean, for he knew of the merciless vengeance of the +Woongas upon the House of Wabinosh. + +And while he was thinking of these things the faithful old warrior +beside him had already formed his plan of attack. He would die with +Wabi, gladly--a fighting, terrible slave to devotion to the last; but he +would not see Wabi die alone. A whispered word, a last look at his +rifle, and Mukoki hurried down into the plains. + +At the foot of the hill he abandoned the outlaw trail and Rod realized +that his plan was to sweep swiftly in a semicircle, surprising the +Woongas from the front or side instead of approaching from the rear. +Again he was taxed to his utmost to keep pace with the avenging Mukoki. +Less than ten minutes later the Indian peered cautiously from behind a +clump of hazel, and then looked back at Rod, a smile of satisfaction on +his face. + +"They come," he breathed, just loud enough to hear. "They come!" + +Rod peered over his shoulder, and his heart smote mightily within him. +Unconscious of their peril the Woongas were approaching two hundred +yards away. Mukoki gazed into his companion's face and his eyes were +almost pleading as he laid a bronzed crinkled hand upon the white boy's +arm. + +"You take front man--ahead of Wabi," he whispered. "I take other t'ree. +See that tree--heem birch, with bark off? Shoot heem there. You no +tremble? You no miss?" + +"No," replied Rod. He gripped the red hand in his own. "I'll kill, +Mukoki. I'll kill him dead--in one shot!" + +They could hear the voices of the outlaws now, and soon they saw that +Wabi's face was disfigured with blood. + +Step by step, slowly and carelessly, the Woongas approached. They were +fifty yards from the marked birch now--forty--thirty--now only ten. +Roderick's rifle was at his shoulder. Already it held a deadly bead on +the breast of the leader. + +Five yards more-- + +The outlaw passed behind the tree; he came out, and the young hunter +pressed the trigger. The leader stopped in his snow-shoes. Even before +he had crumpled down into a lifeless heap in the snow a furious volley +of shots spat forth from Mukoki's gun, and when Rod swung his own rifle +to join again in the fray he found that only one of the four was +standing, and he with his hands to his breast as he tottered about to +fall. But from some one of those who had fallen there had gone out a +wild, terrible cry, and even as Rod and Makoki rushed out to free +Wabigoon there came an answering yell from the direction of the Woonga +camp. + +Mukoki's knife was in his hand by the time he reached Wabi, and with one +or two slashes he had released his hands. + +"You hurt--bad?" he asked. + +"No--no!" replied Wabi. "I knew you'd come, boys--dear old friends!" + +As he spoke he turned to the fallen leader and Rod saw him take +possession of the rifle and revolver which he had lost in their fight +with the Woongas weeks before. Mukoki had already spied their precious +pack of furs on one of the outlaw's backs, and he flung it over his own. + +"You saw the camp?" queried Wabi excitedly. + +"Yes." + +"They will be upon us in a minute! Which way, Mukoki?" + +"The chasm!" half shouted Rod. "The chasm! If we can reach the chasm--" + +"The chasm!" reiterated Wabigoon. + +Mukoki had fallen behind and motioned for Wabi and Rod to take the lead. +Even now he was determined to take the brunt of danger by bringing up +the rear. + +There was no time for argument and Wabigoon set off at a rapid pace. +From behind there came the click of shells as the Indian loaded his +rifle on the run. While the other two had been busy at the scene of the +ambush Rod had replaced his empty shell, and now, as he led, Wabi +examined the armament that had been stolen from them by the outlaws. + +"How many shells have you got, Rod?" he asked over his shoulder. + +"Forty-nine." + +"There's only four left in this belt besides five in the gun," called +back the Indian youth. "Give me--some." + +Without halting Rod plucked a dozen cartridges from his belt and passed +them on. + +Now they had reached the hill. At its summit they paused to recover +their breath and take a look at the camp. + +The fires were deserted. A quarter of a mile out on the plain they saw +half a dozen of their pursuers speeding toward the hill. The rest were +already concealed in the nearer thickets of the bottom. + +"We must beat them to the chasm!" said the young Indian. + +As he spoke Wabi turned and led the way again. + +Rod's heart fell like a lump within him. We must beat them to the chasm! +Those words of Wabi's brought him to the terrible realization that his +own powers of endurance were rapidly ebbing. His race behind Mukoki to +the burning cabin had seemed to rob the life from the muscles of his +limbs, and each step now added to his weakness. And the chasm was a mile +beyond the dip, and the entrance into that chasm still two miles +farther. Three miles! Could he hold out? + +He heard Mukoki thumping along behind him; ahead of him Wabi was +unconsciously widening the distance between them. He made a powerful +effort to close the breach, but it was futile. Then from close in his +rear there came a warning halloo from the old Indian, and Wabi turned. + +"He run t'ree mile to burning cabin," said Mukoki. "He no make chasm!" + +Rod was deathly white and breathing so hard that he could not speak. The +quick-witted Wabi at once realized their situation. + +"There is