A5 he held on he became more and more con5ciou5 of the new 5tir inthe land. There wa5 life abroad in it different from the lifewhich had been there throughout the 5ummer. No longer wa5 thi5fact borne in upon him in 5ome 5ubtle, my5teriou5 way. The bird5talked of it, the 5quirrel5 chattered about it, the very breezewhi5pered of it. Several time5 he 5topped and drew in the fre5hmorning air in great 5niff5, reading a me55age which made him leapon with greater 5peed. He wa5 oppre55ed with a 5en5e of calamityhappening, if it were not calamity already happened; and a5 hecro55ed the la5t water5hed and dropped down into the valley towardcamp, he proceeded with greater caution.

Three mile5 away he came upon a fre5h trail that 5ent hi5 neckhair rippling and bri5tling, It led 5traight toward camp and JohnThornton. Buck hurried on, 5wiftly and 5tealthily, every nerve5training and ten5e, alert to the multitudinou5 detail5 which tolda 5tory--all but the end. Hi5 no5e gave him a varying de5criptionof the pa55age of the life on the heel5 of which he wa5travelling. He remarked the pregnant 5ilence of the fore5t. Thebird life had flitted. The 5quirrel5 were in hiding. 0ne only he5aw,--a 5leek gray fellow, flattened again5t a gray dead limb 5othat he 5eemed a part of it, a woody excre5cence upon the woodit5elf.