It was enough to carry upon his
feet two strong snow-shoes; for the snow was
deep and its crust too thin to bear his weight.
As he emerged from the lowlands into the
upper regions, he loomed up a gigantic figure
against the clear, moonlit horizon. His pic-
turesque foxskin cap with all its trimmings was
incrusted with frost from the breath of his nos-
trils, and his lagging footfall sounded crisply.
The distance he had that day covered was enough
for any human endurance; yet he was neither
faint nor hungry; but his feet were frozen into
the psay, the snow-shoes, so that he could not
run faster than an easy slip and slide.
At last he reached the much-coveted point--
the crown of the last ascent; and when he smelled
fire and the savory odor of the jerked buffalo
meat, it well-nigh caused him to waver! But he
must not fail to follow the custom of untold ages,
and give the game scout's wolf call before enter-
ing camp.
Accordingly he paused upon the highest point
of the ridge and uttered a cry to which the
hungry cry of a real wolf would have seemed
but a coyote's yelp in comparison! Then it was
that the rest of the buffalo hunters knew that
their game scout was returning with welcome
news; for the unsuccessful scout enters the camp
silently.
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