“I don’t think he can be an ilephant or a rhinoceros,” said Mickey, reflectively, “because such crathurs don’t grow in these parts.  What about his being a grizzly bear?”

“He can’t be that,” said Fred, who had been given time to note the special character of the footsteps before he awoke his companion.  “He walks too lightly.”

“What do you conclude him to be?”

“If there were such things as wild dogs, I would be sure he was one.”

“Then I have it; he must be a wolf.”

“I guess you’re right.  He acts just like one—­trotting here and there, while his eyes shine like we used to see them when we were camped on the prairie, and they used to hang round the camp waiting for a chance to get something to eat.”

“It’s aisy to double him up,’’ said Mickey,who just then caught a glimpse of the eyes again; “but if he’ll show the way out of here, I’ll make a vow never to shoot another wolf, even if he tries to chaw me head off.”

“How are we going to discover the place?”

“Just foller him.  He’ll hang round a while, very likely all night, and when he finds out there’s nothing to make here, he’ll trot off agin.  All we’ve got to do is to do the same, and he’ll show the way out.”

“It don’t look so easy to me,” said Fred, a few minutes later, while he had been busily turning the scheme over in his mind.  “If we only had the daylight to see him, it wouldn’t be so hard, but here he is right close to us, and it is only now and then that we can tell where he is.”

“Yees are right, for it is n’t likely that we can walk right straight out by the way that he does; but we can larn from his movements pretty nearly where the place is, and then we can take a torch and hunt for a day or two, and I don’t see how we can miss it.”

There seemed to be reason in this, although the lad could not feel as sanguine as did his companion.  The wolf, as he believed it to be, was doubtless familiar with every turn of the cave, and, when he was ready to go, was likely to vanish in a twinkling—­skurrying away with a speed that would defy pursuit.  However, there was a promise, or a possibility, at least, of success, and that certainly was something to be cheerful over, even though the prospect was not brilliant, and Fred was resolved that failure should not come through remissness of his.

The continuation of this absorbing story is entitled “The Cave in the Mountain.”