CHAPTER XVI

A JOURNEY THROUGH THE NIGHT

The lonely journey through the dark proved to be not nearly as difficult as Dick had expected. An hour after their departure from Toma’s cabin, the little party emerged from the shelter of spruce and pine, skirting the river, and drove forth upon a comparatively open prairie, piled high with drifts.

Here the snow had been packed down by the wind and the huskies were able to trot across its surface without breaking through. They went forward at such a brisk pace that Dick, running behind, was forced to admit, breathlessly, to Toma:

“I can’t keep this up all night. Can’t you slow down once in a while, and give me a chance to catch my breath?”

“We all ride now,” the guide answered, motioning Dick to a place on the sled in front of Sandy, who, because of his weakened condition, had been riding most of the time since they had left the cabin.

A moment later, sitting at his friend’s feet, Dick was conscious of a new experience. He had never ridden behind a team of huskies before.

“This is wonderful,” he remarked as the dogs sprang forward at Toma’s sharp word of command. “How easy they pull us, Sandy. If we keep on at this rate, it won’t take us long to reach mounted police headquarters.”

Toma, who was standing behind, with one hand on the gee-pole, laughed good-naturedly over Dick’s enthusiasm.

“They go fast tonight,” he admitted, “but mebbe tomorrow we come to soft snow in woods. No go fast then.”

Somewhere, close at hand, there broke forth a weird, unearthly noise, a sound that echoed across the stillness, causing both Dick and Sandy to sit up very straight, hearts thumping excitedly.

“What was that?” they demanded in chorus.

“Wolves,” came the ready response. “We see plenty of wolves from now on. Rabbits very few this year and wolves always hungry.”

“Well, I don’t want ’em to feed on me,” shivered Sandy. “What would we do if they should happen along and suddenly decide to make a meal on us?”

“Shoot,” answered Dick, one hand stealing back in the sled to make sure that in the hurry of their departure they had not forgotten their rifles.

“They not come yet,” Toma reassured them. “Bye ’n’ bye weather get more cold, snow more deep, wolves more hungry. Then we watch out. No travel like this at night then. Me ’fraid wolves too.”

Dick laughed. “I’m glad to hear that there’s something you’re really afraid of, Toma. I’d begun to think that nothing could frighten you.”

Another howl from the wolf pack, and Sandy’s mittened hand was pawing at Dick’s shoulder.

“Honestly, Dick, I don’t like this. Just listen to that! Isn’t it awful? Toma, are you sure they won’t come over here and try to gobble us up?”

“Plenty sure,” answered the guide.

Sandy slouched back in his seat again, not entirely convinced in his own mind that Toma was right.

“I hope so,” he grumbled, “but why in the dickens did the rabbits have to get scarce this year. I suppose they heard we were coming along and just to make our bad luck complete, hopped off to another part of the country. I wonder why the wolves didn’t follow them, Toma?”

“Wolves no follow rabbits ’cause rabbits all dead,” patiently explained the half-breed.

“Who killed ’em?” Sandy wanted to know.

Toma’s whip cracked forth over the boys’ heads, and the huskies sprang forward with redoubled effort.

“Rabbits no get killed—they sick an’ die,” he answered. “When you live in this country long time you find out queer thing. Ever’ six, seven years see many rabbits—like mosquitos in spring. Wolves an’ coyotes all very fat then. Almost step on rabbits when you walk through woods. When rabbits many like that, one fellow him get sick, bye ’n’ bye another rabbit him sick, too. Pretty soon no rabbits left—all dead. No tell you why.”

Following this explanation, Sandy lapsed into silence for many moments. There was no sound at all except that made by the pattering feet of the huskies, and the crunching of the sled under them. A belated moon had risen slowly from the distant horizon, and in its pure, white light, the boys could now discern objects, which a few hours before had remained hidden. Looking about him, Dick saw that the comparatively open space around them extended southward for many miles, a vast, snow-covered field, dotted here and there with small patches of poplar.

They were passing one of these tree clumps a short time later when, plainly discernible, not more than fifty or a hundred yards to their right, Dick perceived the huge body of a wolf gliding quickly along, almost abreast of them. The boy’s startled exclamation drew the attention of Sandy and Toma.

“Follow us like that all night, mebbe,” Toma stated indifferently, “he no come any closer. He ’fraid us like we ’fraid him.”

“He doesn’t appear to be very frightened,” came Sandy’s dry comment, “and if he comes one step nearer, I’m going to teach him a few manners.”

“No,” said Dick, “we’ve got to save our ammunition. We may need it badly a little later on. Besides, I doubt very much whether one wolf would dare to attack us. It’s a full pack that I’d be afraid of.”

“If there were more than one,” rejoined Sandy, peering fearfully across at the subject of their conversation, “I think I’d be inclined to pull this blanket over my head. I simply wouldn’t want to see ’em.”

Dick’s amused laugh was broken short by a sudden snarling from the huskies. This continued until Toma cracked his whip and shouted out a sharp word of command.

“No like ’em wolves either,” he explained. “You promise no be afraid if I tell you something.”

“Certainly,” answered Dick. “What is it?”

“You look on other side.”

Sandy and Dick, following directions, drew in a quick breath of alarm. Two more wolves, equally as large as the one on their right, trotted along unconcernedly across the drifts, their furry forms plainly distinguishable in the moonlight.

“Lord help us!” exclaimed Sandy, with no thought of irreverence.

“Can you beat that?” Dick wanted to know.

“No see wolves any more when morning comes,” Toma attempted to cheer them. “You wait.”

After that the hours seemed interminable. Both Dick and Sandy had forgotten about the novelty of their ride. Intermittently Toma’s whip cracked; the huskies moved on; there was no sound except the slight noise of their progress across the field of white. On either side trotted the wolves, three dark shapes, moving like ghosts, never once quickening or slackening pace. It was with a sigh of relief that Dick finally perceived the first faint glow of morning across the eastern sky.

“We stop pretty soon and have something to eat,” announced Toma, breaking the long silence.

And a few minutes later, when they drew up before a small log cabin, standing at the edge of a narrow sheltering woodland, their companions of the night—the three wolves—were nowhere in sight.

“What I tell you,” their guide reminded them.

“Right, as usual,” grumblingly admitted Sandy. “But tell me, Toma, whose place is this?”

“Another friend—him live here,” answered Toma. “We have breakfast, sleep two, three hours, then go on some more. No like to travel night.”

It took but a few moments to unhitch and feed the huskies. Dick looked on with interest as Toma threw each one of the dogs its ration of frozen fish. Then the three boys strode forward toward the cabin, upon the door of which the young half-breed knocked loudly. But no answer ensued.

“Guess him gone away,” Toma stated, and pushed open the door. “He no care if we stay here for little while. Mebbe out on trap line.”

After a fire was started in the fireplace, Dick and Toma proceeded to get breakfast, while Sandy carried in armloads of wood from the big pile outside. They ate in front of a crackling flame, joking and laughing amongst themselves.

“With the help of the huskies,” exulted Sandy, “we’ll soon leave Pierre Govereau so far behind he’ll never catch up. Won’t he be wild when he hears how we’ve outwitted him?”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that if I were you,” Dick cautioned. “Govereau isn’t the only man we’ll have to fear either. You know Henderson has accomplices all along the line.”

So it proved.

In spite of their good intentions, their determination to sleep only a few hours, it was morning of the following day when Dick and Sandy awoke to find their new team gone and Toma hunting around in the underbrush some distance from camp.