i5o 



mountains, the other by the sea, they had 

 followed their separate devious ways, now 



T/ffllSlmrCfflSS far rt in thc j ad bri^t summ er, now 



mffieSnow^ 



f^-^yy 



drawing together in the moonlight of the 

 winter's night. At times the makers of the 

 trails had watched each other in secret, shyly, 

 inquisitively, at a distance ; but always fear 

 or cunning had kept them apart, the boy 

 with his keen hunter's interest baffled and 

 whetted by the brutes' wariness, and the 

 wolves drawn to the superior being by that 

 subtle instinct that once made glad hunting- 

 dogs and collies of the wild rangers of the 

 plains, and that still leads a wolf to follow 

 and watch the doings of men with intense 

 curiosity. Now the trails had met fairly in 

 the snow, and a few steps more would bring 

 the boy and the wolf face to face. 



Noel was stealing along warily, his arrow r 

 ready on the string. Mooka beside him was 

 watching a faint cloud of mist, the breath 

 of caribou, that blurred at times the dark 

 tree-line in the distance, when one of those 

 mysterious warnings that befall the hunter 



