appeared to be
listening.

"A wolf pack hunting through the muskegs!" remarked Ned.

"Just what it must be," declared Jack. "And wherever we go it seems as
if there was no end to the hungry beasts. We ran up against them away
out in California, you remember; and they've given us no end of trouble
on this present trip."

"I only hope that swift bunch is hustling along on the trail of Mr. Bull
Moose, and that they overhaul the beggar right soon," grumbled Jimmy
viciously.

"What ails the little rascal now to make him feel so savage about that
moose?" laughed Frank.

"Huh! if you had something you thought the world of carried away on the
horns of a rotten old bull moose, mebbe it's you that would be feeling
sore on him too, me boy," growled Jimmy.

"Well, they say that one man's food is another's poison," observed
Frank; "and all of us feel that your loss is our gain. Red sweaters may
be all very well on a baseball field, but in the woods they don't cut
such a wide swath."

"Forget it," added Jack.

The two guides were looking after the canoes. It was their customary
habit to attend to the craft every night before lying down, because they
realized the great value that lay in the only means of making progress
that the expedition possessed; while no one dreamed of robbery, still,
the motto of a scout is to shut the door _before_ the horse is stolen,
and not afterwards. An ounce of prevention is always much better than a
pound of cure, so Ned was accustomed to saying, and he was an
experienced patrol leader.

While they left some things to the guides, still, the boys were pleased
to keep constantly in touch with whatever was transpiring around them.
Long ago they had learned to enjoy making fresh discoveries in the field
and forest whenever abroad. And in this new and to them unexplored
country they were running across numerous interesting things every day.

They had just two tents along, and as neither of the guides would
consent to be under cover save in a rain storm, it allowed the five
scouts a chance to sleep comfortably, three in one shelter and a couple
in the other. Ned and Jack occupied the smaller tent, while Jimmy bunked
with Teddy and Frank in the second one.

Presently the guides came into camp again, though they had been within
sight all the time, as the canoes lay well inside the circle of light
coming from the fire.

"All well with the boats, Francois?" asked Ned, who was hugging his
knees no