194 ON THE EDGE OF THE WILDERNESS 
and closed his teeth. The dog tore and struggled 
to escape and get a hold on him, but he only 
reared higher and threw his whole weight for- 
ward, twisting his neck at the same time to bring 
the hound down under him: He had a hold on 
the dog’s throat, and when the hunter arrived 
some moments later, he found only his dead 
hound on the torn moss and trampled ferns, and 
an otter’s tracks leading away. He ran as fast 
as he could follow them, but they ended in the 
brook. Brownie was on his safe way now to the 
pond below. 
He slept that night where the family had slept 
before, he tasted delicious salmon again in the 
lake farther on, and presently he reached the 
wooded pond where his friends had lived. This, 
he hoped, was his jJourney’s end, and he at once 
began circling the shores, rearing his head over 
the water to look at the banks, diving under to 
search amid the weeds. But no friends did he 
see. He came at last upon the under water en- 
trance to a den, and entered it boldly. But no- 
body was there. For two days he swam about 
that pond, and up and down the outlet, looking 
