As they approached the place for which they aimed however there came
suddenly a mournful screech from the woods--a sound that seemed to
linger longer in their hearing than any strange noise Russ and Rose had
ever heard. The brother and sister stopped, frightened indeed, and clung
to each other.

"Oh! What's that?" murmured Rose.

"It--it's maybe an owl," returned Russ, trying to think of the most
harmless creature that made a noise at night.

"I never heard an owl howl like that," whispered his sister.

"Aw, Rose! owls don't howl. It's wolves that howl--or coyotes such as we
saw at Cowboy Jack's. Don't you remember the coyote caught in the trap
that you thought was a dog?"

Rose's mind would not be drawn from the thing in question. She said,
quite as fearfully:

"Maybe this is a wolf, Russ."

"Of course not," declared the boy trying to speak bravely. "There aren't
any wolves in this part of the country. I asked Frane, Junior."

But there was evidently a savage creature here that Russ Bunker had
known nothing about, for now it cried out again! Its long, quavering
note echoed through the woods and made the boy and girl stand again and
shiver.