Williams' thin face turned as white as the paper he held, as he read the words of the Churchill factor.
"It means dig graves," he said.

"That's the only preparation we can make." He read the paper aloud to the men at Fond du Lac, and every available man was detailed to spread the warning throughout the post's territory.
There was a quick harnessing of dogs, and on each sledge that went out was a roll of red cotton cloth--rolls that were ominous of death, lurid signals of pestilence and horror, whose touch sent shuddering chills through the men who were about to scatter them among the forest people.
Kazan and Gray Wolf struck the trail of one of these sledges on the Gray Beaver, and followed it for half a mile.

The next day, farther to the west, they struck another, and on the fourth day still a third.

The last trail was fresh, and Gray Wolf drew back from it as if stung, her fangs snarling.

On the wind there came to them the pungent odor of smoke.