Part 2 (1/2)
”They've half got you a'ready, a-talkin' like that,” Henry retorted sharply ”A man's half licked when he says he is An' you're half eaten froot aith better men than you an' me,” Bill answered
”Oh, shet up your croakin' You rily on his side, but was surprised that Bill made no similar display of teered by sharp words Henry thought long over it before he went to sleep, and as his eyelids fluttered down and he dozed off, the thought in his hty blue I'll have to cheer him up to-morrow”
CHAPTER III
--THE HUNGER CRY
The day began auspiciously They had lost no dogs during the night, and they swung out upon the trail and into the silence, the darkness, and the cold with spirits that were fairly light Bill seeht, and even waxed facetious with the dogs when, at midday, they overturned the sled on a bad piece of trail
It was an aard mix-up The sled was upside down and jae rock, and they were forced to unharness the dogs in order to straighten out the tangle The two ht it, when Henry observed One Ear sidling away
”Here, you, One Ear!” he cried, straightening up and turning around on the dog
But One Ear broke into a run across the snow, his traces trailing behind him And there, out in the snow of their back track, was the she-aiting for him As he neared her, he beca walk and then stopped He regarded her carefully and dubiously, yet desirefully She see rather than away She moved toward him a few steps, playfully, and then halted One Ear drew near to her, still alert and cautious, his tail and ears in the air, his head held high
He tried to sniff noses with her, but she retreated playfully and coyly Every advance on his part was acco retreat on her part Step by step she was luring him away froh a warning had in vague ways flitted through his intelligence, he turned his head and looked back at the overturned sled, at his tea to hi in his mind, was dissipated by the she-wolf, who advanced upon hi instant, and then resumed her coy retreat before his renewed advances
In the ht himself of the rifle But it was jammed beneath the overturned sled, and by the tiht the load, One Ear and the she-ere too close together and the distance too great to risk a shot
Too late One Ear learned his mistake Before they saw the cause, the two men saw hi at right angles to the trail and cutting off his retreat they saw a dozen wolves, lean and grey, bounding across the snow On the instant, the she- wolf's coyness and playfulness disappeared With a snarl she sprang upon One Ear He thrust her off with his shoulder, and, his retreat cut off and still intent on regaining the sled, he altered his course in an atte everyin the chase The she-as one leap behind One Ear and holding her own
”Where are you goin'?” Henry suddenly de his hand on his partner's arm
Bill shook it off ”I won't stand it,” he said ”They ain't a-goin' to get any s if I can help it”
Gun in hand, he plunged into the underbrush that lined the side of the trail His intention was apparent enough Taking the sled as the centre of the circle that One Ear was , Bill planned to tap that circle at a point in advance of the pursuit With his rifle, in the broad daylight, it
”Say, Bill!” Henry called after him ”Be careful! Don't take no chances!”
Henry sat down on the sled and watched There was nothing else for hiain, appearing and disappearing ast the underbrush and the scattered clued 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 theain the sled
The different lines were rapidly approaching a point Soht by trees and thickets, Henry knew that the wolf-pack, One Ear, and Bill were coether 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 areat outcry of snarls and yelps He recognised One Ear's yell of pain and terror, and he heard a wolf-cry that bespoke a stricken ani died away Silence settled down again over the lonely land
He sat for a long while upon the sled There was no need for hih it had taken place before his eyes Once, he roused with a start and hastily got the axe out froer he sat and brooded, the two re at his feet
At last he arose in a weary one out of his body, and proceeded to fasten the dogs to the sled He passed a rope over his shoulder, a o far At the first hint of darkness he hastened to enerous supply of firewood He fed the dogs, cooked and ate his supper, and made his bed close to the fire
But he was not destined to enjoy that bed Before his eyes closed the wolves had drawn too near for safety It no longer required an effort of the vision to see them They were all about him and the fire, in a narrow circle, and he could see the forward on their bellies, or slinking back and forth They even slept Here and there he could see one curled up in the snow like a dog, taking the sleep that was now denied hi, for he knew that it alone intervened between the flesh of his body and their hungry fangs His two dogs stayed close by hiainst hi desperately when a wolf approached a little closer than usual At such itated, the wolves co tentatively forward, a chorus of snarls and eager yelps rising about hiain, and here and there a ould resume its broken nap
But this circle had a continuous tendency to draw in upon hi forward, and there a wolf bellying forward, the circle would narrow until the brutes were al distance Then he would seize brands fro back always resulted, accohtened snarls when a well-ai aniard and worn, wide-eyed from want of sleep He cooked breakfast in the darkness, and at nine o'clock, when, with the coht, the wolf-pack drew back, he set about the task he had planned through the long hours of the night Chopping down young saplings, he h up to the trunks of standing trees Using the sled-lashi+ng for a heaving rope, and with the aid of the dogs, he hoisted the coffin to the top of the scaffold
”They got Bill, an' theythe dead body in its tree-sepulchre
Then he took the trail, the lightened sled bounding along behind the willing dogs; for they, too, knew that safety lay open in the gaining of Fort McGurry The wolves were now ing along on either side, their red tongues lolling out, their lean sides showing the undulating ribs with every s stretched over bony fras for muscles--so lean that Henry found it in his mind to marvel that they still kept their feet and did not collapse forthright in the snow
He did not dare travel until dark At midday, not only did the sun warm the southern horizon, but it even thrust its upper riolden, above the sky-line He received it as a sign The days were growing longer The sun was returning But scarcely had the cheer of its light departed, than he went into caht and so an enorht ca bolder, but lack of sleep was telling upon Henry He dozed despite hi by the fire, the blankets about his shoulders, the axe between his knees, and on either side a dog pressing close against him He awoke once and saw in front of hiest of the pack And even as he looked, the brute deliberately stretched hi full in his face and looking upon him with a possessive eye, as if, in truth, he were merely a delayed meal that was soon to be eaten
