LONE WOLF 253 



at a nominal wage, and within six months 

 found himself an acknowledged indispensable. 

 In less than a year he had become a well- 

 known trainer, employed in one of the biggest 

 menageries of America. Not only for his 

 wonderful comprehension and command of 

 animals was he noted, but also for his pose, 

 to which he clung obstinately, of giving his 

 performances always in the homespun garb 

 of a backwoodsman, instead of in the con- 

 ventional evening dress. 



" Lone Wolf ! " It seemed a somewhat 

 imaginative name for the prison-born whelp, 

 but as he grew out of cub-hood his character 

 and his stature alike seemed to justify it. 

 Influenced by the example of his gentle 

 foster-mother, he was docility itself toward 

 his tamer, whom he came to love well after 

 the reticent fashion of his race. But toward 

 all others, man and beast alike, his reserve 

 was cold and dangerous. Toomey, appar- 

 ently, absorbed all the affection which his 

 lonely nature had to spare. In return for 

 this singleness of regard, Toomey trained 

 him with a firm patience which never forgot 

 to be kind ; and made him, by the time he 

 was three years old, quite the cleverest and 

 most distinguished performing wolf who had 

 ever adorned a show. 



