For five minutes the uproar was appalling; then it ceased
abruptly and the huskies ran wildly here and there among the rocks. From
far away an answer, an echo perhaps of their wailing, or, it may be, the
cry of the dogs of St. Margaret's, came ululating over the deep. Then
silence again, vast and unnatural, settling over the gloomy land like a
winding-sheet.
As the unknown howl trembled faintly in the air Noel, who had slept
undisturbed through all the clamor of the dogs, stirred uneasily by the
foremast. As it deepened and swelled into a roar that filled all the
night he threw off the caribou skin and came aft to where I was watching
alone. "Das Wayeeses. I know dat hwulf; he follow me one time, oh, long,
long while ago," he whispered. And taking my marine glasses he stood
beside me watching intently.
[Illustration: "The terrible howl of the great white wolf"]
There was another long period of waiting; our eyes grew weary, filled as
they were with shadows and uncertainties in the moonlight, and we turned
our ears to the hills, waiting with strained, silent expectancy for the
challenge.
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