did not make a third. And outside, after a
time, he heard the Night People rousing themselves. They were very
cautious, these Night People, for unlike the creatures of the dawn,
waking to greet the sun with song and happiness, most of them were
sharp-fanged and long-clawed-rovers and pirates of the great
wilderness, ready to kill. And this, too, Peter sensed through the
generations of northland dog that was in him. He heard a wolf howl,
coming faintly through the night from miles away, and something told
him it was not a dog. From nearer came the call of a moose, and that
same sense told him he had heard a monster bear which his eyes had
never seen. He did not know of the soft-footed, night-eyed creatures of
prey--the fox, the lynx, the fisher-cat, the mink and the ermine, nor
of the round-eyed, feathered murderers in the tree-tops--yet that same
something told him they were out there among the shadows, under the
luring glow of the moon. And a thing happened, all at once, to stab the
truth home to him. A baby snowshoe rabbit, a third grown, hopped out
into the open close to the cabin door, and as it nibbled at the green
grass, a gray catapult of claw and feathers shot out of the air, and
Peter heard the crying agony of the rabbit as the owl bore it off into
the thick spruce tops. Even then--unafraid--Peter wanted to go out into
the moon glow!

At last, there was an end to his wait. He heard footsteps, and Jolly
Roger came from out of the yellow moon-mist of the night and stopped in
front of the door. There he stood, making no sound, and looking into
the west, where the sky was ablaze with stars over the tree-tops. There
was a glad little yip in Peter's throat, but he choked it back. Jolly
Roger was strangely quiet, and Peter could not hear Nada, and as he
sniffed, and gulped the lump in his throat, he seemed to catch the
breath of something impending in the air. Then Jolly Roger came in, and
sat down in darkness near the table, and for a long time Peter kept his
eyes fixed on the shadowy blotch of him there in the gloom, and
listened to his breathing, until he could stand it no longer, and
whined.

The sound stirred Jolly Roger. He got up, struck a match--and then blew
the match out, and came and sat down beside Peter, and stroked him with
his hand.

"Peter," he said in a low voice, "I guess we've got a job on our hands.
You began it today--and I've got to finish it. We're goin' to kill Jed
Hawkins!"

Peter snuggl