The Way of the Wolf 61 
For Wayeeses is no wanton killer, as he is so often rep¬ 
resented to be, but sticks to small game whenever he 
can find it, and leaves the deer unmolested. As for his 
motive in the matter, who shall say, since no one under¬ 
stands the half of what a wolf does every day ? Perhaps 
it is a mere matter of taste, a preference for the smaller 
and more juicy tidbits; more likely it is a combination 
of instinct and judgment, with a possible outlook for 
the future unusual with beasts of prey. The moment 
the young wolves take to harrying the deer — as they 
invariably do if the mother wolf be not with them — the 
caribou leave the country. The herds become, more¬ 
over, so wild and suspicious after a very little wolf hunt¬ 
ing that they are exceedingly difficult of approach; and 
there is no living thirig on earth, not even a white wolf 
or a trained greyhound, that can tire or overtake a 
startled caribou. The swinging rack of these big white 
wanderers looks easy enough when you see it; but 
when the fleet staghounds are slipped, as has been more 
than once tested in Newfoundland, try as hard as they 
will they cannot keep within sight of the deer for a 
single quarter-mile, and no limit has ever yet been 
found, either by dog or wolf, to Megaleep’s tirelessness. 
So the old wolves, relying possibly upon past experience, 
keep the cubs and hold themselves strictly to small 
game as long as it can possibly be found. Then when 
the bitter days of late winter come, with their scarcity 
