LONE WOLF 255 



kept the air of having never yielded up his 

 spirit, of being always, in some way, not 

 the slave but the free collaborator. 



Ordinarily, in spite of the wild fire smoul- 

 dering in his veins, Lone Wolf was well enough 

 content. The show was so big and so im- 

 portant that it was accustomed to visit 

 only the great centres and to make long 

 stops at each place. At such times his life 

 contained some measure of freedom. He 

 would be given a frequent chance of exercise 

 in some secure enclosure where he could run, 

 and jump, and stretch his mighty muscles, 

 and breathe deep. And not infrequently 

 after dark as a rule his master would snap 

 a massive chain upon his collar, and lead 

 him out, on leash like a dog, into the verdur- 

 ous freshness of park or country lane. But 

 when the show was on tour, then it was very 

 different. Lone Wolf hated fiercely the nar- 

 row cage in which he had to travel. He 

 hated the harsh, incessant noise of the grind- 

 ing rails, the swaying and lurching of the 

 trucks, the dizzying procession of the land- 

 scape past the barred slits which served as 

 windows to his car. Moreover, sometimes 

 the unwieldy length of the circus train would 

 be halted for an hour or two on some forest 

 siding, to let the regular traffic of the line 



