And the longer he listened the more some invisible power seemed to hold him back.

It was not fear, it was not lack of courage, but-- What was there just beyond those cedars, lurking cautiously in the snow gloom?
With instinct that was almost animal in its unreasonableness Wabi sank upon his knees.

He had seen nothing, he had heard nothing; but he crouched close, until he was no larger than a waiting wolf, and there was a deadly earnestness in the manner in which he turned his rifle into the deeper gloom of those close-knit walls of forest.

Something was approaching, cautiously, stealthily, and with extreme slowness.

The Indian boy felt that this was so, and yet if his life had depended upon it he could not have told why.