who had dared to defy him, and challenge his hitherto unquestioned
mastery over the dingoes and lesser wild folk of that range.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XXVII

SINGLE COMBAT

Even while he hunted, the irritating thought of the creature who
had barked defiantly at him remained with Lupus, and was not
softened by the fact that he missed two kills and failed to find
other game. As a fact, he was in no real need of killing, for he
had fed during the afternoon on the remains of the wallaby he had
dragged up the hill early that morning. This was probably why he
missed two kills; when empty it was rare indeed for him to miss.

And, now, with irritation added to the anger of his recollection of
the Wolfhound, he happened by pure chance upon the warm trail of
Warrigal and the others who had accompanied Finn that night. This
led him to the remains of the mother kangaroo, where he disturbed
some lesser creatures who were supping at their ease. Lupus had no
mind to leave bones with good fresh meat on them, and when he
turned away again on Finn's trail, the unfamiliar scent of which
raised the stiff bristles on his back till he looked like a
hyaena, there was nothing much left for the ants or the
flesh-eating rats and mice of the bush.

Finn's home trail was still fresh, and Lupus followed it easily,
growling to himself as he noted its friendly proximity to the
trails he knew well, of Black-tip and Warrigal and the rest. Lupus
told himself these dingoes needed a lesson, and should have it. He
licked his chops, then, over a recollection of sundry whiffs and
glimpses which had interested him of late in Warrigal, and as his
nose dropped low over her trail on the near side of Finn's, it was
borne in upon Lupus that it would be well for him to have a mate,
and that Warrigal would be a pleasing occupant of that post. The
stranger must be removed, once and for all. Lupus growled low in
his throat. Black-tip and his friends must be cautioned severely.
And then Warrigal should receive high honours; high honours and
great favour. So Lupus pieced the matter out in his mind while
loping heavily along Finn's trail; while among the starveling trees
near the mountain's foot, Black-tip and his friends discussed the
new-comer's prowess; while in the den on the first spur Finn lay
dozing under the admiring eyes of his mate, who did not greatly
care for sleep at night. Regarded as a fighting animal, the thing
which really formed the