They saw but few deer and nothing more of the wolves, for the crust had made all the country easy, and both kinds fled before the hunters.
Exploring a lower level of willow country in hopes of finding beaver delayed them, and it was afternoon when they returned to the half-way shanty, to find everything as they left it, except that their Pack of furs had totally disappeared.
Of course, the hard crust gave no sign of track.

Their first thought was of the old enemy, but, seeking far and near for evidence, they found pieces of an ermine skin, and a quarter mile farther, the rest of it, then, at another place, fragments of a muskrat's skin.

Those made it look like the work of the trapper's enemy, the wolverine, which, though rare, was surely found in these hills.

Yes! there was a wolverine scratch mark, and here another piece of the rat skin.

It was very clear who was the thief.
"He tore up the cheapest ones of the lot anyway," said Rolf.
Then the trappers stared at each other significantly--only the cheap ones destroyed; why should a wolverine show such discrimination?
There was no positive sign of wolverine; in fact, the icy snow gave no sign of anything.