ne, and Hamp
agreed with him. A little later something more serious occurred. Three
hungry wolves stole out of the forest and down to the ice. They
evidently scented the carcass of the deer. They followed the little
party persistently, and kept up a mournful howling. Now and then they
circled near with swift leaps, only to bound back toward the shore
again.

"We must put a stop to this," said Jerry. "Wait a minute."

He discarded his rifle for a shotgun, and, when the trio of scavengers
next approached as close as they dared, he gave them both barrels.

It was long-range shooting, but two of the brutes were slightly
crippled. All three fled, yelping, to the forest, and disappeared.

Darkness was now creeping rapidly on. Colder and colder came the bitter
evening breeze. At times the great stretch of ice-bound lake cracked
like a pistol-shot. The boys were anxious to reach their destination
before twilight, and they altered their swinging stride to a jog-trot.

At last they gained the jutting headland, and circled around its point.
Here, on the shore of the lake, they found choice camping facilities.
They picked on a shallow ravine that was comparatively open and ran back
into the forest for thirty or forty yards. On three sides it was
sheltered by pine and spruce trees, and had an open frontage on the
lake.

"This is just the thing to build our cabin against," said Hamp,
indicating a weather-worn block of granite that was almost square in
shape. "We're in a great neighborhood for hunting and fishing, too."

"The locality is all right," replied Jerry, "but I don't think it's wise
to build right in the trough of this ravine. A heavy storm would snow us
up, and a thaw would wash us out into the lake."

"No danger of a thaw," declared Hamp, as he blew on his numbed fingers,
"and I don't believe we're going to have any big snowstorms, either. You
know your father said there were indications of an open winter.
Besides, it will take too long to clear a place for building on higher
ground. Look how stout the timber is all around us."

"I'm not anything of a woodsman," joined in Brick, "but this hollow
looks like a mighty snug place to me."

Jerry allowed himself to be persuaded.

"All right," he said. "We'll take the chances. Pitch in, fellows."

The sleds were unpacked, and the space in front of the rock was quickly
cleared of snow, undergrowth, and loose stones.

Armed with sharp axes, the boys felled and trimme