gained by long centuries of living near to 

 the animals and watching them closely, comes 

 nearer to the truth of things. That is why 

 little Mooka and Noel could listen for hours 

 to Old Tomah's animal stories and then go 

 away to bed and happy dreams, longing for 

 the light so that they might be off again to 

 watch at the wolf's den. 



One thing only disturbed them for a 

 moment. Even these children had wolf 

 memories and vied with Old Tomah in 

 eagerness of telling. They remembered one 

 fearful winter, years ago, when most of the 

 families of the little fishing village on the 

 East Harbor had moved far inland to shel- 

 tered cabins in the deep woods to escape the 

 cold and the fearful blizzards of the coast. 

 One still moonlit night, when the snow lay 

 deep and the cold was intense and all the 

 trees were cracking like pistols in the frost, a 

 mournful howling rose all around their little 

 cabin. Light footfalls sounded on the crust ; 

 there were scratchings at the very door and 

 hoarse breathings at every crack; while the 

 dogs, with hackles up straight and stiff on 



39 



A&e/ L and 

 Moo/fa 



