y. The huge quiet of the prairies seemed filled
with thread-like sounds as from that stealthy travelling which you could
not see. Only the medicine of Ahitopee was not audible. It seemed safe
to go on.

But now he had the fancy that, towards the north, a shadowy shape kept
pace with him as he advanced. When he stopped there was no shadow, but
when he moved, it was there.

At the summit of the bluff, he sat down to wait. He did not know what he
was waiting for. That did not matter. The prairies knew. They had the
Great Wisdom; the Wisdom of the Wolves.

Suddenly, to the north, he saw a pair of glowing eyes that watched him
less than a dozen yards away, as motionless as if suspended in the air.

Dusty Star did not move an eyelid. He was not frightened. But he knew
now that things were beginning to happen, and it made him feel a little
strange. And beyond the eyes, further to the east, a pale light
glimmered, which he knew would be the twilight that goes before the
moon.

By degrees, as the glimmer grew, Dusty Star saw a shape that gathered
about the eyes. It crouched a little, like a coyote. It looked bigger
than a fox. And then he became gradually aware as the light increased,
that he and the eyes were not alone. He counted one, two, three, four
more pairs of eyes with shadows darkening about them east, west, and
south. And beyond them there was an outer circle of similar shadows in
the likeness of prairie wolves.

The light grew stronger. The moon rose. Dusty Star found himself the
centre of a circle of coyotes who sat motionless on their haunches as if
waiting for some signal.

Then, from a neighbouring ridge, there broke, clear and ringing, the
long voice of a wolf.

The coyotes stiffened with attention. Then, first one, and then another,
lifted its head and began to bark. The barking became louder. By
degrees, the separate voices began to blend together in a wild, unequal
chorus. And now and then some hunched shape; upon an outer ring would
become a voice to swell the clamour till it rang echoing from ridge to
ridge.

More and more, as the sound drove in upon him, Dusty Star felt a strange
sense take hold of him; and as each separate set of barks changed to the
combined roar of the final squawl, his entire body shivered to the
thrill.

He felt the creatures all about him now. And yet they were not strange.
The coyote world, the fox world, the world of the wolves and of the
other prairie folk, was closin