just one thing for us to do, Muky. We must stop the Woongas at +the dip. We'll fire down upon them from the top of the hill beyond the +lake. We can drop three or four of them and they won't dare to come +straight after us then. They will think we are going to fight them from +there and will take time to sneak around us. Meanwhile we'll get a good +lead in the direction of the chasm." + +He led off again, this time a little slower. Three minutes later they +entered into the dip, crossed it safely, and were already at the foot of +the hill, when from the opposite side of the hollow there came a +triumphant blood-curdling yell. + +"Hurry!" shouted Wabi. "They see us!" Even as he spoke there came the +crack of a rifle. + +Bzzzzzzz-inggggg! + +For the first time in his life Rod heard that terrible death-song of a +bullet close to his head and saw the snow fly up a dozen feet beyond the +young Indian. + +For an interval of twenty seconds there was silence; then there came +another shot, and after that three others in quick succession. Wabi +stumbled. + +"Not hit!" he called, scrambling to his feet. "Confound--that rock!" + +He rose to the hilltop with Rod close behind him, and from the opposite +side of the lake there came a fusillade of half a dozen shots. +Instinctively Rod dropped upon his face. And in that instant, as he lay +in the snow, he heard the sickening thud of a bullet and a sharp sudden +cry of pain from Mukoki. But the old warrior came up beside him and they +passed into the shelter of the hilltop together. + +"Is it bad? Is it bad, Mukoki? Is it bad--" Wabi was almost sobbing as +he turned and threw an arm around the old Indian. "Are you hit--bad?" + +Mukoki staggered, but caught himself. + +"In here," he said, putting a hand to his left shoulder. "She--no--bad." +He smiled, courage gleaming with pain in his eyes, and swung off the +light pack of furs. "We give 'em--devil--here!" + +Crouching, they peered over the edge of the hill. Half a dozen Woongas +had already left the cedars and were following swiftly across the open. +Others broke from the cover, and Wabi saw that a number of them were +without snow-shoes. He exultantly drew Mukoki's attention to this fact, +but the latter did not lift his eyes. In a few moments he spoke. + +"Now we give 'em--devil!" + +Eight pursuers on snow-shoes were in the open of the dip. Six of them +had reached the lake. Rod held his fire. He knew that it was now more +important for him to recover his wind than to fight, and he drew great +drafts of air into his lungs while his two comrades leveled their +rifles. He could fire after they were done if it was necessary. + +There was slow deadly deliberation in the way Mukoki and Wabigoon +sighted along their rifle-barrels. Mukoki fired first; one shot, +two--with a second's interval between--and an outlaw half-way across the +lake pitched forward into the snow. As he fell, Wabi fired once, and +there came to their ears shriek after shriek of agony as a second +pursuer fell with a shattered leg. At the cries and shots of battle the +hot blood rushed through Rod's veins, and with an excited shout of +defiance he brought his rifle to his shoulder and in unison the three +guns sent fire and death into the dip below. + +Only three of the eight Woongas remained and they had turned and were +running toward the shelter of the cedars. + +"Hurrah!" shouted Rod. + +In his excitement he got upon his feet and sent his fifth and last shot +after the fleeing outlaws. "Hurrah! Wow! Let's go after 'em!" + +"Get down!" commanded Wabi. "Load in a hurry!" + +Clink--clink--clink sounded the new shells as Mukoki and Wabigoon thrust +them into their magazines. Five seconds more and they were sending a +terrific fusillade of shots into the edge of the cedars--ten in all--and +by the time he had reloaded his own gun Rod could see nothing to shoot +at. + +"That will hold them for a while," spoke Wabi. "Most of them came in too +big a hurry, and without their snow-shoes, Muky. We'll beat them to the +chasm--easy!" He put an arm around the shoulders of the old Indian, who +was still lying upon his face in the snow. "Let me see, Muky--let me +see--" + +"Chasm first," replied Mukoki. "She no bad. No hit bone. No +bleed--much." + +From behind Rod could see that Mukoki's coat was showing a growing +blotch of red. + +"Are you sure--you can reach the chasm?" + +"Yes." + +In proof of his assertion the wounded Indian rose to his feet and +approached the pack of furs. Wabi was ahead of him, and placed it upon +his own shoulders. + +"You and Rod lead the way," he said. "You two know where to find the +opening into the chasm. I've never been there." + +Mukoki started down the hill, and Rod, close behind, could hear him +breathing heavily; there was no longer fear for himself in his soul, but +for that grim faithful warrior ahead, who would die in his tracks +without a murmur and with a smile of triumph and fearlessness on his +lips. