“THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE” 17 
of little balsams or spruces, where the snow was 
light. Food was scarce, and often they went for 
long periods with nothing at all to eat. Finally 
they came to a great river, barring their south- 
ward march. ‘This river was partly frozen, but 
in mid-stream a belt of open current shone black 
under the cold winter moon. Softfur howled her 
disappointment, and there came an answering 
howl from some dog not far off. They were 
amid the homes of men now, with danger on 
every side. Fang trotted deliberately out on the 
ice, to the edge of the black water. Softfur and 
Swiftfoot followed him. He was the leader, and 
where he went, they went. 
Then he moved up-stream till he came to a spot 
where great floating ice cakes, like rafts, were 
swirled in close by the current. He watched the 
direction these cakes took after leaving the edge 
again. Satisfied with what he saw, he gave a 
short, sharp bark and leaped to a big cake, the 
others following him. Standing on this raft, the 
three wolves floated down-stream in the still moon- 
light, till the opposite ice edge began to draw 
near. When it was evident that the cake they 
