fierce howls, and this time they were answered by the sled dogs, who,
raising their sharp muzzles in the air, sent their answering challenge
to the wolves.

"There they are!" cried Fred, pointing to a dark mass on the white,
snowy expanse. "They're headed this way."

"Are your rifles ready?" asked Mr. Baxter. "We'll probably have to fight
them off."

"Will they attack us?" asked Jerry.

"Wolves have to be in large numbers or desperate with hunger before they
will tackle a man," said his father. "Especially where there is such a
large number as there are of us. But they may fight with our dogs and
injure them, and that would be the worst thing that could happen to us,
as we have to depend entirely on the dogs for traveling here."

"They are coming closer," remarked Fred.

"Yes. It's curious the Indians don't awaken. I think I'll call them."

Mr. Baxter stepped toward the enclosure of sleds, tipped on their sides,
which formed the Indians' camp. There was a small fire burning in the
center, and grouped around it, with their feet toward the embers, were
the dog-drivers. They were huddled up in their fur blankets, sound
asleep. Holfax said afterward that it takes more than the howling of
wolves to awaken an Alaskan Indian tired out with a day's work.

But at a call from Mr. Baxter the four guides sat up suddenly. They did
not need to be told what the matter was, for the wolves were now quite
close, and were howling fiercely, while the dogs were trying to break
the thongs that held them, so that they might seek a place of safety.

For, though an Alaskan or Eskimo dog is really a species of wolf, it is
no match in a fight for the wilder creature.

In a few minutes the Indians had the dogs safely inside the square of
sleds, and not a moment too soon, for the foremost of the pack of wolves
snapped at the heels of Holfax as he led the last dog in.

"Now, boys, let them have it!" exclaimed Mr. Baxter as he fired his
repeating rifle several times into the midst of the ravenous pack. There
were howls of pain, and several forms stretched out on the snow told how
effective had been his aim.

Jerry and Fred fired together, and Johnson coming to their help, they
had four rifles to turn against the savage creatures.

It was a wild scene, encamped there as they were on that dreary expanse
of snow, with the mysterious Northern Lights flashing overhead, giving a
weird illumination, the snarling wolves fairly surrounding the t