voiding
the branching antlers, struck the bull, driving one talon into the neck
and the other into the back, flapping its huge wings as it tore with its
beak at the body of the elk like a trained "_bear coote_."

I was thunderstruck. The evident partnership of the wolves and bird
needed explanation and it was not long in coming. A shrill whistle
pierced the air, the black wolves immediately ceased to worry the elk,
the eagle soared overhead, and for an instant the elk stood confused,
then leaped high in the air and fell dead. The next moment I heard the
crack of a rifle and saw a puff of blue smoke across the lake.

"That's no ghost," I said, when partly recovered from my astonishment.

"Wait," said Pete laconically.

[Illustration: The eagle screamed, descended like a thunderbolt ... and
struck the bull]

Not long afterward there was a movement among the wolves and,
noiselessly as a panther the figure of a man lithe and youthful in every
movement slipped to the side of the dead elk. He made no noise, uttered
no word to the fierce black animals that sat with their red tongues
hanging from their panting jaws, but without a moment's hesitation
whipped out a knife and with a dexterity and skill that brought the
color to Big Pete's face, proceeded to take the coat off the wapiti,
while the great eagle perched upon the branching antlers. The skin was
removed and with equal dexterity all the best parts of the meat were
skilfully detached and packed in the green hide, after which, removing a
large slice of red flesh, the strange hunter held up one finger. One of
the wolves gravely walked up to him, received the morsel, gulped it down
and retired. Each in turn was fed, then the great bird flopped on his
shoulder and was fed from his hand, and before I could realize what had
happened the man, the wolves and the eagle had disappeared, leaving
nothing but the dismembered carcass of the elk to remind us of the
strange episode.

CHAPTER III

To say that the whole spectacle that I had just witnessed startled me
would be stating it mildly indeed. The strange appearance of this big,
powerful, smooth shaven man in a buckskin hunting costume with a retinue
of black wolves and a trained eagle, the mysterious manner of his
hunting and his coming and going, aroused in me great interest and
curiosity and I could realize the effect it evidently had upon Big
Pete's superstitious mind in spite of the fact that the big fellow was