io6 



We mite Wolft 

 X^* hunting 



at the strange blanket that covered the rough 

 places of earth so softly and made their light 

 footsteps more noiseless than before. For to 

 be noiseless and inconspicuous, and so in 

 harmony with his surroundings, is the first 

 desire of every creature of the vast solitudes. 

 Meeting the wolves now, as they roamed 

 wild and free over the great range, one 

 would hardly have recognized the little 

 brown creatures that he saw playing about 

 the den where the trail began. The cubs 

 were already noble-looking brutes, larger 

 than the largest husky dog; and the parents 

 were taller, with longer legs and more mass- 

 ive heads and powerful jaws, than any great 

 timber-wolf. A tremendous vitality thrilled 

 in them from nose to paw tips. Their great 

 bodies, as they lay quiet in the snow with 

 heads raised and hind legs bent under them, 

 were like powerful engines, tranquil under 

 enormous pressure ; and when they rose the 

 movement was like the quick snap of a steel 

 spring. Indeed, half the ordinary movements 

 of Wayeeses are so quick that the eye can- 

 not follow them. One instant a wolf would 



WTfcv 



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