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +RODERICK HOLDS THE WOONGAS AT BAY + + +They traveled more slowly now and Rod found his strength returning. When +they reached the second ridge he took Mukoki by the arm and assisted him +up, and the old Indian made no demur. This spoke more strongly of his +hurt than words. There was still no sign of their enemies behind. From +the top of the second ridge they could look back upon a quarter of a +mile of the valley below, and it was here that Rod suggested that he +remain on watch for a few minutes while Wabigoon went on with Mukoki. +The young hunters could see that the Indian was becoming weaker at every +step, and Mukoki could no longer conceal this weakness in spite of the +tremendous efforts he made to appear natural. + +"I believe it is bad," whispered Wabi to Rod, his face strangely white. +"I believe it is worse than we think. He is bleeding hard. Your idea is +a good one. Watch here, and if the Woongas show up in the valley open +fire on them. I'll leave you my gun, too, so they'll think we are going +to give them another fight. That will keep them back for a time. I'm +going to stop Muky up here a little way and dress his wound. He will +bleed to death if I don't." + +"And then go on," added Rod. "Don't stop if you hear me fire, but hurry +on to the chasm. I know the way and will join you. I'm as strong as I +ever was now, and can catch up with you easily with Mukoki traveling as +slowly as he does." + +During this brief conversation Mukoki had continued his way along the +ridge and Wabi hurried to overtake him. Meanwhile Rod concealed himself +behind a rock, from which vantage-point he could see the whole of that +part of the valley across which they had come. + +He looked at his watch and in tense anxiety counted every minute after +that. He allowed ten minutes for the dressing of Mukoki's wound. Every +second gained from then on would be priceless. For a quarter of an hour +he kept his eyes with ceaseless vigilance upon their back trail. Surely +the Woongas had secured their snow-shoes by this time! Was it possible +that they had given up the pursuit--that their terrible experience in +the dip had made them afraid of further battle? Rod answered this +question in the negative. He was sure that the Woongas knew that Wabi +was the son of the factor of Wabinosh House. Therefore they would make +every effort to recapture him, even though they had to follow far and a +dozen lives were lost before that feat was accomplished. + +A movement in the snow across the valley caught Rod's eyes. He +straightened himself, and his breath came quickly. Two figures had +appeared in the open. Another followed close behind, and after that +there came others, until the waiting youth had counted sixteen. They +were all on snow-shoes, following swiftly over the trail of the +fugitives. + +The young hunter looked at his watch again. Twenty-five minutes had +passed. Mukoki and Wabigoon had secured a good start. If he could only +hold the outlaws in the valley for a quarter of an hour more--just +fifteen short minutes--they would almost have reached the entrance into +the chasm. + +Alone, with his own life and those of his comrades depending upon him, +the boy was cool. There was no tremble in his hands to destroy the +accuracy of his rifle-fire, no blurring excitement or fear in his brain +to trouble his judgment of distance and range. He made up his mind that +he would not fire until they had come within four hundred yards. Between +that distance and three hundred he was sure he could drop at least one +or two of them. + +He measured his range by a jackpine stub, and when two of the Woongas +had reached and passed that stub he fired. He saw the snow thrown up six +feet in front of the leader. He fired again, and again, and one of the +shots, a little high, struck the second outlaw. The leader had darted +back to the shelter of the stub and Rod sent another bullet whizzing +past his ears. His fifth he turned into the main body of the pursuers, +and then, catching up Wabi's rifle, he poured a hail of five bullets +among them in as many seconds. + +The effect was instantaneous. The outlaws scattered in retreat and Rod +saw that a second figure was lying motionless in the snow. He began to +reload his rifles and by the time he had finished the Woongas had +separated and were running to the right and the left of him. For the +last time he looked at his watch. Wabi and Mukoki had been gone +thirty-five minutes. + +The boy crept back from his rock, straightened himself, and followed in +their trail. He mentally calculated that it would be ten minutes before +the Woongas, coming up from the sides and rear, would discover his +flight, and by that time he would have nearly a mile the start of them. +He saw, without stopping, where Wabi had dressed Mukoki's wound. There +were spots of blood and a red rag upon the snow. Half a mile farther on +the two had paused again, and this time he knew that Mukoki had stopped +to rest. From now on they had rested every quarter of a mile or so, and +soon Roderick saw them toiling slowly through the snow ahead of him. + +He ran up, panting, anxious. + +"How--" he began. + +Wabi looked at him grimly. + +"How much farther, Rod?" he asked. + +"Not more than half a mile." + +Wabi motioned for him to take Mukoki's other arm. + +"He has bled a good deal," he said. There was a hardness in his voice +that made Rod shudder, and he caught his breath as Wabi shot him a +meaning glance behind the old warrior's doubled shoulders. + +They went faster now, almost carrying their wounded comrade between +them. Suddenly, Wabi paused, threw his rifle to his shoulder, and fired. +A few yards ahead a huge white rabbit kicked in his death struggles in +the snow. + +"If we do reach the chasm Mukoki must have something to eat," he said. + +"We'll