CHAPTER XXIII.
BAGGING THE GRAY WOLVES.
That night Ted Strong went on watch himself in the cupola, while Bud and Clay Whipple marched around the house in opposite directions.
Until the threatened attack took place Ted determined that he would watch the house personally, in addition to the regular guard.
About midnight Ted heard a slight noise out on the prairie.
The night was bright and frosty, and the stars shone with a peculiarly brilliant radiance, seemingly larger, brighter, and nearer the earth than in more northern climes.
Instantly his acute senses located the place whence the noise had come.
It was merely a slight rustling, but as there was no wind Ted knew instantly that it had been made by some creature.
His eyes, fixed on the spot, soon became accustomed to the faint light, and he saw an indistinct form that was so near the color of the earth that a pair of eyes not so sharp as his would have failed to detect it.
So indistinct was it that it looked almost like a wraith of grayish-blue smoke by the starlight.