White Fang

ce, the darkness, andthe cold with spirits that were fairly light. Bill seemed to have forgottenhis forebodings of the

rock, and they were forced to unharnessthe dogs in order to straighten out the tangle. The tw

cried, straightening up a

denly cautious. Heslowed down to an alert and mincing walk and then stopped. He regardedher carefully and dubiously, yet desirefully. She seemed to smile at him,showing her teeth in an ingrati

s with her, but she retr

from the security of hishuman companionship. Once, as though a warning had in vague waysflitted through his intelligence

e-wolf, who advanced upon him, sniffed noses with him for a fleetingi

h the overturned sled, and by the time Henry had helpedhim to right the load, One E

lves, lean and grey, bounding across the snow. On the instant,the she-wolf's coyness and playfulness disappeared. With a snarl shesprang upon One Ear. He thrust her off with his shoulder, and, his retreatcut off and st

ry suddenly demanded, laying

rush that lined the side of thetrail. His intention was apparent enough. Taking the sled as the centre ofthe circle that One Ear was making, Bill planned t

gand disappearing amongst the underbrush and the scattered clumps ofspruce, could be seen One Ear. Henry judged his case to be hopeless. Thedog was thoroughly alive to its danger, but it was running on the outerc

yknew that the wolf-pack, One Ear, and Bill were coming together. All tooquickly, far more quickly than he had expected, it happened. He he

crythat bespoke a stricken animal. And that was all. The snarls ceased.

hough it had taken placebefore his eyes. Once, he roused with a start and hastily got the axe outfrom underneath t

assed a rope over his shoulder, a man-trace, and pulled with the dogs. Hedid not go far. At the first hint of darkness he hastened to make a

them. They were all about him and the fire, in a narrow circle,and he could see them plainly in the firelight lying down, sitting up,crawling forward on their be

or protection, cryingand whimpering, and at times snarling desperately when a wolfapproached a little closer than usual. At such moments, when his dogssnarled, the whole circle would be agitated, the w

ng forward, the circle would narrow until the brutes were almostwithin springing distance. Then he would seize brands from the fire andhurl them into th

olf-pack drew back, he set about the task hehad planned through the long hours of the night. Chopping down youngsaplings, he made them cross-bars of a scaffold by lashi

y'll sure never get you,young man," he said, a

y open in the gaining of FortMcGurry. The wolves were now more open in their pursuit, trottingsedately behind and rang

rings for muscles - so lean that Henry found it in his mind to marvel th

the southern horizon, but it even thrust its upper rim, pale and golden,a

an he went into camp. There were still several hours of grey daylight andsom

between hisknees, and on either side a dog pressing close against him. He awoke onceand saw in front of him, not a dozen feet away, a big grey wolf, one of thelargest of the pack. And even as he looked, the

lmly sleeping in the snow. Theyreminded him of children gathered about a spread table and awaitingpermis

his moving muscles andwas interested in the cunning mechanism of his fingers. By the light of thefire he crooked his fi

thatworked so beautifully and smoothly and delicately. Then he would cast aglance of fear at the wolf-circle drawn expectantly about him, and like ablow the realisation would strike him that this wonderful body of

at his feet, but she took no notice of them. She was looking atthe man, and for some time he returned her look. There was nothingthreatening about her. She looked at him merely with a great wistfulness,but he knew it to be

ng, being replacedby a carnivorous malignity that made him shudder. He glanced at the handthat held the brand, noticing the cunning delicacy of the fingers thatgripped it, how they adjusted themselves to all the inequalities of thesurface, curling over and under and about the rough wood, and one littlefinger, too close to the burning portion of

arousedhim. Morning came, but for the first time the light of day failed to scatterthe wolves. The man waited in vain for them to go.

him, butleaped short. He saved himself by springing back, the jaws snappingtogether a scant six inches from his thigh. The rest of the p

e did not dare leave the

ree, at any moment a half dozen burningfaggots ready at hand to fling at his enemies. Once at the t

g of his dogs was losing itsefficacy. Besides, they were snarling all the time, and his benumbed anddrowsy senses no

snarling mouth. She sprang away, yelling with pain, andwhile he took delight in the smell of bur

wakened him. For several hours he adhered to thisprogramme. Every time he was thus awakened he drove back the wolveswith flying brands, replenished the fire, and r

paused from the gameto listen and laugh at the futile efforts of the wolves to get in. And then, sostrange was the dream, there was a crash. The door was burst open. Hecould see the wolves flooding into the big living-room of the fort. Theywere leaping straight

ad closed upon his arm. Instinctively heleaped into the fire, and as he leaped, he felt the sharp slash of teeth thattore through the flesh of his leg. Then began a fire

t. With a flaming brand in each hand, he sprang to theedge of the fire. The wolves had been driven back. On every side,wherever the live coals had fallen

d as a coursein the protracted meal which had begun days before with Fatty, the lastcourse of which would likely be himself in the days to follow "You ain't got me yet!" he cried, savagely shaking his fi

helter of flame, the whole pack camecuriously to the rim of the fire to see what had become of him. Hithertothey had been denied access to the fire, and they now settled down in aclose-drawn circle, like so many dogs, blinking and yawning andstret

surged to meet him. Burning brands madethem spring aside, but they no longer sprang back. In vain he strove todrive them back. As he gave up and stumbled inside his circle,

ed and drooping, and hishead on his knees advertised that he had given up the struggle. Now andagain he raised his hea

rew in size, the s

,I'm goin' to sleep."Once he awakened, and in an opening in the c

r awake. Something had happened. He could not understandat first. Then he discovered it. The wolves were gone. Remained only thetrampled snow to show h

ed in from theriver bed to the camp among the trees. Half a dozen men were about theman who crouched in the centre of the dying fire

the dog-food. . . . Then she ate the dogs. . . . An' after that she ateBill. . .

't eat him. . . . He's roostin' ina tree

shoulder petulantlyaway from the grip of his q

night, everybody."His eyes fluttered and we

own upon the blankets his snor

e remotedistance, the cry of the hungry wolf-pack as it to