They took up the work in earnest, and as all of them were exceedingly hungry, their first duty was to secure food. Of course, they might have food for several days, if they cared to use the carcass of the dead grizzly, but the meat was so tough and coarse that, after one trial at making a breakfast of grizzly steak, they all agreed that they would rather rely on the chance of obtaining more palatable food. If they could only run across a deer it would supply them with all the meat they wanted for several days, and, although they realized the danger of discharging their guns while the hostile Blackfeet were in the vicinity, they were willing to run that risk. CHAPTER XVII THANKS TO THE WOLF PACK "WHAT have you on your mind now, Roger?" asked Dick, realizing how serious his companion had become. As a rule Roger was a light-hearted boy, so that the change was all the more noticeable whenever he devoted himself to evolving some idea that had occurred to him. "Oh, I was only thinking how easy it would be to get all the fresh meat we needed if only we could stay in one place," was his reply. "What sort of fresh meat do you mean?" continued the other. "Four different times now," explained Roger, "I have seen those big jack-rabbits jump out of some copse, or a crack in the rocks, and bound away. Each time, just from force of habit, my gun would fly to my shoulder, and I found myself covering the jumper; but of course I did not mean to pull the trigger." "No, because our ammunition is scanty, and, if we have to fire a shot, we should bag something larger than a rabbit. But, Roger, please go on and explain what you mean." "Only this," the other added; "we could easily make traps, and snare some of these fat rabbits if we were in camp. Keeping on as we do, that's out of the question. So, in the end, I suppose we must use our guns to bring down a deer, or a buffalo, if we have the good luck to run across one." Mayhew came to a full stop just then. "There is something coming this way!" he announced. "It sounds to me as though it was a pack of excited dogs, or wolves in chase of a breakfast," said Roger, after listening a moment. Dick nodded his head in a fashion that told that he was of the same opinion. Indeed, as the sounds were constantly growing louder, there could be little doubt concerning their origin. The snapping yelps of wolves in full cry, once heard, cannot again he easily mistaken. There is a thrilling import to the sound that goes through one like a galvanic shock. "They must he chasing a deer," Roger hazarded. "Yes, and heading straight this way!" added Mayhew. "Perhaps this is the chance we have been waiting for," ventured Roger, as he handled his gun eagerly. "No harm done in getting ready, that I can see," observed Dick, sagely. "Let us spread out just a little," suggested Mayhew, who, being a veteran hunter, knew all about the habits of wolves when in pursuit of their quarry.