hese blood-thirsters from
the trail.

"Hurry a little," panted the Wolf from behind. "Gallop, Lone Dog;
gallop, brave Pups; the scent grows strong, and we need light for
our work."

A'tim stretched his thin limbs in eager chase; at his shoulder
now raced the Wolf Pups; the blood fever crept stronger and
stronger into the hot hearts of the Gray Runners. Short yelps
of hungry exultation broke from their dry throats; it was like
the tolling of a death bell; first one and then the other,
"Oo-oo-ooh-ooh!" The dry leaves scurried under their feet,
swirled up by the wind from their rushing bodies. Poplar bluff,
and jack-pine knoll, and spruce thicket, and open patch of
rosebush-matted plain flitted by like the tide of a landscape
through which an express speeds.

Why had this silly Cow and effete old Bull traveled so far? A'tim
wondered. Would they never overtake them?

Suddenly a vibrating bellow echoed through the forest and halted
the Wolf Runners.

"It's the Bull!" cried A'tim triumphantly. "Now, Brothers, we
shall feast. Have I not spoken the truth?"

On again sped the four Killers--the four that were eager of
blood; on through the thicket, and with suddenness out upon a
plain that had been fire-swept years before--a plain wide, and
void of poplar, or spruce, or cottonwood. Only the grass plain,
and on the plain seven Buffalo; a waiting crescent of seven huge
heads lined in symmetrical defense; a little in front old Shag,
and behind, shoulder to shoulder, the others. With a cry of
dismay, A'tim stopped.

"A trick--a trap!" yelped the Wolf.

"I did not know of these," whined A'tim; "but it is nothing. If
we charge boldly they will stampede."

"They will fight," answered the Wolf. "No charge will break a
Wolf Pack, and it will be that way with these, I think."

"The Buffalo are different," lied A'tim. He knew better, but it
was his only hope. Well he knew that if there were no attack his
New Comrades would surely eat him. In the battle many things
might come to pass, his Dog wisdom said; the Wolves might be
killed, or prodded full of a sufficiency of fight; the Buffalo
might stampede, being new to Shag's leadership; or, when the
combat was heavy, he could steal away if he saw it going against
them. Also his desire for revenge on Shag was a potent factor.

"They will surely break if we charge with strength," he declared:
"they are Cows, having no Calves to guard, and each will think
only of her own safety w