t was being cooked,
one of the Lapps said to me, "We dread the wolves. No animal is as
cunning as a wolf when he is hungry, and the Chief of the Pack is chosen
by them as their leader because he is the most cunning of them all."

"What do you mean," I asked, "by the Chief of the Pack being chosen?"

He replied, "The wolves are very intelligent, and they choose their
leader just as people do. They select the one among them that can lead
them where there is prey."

Then he added, with a tone of sadness in his voice: "Our life is one of
constant vigilance, and old and young are continually on the lookout for
wolves. We have not suffered from them for three years, but they may
appear suddenly at any moment when we think they are far away. When
wolves attack our herds the reindeer scatter in great fright in every
direction to long distances, and we have very hard work in bringing them
together again. When they have once been attacked by the wolves they
become very suspicious, and take fright easily, and at the least alarm
run away. After their flight they roam in small bodies without any one
to watch over them, or dogs to look out for their enemies, and they
become an easy prey to the wolves. Sometimes the herd is destroyed, and
the rich Lapp becomes suddenly poor. Yes," he added with flashing eyes,
and in a loud tone, "the wolves are our greatest enemies. We kill them
whenever we can."

He remained thoughtful for a little while and then proceeded: "Reindeer
bulls have more fight in them than the females, and sometimes fight
successfully one wolf; but what can they do against a pack of them? Our
life is a hard one indeed when wolves are around, for we have to be
constantly on the watch night and day. The wolves are so wary that they
always approach a reindeer or a herd of them when the wind blows from
the herd towards them, so that neither dogs nor reindeer can scent
them."

"I hope," I said to myself, "that I shall see bull reindeer fight some
of these treacherous wolves and get the better of them; besides I will
make them taste my buckshot, and kill them before the poor reindeer is
overpowered."

After this conversation we went on our skees to scour the country for
wolves, but there were none to be seen, and we returned in time for our
dinner.

The following day, as we stood in front of our tent watching the sun
above the horizon, we saw in the distance a black speck coming over the
snow. We watched! What could it