ighborhood of any bushy growth. The former he shuns from a natural
dislike for a limited view. The latter, especially if the bush takes the
form of pine woods, is bad for many reasons, chief amongst which is the
fact of its being the harborage of the savage, gigantic timber wolf--a
creature as naturally truculent as the far-famed grizzly, the denizen of
the towering Rockies.

Upon a high level of the prairie, out towards the upper reaches of the
Rainy River, a tributary of the broad, swift-flowing Foss River, and
some fifteen miles from the settlement, two men were lounging, curled
leisurely round the smoldering remains of a camp fire. Some distance
away the occasional lowing of a cow betrayed the presence of a band of
cattle.

The men were wide awake and smoking. Whether they refrained from sleep
through necessity or inclination matters little. Probably the hungry
attacks of the newly-hatched mosquito were responsible for their
wakefulness. Each man was wrapped in a single brown blanket, and folded
saddle-cloth answered as a pillow, and it was noticeable that they were
stretched out well to leeward of the fire, so that the smoke passed
across them, driving away a few of the less audacious "skitters."

"We'll get 'em in by dinner to-morrow," said one of the sleepless men
thoughtfully. His remark was more in the tone of soliloquy than
addressed to the other. Then louder, and in a manner which implied
resentment, "Them all-fired skitters is givin' me a twistin'."

"Smoke up, pard," came a muffled rejoinder from the region of the other
blanket "Maybe your hide's a bit tender yet. I 'lows skitters 'most
allus goes fur young 'uns. Guess I'm all right."

"Dessay you are," replied the first speaker, sharply. "I ain't been long
in the country--leastways, not on the prairie, an' like as not I ain't
dropped into the ways o' things. I've allus heerd as washin' is mighty
bad when skitters is around. They doesn't worry you any."

He pulled heavily at his pipe until his face was enveloped in a fog of
smoke. His companion's tone of patronage had nettled him. The old hand
moved restlessly but did not answer. It is doubtful if the other's
sarcasm had been observed. It was scarcely broad enough to penetrate the
toughened hide of the older hand's susceptibilities.

The silence was broken by a man's voice in the distance. The sound of an
old familiar melody, chanted in a manly and not unmusical voice, reached
the fireside. It was th