reach it!" gasped Rod. "We'll reach it! There's the woods. We go +down there!" + +They almost ran, with Mukoki's snow-shod feet dragging between them, and +five minutes later they were carrying the half-unconscious Indian down +the steep side of the mountain. At its foot Wabi turned, and his eyes +flashed with vengeful hatred. + +"Now, you devils!" he shouted up defiantly. "Now!" + +Mukoki aroused himself for a few moments and Rod helped him back to the +shelter of the chasm wall. He found a nook between great masses of rock, +almost clear of snow, and left him there while he hurried back to +Wabigoon. + +"You stand on guard here, Rod," said the latter. "We must cook that +rabbit and get some life back into Mukoki. I think he has stopped +bleeding, but I am going to look again. The wound isn't fatal, but it +has weakened him. If we can get something hot into him I believe he will +be able to walk again. Did you have anything left over from your dinner +on the trail to-day?" + +Rod unstrapped the small pack in which the hunters carried their food +while on the trail, and which had been upon his shoulders since noon. + +"There is a double handful of coffee, a cupful of tea, plenty of salt +and a little bread," he said. + +"Good! Few enough supplies for three people in this kind of a +wilderness--but they'll save Mukoki!" + +Wabi went back, while Rod, sheltered behind a rock, watched the narrow +incline into the chasm. He almost hoped the Woongas would dare to +attempt a descent, for he was sure that he and Wabi would have them at a +terrible disadvantage and with their revolvers and three rifles could +inflict a decisive blow upon them before they reached the bottom. But he +saw no sign of their enemies. He heard no sound from above, yet he knew +that the outlaws were very near--only waiting for the protecting +darkness of night. + +He heard the crackling of Wabi's fire and the odor of coffee came to +him; and Wabi, assured that their presence was known to the Woongas, +began whistling cheerily. In a few minutes he rejoined Rod behind the +rock. + +"They will attack us as soon as it gets good and dark," he said coolly. +"That is, if they can find us. As soon as they are no longer able to see +down into the chasm we will find some kind of a hiding-place. Mukoki +will be able to travel then." + +A memory of the cleft in the chasm wall came to Rod and he quickly +described it to his companion. It was an ideal hiding-place at night, +and if Mukoki was strong enough they could steal up out of the chasm and +secure a long start into the south before the Woongas discovered their +flight in the morning. There was just one chance of failure. If the spy +whose trail had revealed the break in the mountain to Rod was not among +the outlaws' wounded or dead the cleft might be guarded, or the Woongas +themselves might employ it in making a descent upon them. + +"It's worth the risk anyway," said Wabi. "The chances are even that your +outlaw ran across the fissure by accident and that his companions are +not aware of its existence. And they'll not follow our trail down the +chasm to-night, I'll wager. In the cover of darkness they will steal +down among the rocks and then wait for daylight. Meanwhile we can be +traveling southward and when they catch up with us we will give them +another fight if they want it." + +"We can start pretty soon?" + +"Within an hour." + +For some time the two stood in silent watchfulness. Suddenly Rod asked: + +"Where is Wolf?" + +Wabi laughed, softly, exultantly. + +"Gone back to his people, Rod. He will be crying in the wild hunt-pack +to-night. Good old Wolf!" The laugh left his lips and there was a +tremble of regret in his voice. "The Woongas came from the back of the +cabin--took me by surprise--and we had it hot and heavy for a few +minutes. We fell back where Wolf was tied and just as I knew they'd got +me sure I cut his babeesh with the knife I had in my hand." + +"Didn't he show fight?" + +"For a minute. Then one of the Indians shot, at him and he hiked off +into the woods." + +"Queer they didn't wait for Mukoki and me," mused Rod. "Why didn't they +ambush us?" + +"Because they didn't want you, and they were sure they'd reach their +camp before you took up the trail. I was their prize. With me in their +power they figured on communicating with you and Mukoki and sending you +back to the Post with their terms. They would have bled father to his +last cent--and then killed me. Oh, they talked pretty plainly to me when +they thought they had me!" + +There came a noise from above them and the young hunters held their +rifles in readiness. Nearer and nearer came the crashing sound, until a +small boulder shot past them into the chasm. + +"They're up there," grinned Wabi, lowering his gun. "That was an +accident, but you'd better keep your eyes open. I'll bet the whole tribe +feel like murdering the fellow who rolled over that stone!" + +He crept cautiously back to Mukoki, and Rod crouched with his face to +the narrow trail leading down from the top of the mountain. Deep shadows +were beginning to lurk among the trees and he was determined that any +movement there would draw his fire. Fifteen minutes later Wabi returned, +eating ravenously at a big hind quarter of broiled rabbit. + +"I've had my coffee," he greeted. "Go back and eat and drink, and build +the fire up high. Don't mind me when I shoot. I am going to fire just