en, glittering point
into his antagonist's side. With a yell of pain the wolf attempted to
escape. It was too late; the blow had been sure, and ere long he was
quivering in death upon the ground, with the dog worrying him to the
last.

Keith at once sprang for his rifle, thrust in a loaded shell, and stood
awaiting the next move of his savage enemy.

CHAPTER II

ABANDONED

All through the dark hours of the night Keith kept watch, with the
anxious dog growling intermittently at his feet. He knew there were
wolves still in the vicinity, for at times he could hear their ugly
snarls near the spot where their companion had fallen.

Slowly the hours wore away, and at length the dawn began to steal over
the land. It needed but a little light to show the dim forms of three
wolves squatting on the snow some distance off. Bringing his rifle to
his shoulder, Keith sent a ball straight through the heart of the
largest, which bounded into the air, and then rolled over on the snow
dead. The other two started up in surprise, but a second shot brought
one of them to the ground, while his companion, bold brute though he
was, turned and fled. Thus the weary watch and the fight were over,
and Keith breathed a prayer of thankfulness at his escape from the
blood-thirsty foe.

Long before the sun had made its appearance, man and dog were retracing
their steps over the trail they had traversed the previous evening. It
meant much to turn back and thread their way across that desolate waste
of snow, through dreary forests, level plains, and sweeping lakes.

Hour after hour they moved, Keith all the time keeping a sharp look-out
for signs to show where the dog had taken his trail. Tracks of various
kinds were plentiful, crossing and re-crossing one another in the most
confusing manner. It was certainly a puzzling task to choose the ones
which would lead him to his destination.

Slowly he proceeded, peering here and there for some solution of the
mystery. In this manner he had advanced a considerable distance, when
the whining of the dog caused him to glance back. The animal had
stopped, and seemed to be in trouble, looking first at the man, and
then away to the left. Wondering what was the matter, Keith returned
to the spot.

"Well, doggie," he exclaimed, "what's wrong?"

But the cur continued to whine, looking alternately to the left and up
into the man's face.

Suddenly a thought flashed into Keith's mind. Pe