LONE WOLF 261 



They did not go deep enough to do him serious 

 harm ; but they hurt enough to teach him 

 that men were dangerous. Thereupon, he 

 swerved from the uncompromising straight 

 line of his flight, and made for the waste 

 places. When the light of the fire had quite 

 died out behind him the first of the dawn was 

 creeping up the sky ; and by this time he had 

 come to a barren region of low thickets, 

 ragged woods, and rocks thrusting up through 

 a meagre, whitish soil. 



Till the sun was some hours high Lone 

 Wolf pressed on, his terror of the fire now 

 lost in a sense of delighted freedom. By 

 this time he was growing hungry, and for 

 an instant the impulse seized him to turn 

 back and seek his master. But no, that 

 way lay the scorching of the flames. Instead 

 of turning, he ran on all the faster. Suddenly 

 a rabbit bounded up, almost beneath his nose. 

 Hitherto he had never tasted living prey, 

 but with a sure instinct he sprang after the 

 rabbit . To his fierce disappointment, however, 

 the nimble little beast was so inconsiderate 

 as to take refuge in a dense bramble-thicket 

 which he could not penetrate. His muzzle, 

 smarting and tender from the fire, could not 

 endure the harsh prickles, so after prowling 

 about the thicket for a half hour in the wist- 



