f a tornado--made up of offended dignity, justifiable wrath,
and instinctive hatred for this marauder from the Wild. She struck White
Fang at right angles in the midst of his spring, and again he was knocked
off his feet and rolled over.

The next moment the master arrived, and with one hand held White Fang,
while the father called off the dogs.

"I say, this is a pretty warm reception for a poor lone wolf from the
Arctic," the master said, while White Fang calmed down under his
caressing hand. "In all his life he's only been known once to go off his
feet, and here he's been rolled twice in thirty seconds."

The carriage had driven away, and other strange gods had appeared from
out the house. Some of these stood respectfully at a distance; but two
of them, women, perpetrated the hostile act of clutching the master
around the neck. White Fang, however, was beginning to tolerate this
act. No harm seemed to come of it, while the noises the gods made were
certainly not threatening. These gods also made overtures to White Fang,
but he warned them off with a snarl, and the master did likewise with
word of mouth. At such times White Fang leaned in close against the
master's legs and received reassuring pats on the head.

The hound, under the command, "Dick! Lie down, sir!" had gone up the
steps and lain down to one side of the porch, still growling and keeping
a sullen watch on the intruder. Collie had been taken in charge by one
of the woman-gods, who held arms around her neck and petted and caressed
her; but Collie was very much perplexed and worried, whining and
restless, outraged by the permitted presence of this wolf and confident
that the gods were making a mistake.

All the gods started up the steps to enter the house. White Fang
followed closely at the master's heels. Dick, on the porch, growled, and
White Fang, on the steps, bristled and growled back.

"Take Collie inside and leave the two of them to fight it out," suggested
Scott's father. "After that they'll be friends."

"Then White Fang, to show his friendship, will have to be chief mourner
at the funeral," laughed the master.

The elder Scott looked incredulously, first at White Fang, then at Dick,
and finally at his son.

"You mean . . .?"

Weedon nodded his head. "I mean just that. You'd have a dead Dick
inside one minute--two minutes at the farthest."

He turned to White Fang. "Come on, you wolf. It's you that'll have to
come insid