al husky mind, you never could tell from one moment to another
when the rabble would unite. He knew himself surrounded by enemies. Go
where he would, hackles were raised, lips curled back, and glaring eyes
were fastened upon him. It was small wonder if, as week after week went
by, he became nervous, irritable, and depressed.

Among all his foes, the one of whom he stood most in dread, was a big
dog called Stickchi. He was a surly, sour-tempered, evil-eyed brute whom
none of the other huskies dared to face, but whom they nevertheless
regarded as one of the leaders of the pack. Stealing, fighting, and
bullying were accomplishments which had earned for Stickchi this
position of authority, and he took a constant delight in showing his
power. It was he who had led the attack on Kiopo's arrival in the camp,
and now he hated him with a murderous hatred. Kiopo returned the hate in
full, though he stood too much in awe of the great bully to venture to
attack him when they met. The principal thing that enraged Stickchi was
that, while the other huskies at once got out of his way as their
acknowledged master, Kiopo only avoided him at the last possible moment
after he had fully expressed his feelings by drawing back his lips from
his dangerous teeth in a defiant snarl. Then, when infuriated beyond
measure by this open defiance of his authority, the bully charged his
foe, Kiopo, leaping lightly aside, would seem to send his supple body
floating through the air, and land a dozen feet away, only to crouch for
a new spring, and bare those evil-looking teeth as before.

Yet in spite of his defiance, Kiopo harboured a great uneasiness at the
back of his mind, for his keen wolf-intelligence told him that sooner or
later, the day must come when the contest for mastery could be no longer
postponed, and that the struggle would be a fight to the death.

Dusty Star, for all his vigilance, did not fully understand. He could
not think why it was that Kiopo generally kept so close to the tepee,
and rarely ventured any distance away unless he went with him. This was
because Stickchi was as cunning as he was cowardly. Whenever he saw
Kiopo with any one of the family he did not attempt to attack him, but
contented himself with growling deep in his hairy chest, and looking
very ugly. Like many other bullies, he was easily frightened, and he
never forgot one particular experience when Kiopo had been busily
gnawing an elkbone behind the tepee. Stickc