to +let the Woongas know we are on guard, and after that we'll hustle for +that break in the mountain." + +Rod found Mukoki with a chunk of rabbit in one hand and a cup of coffee +in the other. The wounded Indian smiled with something like the old +light in his eyes and a mighty load was lifted from Rod's heart. + +"You're better?" he asked. + +"Fine!" replied Mukoki. "No much hurt. Good fight some more. Wabi say, +'No, you stay.'" His face became a map of grimaces to show his +disapproval of Wabi's command. + +Rod helped himself to the meat and coffee. He was hungry, but after he +was done there remained some of the rabbit and a biscuit and these he +placed in his pack for further use. Soon after this there came two shots +from the rock and before the echoes had died away down the chasm Wabi +approached through the gathering gloom. + +It was easy for the hunters to steal along the concealment of the +mountain wall, and even if there had been prying eyes on the opposite +ridge they could not have penetrated the thickening darkness in the +bottom of the gulch. For some time the flight was continued with extreme +caution, no sound being made to arouse the suspicion of any outlaw who +might be patrolling the edge of the precipice. At the end of half an +hour Mukoki, who was in the lead that he might set a pace according to +his strength, quickened his steps. Rod was close beside him now, his +eyes ceaselessly searching the chasm wall for signs that would tell him +when they were nearing the rift. Suddenly Wabi halted in his tracks and +gave a low hiss that stopped them. + +"It's snowing!" he whispered. + +Mukoki lifted his face. Great solitary flakes of snow fell upon it. + +"She snow hard--soon. Mebby cover snow-shoe trails!" + +"And if it does--we're safe!" There was a vibrant joy in Wabi's voice. + +For a full minute Mukoki held his face to the sky. + +"Hear small wind over chasm," he said. + +"She come from south. She snow hard--now--up there!" + +They went on, stirred by new hope. Rod could feel that the flakes were +coming thicker. The three now kept close to the chasm wall in their +search for the rift. How changed all things were at night! Rod's heart +throbbed now with hope, now with doubt, now with actual fear. Was it +possible that he could not find it? Had they passed it among some of the +black shadows behind? He saw no rock that he recognized, no overhanging +crag, no sign to guide him. He stopped, and his voice betrayed his +uneasiness as he asked: + +"How far do you think we have come?" + +Mukoki had gone a few steps ahead, and before Wabi answered he called +softly to them from close up against the chasm wall. They hurried to him +and found him standing beside the rift. + +"Here!" + +Wabi handed his rifle to Rod. + +"I'm going up first," he announced. "If the coast is clear I'll whistle +down." + +For a few moments Mukoki and Rod could hear him as he crawled up the +fissure. Then all was silent. A quarter of an hour passed, and a low +whistle came to their ears. Another ten minutes and the three stood +together at the top of the mountain, Rod and the wounded Mukoki +breathing hard from their exertions. + +For a time the three sat down in the snow and waited, watched, listened; +and from Rod's heart there went up something that was almost a prayer, +for it was snowing--snowing hard, and it seemed to him that the storm +was something which God had specially directed should fall in their path +that it might shield them and bring them safely home. + +And when he rose to his feet Wabi was still silent, and the three +gripped hands in mute thankfulness at their deliverance. + +Still speechless, they turned instinctively for a moment back to the +dark desolation beyond the chasm--the great, white wilderness in which +they had passed so many adventurous yet happy weeks; and as they gazed +into the chaos beyond the second mountain there came to them the lonely, +wailing howl of a wolf. + +"I wonder," said Wabi softly. "I wonder--if that--is Wolf?" + +And then, Indian file, they trailed into the south. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE SURPRISE AT THE POST + + +From the moment that the adventurers turned their backs upon the Woonga +country Mukoki was in command. With the storm in their favor everything +else now depended upon the craft of the old pathfinder. There was +neither moon nor wind to guide them, and even Wabi felt that he was not +competent to strike a straight trail in a strange country and a night +storm. But Mukoki, still a savage in the ways of the wilderness, seemed +possessed of that mysterious sixth sense which is known as the sense of +orientation--that almost supernatural instinct which guides the carrier +pigeon as straight as a die to its home-cote hundreds of miles away. +Again and again during that thrilling night's flight Wabi or Rod would +ask the Indian where Wabinosh House lay, and he would point out its +direction to them without hesitation. And each time it seemed to the +city youth that he pointed a different way, and it proved to him how +easy it was to become hopelessly lost in the wilderness. + +Not until midnight did they pause to rest. They had traveled slowly but +steadily and Wabi figured that they had covered fifteen miles. Five +miles behind them their trail was completely obliterated by the falling +snow. Morning would betray to the Woongas no sign of the direction taken +by