grey-back’s time had come.  Mark let off a fresh volley of profanity, and as the wolves seemed preparing for a rush, WESTCOTT’S rifle broke the frozen stillness of the woods, and old grey-back turned a summerset and went down.  The astonished wolves clustered together for a moment in confusion, and the other barrel spoke out.  Another of the pack bounded into the air, and as he came down kicked and thrashed about in a most oncommon way, and then laid still—­while the way the rest put out for the point, some distance up the lake, was a thing to be astonished at.  Mark threw up his hat, and hollered, and shouted, and swore, till the last wolf disappeared into the forest, and then shoulderin’ one of the dead kritters, and WESTCOTT the other, started on home.  The hides, and the bounty on the scalps, made a good day’s work of it; but Mark swears to this day, that if the last dozen of wolves had been a little earlier, or Westcott a little later, he’d a-been driven like a buck to the water, cold as it was; and if they’d been a little earlier still, he’d have been a goner.  He never goes far from home since, without a rifle; although with that he has no fear of wolves, yet he concludes that a hunting-knife and a stick are no match for a whole pack of the kritters, when made savage by the starvation of winter.”

[Illustration:  Westcott’s rifle broke the frozen stillness of the woods, and old greyback turned a summerset and went down.  The astonished wolves clustered together for a moment in confusion, and the other barrel spoke out.]

While we were listening to the story of Mark Shuff and the wolves, the old fellow over the water made the forest ring again with his howling.  He was answered from miles away down the lake by another.  Their voices kept the forest echoes busy, until we laid ourselves away in our blankets, where we slept till wakened by the glad voices of the birds in the early morning.

CHAPTER XVIII.

AN EXPLORING VOYAGE IN AN ALDER SWAMP—­A BEAVER DAM—­A FAIR SHOT AND A MISS—­DROWNING A BEAR—­AN UNPLEASANT PASSENGER.

We started the next morning on an exploring voyage round the lake, to look into the bays and inlets, try the fish and deer, and see what we could see generally.  We struck across to an island opposite our landing-place, containing five or six acres, covered with a dense growth of spruce, hemlock, and fir, with an occasional pine standing with its tall head proudly above the other forest trees, while along the ground the low whortleberry bushes, loaded with fruit, now just ripening, grew.  This island is near the south shore, and separated from it by a narrow channel some twenty rods in width.  We landed, and were regaling ourselves upon the berries, leaving our boats and guns on the lake side of the island.  We had wandered near the centre of the island, when three deer started up within two rods of us, and rushed whistling and