o disappeared, shooting ahead in great, silent 



. - bounds, while the cubs waited with ears 



v^f-K. , ,~ cocked and noses quivering, as if a silent 



me \Aj£foif , , A i i f i 



r-' "— >v command had been understood. 



^ 



The silence was intense; not a sound, not 

 a stir in the quiet woods, which seemed to be 

 listening with the cubs and to be filled with 

 the same thrilling expectation. Suddenly 

 the silence was broken by heavy plunges far 

 ahead, crash ! bump ! bump ! and there broke 

 forth such an uproar of yaps and howls as 

 the cubs had never heard before. Instantly 

 they broke away on the trail, joining their 

 shrill yelpings to the clamor, so different 

 from the ordinary stealthy wolf hunt, and 

 filled with a nameless excitement which they 

 did not at all understand till the reek of 

 caribou poured into their hungry nostrils; 

 whereupon they yelped louder than ever. 

 But they did not begin to understand the 

 matter till they caught glimpses of gray 

 backs bounding hither and yon in the 

 underbrush, while the two great wolves 

 raced easily on either side, yapping sharply 

 to increase the excitement, and guiding the 



