6 
Northern Trails. Book I 
A long interval of profound stillness had passed, and 
I could just make out the circle of dogs sitting on their 
tails on the open shore, when suddenly, faint and far 
away, an unearthly howl came rolling down the moun¬ 
tains, ooooooo-ow-wow-wow! a long wailing crescendo 
beginning softly, like a sound in a dream, and swelling 
into a roar that waked the sleeping echoes and set them 
jumping like startled goats from crag to crag. Instantly 
the huskies answered, every dog breaking out into inde¬ 
scribable frenzied wailings, as a collie responds in agony 
to certain chords of music that stir all the old wolf nature 
sleeping within him. For five minutes the uproar was 
appalling; then it ceased abruptly and the huskies ran 
wildly here and there among the rocks. From far away 
an answer, an echo perhaps of their wailing, or, it may 
be, the cry of the dogs of St. Margaret’s, came ululating 
over the deep. Then silence again, vast and unnatural, 
settling over the gloomy land like a winding-sheet. 
As the unknown howl trembled faintly in the air 
Noel, who had slept undisturbed through all the clamor 
of the dogs, stirred uneasily by the foremast. As it 
deepened and swelled into a roar that filled all the night 
he threw off the caribou skin and came aft to where 
I was watching alone. “ Das Wayeeses. I know dat 
hwulf; he follow me one time, oh, long, long while 
ago,” he whispered. And taking my marine glasses 
he stood beside me watching intently. 
