hing encumbered them!

[Illustration: THE WOLVES AND THE PEMMICAN BAGS.]

"We are lost!" cried Norman, in a voice of terror. "Our provisions are
gone!--all gone!"

It was true. The next moment the wolves disappeared over the summit of
the ridge; and although each of the boys had seized his gun, and ran
after, the pursuit proved an idle one. Not a wolf was overtaken.

Scarce a scrap of the pemmican had been left--only some fragments that
had been gnawed by the ravenous brutes, and scattered over the snow.
That night our travellers went to bed supperless; and, what with hunger,
and the depression of spirits caused by this incident, one and all of
them kept awake nearly the whole of the night.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE ROCK-TRIPE.

They left their skin-couch at an early hour, close after daybreak.
Hunger and anxiety drove them out of their tent. Not a morsel of
anything for breakfast! They looked abroad over the country, in order,
if possible, to descry some living creature. None could be seen--nothing
but the wilderness waste of snow, with here and there the side of a
steep hill, or a rock showing cold and bleak. Even the wolves that had
robbed them were no longer to be seen, as if these creatures knew that
they had got all that was worth having, and had now taken themselves off
to hunt for plunder elsewhere.

The situation of our travellers was really one of extreme peril,
although it may be difficult for you, young reader, to conceive why it
should be so. They, however, knew it well. They knew that they might
travel for days through that inhospitable region, without falling in
with anything that would make a single meal for them. But less time than
that would suffice to starve them all. Already they felt the pangs of
hunger--for they had not eaten since their breakfast of the preceding
day, the wolves having interrupted their preparations for dinner.

It was of no use remaining where they were; so, striking their tent once
more, they travelled forward. It was but poor consolation to them that
they travelled much lighter than before. They had nothing to carry but
their guns, and these they had got ready for work--so that their journey
partook somewhat of the character of a hunting excursion. They did not
even follow a direct course, but occasionally turned to one side or the
other, wherever a clump of willows, or any other roughness on the
ground, looked like it might be the shelter of game. But during that