“Six wolves! Maybe there’s a regular pack of them.”
“Shouldn’t wonder. They often travel in packs.”
“And they look hungry enough to eat us up,” came from Fred, and the tone of his voice showed that he felt anything but comfortable.
For the matter of that, all of the boys felt uneasy. Not only were they without their clothing but their four guns lay within a hundred feet of where the three leading wolves were standing.
The horses had also discovered the wolves and were now snorting wildly and trying to break from their tethers. Charley Boy, Randy’s mount, was particularly nervous, probably from his experience with the mountain lion.
The wolves had been sniffing first in the direction of the boys’ clothing and then in the direction of the supplies and the horses. Now they looked across the small arm of the lake at the boys themselves and uttered a series of snarls, baring their teeth as they did so.
“Oh, if I only had a rifle or a heavy shotgun!” murmured the young major.
“Can’t we heave some rocks at them?” suggested Fred.
“I don’t think it would do any good,” answered Randy. “We’re too far off. We were foolish to rove around in a wild place like this without our guns.”