y of firewood on this. With
flint and steel Quonab made the vital spark, the birch bark sputtered,
the dry, resinous logs were easily set ablaze, and soon great volumes
of smoke rolled from the door, the window, and the chimney; and Skookum,
standing afar, barked pleasantly aloud.

The hunters shouldered their packs and began the long, upward slope. In
an hour they had reached a high, rocky ridge. Here they stopped to rest,
and, far below them, marked with grim joy a twisted, leaning column of
thick black smoke.

That night they camped in the woods and next day rejoiced to be back
again at their own cabin, their own lake, their home.

Several times during the march they had seen fresh deer tracks, and now
that the need of meat was felt, Rolf proposed a deer hunt.

Many deer die every winter; some are winter-killed; many are devoured
by beasts of prey, or killed by hunters; their numbers are at low ebb in
April, so that now one could not count on finding a deer by roaming at
random. It was a case for trailing.

Any one can track a deer in the snow. It is not very hard to follow a
deer in soft ground, when there are no other deer about. But it is very
hard to take one deer trail and follow it over rocky ground and dead
leaves, never losing it or changing off, when there are hundreds of deer
tracks running in all directions.

Rolf's eyes were better than Quonab's, but experience counts for as much
as eyes, and Quonab was leading. They picked out a big buck track that
was fresh--no good hunter kills a doe at this season. They knew it for a
buck, because of its size and the roundness of the toes.

Before long, Rolf said: "See, Quonab, I want to learn this business; let
me do the trailing, and you set me right if I get off the line."

Within a hundred yards, Quonab gave a grunt and shook his head. Rolf
looked surprised, for he was on a good, fresh track.

Quonab said but one word, "Doe."

Yes, a closer view showed the tracks to be a little narrower, a little
closer together, and a little sharper than those he began with.

Back went Rolf to the last marks that he was sure of, and plainly read
where the buck had turned aside. For a time, things went along smoothly,
Quonab and Skookum following Rolf. The last was getting very familiar
with that stub hoof on the left foot. At length they came to the "fumet"
or "sign"; it was all in one pile. That meant the deer had stood, so was
unalarmed; and warm; that meant but a f