ld relations with Bill. They were comrades as ever; they
talked and chatted around the little stove in the hushed nights; they
played their favorite melodies on the battered phonograph, and they took
the same joyous, exciting expeditions into the wild. These latter
diversions were looked upon with no favor by Harold, but he couldn't see
how he could reasonably interfere. Nor did he care, at first, to
accompany them. He had no love for the snow-swept wastes.

The crust on the snow was steadily strengthening; most the days were
clear and excessively cold. The journey could be undertaken soon. Only
a few more days of the adventure remained.

Their excursions at first were a matter of pleasure only, but by one
unexpected stroke from the sinister powers of the wild they were
suddenly made necessary. Her first knowledge of the blow came when Bill
entered her cabin to build the morning fire.

She had not yet risen. It had always been her practice to wait till the
room was snug and warm before she dressed. She was asleep when Bill
came in, and aroused by his footsteps, she was aware of the fleeting
memory of unhappy dreams. She couldn't have told just what they
were. It seemed to her that some unseen danger had been menacing her
security,--that evil and dangerous forces were conspiring and making
war against her. Hidden foes were in ambush, ready to pounce forth.

The danger seemed different and beyond that which she had faced every
day: snow and cold and the other inanimate forces of the wild. And she
was vastly relieved to hear Bill's voice calling her from sleep.

But the next instant her fears returned--not the ghastly fear of evil
dreams but of actual and real disaster. It wasn't Bill's usual custom
to waken her. He wanted her to spend as many as possible of the
monotonous hours in sleep. There was a subdued quality in his voice,
too, that once or twice she had heard before. She drew aside the
curtain, far enough to see his face. There was no paleness, however,
nor no fear, for all that his eyes were sober.

"You'd better get up as soon as you can, Virginia," he said. "We've got
to take a real hunt to-day."

"Hunt? After meat?"

"Yes. We're face to face with a new problem. The pack came by last
night--the wolf pack. As usual, when men are near, they didn't make a
sound. I didn't hear them at all. And they got away with the big moose
ham, hanging on the spruce. Stripped the bone clean."