But I don't believe they know we
are here. The trail I struck was about five miles from camp. It was at
least two days old. Three Indians on snow-shoes were traveling north. I
followed back on their trail and found after a time that the Indians had
come from the north, which leads me to believe that they were simply on
a hunting expedition, cut a circle southward, and then returned to their
camp. I don't believe they will come farther south. But we must keep our
eyes open."

Wabi's description of the manner in which the strange trail turned gave
great satisfaction to Mukoki, who nodded affirmatively when the young
hunter expressed it as his belief that the Woongas would not come so far
as their camp. But the discovery of their presence chilled the buoyant
spirits of the hunters. There was, however, a new spice of adventure
lurking in this possible peril that was not altogether displeasing, and
by the time the meal was at an end something like a plan of campaign had
been formed. The hunters would not wait to be attacked and then act in
self-defense, possibly at a disadvantage. They would be constantly on
the lookout for the Woongas, and if a fresh trail or a camp was found
they would begin the man-hunt themselves.

The sun was just beginning to sink behind the distant hills in the
southwest when the hunters again left camp. Wolf had received nothing to
eat since the previous night, and with increasing hunger the fiery
impatience lurking in his eyes and the restlessness of his movements
became more noticeable. Mukoki called attention to these symptoms with a
gloating satisfaction.

The gloom of early evening was enveloping the wilderness by the time the
three wolf hunters reached the swamp in which Rod had slain the buck.
While he carried the guns and packs, Mukoki and Wabigoon dragged the
buck between them to the huge flat-top rock. Now for the first time the
city youth began to understand the old pathfinder's scheme. Several
saplings were cut, and by means of a long rope of babeesh the deer was
dragged up the side of the rock until it rested securely upon the flat
space. From the dead buck's neck the babeesh rope was now stretched
across the intervening space between the rock and the clump of cedars in
which the hunters were to conceal themselves. In two of these cedars, at
a distance of a dozen feet from the ground, were quickly made three
platforms of saplings, upon which the ambushed watchers could
comfortably sea