White Fang

first tospring away from the cornered man in his circle of dying flame. The packhad been loath to forego the kill it had hunted do

the heels ofthe she-wolf. It was he who snarled warningly at the younger members ofthe pack or slashed at them with his fangs when the

. Onthe contrary, he seemed kindly disposed toward her - too kindly to suit her,for he was prone to run near to her, and when he ran too near it was shewho snarled and showed her teeth. Nor was she above slash

her, to veering toward her till his scarred muzzletouched her body, or shoulder, or neck. As with the running mate on theleft, she repelled these attentions with her teeth; but when both bestowedtheir attentions at the same time she was roughly jostled, being compelled,with quick snaps to either side, to drive both l

ssessed more than the average vigour and spirit. Nevertheless, he ranwith his head even with the shoulder of his one-eyed elder. When heventured to run abreast of the older wolf (which was seldom), a snarl and asnap sent him back even with the shoulder again. Sometimes, however, hedropped caut

f the moving pack always caused confusion in the rear. The wolvesbehind collided with the young wolf and expressed their displeasure byadministering sharp nips on his hind-legs and flanks. He was laying uptrouble for hims

ace, and the pack-formation would have been broken up. But thesituat

s than full-bodied wolves. Nevertheless, with theexception of the ones that limped, the movements of the animals wereeftortless and tireless. Their stringy muscles see

g over the surface of aworld frozen and dead. No life stirred. They alone moved through the vastinertness. They alone

ted antlers they knew, and they flung their customarypatience and caution to the wind. It was a brief fight and fierce. The bigbull was beset on every side. He ripped them open or split their skulls withshrewdly driven blows of his great hoofs. He crushed them and brokethem on his large horns.

r the forty-odd wolves of thepack. But if they could fast prodigiously, they could feed prodigiously, andsoon a

ugh the few days that followed before the breaking-up ofthe pack. The famine was over. The wolves were now in the country ofgame, and though

t directions. The she-wolf, the young leader onher left, and the one-eyed elder on her right, le

the marks of her teeth. Yet they never replied in kind, neverdefended themselves against her. They turned their shoulders to her mostsavage slashes, and with wagging tails and mincing steps strove to placateher wrath. But if they were all mildness toward her, they were allfierceness toward one another. The three-year-old grew too ambitious inhis fierceness. He caught the one-e

tacked the ambitious three-year-old and proceeded to destroy him. He was beset on either side by themerciless fangs of his erstwhile comrades. Forgotten were the days theyhad hunted together, th

s and watched. She was even pleased. This washer day - and it came not often - when manes bri

elded up his life. On either side of his body stoodhis two rivals. They were gazing at the she- wo

al. With his one eye the eldersaw the opportunity. He darted in low and closed with his fangs. It was along, ripping

ughing, already stricken, he sprang at theelder and fought while life faded from him, his legs going w

e battle, for this was the love- makingof the Wild, the sex-tragedy of the natural world that was tra

, and he was just as plainlysurprised when her teeth did not flash out at him in anger. For the firsttime she met him with a kindly manner. She sniffed noses with him, andeven condesce

s. Then it was that his lips halfwrithed into a snarl, and the hair of his neck and shoulders involuntarilybristled, while he half crouched for a spring, his claws spasmodically

ss. She seemed to be searching for something that she couldnot find. The hollows under fallen trees seemed to attract her, and shespent much time nosing about among the larger snow-piled crevices in therocks and in the caves of over

often to hunt game along the small streams that entered it, but alwaysreturning to it again. Sometimes they chanced upon other wolves, usuallyin

. These were always males,and they were pressing

th him,bristling and showing her teeth, the aspiring solitary

he held up, after the manner ofa dog. He was not satisfied, and he continued to smell the air, striving tounderstand the message borne upon it to him. One careless sniff hadsatisfi

ime she stood alone. Then One Eye, creeping andcrawling, every sense on the alert, every hair rad

h the exception of the huge bulks ofthe skin-lodges, little could be seen save the flames of the fire, broken bythe movements of intervening bodies, and the smoke rising slowly on t

turned. and touched his neck with her muzzlein a reassuring way, then regarded the camp again. A new wistfulness wasin her face, but it was not the wistfulness of hunger. S

eed to find the thing for which shesearched. She turned and trotted back into the forest, to the great

the moonlight, they cameupon a run-way. Both

contactwith the snow were like velvet. One Eye caught sight of a dim movementof white in the midst of the white. His sliding gait had been

was rapidlyoverhauling the fleeing shape of white. Bound by bound he gained. Nowhe was upon it. One leap more and his teeth would be sinking into it. Butthat leap was never made. High in the

e did notunderstand. But the she-wolf coolly thrust past him. She poised for amoment, then sprang for the dancing rabbit. She, too, soa

relaxed from his crouc

iouscrackling movement beside him, and his astonished eye saw a youngspruce sapling bending down above him to strike him. His jaws let go theirgrip, and he leaped backward to escape this strange danger, his

, ripping downthe side of the she-wolf's muzzle. For him to resent such reproof wasequally unexpected to her, and she sprang upon him in snarlingindignation. Then he discovered his mistake and tried

he kept his eye on the sapling. As before, itfollowed him back to earth. He crouched down under the impending blow,his hair bristling, but his teeth still keeping tight hold of the rabbit. But theblow did not fall. The sapling remained bent

imself. She took the rabbit from him, and while the sapling swayed andt

us and perpendicular position in which nature hadintended it to grow. Then, between them,

rospected them all, the she-wolf leading theway, old One Eye following and observant, learning t