But Shad was not deceived. Manikawan's words had sounded to him a
prophecy of the impending end. Her voice and her rapidly failing
strength told him that the Spirit of Hunger--the Gaunt Gray Wolf--was
conquering; that the spirit most dreaded of all the spirits, Death,
stood at last at the portal of the lodge, waiting to enter.

XXIII

TUMBLED AIR CASTLES

With the strengthening cold that came with January and continued into
February, the animals ceased to venture far from their lairs in search
of food, and the harvest of the trails was therefore light. With the
disappearance of rabbits, the fox and lynx had also disappeared. The
rabbit is the chief prey of these animals during the tight midwinter
months, and as the wolf follows the caribou, so the fox follows the
rabbit.

With the going of the fox the field of operations was not only
narrowed, but the work was robbed of much of its zest. When foxes are
fairly numerous the trapper is always buoyed with the hope that a
black or silver fox, the most valuable of the fur-bearing animals, may
wander into his traps; and this hope renders less irksome the weary
tramping of the trails at seasons when the returns might otherwise
seem too small a recompense for the hardships and isolation suffered.

The two preceding years had yielded rich harvests to Dick Blake, and
had more than fulfilled his modest expectations. He was, therefore,
though certainly disappointed, far from discouraged with the present
outlook, and very cheerfully accepted the few marten and mink pelts
that fell to his lot as a half loaf by no means to be despised.

While Ungava Bob had looked forward to a successful winter's trapping,
his chief object in coming so far into the wilderness had been the
establishment of his new trails as a basis for future trading
operations; and more particularly, therefore, with a view to the
future than to the immediate present. Neither was he, for this reason,
in any wise discouraged. His youthful mind, engaged in planning the
castles he was to build tomorrow, had no room for the disappointments
of to-day.

Sishetakushin had given Bob the assurance that the Nascaupees would
bring him their furs to barter. He was satisfied, also, that he could
secure a large share of the trade of the Eastern, or Bay, Mountaineer
Indians, for he would pay a fair and reasonable price for their furs,
and they would quickly recognise the advantage of trading with him.
And he would have a