the fugitives. + +"They will believe that we have struck directly westward for the Post," +said Wabi. "To-morrow night we'll be fifty miles apart." + +During this stop a small fire was built behind a fallen log and the +hunters refreshed themselves with a pot of strong coffee and what little +remained of the rabbit and biscuits. The march was then resumed. + +It seemed to Rod that they had climbed an interminable number of ridges +and had picked their way through an interminable number of swampy +bottoms between them, and he, even more than Mukoki, was relieved when +they struck the easier traveling of open plains. In fact, Mukoki seemed +scarcely to give a thought to his wound and Roderick was almost ready to +drop in his tracks by the time a halt was called an hour before dawn. +The old warrior was confident that they were now well out of danger and +a rousing camp-fire was built in the shelter of a thick growth of +spruce. + +"Spruce partridge in mornin'," affirmed Mukoki. "Plenty here for +breakfast." + +"How do you know?" asked Rod, whose hunger was ravenous. + +"Fine thick spruce, all in shelter of dip," explained the Indian. "Birds +winter here." + +Wabi had unpacked the furs, and the larger of these, including six lynx +and three especially fine wolf skins, he divided into three piles. + +"They'll make mighty comfortable beds if you keep close enough to the +fire," he explained. "Get a few spruce boughs, Rod, and cover them over +with one of the wolf skins. The two lynx pelts will make the warmest +blankets you ever had." + +Rod quickly availed himself of this idea, and within half an hour he was +sleeping soundly. Mukoki and Wabigoon, more inured to the hardships of +the wilderness, took only brief snatches of slumber, one or both +awakening now and then to replenish the fire. As soon as it was light +enough the two Indians went quietly out into the spruce with their guns, +and their shots a little later awakened Rod. When they returned they +brought three partridges with them. + +"There are dozens of them among the spruce," said Wabi, "but just now we +do not want to shoot any oftener than is absolutely necessary. Have you +noticed our last night's trail?" + +Rod rubbed his eyes, thus confessing that as yet he had not been out +from between his furs. + +"Well, if you go out there in the open for a hundred yards you won't +find it," finished his comrade. "The snow has covered it completely." + +Although they lacked everything but meat, this breakfast in the spruce +thicket was one of the happiest of the entire trip, and when the three +hunters were done each had eaten of his partridge until only the bones +were left. There was now little cause for fear, for it was still snowing +and their enemies were twenty-five miles to the north of them. This fact +did not deter the adventurers from securing an early start, however, and +they traveled southward through the storm until noon, when they built a +camp of spruce and made preparations to rest until the following day. + +"We must be somewhere near the Kenogami trail," Wabi remarked to Mukoki. +"We may have passed it." + +"No pass it," replied Mukoki. "She off there." He pointed to the south. + +"You see the Kenogami trail is a sled trail leading from the little town +of Nipigon, on the railroad, to Kenogami House, which is a Hudson Bay +Post at the upper end of Long Lake," explained Wabi to his white +companion. "The factor of Kenogami is a great friend of ours and we have +visited back and forth often, but I've been over the Kenogami trail only +once. Mukoki has traveled it many times." + +Several rabbits were killed before dinner. No other hunting was done +during the afternoon, most of which was passed in sleep by the exhausted +adventurers. When Rod awoke he found that it had stopped snowing and was +nearly dark. + +Mukoki's wound was beginning to trouble him again, and it was decided +that at least a part of the next day should be passed in camp, and that +both Rod and Wabigoon should make an effort to kill some animal that +would furnish them with the proper kind of oil to dress it with, the fat +of almost any species of animal except mink or rabbit being valuable for +this purpose. With dawn the two started out, while Mukoki, much against +his will, was induced to remain in camp. A short distance away the +hunters separated, Rod striking to the eastward and Wabi into the south. + +For an hour Roderick continued without seeing game, though there were +plenty of signs of deer and caribou about him. At last he determined to +strike for a ridge a mile to the south, from the top of which he was +more likely to get a shot than in the thick growth of the plains. He had +not traversed more than a half of the distance when much to his surprise +he came upon a well-beaten trail running slightly diagonally with his +own, almost due north. Two dog-teams had passed since yesterday's storm, +and on either side of the sleds were the snow-shoe trails of men. Rod +saw that there were three of these, and at least a dozen dogs in the two +teams. It at once occurred to him that this was the Kenogami trail, and +impelled by nothing more than curiosity he began to follow it. + +Half a mile farther on he found where the party had stopped to cook a +meal. The remains of their camp-fire lay beside a huge log, which was +partly burned away, and about it were scattered bones and bits of bread. +But