y midst of a large
quantity of dry trees. So warm and invigorating was the work of cutting
down these tall dry trees that not only did the boys, but several of the
men, as they said, for the fun of it, slash away until an unusually
large number had thus been made ready for the fire.

The owners of the beavers were not to be caught napping again, and so
they erected a kind of a staging near to the camp, on which the valuable
loads of meat and furs were safely placed. Memotas had to have another
drive or two at them, and so he ironically congratulated them on their
late precautions. Sam said it looked like the old proverb of locking
your stable after the horse was stolen. Alec's more charitable remark
was, "It is best to be made wise by the loss, and then strive to save
the rest."

Yes, indeed, it was a wise precaution, for even now, while the men were
thus hard at work and others were thus discussing their actions, far
back on the trail hungry and cruel enemies have caught the rich scent of
the beaver, and with long, louping strides are rapidly drawing near.
Supper and prayers were over, and the men had nicely tucked in the boys
in their warm bed. Before lying down themselves they had as usual lit
their pipes and were having a quiet chat over the usual incidents of the
day. With a sudden start they were all on their feet in an instant, for
coming down on the wind, in the direction in which they had so recently
travelled, they heard a sound so blood-curdling and so ominous that it
has chilled the very heart and caused the cheeks to blanch of many a
stout-hearted traveller, the howlings of a pack of wolves!

Winter Adventures of Three Boys--by Egerton R. Young

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

THE COMING BATTLE WITH THE WOLVES--THOROUGH PREPARATIONS--THE CRY OF THE
WOLVES FOR REINFORCEMENTS--THE FIRST ATTACK AND REPULSE--WOUNDED WOLVES
DEVOURED--MEMOTAS'S COMMENTS--THE SECOND ATTACK--THE POWDER EXPLOSIONS--
FINAL VICTORY--DOGS RELUCTANT TO ATTACK WOLVES--EXPLANATIONS--MR. ROSS'S
STORY OF THE BEARS STEALING HIS PIGS--DOGS MORE CONFIDENT IN ATTACKING
BEARS.

The Indians very quickly aroused Mr Ross, who at once realised the
danger that menaced them. The Indians, prompt to act in such
emergencies, had already begun their preparations to meet the oncoming
foes. They had seized their axes, and were already hard at work cutting
down more trees, that there might be an additional supply of wood with
which the fire could be k