Attached to the camp of Engineer Harris was a small and influential party, consisting of Mr. Robert Menzies of Glasgow, capitalist, and, therefore, possible investor in Canadian lands, mines, and railroads, —­consequently, a man to be considered; with him, his daughter Marjorie, a brown-haired maid of seventeen, out for the good of her health and much the better of her outing, and Aunt Janet, maiden sister to Mr. Menzies, and guardian to both brother and niece.  With this party travelled Mr. Edgar Penny, a young English gentleman of considerable means, who, having been a year in the country, felt himself eminently qualified to act as adviser and guide to the party.  At present, however, Mr. Penny was far more deeply interested in the study of the lights that lurked in Miss Marjorie’s brown eyes, and the bronze tints of her abundant hair, than in the opportunities for investments offered by Canadian lands, railroads, and mines.

With an elaborate equipment, this party had spent three months travelling as far as Edmonton, and now, on their way back, were attached to the camp of Engineer Harris, in order that the Scotch capitalist might personally investigate methods of railway construction as practised in Western Canada.  At present, the party were encamped at a little distance from the Wakota trail, and upon the sunny side of a poplar bluff, for it was growing late in the year.

It was on a rare October morning that Kalman, rising before the sun, set out upon his broncho to round up the horses for their morning feed in preparation for the day’s back-setting.  With his dogs at his horse’s heels, he rode down to the Night Hawk, and crossed to the opposite side of the ravine.  As he came out upon the open prairie, Captain, the noble and worthy son of Blucher, caught sight of a prairie wolf not more than one hundred yards distant, and was off after him like the wind.

“Aha! my boy,” cried Kalman, getting between the coyote and the bluff, and turning him towards the open country, “you have got your last chicken, I guess.  It is our turn now.”

Headed off from the woods that marked the banks of the Night Hawk Creek, the coyote in desperation took to the open prairie, with Captain and Queen, a noble fox-hound bitch, closing fast upon him.  Two miles across the open country could be seen the poplar bluff, behind which lay the camp of the Engineer and his travelling companions.  Steadily the gap between the wolf and the pursuing hounds grew less, till at length, fearing the inevitable, the hunted beast turned towards the little bluff, and entered it with the dogs only a few yards behind.  Alas! for him, the bluff afforded no shelter.  Right through the little belt of timber dashed the wolf with the dogs and Kalman hard upon his trail.  At the very instant that the wolf came opposite the door of Aunt Janet’s tent, Captain reached for the extreme point of the beast’s extended tail.  Like a flash, the brute doubled upon his pursuer, snapping fiercely