55 
The Way of the Wolf 
As the wolves advanced the father and mother would 
steal gradually ahead at either end of the line, rarely 
hunting themselves, but drawing the nearest cub’s at¬ 
tention 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 flying 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 hunting near the den, the 
mother brought them to the edge of a dense thicket 
where rabbits were plentiful enough, but where the 
cover was so thick that they could not follow the 
frightened game for an instant. The old he-wolf had 
appeared at a distance and then vanished; and the 
cubs, trotting along behind the mother, knew nothing of 
what was coming or what was expected of them. They 
lay in hiding on the lee side of the thicket, each one 
