36 
Northern Trails. Book I 
and pay no attention to other animals. They hate also 
to be watched; for the thought of watching always 
suggests to their minds that which follows, — the hunt, 
the rush, the wild break-away, and the run for life. Had 
she not herself watched a hundred times at the rabbit’s 
form, the fox’s runway, the deer path, the wild-goose 
nest? What could she expect for her own little ones, 
therefore, when the man cubs, beings of larger reach 
and unknown power, came daily to watch at her den ? 
All this unanswered puzzle must have passed through 
the old wolf’s head as she trotted up the brook away 
from the Indian cabin in the twilight. When in doubt 
trust your fears, — that is wolf wisdom in a nutshell; 
and that marks the difference between a wolf and a 
caribou, for instance, which in doubt trusts his nose or 
his curiosity. So the old wolf took counsel of her fears 
for her little ones, and that night carried them one by 
one in her mouth, as a cat carries her kittens, miles 
away over rocks and ravines and spruce thickets, to 
another den where no human eye ever looked upon 
their play. 
“Shall we see them again, little brother?” said Mooka 
wistfully, when they had climbed to their watch-tower 
for the third time and seen nothing. And Noel made 
confident answer: 
“ Oh, yes, we see um again, lil sister. Wayeeses got 
um wandering foot; go ’way off long ways; bimeby 
