mselves. On
his back, held down by the weight of bodies, Miki drove his fangs again
and again into flesh. A pair of jaws seized him in the groin, and a
shock of agony swept through him. It was a death-grip, sinking steadily
into his vitals. Just in time another pair of jaws seized the wolf who
held him, and the hold in his groin gave way. In that moment Miki felt
himself plunging down the steep side of the knoll, and after him came a
half of what was left alive of the pack.

The fighting devils in Miki's brain gave way all at once to that
cunning of the fox which had served him even more than claw and fang in
times of great danger. Scarcely had he reached the plain before he was
on his feet, and no sooner had he touched his feet than he was off like
the wind in direction of the river. He had gained a fifty-yard start
before the first of the wolves discovered his flight. There were only
eight that followed him now. Of the thirteen mad beasts five were dead
or dying at the foot of the hillock. Of these Miki had slain two. The
others had fallen at the fangs of their own brethren.

Half a mile away were the steep cliffs of the river, and at the edge of
these cliffs was a great cairn of rocks in which for one night Miki had
sought shelter. He had not forgotten the tunnel into the tumbled mass
of rock debris, nor how easily it could be defended from within. Once
in that tunnel he would turn in the door of it and slaughter his
enemies one by one, for only one by one could they attack him. But he
had not reckoned with that huge gray form behind him that might have
been named Lightning, the fiercest and swiftest of all the mad wolves
of the pack. He sped ahead of his slower-footed companions like a
streak of light, and Miki had made but half the distance to the cairn
when he heard the panting breath of Lightning behind him. Even Hela,
his father, could not have run more swiftly than Miki, but great as was
Miki's speed, Lightning ran more swiftly. Two thirds of the distance to
the cliff and the huge wolf's muzzle was at Miki's flank. With a burst
of speed Miki gained a little. Then steadily Lightning drew abreast of
him, a grim and merciless shadow of doom.

A hundred yards farther on and a little to the right was the cairn. But
Miki could not run to the right without turning into Lightning's jaws,
and he realized now that if he reached the cairn his enemy would be
upon him before he could dive into the tunnel and face about. T