e one she already had, so she was not a whit
ahead.

The fact of the matter was that one of those eggs was all any little Fox
could carry, and it certainly was all he could possibly eat. But of
course not one of them had thought about that.

Now Little White Fox had lain hid behind the muckluck grass nearly
splitting himself with laughter at the thought of the whacking their
heads were going to get after awhile. But when he had waited a long time
and no one had come to molest his cousins, he began to want one of those
eggs for himself. It happened that this was the nest of Old Mrs. Long
Neck, the widgeon duck. And Omnok, the hunter, had captured her two days
before, so she would never come back to protect her eggs.

Little White Fox stood it as long as he could, and then he came marching
boldly out from his hiding place.

"If you don't mind," he said very importantly, "I'll take the extra egg,
and that will settle the difficulty."

But that only started the discussion going faster than ever. "You
didn't!" "I did!" "You can't!" "I can!" "I will!" "You won't!" and so on
and so on they went. Probably they would be quarrelling yet, if Little
White Fox had not caught sight of a very tall person coming through the
muckluck grass. It was the dreadful Omnok, the hunter!

"Look out!" he cried.

But he was too late. Bang! went the hunter's terrible gun, and a hot
bullet whizzed by his ear. The Foxes scattered in every direction,
Little White Fox making for his home as fast as his legs would carry
him. And his heart beat so fast that even when he had been for half an
hour safe under the big flat rock, his breath still came pantingly.

"_Ah-ne-ca!_" cried Omnok, out on the tundra. "What did I shoot at them
for? Their coats are not worth a penny till old winter gets at them and
makes them thick and strong. My, but they were a fine bunch! If I can
catch half of them next winter, I can buy a whole herd of reindeer and
become a reindeer man. But what have we here? Ho-ho! So this is what
they were making such a fuss about! Old Long Neck's nest! Well, I guess
nine good eggs will be fine eating for my wife and the children."

With that Omnok put the eggs in his hunting sack and went stalking
away.

CHAPTER V

LITTLE WHITE FOX MEETS BARRED SEAL

Little White Fox was running all over the ice that covered the ocean. It
was spring, and the sun was shining its best all the time, but there was
plenty of ice left. When the