"We"re makin" a grand hunt, Davy!" exclaimed Andy, enthusiastically.
"That we are!" agreed David.
The cold was tightening with each December day. Wild, fierce storms sprang up suddenly, and the air was filled with blinding clouds of snow. But David and Andy kept steadily at their work, with "plenty of grit, and stout hearts," lying idle only when it would have been too dangerous or foolhardy to venture forth from the protection of the tilts. This is the portion of the fur hunter"s existence.
But neither David nor Andy gave thought to the hardships he was experiencing. They had expected them, and they were accustomed to cold weather and deep snows. They were always glad, however, to reach the snug shelter of the tilts, of nights.
Their excellent success kept them in good spirits and contented at their work for the most part, though sometimes, when drifting snows clogged the traps, and days were spent in clearing them, the trails grew tedious, and then it was quite natural that they should long for the return of summer, and for home.
Nothing occurred to vary the monotonous routine of the days until late one December afternoon. The previous night had been one of wind and drifting snow. The fox traps lay deeply covered by drifts, and since early morning they had been clearing and resetting them. The long northern twilight was at hand, and, plodding silently along toward the Namaycush Lake tilt, still three miles away, they were thinking of the hot supper and warm fire, and hours of rest that should presently be theirs, when suddenly David stopped and listened intently.
"What is it?" asked Andy.
""Tis something following us," answered David after a moment"s silence.
"I hears nothing," said Andy.
"But "tis there!" insisted David. "I _feels_ un!"
A little longer they listened, and then pa.s.sed on.
"There _is_ somethin"!" exclaimed Andy presently, in an awed voice. "I feels un too."
Closer and closer the something seemed to come, stealing after them stealthily through the shadows of the forest. With the instinct of those born and bred to the solitudes, they felt the presence, and were certain it was there, though they could neither hear nor see it.
Again and again they paused expectantly to listen, and at length their keen ears caught a light, stealthy tread.
X
THE FIGHT WITH A WOLF PACK
"Hear un! Hear un coming!" exclaimed Andy in a hushed voice.
""Tis just back there in th" bush, but I can"t see un!" said David, under his breath.
"Take a shot, anyhow," suggested Andy, who had lashed his own rifle on the load, that he might carry an ax, which was constantly required in the work about the traps.
"Not till we sees un," David objected. "Pop says never shoot at what you don"t see."
They hurried a little now, though pausing frequently to peer into the forest gloom behind them. Twilight was thickening. The thing, whatever it was, that followed them was growing bolder and less careful to conceal its movements. With little effort they could quite plainly hear the tread of soft footfalls on places where the snow was covered by an icy crust. It was not, however, until the stovepipe of the tilt, standing in black silhouette above a great snowdrift that nearly covered the little log building, had risen into view, that Andy, looking back, exclaimed:
"There "tis, now! There "tis! Wolves!"
David stopped, and turning about beheld five great fearsome gray creatures. It was at least a relief to know what manner of beast stalked them. There is attached to a hidden, skulking enemy a mystery that accentuates the sense of peril. But now the danger was real enough.
When the boys stopped, the wolves stopped also, and in full view sat upon their haunches, with lolling red tongues, greedily observing their intended victims. They were not above fifty yards distant, and a cold chill ran up the lads" spines as they beheld them.
"Shoot now!" said Andy, tensely, after a moment"s silence.
Dropping the hauling rope of the toboggan from his shoulders, David without a word slipped his rifle from the loose sealskin case in which he carried it, took careful aim, and pulled the trigger.
"Snap!" went the hammer, but there was no explosion.
A wolf sprang to his feet, and baring his ugly white fangs emitted a snarl that sent a fresh tingle down the boys" spines.
"The firing pin is froze!" exclaimed David, again c.o.c.king the rifle and aiming.
Again there was a snap but no explosion. Again he tried, and again the cartridge failed to explode.
"Pick up th" gun case, Andy, and walk ahead," directed David, in a voice tense with excitement, as he readjusted the hauling ropes upon his shoulders. "Don"t run, now, b"y, and don"t hurry. Pop says never run from wolves. If you do, they"re like t" close in on us."
"We"re most to th" tilt," said Andy nervously, as he obeyed David"s instructions and set forward, with David in the rear, at their usual pace.
When David and Andy moved the wolves followed. With every step they gradually but perceptibly drew a little closer. When the outline of the tilt appeared through the thickening twilight the animals were not ten yards behind the nervous, frightened boys. David, glancing back, could see the bristling hair above the powerful shoulders, and the ugly red lolling muzzles of the beasts.
"Get in quick and light th" candle, Andy!" he directed when at last they reached the door. "Hurry, now! They"re like t" rush any minute!"
Snow had drifted against the door and clogged it, and it seemed to David that Andy would never get it open. The wolves were edging closer--closer--closer. They were not twenty feet away when at last the doorway was cleared and Andy sprang into the tilt, shouting to David to hurry, while he nervously lighted the candle.
In momentary fear of being charged by the pack and torn to bits, David had stood facing the wolves as they edged in, inch by inch. Andy"s shout, and the flare of the candle within the tilt brought a.s.surance of safety, and with his face still to the wolves he backed into the door, drawing the toboggan after him.
"Come, Andy, now, help me pull her! Help me pull her!" David shouted, tugging with frenzied energy at the loaded and unwieldly toboggan.
Lashed upon the toboggan were their sleeping bags and two of the finest martens they had captured during the winter. If he abandoned it, David was well aware that the wolves would destroy everything it contained, and with never a thought that the wolves would be so bold as to attempt to follow him and Andy into the tilt, he determined also to save their belongings.
Andy sprang to his a.s.sistance, and the two boys pulled with all their strength, but as they might well have known, the toboggan was quite too long for the narrow tilt, and when they had drawn it in as far as they could, an end still blocked the doorway, and they could not close the door.
Then it was that the heads of two wolves, ravenous, and grown exceeding bold, fearless even of the candle light, appeared at the entrance, determined, it was apparent, to make an attack, whether or no.
David, in desperation, instinctively seized his rifle, threw it to his shoulder, with the muzzle almost touching the leading wolf, and pulled the trigger.
There was an explosion, a snarl, and the wolf fell at David"s feet.
The frozen firing pin was at last released. With lightning speed he threw forward and drew back the lever, and fired again, and the other wolf fell. Stooping low, with the rifle still at his shoulder, he discovered the three other wolves slinking in the twilight just outside the door, and again his rifle rang death to a wolf, But this was to be his last victim, for the two remaining animals turned, and faded in the gathering gloom.
""Twas a narrow escape!" exclaimed Andy, sitting limply down upon the edge of a bunk.
"That it was!" and David, no less excited and relieved, was visibly shaking.
"They might have got us!" said Andy, weakly.
"They might have, but they didn"t, and they didn"t get th" martens or tear up our sleeping bags, either," and the trembling but proud David seated himself by Andy"s side, to recover his composure.
"You kept your grit, and were wonderful brave, Davy," said Andy admiringly.