This left Mukoki alone in camp.  Thus far, in their desire to cover as much ground as possible before the heavy snows came, Wabi and his companions had not stopped to hunt for game and for six days their only meat had been bacon and jerked venison.  Mukoki, whose prodigious appetite was second only to the shrewdness with which he stalked game to satisfy it, determined to add to their larder if possible during the others’ absence, and with this object in view he left camp late in the afternoon to be gone, as he anticipated, not longer than an hour or so.

With him he carried two powerful wolf-traps slung over his shoulders.  Stealing cautiously along the edge of the river, his eyes and ears alert for game, Mukoki suddenly came upon the frozen and half-eaten carcass of a red deer.  It was evident that the animal had been killed by wolves either the day or night before, and from the tracks in the snow the Indian concluded that not more than four wolves had participated in the slaughter and feast.  That these wolves would return to continue their banquet, probably that night, Mukoki’s many experiences as a wolf hunter assured him; and he paused long enough to set his traps, afterward covering them over with three or four inches of snow.

Continuing his hunt, the old Indian soon struck the fresh spoor of a deer.  Believing that the animal would not travel for any great distance in the deep snow, he swiftly took up the trail.  Half a mile farther on he stopped abruptly with a grunt of unbounded surprise.  Another hunter had taken up the trail!

With increased caution Mukoki now advanced.  Two hundred feet more and a second pair of moccasined feet joined in the pursuit, and a little later still a third!

Led on by curiosity more than by the hope of securing a partnership share in the quarry, the Indian slipped silently and swiftly through the forest.  As he emerged from a dense growth of spruce through which the tracks led him Mukoki was treated to another surprise by almost stumbling over the carcass of the deer he had been following.  A brief examination satisfied him that the doe had been shot at least two hours before.  The three hunters had cut out her heart, liver and tongue and had also taken the hind quarters, leaving the remainder of the carcass and the skin!  Why had they neglected this most valuable part of their spoils?  With a new gleam of interest in his eyes Mukoki carefully scrutinized the moccasin trails.  He soon discovered that the Indians ahead of him were in great haste, and that after cutting the choicest meat from the doe they had started off to make up for lost time by running!

With another grunt of astonishment the old Indian returned to the carcass, quickly stripped off the skin, wrapped in it the fore quarters and ribs of the doe, and thus loaded, took up the home trail.  It was dark when he reached camp.  Wabi and Rod had not yet returned.  Building a huge fire and hanging the ribs of the doe on a spit before it, he anxiously awaited their appearance.