40 



-'Noel 

 andMooka 



their necks, fled howling under beds and 

 tables. And when Mooka and Noel went 

 fearfully with their mother to the little win- 

 dow — for the men were far away on a cari- 

 bou hunt — there were gaunt white wolves, 

 five or six of them, flitting restlessly about in 

 the moonlight, scratching at the cracks and 

 even raising themselves on their hind legs 

 to look in at the little windows. 



Mooka shivered a bit when she remem- 

 bered the uncanny scene, and felt again the 

 strong pressure of her mother's arms holding 

 her close ; but Old Tomah brushed away her 

 fears with a smile and a word, as he had 

 always done when, as little children, they had 

 showed fear at the thunder or the gale or 

 iMftPtyflt the cry of a wild beast in the night, 



till they had grown to 

 look upon all Nature's 

 phenomena as hiding a 

 smile as kindly as that 

 of Old Tomah himself, 

 who had a face wrinkled 

 and terribly grim, to be 

 sure, but who could 