what most attracted Rod's attention were other tracks which joined +those of the three people on snow-shoes. He was sure that these tracks +had been made by women, for the footprints made by one of them were +unusually small. Close to the log he found a single impression in the +snow that caused his heart to give a sudden unexpected thump within him. +In this spot the snow had been packed by one of the snow-shoes, and in +this comparatively hard surface the footprint was clearly defined. It +had been made by a moccasin. Rod knew that. And the moccasin wore a +slight heel! He remembered, now, that thrilling day in the forest near +Wabinosh House when he had stopped to look at Minnetaki's footprints in +the soft earth through which she had been driven by her Woonga +abductors, and he remembered, too, that she was the only person at the +Post who wore heels on her moccasins. It was a queer coincidence! Could +Minnetaki have been here? Had she made that footprint in the snow? +Impossible, declared the young hunter's better sense. And yet his blood +ran a little faster as he touched the delicate impression with his bare +fingers. It reminded him of Minnetaki, anyway; her foot would have made +just such a trail, and he wondered if the girl who had stepped there was +as pretty as she. + +He followed now a little faster than before, and ten minutes later he +came to where a dozen snow-shoe trails had come in from the north and +had joined the three. After meeting, the two parties had evidently +joined forces and had departed over the trail made by those who had +appeared from the direction of the Post. + +"Friends from Kenogami House came down to meet them," mused Rod, and as +he turned back in the direction of the camp he formed a picture of that +meeting in the heart of the wilderness, of the glad embraces of husband +and wife, and the joy of the pretty girl with the tiny feet as she +kissed her father, and perhaps her big brother; for no girl could +possess feet just like Minnetaki's and not be pretty! + +He found that Wabi had preceded him when he returned. The young Indian +had shot a small doe, and that noon witnessed a feast in camp. For his +lack of luck Rod had his story to tell of the people on the trail. The +passing of this party formed the chief topic of conversation during the +rest of the day, for after weeks of isolation in the wilderness even +this momentary nearness of living civilized men and women was a great +event to them. But there was one fact which Rod dwelt but slightly upon. +He did not emphasize the similarity of the pretty footprint and that +made by Minnetaki's moccasin, for he knew that a betrayal of his +knowledge and admiration of the Indian maiden's feet would furnish Wabi +with fun-making ammunition for a week. He did say, however, that the +footprint in the snow struck him as being just about the size that +Minnetaki would make. + +All that day and night the hunters remained in camp, sleeping, eating +and taking care of Mukoki's wound, but the next morning saw them ready +for their homeward journey with the coming of dawn. They struck due +westward now, satisfied that they were well beyond the range of the +outlaw Woongas. + +As the boys talked over their adventure on the long journey back toward +the Post, Wabi thought with regret of the moose head which he had left +buried in the "Indian ice-box," and even wished, for a moment, to go +home by the northern trail, despite the danger from the hostile Woongas, +in order to recover the valuable antlers. But Mukoki shook his head. + +"Woonga make good fight. What for go again into wolf trap?" + +And so they reluctantly gave up the notion of carrying the big head of +the bull moose back to the Post. + +A little before noon of the second day they saw Lake Nipigon from the +top of a hill. Columbus when he first stepped upon the shore of his +newly discovered land was not a whit happier than Roderick Drew when +that joyous youth, running out upon the snow-covered ice, attempted to +turn a somersault with his snow-shoes on! + +Just over there, thought Rod--just over there--a hundred miles or so, is +Minnetaki and the Post! Happy visions filled his mind all that afternoon +as they traveled across the foot of the lake. Three weeks more and he +would see his mother--and home. And Wabi was going with him! He seemed +tireless; his spirits were never exhausted; he laughed, whistled, even +attempted to sing. He wondered if Minnetaki would be very glad to see +him. He knew that she would be glad--but how glad? + +Two days more were spent in circling the lower end of the lake. Then +their trail turned northward, and on the second evening after this, as +the cold red sun was sinking in all that heatless glory of the great +North's day-end, they came out upon a forest-clad ridge and looked down +upon the House of Wabinosh. + +And as they looked--and as the burning disk of the sun, falling down and +down behind forest, mountain and plain, bade its last adieu to the land +of the wild, there came to them, strangely clear and beautiful, the +notes of a bugle. + +And Wabi, listening, grew rigid with wonder. As the last notes died away +the cheers that had been close to his lips gave way to the question, +"What does that mean?" + +"A bugle!" said Rod. + +As he spoke there came to their ears the heavy, reverberating boom of a +big gun. + +"If I'm not mistaken," he added, "that is a sunset