Following it swiftly they
came to the edge of a much smaller barren that they had crossed
yesterday, and saw at a glance that the trail stretched straight across
it. Not a caribou was in sight; but they might nevertheless be feeding,
or resting in the woods just beyond; and for the little hunters to show
themselves now in the open would mean that they would become instantly
the target for every keen eye that was watching the back trail. So they
started warily to circle the barren, keeping just within the fringe of
woods out of sight.
They had gone scarcely a hundred steps when Noel whipped out a long
arrow and pointed silently across the open. From the woods on the other
side the caribou had broken out of a dozen tunnels under the spruces,
and came trotting back in their old trails, straight downwind to where
the little hunters were hiding.
The deer were acting queerly,--now plunging away with the high, awkward
jumps that caribou use when startled; now swinging off on their swift,
tireless rack, and before they had settled to their stride halting
suddenly to look back and wag their ears at the trail.
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