ed the part of a first
blow, and a deadly one at that. On this occasion, it merely served
to add wrath, and fierceness, and volume to the roar of Finn's deep
bay.

As the light in the east strengthened, old Tasman's eyes blinked
furiously, and his snarl died down to a savagely irritable grunt,
as he turned again to the mountain. Lupus bent his head, still
snarling, to pick up his heavy kill, and together the two trailed
off up the mountain side to their den, full of angry bitterness.
They had not eaten since the small hours of the previous day, and
both were anxious to reach the twilit shelter of their stony
mountain den, where they would feed before sleeping, among the
whitened mouldering bones that told of six long years of hunting
and lordship, bones which probably included those of Lupus's own
dam. No creature of that range other than themselves had ever seen
the inside of this den and lived. No man had ever set his foot
there, for the climbing of Mount Desolation was a thankless task
for all save such as Tasman and Lupus, who liked its naked
ruggedness and its commanding inaccessibility, high above the
loftiest of the caves inhabited by other wild folk of the
countryside.

Barking fiercely at intervals, Finn watched the savage lords of
Mount Desolation ascending, till their forms were lost among the
crevices and boulders of the hillside, and then, with a final,
far-reaching roar, he turned and entered the den, where Warrigal
sat waiting for him, and softly growling a response to his war-cries.
This defiance of the admitted lords of the range was not altogether
without its ground of alarm for Warrigal; its utter recklessness
made the skin over her shoulders twitch, but it was something to
have a mate who could dare so much, even in ignorance. Long after
Finn had closed his eyes in sleep, Warrigal lay watching him, with
a queer light of pride and admiring devotion in her wild yellow
eyes.

The afternoon was well advanced when Finn and Warrigal finally
sallied forth from their den in quest of food, though in between
short sleeps they had lounged about in the vicinity of the den
several times during the morning, and Finn had accustomed himself
to the bearings of his new home, and taken in the general lie of
the land thereabouts. Now, before they crossed the patch of
starveling bush which skirted the foot of their particular ridge,
they were approached by Black-tip and two friends of his, who were
also preparing