“Gone?” queried Harry. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, Harry, they are gone, and have left nothing but the bones and bits of hide behind them.”
Both young pioneers inspected the hollow with interest. The snow was churned up in all directions, and hither and thither lay the bones, skulls, and bits of hide and hair. By the tracks they could see that what remained of the packs had gone off to the southward.
“That was a night I don’t wish to duplicate,” said Joe. “It’s enough to make one’s hair stand on end to think about.”
“Perhaps they’ll come back again to-night.”
“That is true. We must be prepared for them.”
Having had such an experience, the two young hunters resolved to go no further from home, but remain in that vicinity for the rest of their hunting tour. This being so, they spent several hours in strengthening the shelter, so that it might resist another attack should it come.
Breakfast disposed of, they brought out a couple of ropes they had carried along, and hoisted the deer up into the branches of one of the trees, so that the wolves would not be able to get at them. Then they left a low, smudge fire burning, and set off once more in quest of game.
CHAPTER XIX
THE HUNTERS HUNTED
With the rising of the sun the young pioneers felt once more like themselves. The dangers of the night were past, and they imagined that but little could come to disturb them until darkness had once again set in.