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end of the line, rarely hunting themselves, 

 but drawing the nearest cub's attention to 

 any game they had discovered, and then 

 moving silently to one side and a little ahead 

 to watch the result. When the cub rushed 

 and missed, and the startled rabbit went fly- 

 ing away, whirling to left or right as rabbits 

 always do, there would be a lightning change" 

 at the end of the line. A terrific rush, a snap 

 of the long jaws like a steel trap, — then the 

 old wolf would toss back the rabbit with 

 a broken back for the cub to finish him. 

 Not till the cubs first, and then the mother, 

 had satisfied their hunger would the old he- 

 wolf hunt for himself. Then he would dis- 

 appear, and they would not see him for days 

 at a time, until food was scarce and they 

 needed him once more. 



One day, when the cubs were hungry and 

 food scarce because of their persistent hunt- 

 ing near the den, the mother brought them 

 to the edge of a dense thicket where rab- 

 bits were plentiful enough, but where the 

 cover was so thick that they could not follow 

 the frightened game for an instant. The old 



