was considered sufficient to secure all
these things from wolves, or any other creatures that might be prowling
about.

On the evening in question, the sledge was in its usual place--the dog
having been taken from it--and as our voyageurs had not yet had their
supper, the pemmican bags were lying loosely about, one or two of them
being open. There was a small rivulet at the foot of the ridge--some
two hundred paces distant--and Basil and Francois had gone down to it to
get water. One of them took the axe to break the ice with, while the
other carried a vessel. On arriving near the bank of the rivulet, the
attention of the boys was attracted to a singular appearance upon the
snow. A fresh shower had fallen that morning, and the surface was still
soft, and very smooth. Upon this they observed double lines of little
dots, running in different directions, which, upon close inspection,
appeared to be the tracks of some animal. At first, Basil and Francois
could hardly believe them to be such, the tracks were so very small.
They had never seen so small ones before--those of a mouse being quite
double the size. But when they looked more closely at them, the boys
could distinguish the marks of five little toes with claws upon them,
which left no doubt upon their minds that some living creature, and that
a very diminutive one, must have passed over the spot. Indeed, had the
snow not been both fine-grained and soft, the feet of such a creature
could not have made any impression upon it.

The boys stopped and looked around, thinking they might see the animal
itself. There was a wide circle of snow around them, and its surface
was smooth and level; but not a speck upon it betrayed the presence of
any creature.

"Perhaps it was a bird," said Francois, "and has taken flight."

"I think not," rejoined Basil. "They are not the tracks of a bird. It
is some animal that has gone under the snow, I fancy."

"But I see no hole," said Francois, "where even a beetle could have gone
down. Let us look for one."

At Francois' suggestion, they walked on following one of the dotted
lines. Presently they came to a place, where a stalk of long grass
stood up through the snow--its seedless panicle just appearing above the
surface. Round this stalk a little hole had been formed--partly by the
melting of the snow, and partly by the action of the wind upon the
panicle--and into this hole the tracks led. It was evident that the
anim