zy length
the print of human moccasins had never slurred the undergrowth trails.
Even the wild creatures themselves did not greatly frequent it, by
reason of its mighty growth of thorns, so that even among the long
solitudes of Carboona, it was a loneliness apart.

It was some time before the little wolves got any idea of the outside
thorniness and brambleness which hid them from the public gaze. All they
knew of the world was the good smell and the good gloom of the
badger-hole, where, as soon as their eyes were opened after the nine
days, they could make out the immense grey mass of their mother, who
came and went mysteriously, a mountain of warmth and food. And here, in
the perpetual twilight, they slept and sucked, and sprawled and tumbled,
and occasionally went tremendous expeditions, and stubbed their noses
against the pine root that struck like a savage promontory into the
abyss.

Not until they were several weeks old, and were really getting very
troublesome in the den, did the patient old mother allow them their
first glimpse of the world; and then only after she had taken every
possible precaution to safeguard against anything, bird, beast and
human, being on the watch.

The first coming out of the cubs into the sunlight was a wonderful
affair. The old mother, having first scoured the country on all sides to
see that no danger was lurking near, put her nose into the mouth of the
den, and made a low noise in her throat. Instantly there was a hollow
thumping and scurrying and scrambling and yelping, and then the
badger-hole became a miniature volcano that shot seven small wolf-bodies
into the light.

Out they tumbled, seven little furry fatnesses, with pointed noses, and
pricked ears, and tiny black eyes that blinked nervously in the sun. And
there they sat for a while in unspeakable amazement, and stared and
blinked, and blinked and stared, and wondered where they were.

The first to move was a cub the merest trifle larger than the rest. He
ran a few steps in an uncertain wobbling manner, stubbed his nose
against a stone, yelped, backed almost as fast as he had gone forward,
lost his balance on an old mole-hill, and rolled over on his back. And
this was his first experience of the unevenness of the world. After that
he lay and kicked, struggling with all his baby might to get right side
up again. And his six brothers and sisters observed him from their
superior elevation of six inches, and never offered t