t rapidly diminished and at last was gone. The only
carcass Breed could locate within ten miles was the one near the
windfall, and the widowed mother defended that furiously against all
comers. The warm days of early March had turned it stale and putrid but
it was all she had.

Every waking second of Breed's time was spent on the meat trail. An
occasional blue grouse or snowshoe hare was the largest game he found.
That the coyotes were faring as poorly he knew from the signs he crossed
each day in the hills. He found the tracks of dog coyotes many miles
from their dens and always the signs showed that they had been working
out some cold rabbit trail. Breed found the tracks of many bobcats in
the hills and these appeared to have been wandering aimlessly. But Breed
knew that the noses of cat beasts are not keen enough to work out any
but the warmest trails; that this accounted for his seldom finding signs
that a cat had trailed a rabbit, and that their apparently crazy way of
traveling was in reality a systematic shifting across the air currents
in search of the warm body scent of their prey. Several times Breed
picked up a hot cat track and followed it at top speed but the big bobs
held mainly to the heavy timber and always took refuge in a tree.

When Breed's pups were three weeks old he had his first look at them
when Shady came from the den on a warm afternoon and a swarm of fluffy
little creatures toddled after her. There were eight of them, all with
heavy frames that gave promise of their attaining almost as great size
as their father, and there were strips of dark fur along their backs.
After that first trip they spent much time romping and quarreling on the
sunny side hill.

A pair of golden eagles had nested on the rough face of a pinnacle that
rose from the floor of the valley near its head, some five miles from
Breed's home ridge. These mighty birds soared far out over the divide
and returned with meat for their fledglings in the nest. Their pealing
screams often split the silence of the valley. Shady paid small heed to
them but Breed often cast a wary eye aloft when the screams sounded from
close at hand.

Shady was stretched comfortably before the den one day, watching the
pups scattered out along the ridge, when she became aware of a faint
rushing sound such as the first puffs of a fresh wind make when they
strike the trees some distance away. This increased to a humming roar.
She looked up to see a huge