nd of the
tenderfoot.

"Well, they do sound different somehow, from what they did when we were
sitting around the cheery camp-fire, listening to stories told by the
guides," Thad admitted. "But then, wolves as a rule are cowardly brutes.
They may do a heap of howling, but they seldom show any bravery. Only
when in packs are they feared by hunters, away up in the frozen-up parts
of Canada, I'm told."

"But, say, don't you think there's a pack around here, right now?"
demanded Step Hen, apprehensively.

"What makes you ask that?" the other questioned.

"Why, in the first place, old Eli told us they never came away down here
unless in numbers; and then again, Thad, didn't you notice that when one
gave tongue over yonder to the right, a second answered him back from
the left; and by jinks! listen to that, would you, a third and a fourth,
as sure as you live! Say, they're all around us, Thad; they've got us
surrounded!"

"Let 'em surround, if it does 'em any good," laughed the other; and if
he felt the slightest bit of uneasiness himself on account of those
wolfish howls, Thad at least managed to conceal it; because he knew Step
Hen was feeling "creepy" enough as it was, without having his alarm
augmented by seeing his companion concerned.

"But don't you think they might be able to pull us down just by force of
numbers, Thad?" the other went on.

"Oh! there can't be any such bunch of the cowardly brutes around, as all
that, I guess, Step Hen. And don't forget, please, that we're armed with
weapons calculated to knock the spots out of any gray sneak that ever
tried to steal venison won by two husky hunters. Think how you have six
bullets in that little gun of yours; and each one ought to count for a
wolf, if it came to the worst."

"Oh! there's where I was a fool!" said Step Hen, in a disgusted tone.

"What's that?" demanded his chum, stopping short.

"Why, I never stuck a blessed cartridge in my pocket, you see. Thought
the six I had in the magazine of the gun would be good and plenty for
all the needs I'd run up against. Now I wish I had the whole hundred
along. Just my luck. I'm always losing things, and if it ain't anything
else, it must be chances. Think of a hundred dead wolves, and all killed
with this great little gun while I sat perched up in the crotch of a
nice tree! It makes me sick to think of it, that's what, Thad."

"Are you sure you did put six cartridges in the magazine before we
left?" asked t