LITTLE BULL OF THE BARRENS 191 



bull. To either side of him the shaggy 

 black heads breathed hard or snorted loudly, 

 but not a horn wavered. And in the face of 

 this steadfastness the attack was not driven 

 home. In the very last fraction of a second 

 the leader swerved ; the pack swept swiftly 

 aside, but it was very close. As the hindmost 

 wolf went by, the old bull lunged forward, 

 head and shoulders beyond the circle, with a 

 savage twist of his short polished horns. 

 There was a startled yelp. He had just 

 managed to catch his foe a rending prod in 

 the thick of the haunch. The wolf never 

 paused he was under the iron discipline of 

 the pack but as he ran, he left a scarlet trail 

 along the snow behind him. 



To the slow amazement of the herd, their 

 enemies now, in the next instant, had van- 

 ished through the thin whirl of the drift. 

 Heavy heads, thrust far out from the phalanx, 

 turned to stare after them. There was nothing 

 to be seen but the endless, sheeted procession 

 of the snow. There was nothing to be heard 

 but the muffled rush of the wind and their 

 own snortings and tramplings. For a long 

 time, however, they kept their array unbroken, 

 fearing a trick on the part of their adver- 

 saries. Then at last the old bull, after 

 sniffing the wind in all directions with up- 



