sition,
and his father the half-breed son of a Great Dane and a she-wolf. He is
the fiercest and most bloodthirsty beast in the whole pack, he hates me
with the intense hatred of his wolfish nature, he hates me because he
knows that I am the master of the pack, the real leader, and he is
jealous. Since his puppy days he has watched for a chance to kill me;
twice he nearly succeeded--the time will no doubt come when it will be
his life or mine. Yet because of his wonderful strength, endurance and
sagacity, I could almost love him.

"His breed does not want to recognize any master. But _I am_ his
master!" cried the Wild Hunter as his eyes flashed and he struck himself
on his chest, "and he knows it. The only way, however, that I keep my
power over him and his pack is by forcing myself to think every time I
speak to them, now I am going to _kill you_, and brutes though they are
they can read my mind and fear me. Besides which self-interest helps a
little towards their loyalty. With me for a leader there is always a
kill at the end of the hunt, and they know that they come in for a share
of the food.

"Sometimes I fear the wolves will break loose and attack my Indians,
which I would very much regret, for the Redmen are faithful fellows and
we form a happy community. The Indians look upon me as Big Medicine
because I can control these medicine wolves."

Big Pete looked at the man with open admiration, a man who by the sheer
power of his will could control a band of wolves, any one of which was
powerful enough to kill an ox, certainly was a man to please the wild
nature of Big Pete. "But," said Pete, "you say Pluto has helped you.
How?" he asked.

"How," exclaimed the Wild Hunter, "why, gentlemen, by governing the pack
as savage as himself. The pack is the secret of my whole success; my
power over them first won the allegiance of the Indians, won their
admiration and their respect. They know that I could turn those wolves
upon them at any moment, but they also know that I would not think of
doing such an act and they are human and love me; the wolves are brutes
and not susceptible to kindness. The wolves hate the Redmen as they hate
me, but they supplied us all with food, they secured for us our winter
meat while the men worked to build houses and clear the land, and thus
made it possible for us to start this settlement. They even acted as
pack animals for us, each of them carrying as much as seventy pounds in
weight on