“What can be the meaning of this?” wondered Karr.  “It’s too bad about the pretty trees!  Soon they’ll have no beauty left.”

He walked from tree to tree, trying with his poor eyesight to see if all was well with them.

“There’s a pine they haven’t touched,” he thought.  But they had taken possession of it, too.  “And here’s a birch—­no, this also!  The game-keeper will not be pleased with this,” observed Karr.

He ran deeper into the thickets, to learn how far the destruction had spread.  Wherever he went, he heard the same ticking; scented the same odour; saw the same needle rain.  There was no need of his pausing to investigate.  He understood it all by these signs.  The little caterpillars were everywhere.  The whole forest was being ravaged by them!

All of a sudden he came to a tract where there was no odour, and where all was still.

“Here’s the end of their domain,” thought the dog, as he paused and glanced about.

But here it was even worse; for the caterpillars had already done their work, and the trees were needleless.  They were like the dead.  The only thing that covered them was a network of ragged threads, which the caterpillars had spun to use as roads and bridges.

In there, among the dying trees, Grayskin stood waiting for Karr.

He was not alone.  With him were four old elk—­the most respected in the forest.  Karr knew them:  They were Crooked-Back, who was a small elk, but had a larger hump than the others; Antler-Crown, who was the most dignified of the elk; Rough-Mane, with the thick coat; and an old long-legged one, who, up till the autumn before, when he got a bullet in his thigh, had been terribly hot-tempered and quarrelsome.

“What in the world is happening to the forest?” Karr asked when he came up to the elk.  They stood with lowered heads, far protruding upper lips, and looked puzzled.

“No one can tell,” answered Grayskin.  “This insect family used to be the least hurtful of any in the forest, and never before have they done any damage.  But these last few years they have been multiplying so fast that now it appears as if the entire forest would be destroyed.”

“Yes, it looks bad,” Karr agreed, “but I see that the wisest animals in the forest have come together to hold a consultation.  Perhaps you have already found some remedy?”

When the dog said this, Crooked-Back solemnly raised his heavy head, pricked up his long ears, and spoke: 

“We have summoned you hither, Karr, that we may learn if the humans know of this desolation.”

“No,” said Karr, “no human being ever comes thus far into the forest when it’s not hunting time.  They know nothing of this misfortune.”

Then Antler-Crown said: 

“We who have lived long in the forest do not think that we can fight this insect pest all by ourselves.”

“After this there will be no peace in the forest!” put in Rough-Mane.