53 
The JVay of the Wolf 
Now a cub, poking his nose industriously into every 
cranny and under every thick bush, would find a great 
roll of down plucked from the mother bird’s breast, and 
scraping the top off carefully with his paw, would find 
five or six large pale-green eggs, which he gobbled 
down, shells, ducklings and all, before another cub 
should smell the good find and caper up to share it. 
Again he would be startled out of his wits as a large 
brown bird whirred and fluttered away from under his 
very nose. Sitting on his tail he would watch her with 
comical regret and longing till she tumbled into the tide 
and drifted swiftly away out of danger; then, remember¬ 
ing what he came for, he would turn and follow her trail 
back to the nest out of which she had stolen at his 
approach, and find the eggs all warm for his breakfast. 
And when he had eaten all he wanted he would take an 
egg in his mouth and run about uneasily here and there, 
like a dog with a bone when he thinks he is watched, 
till he had made a sad crisscross of his trail and found a 
spot where none could see him. There he would dig a 
hole and bury his egg and go back for more; and on 
his way would meet another cub running about with an 
egg in his mouth, looking for a spot where no one 
would notice him. 
From mice and eggs the young cubs turned to rab¬ 
bits and hares; and these were their staple food ever 
afterward when other game was scarce and the wood-mice 
