This done, the patrol leader hastened to lower the lantern so that he
could examine the ground close to the bottom of the fissure in the rock.

"Plenty of tracks, all right," was his first comment.

"Can you make them out, and is it a bear?" asked Aleck, almost
unconsciously swinging his gun a little further to the front, while
his fingers sought the lock.

"Well, no; the marks differ very much from the tracks of a bear,
either a black or a cinnamon. They look more like made by a dog's
paws," Thad replied.

"But a dog wouldn't be up here; you must mean it's a wolf, that's
what, Thad," Aleck hastened to observe.

"If that was a guess, you hit the nail square on the head, Aleck,"
chuckled the scoutmaster. "A wolf has been using this hole in the
rock for a den; and from all I can make out, the tracks seem pretty
fresh, too."

"Then you think the old chap is in there now, do you?" asked the other.

"I wouldn't like to say;" replied Thad; "but there's just one thing
we've got to do, and that is, believe it to be so. A wolf caught in a
trap is some dangerous, they tell me; and in case this happens to be a
mother wolf, with a litter of whelps, she'd fight like everything,
believe me."

"But we're going in, Thad; ain't we; you won't let that stand us off,
after coming so far, will you? Oh! if there were a dozen wolves, and
every one of them ready to fight from the word go, I'd just _have_ to
learn the truth before I left here. For her sake I'd take any risk to
know."

"Well, I should say we were going in; and right away at that,"
returned Thad, taking a step forward. "I only thought I ought to put
you on your guard, so that in case we came on the thing, you'd know
what to expect. Have you got your gun all ready to shoot, Aleck?"

"Believe me, yes; and while I don't want to brag, still I've always
called myself a pretty good shot, even at a jumping wolf," replied the
other; since he now knew that Thad did not mean to be deterred by any
sort of ordinary difficulty, Aleck began to seem like himself, being
able to keep his feelings in restraint.

That was the influence of a cool, determined comrade, like the
scoutmaster. Such a firm, collected spirit always exerts considerable
influence over those with whom it comes in personal contact.

Thad held the lantern. He preferred doing so, even though it must
necessarily interfere more or less with his taking any sort of aim,
should the occasion suddenly arise whereby it