Henry judged his case to be hopeless.

The dog was thoroughly alive to its danger, but it was running on the outer circle while the wolf-pack was running on the inner and shorter circle.
It was vain to think of One Ear so outdistancing his pursuers as to be able to cut across their circle in advance of them and to regain the sled.
The different lines were rapidly approaching a point.

Somewhere out there in the snow, screened from his sight by trees and thickets, Henry knew that the wolf-pack, One Ear, and Bill were coming together.

All too quickly, far more quickly than he had expected, it happened.

He heard a shot, then two shots, in rapid succession, and he knew that Bill's ammunition was gone.