tretching at their feet. As Dusty Star's eyes travelled over the
enormous expanse, a sense of trouble came to him. Out there, concealed
in the vast distances that hid it like a buffalo-robe, lay the home of
his people. And he was going to return to them. As sure as the
wolf-trail ran across the heavens, he was going back. But what would
happen then? He would not see them as he had seen them before. The free
life with Kiopo; the friendships with the wild kin that were not of his
blood, yet seemed to be half his heart; the great mountain-world of
Carboona, the mystery-land of the West:--all these had come between him
and his people with their life in the tepees.... And Kiopo?... He
belonged to Kiopo now, as Kiopo to him. He had danced himself into the
wolf-world with the medicine of his feet. His body might remain Indian;
but the wolf-dance was in his veins: his moccasins had touched the
wolf-trail: his mind was half a wolf's.

As they crossed into the prairies, he kept looking out for any signs of
the white wolf's pack; but not a vestige of them was to be seen. Yet
although they were invisible to the eye, there were signs that they had
not left the neighbourhood. Kiopo's manner alone was sufficient to show
that the country was not so empty of life as it appeared. He was
evidently on the alert, keeping on the watch in every direction.

Just before noon he disappeared. When towards the middle of the
afternoon he caught up with Dusty Star, who had continued his journey,
it was certain that he had been running with other wolves.

That night, just before sundown, a great idea flashed upon Dusty Star.
Kiopo must find the white wolf, and bring the packs to camp. When they
were all assembled, Dusty Star would tell his mind to the white wolf,
and he, in his turn, would communicate it to the packs. He made the
message clear to Kiopo, and the wolf immediately departed.

As the twilight fell, Dusty Star became aware that here and there it
seemed to thicken into a wolf-shape, till at last it darkened to a pack.
When the pack finally closed in upon the camp, he knew that he was
imprisoned by a wolf-ring that shut out the world. And when the last
wolf had taken its place, Dusty Star found that the white wolf, with
Kiopo, was by his side.

With the pack about him, Dusty Star sent his mind out to their leader,
and communicated the great idea.

And in words which he did not use, even in the Indian tongue, the Idea
shaped itself thus