I IO 
Northern Trails. Book I 
vanished from the coverts, they all felt the fearful pinch 
of famine. Every morning now a confused circle of 
tracks in the snow showed where the wild prowlers of 
the woods had come and sniffed at the very doors of the 
tilts in their ravening hunger. 
Noel’s father and Old Tomah were far away, trapping, 
in the interior; and to Noel with his snares and his 
bow and arrows fell the pleasant task of supplying the 
family’s need when the stock of dried fish melted away. 
On this March morning he had started with Mooka at 
daylight to cross the mountains to some great barrens 
where he had found tracks and knew that a few herds 
of caribou were still feeding. The sun was dimmed as it 
rose, and the sun-dogs gave mute warning of the coming 
storm; but the cupboard was empty at home, and even a 
little hunter thinks first of the game he is following and 
lets the storm take care of itself. So they hurried on un¬ 
heeding, — Noel with his bow and arrows, Mooka with a 
little bag containing a loaf and a few dried caplin, — peer¬ 
ing under every brush pile for the shining eyes of a rab¬ 
bit, and picking up one big grouse and a few ptarmigan 
among the bowlders of a great bare hillside. On the 
edges of the great barren under the Top Gallants they 
found the fresh tracks of feeding caribou, and were follow¬ 
ing eagerly when they ran plump into the wolf trail. 
Now by every law of the chase the game belonged 
to these earlier hunters; and by every power in their 