salute. I didn't know +you had--soldiers--at the Post!" + +"We haven't," replied the Indian youth. "By George, what do you suppose +it means?" + +He hurried down the ridge, the others close behind him. Fifteen minutes +later they trailed out into the open near the Post. A strange change had +occurred since Rod and his companions had last seen Wabinosh House. In +the open half a dozen rude log shelters had been erected, and about +these were scores of soldiers in the uniform of his Majesty, the King of +England. Shouts of greeting died on the hunters' lips. They hastened to +the dwelling of the factor, and while Wabi rushed in to meet his mother +and father Rod cut across to the Company's store. He had often found +Minnetaki there. But his present hope was shattered, and after looking +in he turned back to the house. By the time he had reached the steps a +second time the princess mother, with Wabi close behind her, came out to +welcome him. + +Wabi's face was flushed with excitement. His eyes sparkled. + +"Rod, what do you think!" he exclaimed, after his mother had gone back +to see to the preparation of their supper. "The government has declared +war on the Woongas and has sent up a company of regulars to wipe 'em out! +They have been murdering and robbing as never before during the last two +months. The regulars start after them to-morrow!" + +He was breathing hard and excitedly. + +"Can't you stay--and join in the campaign?" he pleaded. + +"I can't," replied Rod. "I can't, Wabi; I've got to go home. You know +that. And you're going with me. The regulars can get along without you. +Go back to Detroit with me--and get your mother to let Minnetaki go with +us." + +"Not now, Rod," said the Indian youth, taking his friend's hand. "I +won't be able to go--now. Nor Minnetaki either. They have been having +such desperate times here that father has sent her away. He wanted +mother to go, but she wouldn't." + +"Sent Minnetaki away?" gasped Rod. + +"Yes. She started for Kenogami House four days ago in company with an +Indian woman and three guides. That was undoubtedly their trail you +found." + +"And the footprint--" + +"Was hers," laughed Wabi, putting an arm affectionately around his +chum's shoulders. "Won't you stay, Rod?" + +"It is impossible." + +He went to his old room, and until suppertime sat alone in silent +dejection. Two great disappointments had fallen upon him. Wabi could not +go home with him--and he had missed Minnetaki. The young girl had left a +note in her mother's care for him, and he read it again and again. She +had written it believing that she would return to Wabinosh House before +the hunters, but at the end she had added a paragraph in which she said +that if she did not do this Rod must make the Post a second visit very +soon, and bring his mother with him. + +At supper the princess mother several times pressed Minnetaki's +invitation upon the young hunter. She read to him parts of certain +letters which she had received from Mrs. Drew during the winter, and Rod +was overjoyed to find that his mother was not only in good health, but +that she had given her promise to visit Wabinosh House the following +summer. Wabi broke all table etiquette by giving vent to a warlike whoop +of joy at this announcement, and once more Rod's spirits rose high above +his temporary disappointments. + +That night the furs were appraised and purchased by the factor for his +Company, and Rod's share, including his third of the gold, was nearly +seven hundred dollars. The next morning the bi-monthly sled party, was +leaving for civilization, and he prepared to go with it, after writing a +long letter to Minnetaki, which was to be carried to her by the faithful +Mukoki. Most of that night Wabi and his friend sat up and talked, and +made plans. It was believed that the campaign against the Woongas would +be a short and decisive one. By spring all trouble would be over. + +"And you'll come back as soon as you can?" pleaded Wabi for the +hundredth time. "You'll come back by the time the ice breaks up?" + +"If I am alive!" pledged the city youth. + +"And you'll bring your mother?" + +"She has promised." + +"And then--for the gold!" + +"For the gold!" + +Wabi held out his hand and the two gripped heartily. + +"And Minnetaki will be here then--I swear it!" said the Indian youth, +laughing. + +Rod blushed. + +And that night alone he slipped quietly out into the still, white night; +and he looked, longingly, far into the southeast where he had found the +footprint in the snow; and he turned to the north, and the east, and the +west, and lastly to the south, and his eyes seemed to travel through the +distance of a thousand miles to where a home and a mother lay sleeping +in a great city. And as he turned back to the House of Wabinosh, where +all the lights were out, he spoke softly to himself: + +"It's home--to-morrow!" + +And then he added: + +"But you bet I'll be back by the time the ice breaks up!" + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Wolf Hunters, by James Oliver Curwood + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOLF HUNTERS *** + +***** This file should be named 12170.txt or 12170.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/1/7/12170/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Dave Macfarlane and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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