meat had been bacon and jerked venison. Mukoki, whose prodigious
appetite was second only to the shrewdness with which he stalked game to
satisfy it, determined to add to their larder if possible during the
others' absence, and with this object in view he left camp late in the
afternoon to be gone, as he anticipated, not longer than an hour or so.

With him he carried two powerful wolf-traps slung over his shoulders.
Stealing cautiously along the edge of the river, his eyes and ears alert
for game, Mukoki suddenly came upon the frozen and half-eaten carcass of
a red deer. It was evident that the animal had been killed by wolves
either the day or night before, and from the tracks in the snow the
Indian concluded that not more than four wolves had participated in the
slaughter and feast. That these wolves would return to continue their
banquet, probably that night, Mukoki's many experiences as a wolf hunter
assured him; and he paused long enough to set his traps, afterward
covering them over with three or four inches of snow.

Continuing his hunt, the old Indian soon struck the fresh spoor of a
deer. Believing that the animal would not travel for any great distance
in the deep snow, he swiftly took up the trail. Half a mile farther on
he stopped abruptly with a grunt of unbounded surprise. Another hunter
had taken up the trail!

With increased caution Mukoki now advanced. Two hundred feet more and a
second pair of moccasined feet joined in the pursuit, and a little later
still a third!

Led on by curiosity more than by the hope of securing a partnership
share in the quarry, the Indian slipped silently and swiftly through the
forest. As he emerged from a dense growth of spruce through which the