252 WOLVES

gravel when making beds to lay their eggs in. A watery-
looking moon filtered through the rift in the forest that
the stream had cut, but what light it gave only served to
accentuate the surrounding darkness and the gloominess
of the place ; nor was it sufficient to distinguish an animal
unless it was moving. As far as my knowledge went there
was not another human being within fifty miles of me.
The stage was most perfectly set for one of those horrible,
blood-thirsty tragedies one reads about !

Nothing of importance happened until about ten o’clock ;
not a bear had put in an appearance, and the damp cold
had chilled me so that my thoughts had turned to camp
and a warm fire. Then the stillness of the night was
broken by the long drawn out, weird howl of a wolf,
The sound was only faint and did not attract my attention
much. But not very long afterwards, when I was con-
sidering giving up my vigil, another howl came; this
time it was more distinct. Then before long, in a slightly
different direction, came another howl, and yet another,
until it finally became apparent that there were four
wolves in the vicinity and that they were coming down
the mountain in my direction.

Now the howl of a big timber wolf is not altogether
soothing to the nerves; it gives you a beastly creepy
feeling, especially when you are away off in the woods
by yourself at night and have been regaled with all sorts
of tales of the animal’s ferocity. It is therefore hardly
to be wondered at that, when it was apparent that they
had come down from the mountain and were on the flat
between me and my camp, I began to feel uncomfortable
and wish myself elsewhere. To make matters worse, the
moon died down and left me without any light to make
the homeward trip through the forest.

For about half an hour I sat there in safety on the
stump until the cold began to make me shiver, and there
was nothing for it but to struggle back to camp as best
I could in the pitch darkness, or build a fire and stay
out for the night. To do the latter meant ruining any
chance for bear in the future in that vicinity. This I