motionless, his head low, his
broad and massive antlers thrust forward, his feet planted firmly and
apart. Ominous in his stillness, he waited till his light-stepping and
debonair adversary was within twenty feet of him. Then, with an
explosive blowing through his nostrils, he launched himself forward to
the attack.

Following the customary tactics of his kind, the second bull lowered
his antlers to receive the charge. But in the last fraction of a
breath before the crash, he changed his mind. Leaping aside with a
lightning alertness more like the action of a red buck than that of a
caribou, he just evaded the shock. At the same time two of the spiky
prongs of one antler ripped a long gash down his opponent's flank.

Amazed at this departure from the usual caribou tactics, and smarting
with the anguish of that punishing stroke, the white bull whirled in
his tracks, and charged again, blind with fury. The slim stranger had
already turned, and awaited him again, with lowered antlers in
readiness, close by the edge of the wallow. This time he seemed
determined to meet the shock squarely according to the rules of the
game--which apparently demand that the prowess of a caribou bull shall
be determined by his pushing power. But again he avoided, leaping
aside as if on springs; and again his sharp prongs furrowed his
enemy's flank. With a grunt of rage the latter plunged on into the
wallow, where he slipped forward upon his knees.

Had the newcomer been a little more resourceful he might now have
taken his adversary at a terrible disadvantage, and won an easy
victory. But he hesitated, being too much enamoured of his own method
of fighting; and in the moment of hesitation opportunity passed him
by. The white bull, recovering himself with suddenly awakened agility,
was on his feet and on guard again in an instant.

These two disastrous experiences, however, had added wariness and
wisdom to the great bull's fighting rage. His wound, his momentary
discomfiture, had opened his arrogant eyes to the fact that his
antagonist was a dangerous one. He stood vigilant and considering for
a few seconds, no longer with his feet planted massively for a
resistless rush, but balanced, and all his forces gathered well in
hand; while his elusive foe stepped lightly and tauntingly from side
to side before him, threateningly.

When the white bull made up his mind to attack again, instead of
charging madly to swab his foe off the earth, he m