“We had a difficult time skinning the bears and trying to cut the steaks properly; the grease we kept for oil after it had been melted down. I used to implore Hal to throw out the whole dreadful mess, but he knew the value of bear-grease and steaks, so kept his own counsel and minded me not at all.
“Parts that could not be used, however, and refuse were thrown to the wolves, thus keeping a howling horde of them in our vicinity constantly. This, as it happened, proved our salvation.
“We sat cross-legged one morning, figuring out by the notch calendar how many weeks of winter remained. Suddenly a most startling sound rose above the din of the snarling, fighting beasts outside.
“A shot rang out, followed by a shrill yelp of pain from one of the beasts; again a rifle cracked, and one more wolf was struck, judging from the noise and confusion that ensued.
“Hal and I looked at each other as if in a dream; then we comprehended, and almost choked with joy. The beasts outside slunk away as the strangers who had dealt death so swiftly among them approached. Hal and I both raised our voices and shouted and called as loudly as we could. I thought of his rifle, and brought it to him.
“‘Shoot through the rifle-hole in the door,’ I said, excitedly.
“‘Sure thing!’ he cried, raising his gun to his shoulder and shooting toward the sky.
“We heard an answering shot, and then voices approaching to within a few yards of the hut. We pried the door open far enough to hand out the spade. The unknown visitors already had one spade, and between the two we were soon excavated, the door was opened, and we leaped forth! There stood an Indian squaw with a boy of about twelve.
“Fancy our chagrin and sinking hearts! Hal said afterward that he thought a rescue party had started out to find us, although he knew this was practically impossible.
“The squaw and Hal could speak, after a fashion, and he explained to me that she and her son were hunting the day before, and had been caught by night’s swift approach. They were forced to rest in a cave until morning. Here they had to keep the wild animals at bay, although they could see them moving around in the shadows just outside the circle of their campfire, and heard them howling all through the night. When light came again, they started to find their way home, and had seen the beasts prowling around a hump in the snow from whence issued a thin stream of smoke. They knew immediately that some human being was there, and tried to drive away the animals long enough to investigate.