They followed the river in a north easterly direction as it came to the foot of the mountains. At the back of the valley the mountains form a sort of bowl and it was in this area that Uncle Tok and Konosak had encountered gnomes all those years ago. They hiked all day, heading into the mountains on an ever increasing upward slope. They came to a lake where they would camp for the night. They were all in good shape but they were exhausted by dinner. It was growing dark as they pitched their tents and built a fire.
They had seen no sign of gnomes. A clattering came from the far side of the hill as a bull caribou ran perhaps a hundred yards in front of them and over the ridge line at the foot of the mountain, only to be followed about 10 minutes later by a white wolf, hot on its tra
