er giving his
companion a quick glance, as if to see whether he really meant it, or
was only joking. "We had too much hard work getting our supply to throw
it to the dogs. Let the lazy curs run along, and find some for
themselves. Besides, it's too good to think of wasting it. I want the
rest of the fellers to taste _our_ venison. Mine went glimmering,
and I hope it half choked that villainous crowd. Anyway you vowed it was
a whole lot tougher than this haunch; and there's that comfort."

But it was evident that if the hungry animals around heard this decision
they refused to pay any attention to it; for instead of decreasing, the
howls actually became louder and more insistent, until finally Thad
picked up his gun.

"I begin to see that we're going to have a little target practice after
all, Step Hen," he remarked, quietly. "When things get so bad that you
can see the skulking beasts creeping about your camp, and even catch the
glitter of their yellow eyes, it's nearly time to begin to bowl a few of
them over, so as to inform the rest that we've got a dead line marked
around here."

"You don't say?" answered Step Hen, in an awed tone; "show me one, Thad,
please. I'd just like to say I'd seen a wolf, really and truly, for once
in my life, outside of a menagerie or a circus."

"All right, then," replied the other; "just follow the line of my
finger, and I give you my word that skulking thing in the shadows is a
real genuine, Canada wolf. I'm going to prove it to you in a minute or
two, by taking a crack at him."

"Oh! now there's two of 'em, Thad, crossing each other's trail. And see
there, if that ain't a third, and even a fourth. Why, I believe the
woods are full of 'em!"

"You're about right," replied the patrol leader, more seriously than
before, the alarmed Step Hen thought. "Here, let's throw a few blazing
brands around, to scare 'em off some, while we lift the bundles up among
the branches of this tree. Then, if anything should force us to take
refuge there, at any rate we wouldn't have to listen to the plaguey
things chewing at our grub."

This was accordingly done. When the burning bits of wood were hurled out
toward them, the wolves temporarily retreated; but Thad knew full well
they would soon crowd back, drawn by the scent of the fresh meat; and
besides, he did not like to take the chances of setting the woods afire;
just after he, and the balance of the Silver Fox Patrol, had accepted
this new test