22 



Were ^e Trail 

 begins 



his mate. He runs at the slightest show of 

 teeth from a mother wolf half his size, and will 

 stand meekly a snap of the jaws or a cruel gash 

 of the terrible fangs in his flank without de- 

 fending himself. Even our hounds seem to 

 have inherited something of this primitive 

 wolf trait, for there are seasons when, unless 

 urged on by men, they will not trouble a 

 mother wolf or fox. Many times, in the early 

 spring when foxes are mating, and again later 

 when they are heavy with young and incapa- 

 ble of a hard run, I have caught my hounds 

 trotting meekly after a mother fox, sniffing 

 her trail indifferently and sitting down with 

 heads turned aside when she stops for a 

 moment to watch and yap at them disdain- 

 fully. And when you call them they come 

 shamefaced ; though in winter-time, when 

 running the same fox to death, they pay no 

 more heed to your call than to the crows 

 clamoring over them. But we must return 

 to Wayeeses, sitting over her den on a great 

 gray rock, trying every breeze, searching every 

 movement, harking to every chirp and rustle 

 before bringing her cubs out into the world. 



