There was apparently nothing to do but wait. To the wolf pack new numbers appeared to be added from time to time. The sound of their yap-yapping came incessantly. The circle swayed now to this side and now to that as some frightened deer appeared ready to break away. It was with the utmost difficulty that the girls prevented themselves from being knocked down and trampled under the sharp hoofs of the surging deer.
“What will it be like if the circle breaks and they really stampede?” groaned Patsy. For the first time in her Arctic experience she was truly frightened.
“I don’t know,” answered Marian. “We can only trust. I wish we were out of this. I wish—”
A sharp exclamation escaped Marian’s lips. Over to the left a deer had gone down. The wolves appeared to have cut the tendons to his forelegs. There was terrible confusion. It seemed that the day was lost, that the stampede was at hand.
“Keep close to me,” Marian whispered bravely. “Some way we will pull through.”
Patsy gripped her arm for the final struggle. Then, to her astonishment, she heard the sound of a shot, then another, and yet another.
“Someone to our rescue,” cried Marian. “Who can it be?”
CHAPTER XXVI
THE MYSTERIOUS DELIVERER
Accustomed as they were to the presence of men, the reindeer, not at all frightened by the shots, held their position in the impregnable circle. The cowardly wolves began to slink away at the first shot. It seemed no time at all until the only sound to be heard was the rattle of antlers as the deer broke ranks and began to scatter again for feeding.
Some moments before the girls could make their way out of the center of the herd the firing ceased.