of the animals.

They found the buck a hundred yards away, dead in the snow. It was no
small task to get him back to the cabin, for he was too fat and heavy
to carry, even if they had cut him up. They had to haul the carcass
with a thong, like a toboggan, over the snow. The weather changed, and
it was beginning to bluster again when they arrived, dead tired, to
find the fire gone out and the cabin cold. But they rejoiced at being
supplied with meat enough to last them for perhaps a month.

CHAPTER IV

That night they heard the timber wolves for the first time, howling
mournfully a little way back in the woods. No doubt they had scented
the fresh carcass of the deer, and probably there would have been no
venison in the morning if they had not had the wisdom to carry the
carcass into the cabin. Peter opened the door quietly and slipped out
with a cocked rifle, but the wolves were too wary for him. Not one was
in sight, and the howling receded and grew fainter. But they heard it
at intervals again during the night--a dismal and savage note, that
made them feel like making the fire burn brighter.

"They must have followed the trail where we dragged the buck home,"
said Maurice. "Good thing they didn't happen to strike it before we
got back."

"Oh, they'd hardly venture to attack three of us," replied Peter. "I
almost wish they would. We could mow them down with our repeaters, and
you know there's a Government bounty of ten dollars a head on dead
timber wolves. We might make quite a pile, and besides the skins must
be worth something."

"Might set some traps," Fred suggested.

"No use. The timber wolf is far too wise to get into any steel trap.
That's why so few of them are killed. But say, boys, why couldn't we
manage to ambush 'em?"

"How?" Maurice demanded.

"Well, suppose I shot a couple of rabbits to-morrow night and went
through the woods dragging them after me, so as to make a blood trail.
Any wolves that happened to cross it would certainly follow, and I'd
lead them past a spot where you fellows would be ambushed, ready to
pump lead into them."

"Sounds all right," said Fred, "but suppose they overtook you before
you got to the ambush?"

"Oh, they wouldn't dare to attack me. They'd keep me in sight, stop if
I stopped, and turn if I turned, waiting for a chance to take me at a
disadvantage. A shot would scatter them, anyway. The only trouble
would be that they'd scatter so quick w