ch for the wolf. Exhausted and
bleeding, he raised his voice in the rallying call of the pack. As the
call rang out over the silent wood the lynxes, knowing that they would
soon be hopelessly outnumbered, sprang clear. With great leaps they
vanished among the shadows of the forest, lost to sight even before the
foremost wolf appeared.

Thus when the members of the pack had gathered, they found, not the game
which they had anticipated, but only their leader, sorely wounded. The
winter had been a hard one, with food unusually scarce. The gaunt bodies
of the wolves gave evidence of their fast and their tempers had become
very uncertain. Accordingly the sight and smell of blood, though that of
one of their own number, almost drove them to a frenzy.

Gray Wolf, quickly perceiving the attitude of the pack, drew himself
painfully to a sitting posture on a large flat rock and from this
vantage point glared at his followers who had hitherto been obedient to
his will. And though he was old and wounded, the pack quailed for a time
before his glance. His advantage could not last, however. The others
soon grew restless, the circle of dark forms tightening in a menacing
way about the rock upon which the old leader crouched. Then a young wolf
who had long chafed under the leadership of Gray Wolf, sprang for a
throat hold.

Gray Wolf's mate was absent. There was none to defend him and, though he
would not have given up easily, there could have been but one ending to
the fight had not a strange interruption occurred. The young wolf was
suddenly hurled backward as from a catapult, his neck being broken as he
struck the ground, while upon the rock beside the old leader appeared a
great white wolf, fangs bared and eyes glowing with savage fire. For a
moment the pack stood aghast. Never had such a wolf been seen in all the
Little Vermilion country. With tails between their legs they retreated
to a safe distance where they paused, uncertain whether to stay or to
flee.

The white wolf, however, turned scornfully from them and looked down at
the wounded leader. Gray Wolf did not cower, nor did his staunch heart
fail him. He tried to rise, but the movement started the flow of blood
afresh and the next moment he sank back dead. The white wolf gazed at
him; then, standing upon the rock, he raised his muzzle to the stars
and sent out a long mournful howl which carried over miles of dark
wilderness and seemed the very embodiment of the night an