e who had been most hostile to him in
the past, were now the foremost in courting his favour, as the hero of
the hour. Beside him, Spotted Eagle himself took a second place.

Even Sitting-Always changed her behaviour, and seemed to wish to stand
in the good graces of her famous grandson. So that when he visited her
tepee, leaving Kiopo behind, she showed her broken yellow teeth at him
in a smile that was like a wound across her face. And her words were
sweet as sarvis-berries that have been well stewed. Only, as Dusty Star
listened to them, he heard behind their juiciness, the old false, yellow
voice that had cried passionately: "Kill! Kill!"

Yet in spite of all his overwhelming good-fortune, he was not happy. If
Kiopo had shown himself content, it might have been different. But the
honours heaped upon the Little Brother left Kiopo untouched. To all
friendly advances from any person outside the immediate family circle,
he showed an indifference which occasionally gave dangerous signs of
changing into enmity. People became chary of visiting the tepee when it
was observed that the wolf was on guard.... He might be, and doubtless
was, a marvellous animal--a mighty "medicine." But like other great
Powers, his jaws could close with a snap. From the rabble of the
huskies, he naturally held aloof with the utmost scorn. And they in
their turn, hating him whole-heartedly, but, fearing him with equal
measure, gave him the widest possible berth.

Day by day, his dislike and distrust of camp-life became more and more
apparent. Even when his body was still, and he lay motionless as a log,
with his great head laid between his out-stretched paws, his eyes,
turning constantly from Dusty Star to the prairies, and back again to
Dusty Star, had the haunted look of a creature in a trap. And Dusty
Star, reading their expression, felt a heavy foreboding settle upon his
heart. He was not surprised when, on the fourth day after their return,
Kiopo disappeared.

Since the defeat of the Yellow Dogs, nothing had been seen of the White
Wolf and his pack. But by sounds heard at sundown, and during the night,
and by the unusual restlessness of the ponies, it was believed that a
large body of wolves was still hanging about the neighbourhood. If Dusty
Star had not heard the night calls, he could have learnt the truth of
the thing by reading Kiopo's eyes.

On the morning of the fifth day, he was wakened early by the continual
howling of a wolf, w