il, though not so bushy
as a dingo's, was well covered with hair. He was longer in the
muzzle and more shapely in the loin than his father. Lupus, in
fact, was a half-bred dingo, differing from other dingoes of the
Mount Desolation pack only inasmuch as that he was greater than the
rest, more massive in trunk and shoulder, more terrible in tooth
and claw. His feet were weapons almost as deadly as a bear's feet,
by which I mean the feet of the northern and western bear, and not
those of inoffensive Koala. His loins and thighs were those of a
fleet runner, and his fore-part, in every hair of it, was that of a
killer. Tasman was feared on that range rather as a tradition than
as a killer; Lupus was feared and obeyed as an actual, living
ruler.

It was many months since Warrigal had seen the old wolf Tasman, but
Lupus was abroad every night of his life. Also, his eyes, unlike
those of his terrible old sire, could face the daylight. All the
wild folk knew that Tasman was like an owl by day; light actually
hurt him. Lupus was not fond of the light, but he could endure well
enough, and kill by it if need be, as was well known. He still
shared with his savage old sire the den in which he had been born,
deep in the heart of Mount Desolation, and it was stated among the
wild folk that he had killed his own mother towards the end of his
first year of life, and that he and Tasman had devoured her body
during a season of drought and poor hunting. Be that as it may, her
blood had given Lupus his rating in the Mount Desolation country as
a dingo, and his own prowess and ferocity had given him his
unquestioned rank as leader and master of the pack. He had never
openly preyed upon the pack, but he had killed a round half-dozen
of its members who dared to thwart him at different times, and the
manner of their killing had been such as to form material for
ghastly anecdotes with which the mothers of that range frightened
their offspring into good and careful behaviour. It was supposed
that Tasman did not hunt now, and that Lupus hunted for him, but
venturesome creatures of the wild, who had dared to climb the upper
slopes of Mount Desolation, claimed to have seen Tasman foraging
there after insects and grubs; and as for Lupus, his hunting was
sufficiently well known to all on the lower ground. And, in the
meantime, though Tasman was credited with very great age, there was
no creature in that countryside who would have dared to face the