7 
Wayeeses the Strong One 
There was another long period of waiting; our eyes 
grew weary, filled as they were with shadows and uncer¬ 
tainties in the moonlight, and we turned our ears to the 
hills, waiting with strained, silent expectancy for the 
challenge. Suddenly Noel pointed upward and my eye 
caught something moving swiftly on the crest of the 
mountain. A shadow with the slinking trot of a wolf 
glided along the ridge between us and the moon. Just 
in front of us it stopped, leaped upon a big rock, turned 
a pointed nose up to the sky, sharp and clear as a fir top 
in the moonlight, and— ooooooo-ow-wow-wow! the ter¬ 
rible howl of a great white wolf tumbled down on the 
husky dogs and set them howling as if possessed. No 
doubt now of their queer actions which had puzzled me 
for hours past. The wild wolf had called and the tame 
wolves waked to answer. Before my dull ears had heard 
a rumor of it they were crazy with the excitement. Now 
every chord in their wild hearts was twanging its thrill¬ 
ing answer to the leader’s summons, and my own heart 
awoke and thrilled as it never did before to the call of a 
wild beast. 
For an hour or more the old wolf sat there, challeng¬ 
ing his degenerate mates in every silence, calling the 
tame to be wild, the bound to be free again, and listening 
gravely to the wailing answer of the dogs, which refused 
with groanings, as if dragging themselves away from 
overmastering temptation. Then the shadow vanished 
