The three hunters listened in perfect silence until, during a lull in the howling of the dogs, they distinctly heard another howl. This too was thin and bloodcurdling, sounding more like the shrieking of the wind than like a cry from the throat of an animal.
At this sound the three Eskimos reached for their rifles and crawled cautiously out into the open. The sound that they had just heard was the howl of the great white arctic wolf. These dread hunters were abroad and probably trying to lure away some of the dogs that they might devour them.
The dogs seemed to recognize in the white wolves their own kin of a few generations back and the weird howling drew them strangely. For several minutes all was quiet and then the distant howling was repeated as before and the dogs answered. The Eskimos soon silenced them with their whips.
After a quarter of an hour Tunkine, whose night eyes were better than those of his companions, pointed out two gleaming yellow eyes watching them from behind a clump of creeping willow.
The three raised their rifles and fired in unison, and a white wolf sprang into the air and fell kicking on the snow, while in the distance the sound of scurrying feet could be distinctly heard. This ended their troubles from the white pack, although Tukshu remained up watching for the rest of the night.
Meanwhile life went on its humdrum way in Eskimo Town.
The men went on short seal hunts while the women busied themselves with making reindeer skin boots. There were the traps also to mind. These often yielded valuable fox skins which the women attended to stretching and curing. They also boiled the fox meat over their strange stone lamps, thus giving variety to their usual diet of raw meat.