This certitude was shown by the whole pack Fully a score he could count, staring hungrily at hi in the snow They reathered about a spread table and awaiting perin to eat And he was the food they were to eat! He wondered how and when the in
As he piled wood on the fire he discovered an appreciation of his own body which he had never felt before He watched hisht of the fire he crooked his fingers slowly and repeatedly now one at a tiripping er-tips, now sharply, and again softly, gauging the while the nerve-sensations produced It fascinated hirew suddenly fond of this subtle flesh of his that worked so beautifully and slance of fear at the wolf-circle drawn expectantly about him, and like a blow the realisation would strike hi flesh, was no more than so much meat, a quest of ravenous anis, to be sustenance to them as the moose and the rabbit had often been sustenance to hihtmare, to see the red-hued she- wolf before hi in the snow and wistfully regarding hi at his feet, but she took no notice of the at thethreatening about her She looked at hireat wistfulness, but he knew it to be the wistfulness of an equally great hunger He was the food, and the sight of hiustatory sensations Her mouth opened, the saliva drooled forth, and she licked her chops with the pleasure of anticipation
A spash him He reached hastily for a brand to throw at her But even as he reached, and before his fingers had closed on theback into safety; and he knew that she was used to having things thrown at her She had snarled as she sprang away, baring her white fangs to their roots, all her wistfulness vanishi+ng, being replaced by a carnivorous lanced at the hand that held the brand, noticing the cunning delicacy of the fingers that gripped it, how they adjusted the over and under and about the rough wood, and one little finger, too close to the burning portion of the brand, sensitively and autoripping-place; and in the same instant he seeers being crushed and torn by the white teeth of the she-wolf Never had he been so fond of this body of his as nohen his tenure of it was so precarious
All night, with burning brands, he fought off the hungry pack When he dozed despite his aroused hiht of day failed to scatter the wolves The o They reance of possession that shook his courage born of the ht
He made one desperate attempt to pull out on the trail But the moment he left the protection of the fire, the boldest wolf leaped for hi back, the jaws snapping together a scant six inches fro upon hiht and left was necessary to drive theht he did not dare leave the fire to chop fresh wood Twenty feet away towered a huge dead spruce He spent half the day extending his caots ready at hand to fling at his ene forest in order to fell the tree in the direction of the ht before, save that the need for sleep was beco its efficacy Besides, they were snarling all the tier took note of changing pitch and intensity He aith a start The she-as less than a yard froo of it, he thrust a brand full into her open and snarlingwith pain, and while he took delight in the s her head and growling wrathfully a score of feet away
But this ti pine-knot to his right hand His eyes were closed but few minutes when the burn of the flame on his flesh awakened hiramme Every ti brands, replenished the fire, and rearranged the pine-knot on his hand All worked well, but there came a time when he fastened the pine- knot insecurely As his eyes closed it fell away from his hand
He dreamed It seemed to him that he was in Fort McGurry It are with the Factor Also, it seeed by wolves They were howling at the very gates, and soah at the futile efforts of the wolves to get in And then, so strange was the dream, there was a crash The door was burst open He could see the wolves flooding into the big living-rooht for hi open of the door, the noise of their howling had increased treing into so hi
And then he awoke to find the howling real There was a great snarling and yelping The wolves were rushi+ng him They were all about him and upon him The teeth of one had closed upon his arm Instinctively he leaped into the fire, and as he leaped, he felt the sharp slash of teeth that tore through the flesh of his leg Then began a fire fight His stout mittens temporarily protected his hands, and he scooped live coals into the air in all directions, until the campfire took on the se His face was blistering in the heat, his eyebrows and lashes were singed off, and the heat was beco brand in each hand, he sprang to the edge of the fire The wolves had been driven back On every side, wherever the live coals had fallen, the snoas sizzling, and every little while a retiring wolf, ild leap and snort and snarl, announced that one such live coal had been stepped upon
Flinging his brands at the nearest of his ene mittens into the snow and sta, and he well knew that they had served as a course in the protracted un days before with Fatty, the last course of which would likely be hiot ry beasts; and at the sound of his voice the whole circle was agitated, there was a general snarl, and the she-wolf slid up close to hiry wistfulness
He set to work to carry out a new idea that had coe circle Inside this circle he crouched, his sleeping outfit under hi snow When he had thus disappeared within his shelter of flame, the whole pack came curiously to the rim of the fire to see what had become of him Hitherto they had been denied access to the fire, and they now settled down in a close-drawn circle, like sotheir lean bodies in the unaccustomed warmth Then the she- wolf sat down, pointed her nose at a star, and began to howl One by one the wolves joined her, till the whole pack, on haunches, with noses pointed skyward, was howling its hunger cry
Dawn ca low The fuel had run out, and there was need to get more The man atteed toaside, but they no longer sprang back In vain he strove to drive theave up and stumbled inside his circle, a wolf leaped for him, missed, and landed with all four feet in the coals It cried out with terror, at the sa, and scrambled back to cool its paws in the snow
Theposition His body leaned forward fro, and his head on his knees advertised that he had given up the struggle Now and again he raised his head to note the dying down of the fire The circle of flas in between These openings grew in size, the seget oin' to sleep”