et in that cavernous silence their comradeship was
born anew, and in it there was something now that crept down into their
wild little souls and filled the emptiness that was left by the death
of Neewa's mother and the loss of Miki's master. The pup whined gently,
and in his throat Neewa made a purring sound and followed it with a
squeaky grunt that was like the grunt of a little pig. They edged
nearer, and stood shoulder to shoulder facing their world. They went on
after a little, like two children exploring the mystery of an old and
abandoned house. They were not hunting, yet every hunting instinct in
their bodies was awake, and they stopped frequently to peer about them,
and listen, and scent the air.

To Neewa it all brought back a memory of the black cavern in which he
was born. Would Noozak, his mother, come up presently out of one of
those dark forest aisles? Was she sleeping here, as she had slept in
the darkness of their den? The questions may have come vaguely in his
mind. For it was like the cavern, in that it was deathly still; and a
short distance away its gloom thickened into black pits. Such a place
the Indians called MUHNEDOO--a spot in the forest blasted of all life
by the presence of devils; for only devils would grow trees so thick
that sunlight never penetrated. And only owls held the companionship of
the evil spirits.

Where Neewa and Miki stood a grown wolf would have paused, and turned
back; the fox would have slunk away, hugging the ground; even the
murderous-hearted little ermine would have peered in with his beady red
eyes, unafraid, but turned by instinct back into the open timber. For
here, in spite of the stillness and the gloom, THERE WAS LIFE. It was
beating and waiting in the ambush of those black pits. It was rousing
itself, even as Neewa and Miki went on deeper into the silence, and
eyes that were like round balls were beginning to glow with a greenish
fire. Still there was no sound, no movement in the dense overgrowth of
the trees. Like the imps of MUHNEDOO the monster owls looked down,
gathering their slow wits--and waiting.

And then a huge shadow floated out of the dark chaos and passed so
close over the heads of Neewa and Miki that they heard the menacing
purr of giant wings. As the wraith-like creature disappeared there came
back to them a hiss and the grating snap of a powerful beak. It sent a
shiver through Miki. The instinct that had been fighting to rouse
itself within him