went questing into the spruce woods, feeling 

 but not understanding some subtle excite- 

 ment in the air that was not there before, 

 and only the two Indian children were left 

 keeping watch over the great wild hillside. 



For over an hour they lay there expect- 

 antly, but nothing stirred near the den ; then 

 they too slipped away, silently as the little 

 wild things, and made their slow way down 

 the brook, hand in hand in the deepening 

 shadows. Scarcely had they gone when the 

 bushes stirred and the old she-wolf, that had 

 been ranging every ridge and valley since she 

 disappeared at the unknown alarm, glided 

 over the spot where a moment before Mooka 

 and Noel had been watching. Swiftly, silently 

 she followed their steps ; found the old trails 

 coming up and the fresh trails returning; 

 then, sure at last that no danger threatened 

 her own little ones, she loped away up the 

 hill and over the topmost ridge to the caribou 

 barrens and the thickets where young rabbits 

 were already stirring about in the twilight. 



That night, in the cabin under the cliffs, 

 Old Tomah had to rehearse again all the 



35 



Noel, and 

 Moo/ca 



