“Why, youngsters, where have you come from?” he asked.
Rob told him.
“Not much out, youngsters; why you are scarcely more than two hundred yards from the blaze, and haven’t been for some time past,” the old man replied. “Come, I’ll show you.”
The old hunter stalked away at a great rate, and they followed as fast as they could.
“That’s your way,” he said; pointing to the blazes on the trees. “Push on as fast as you can, or the snow may be down on you, and you’ll not be able to get on without snow-shoes. It wouldn’t be pleasant to you to be snowed up here in the woods.”
“No, indeed, master,” said Rob; “especially if we were to have such visitors as came to us last night.”
The old hunter laughed when Rob told him of the wolves.
“They won’t hurt anybody who shows a bold front, for they are great cowards,” said the old man. “But woe betide the boy who is caught out alone at night, if any of the savage beasts fall in with him. Still, though I’ve hunted through these parts more than thirty years, I’ve heard of very few people who ever got any harm from them.”
Rob thanked the old man, who said that his name was Danby Marks.