CHAPTER XXVIII
FIGHTING A WOLF
The storm had not abated, but so well had the hunters built their camp that the snow and the cold had even improved it; for the snow had drifted in around the bottom of the tepee making the shelter much warmer than it would have been without the snow. Some of the snow had partly melted on the spruce thatch, but with the falling temperature it had frozen and thus made the thatch of boughs almost as tight as a roof of shingles; of course some of the fine snow had drifted in, but that had been expected, and the lads scraped it together and threw it out. The outside of their cover blanket was a little damp from snow that had sifted in and melted, and the lads hung up the blankets so that the reflection from the fire and the warm rock would dry them.
There was now plenty of time for everything [[219]]at this camp. Cutting wood, fetching water, cooking, and eating were all the campers had to do besides sleeping and talking. For two days the storm continued and it grew so cold that Bruce spent two hours a day cutting wood for the fire. As long as the fire was kept burning, the camp was very comfortable, but naturally when the fire went out, the camp grew chilly; however, the lads had a feeling that they had miraculously escaped freezing to death, and minor discomforts did not annoy them.
On the third morning, the weather had cleared, although it was now colder than ever.
“We must start for our lake camp to-day,” Ganawa said, after he had taken a look at the weather. “We must each take some meat with us, but we cannot carry much, because it will be hard travelling.”
Travelling was much harder than the lads had anticipated. Their snowshoes were, as Ganawa had said, not of the best, and the going was very tiring, because a crust had [[220]]begun forming over the surface of the snow, but it would not yet support the weight of a man.
They struck straight out for their camp, which was not more than twelve miles southwest of them, but it took them all day to complete the trip, and Ray was so tired that he claimed he could not have walked another mile. They found their home camp not at all inviting, and the five days they had been away seemed like a long time. Much snow had blown into both the tepee and the bark-house; however, after they had cleared out the snow, built a fire in the tepee and saw the smoke come curling out of the top, the camp looked like home again.
There was only one thing that disturbed the boys, and Ganawa did not seem to like it, either. On the trip from the hunting camp they had not seen a track or sign of a living thing except a few woodpeckers; but near their home camp they saw many fresh wolf tracks, and one of the beasts had boldly walked up to the bark-house. [[221]]
“The mahungeens are hungry and they smelled our meat in the bark-house,” Ganawa told the boys. “If we had much powder and lead we should kill some of them, so they do not get too bold.”