NORTHERN GAME TRAILS 339 



and swelled into a roar that filled all the night, 

 then waked the sleeping echoes and set them 

 jumping like startled goats from crag to crag. 

 Every chord in their wild hearts seemed to thrill 

 in answer to the leader's summons. 



The howling ceased abruptly and several forms 

 shot by like a ray of moonlight, as the pack of 

 pale-eyed ravaging intruders swept on its way. 

 Then the brooding silence again shut down over 

 all that great land. 



"By damn," said Mac at last, "he make bad 

 sign ; leader he talk to wolf pack and say 'we all 

 hunt big meat,' and the wolf pack they talk to 

 leader and tell him 'all right, we go.' ' Mac 

 seemed to think that this would spoil our chances 

 for that big bull we intended to hunt in the morn- 

 ing and I quite agreed with him. He also indi- 

 cated in his quaint way that the wolves had gotten 

 ahead of us and were very probably on the cari- 

 bou's trail at that moment. Once more, but faint 

 and far now, came the quavering pack cry across 

 the gray white reaches of that desolate, lonesome 

 land. Often through the night I thought I 

 could hear their unearthly wail in the distance; 

 but it may have been only the straying of the 

 wind. 



In the morning it was snowing hard, while the 



