In those two minutes Miki had risen out of whimpering puppyhood to new power and understanding.

He had passed that elemental stage which his companionship with Challoner had prolonged.

He had KILLED, and the hot thrill of it set fire to every instinct that was in him.

In the half hour during which he lay flat on his belly, his head alert and listening, while Neewa slept, he passed half way from puppyhood to dogdom.

He would never know that Hela, his Mackenzie hound father, was the mightiest hunter in all the reaches of the Little Fox country, and that alone he had torn down a bull caribou.