Chapter 1<br >The Trail of the Meat<br >Dark spruce forest frowned on either side of the<br >frozen waterway. The trees had been stripped by a<br >tcccm wind o! ~heir whiw cove~ing of frost， and<br >lhey seemed to lean toward each other， black and<br >ominous， in the fading light. A vast silence<br >reigned over the land. The land itself was a<br >desolation， lifeless， without movement， so lone<br >and cold that the spirit of it was not even that of<br >sadness. There was a hint in it of laughter， but of a<br >laughter more terrible than any sadness--a<br >laughter that was mirthless as the smile of the<br >Sphinx， a laughter cold as the frost and partaking<br >of the grimness of infallibility. It was the<br >masterful and incommunicable wisdom of<br >eternity laughing at the futility of life and the<br >effort of life. It was the Wild， the savage， frozen-<br >hearted Northland Wild.<br >