hrough the dead grass toward it.

Then, over the hills on the east, rose the moon in its first quarter,
shedding a pale light over the prairie.

Ted was now able to see that there was a pack of wolves, instead of two,
as he at first thought.

The boys on the ground could not see the wolves on account of the tufts
of grass that scattered over the prairie, and, had they seen them, would
not have been able to distinguish one from the other.

It seemed strange to Ted that the wolves had not yet given voice. It was
unusual for wolves to come so near a ranch house in numbers without
giving warning by howling.

Suddenly the reason why they did not dawned upon him.

They were not wolves, but men in wolves' clothing.

Ted chuckled at the thought.

The "wolves" did not know yet that they were discovered, for they could
not see Ted in his cupola watch-house, although they could easily see
Bud and Clay as they walked around the house, now in the full light of
the moon.

Ted was suddenly startled by hearing a noise to the left, and at the
same time he heard Bud stop in his march. Evidently he had been
attracted by the sound also.

As Ted looked he saw the cause of the noise. It was a wolf, larger than
the others, which had crept closer to the house.

As he was looking at it he was astonished to see it rise up.

Then he caught the glint of a revolver barrel in the moonlight.

In an instant he knew the meaning of it.

With the precision of a machine his own rifle rose to his shoulder, and,
without a second's hesitation, a streak of flame belched from it,
followed by the roar of the report.

Looking closely through the smoke, Ted saw the "wolf" straighten up to
the full stature of a man, then fall to the ground, over which it went
writhing and tossing, while at the same time the most human of yells
expressing agony came from it.

This was the signal for the other "wolves" to howl, and the most
unearthly noise come from all sides of the house.

These were followed by a perfect fusillade of rifle and revolver shots
from everywhere, most of them aimed at the cupola.

But as soon as Ted had fired the shot that had brought down the man wolf
he had jumped through the scuttle into the attic of the house, and the
balls harmlessly riddled the cupola.

From a window on the second floor Ted saw a score or more of forms leap
into prominence; the forms of men who cast aside their skins of wolf,
and who had turned their wolfi