eir mates for another year. Where they all came from was a
mystery that filled the cubs' heads with constant wonder. During the
summer you see little of them,--here a cow with her fawn hiding deep in
the cover, there a big stag standing out like a watchman on the mountain
top; but when the early autumn comes they are everywhere, crossing
rivers and lakes at regular points, and following deep paths which their
ancestors have followed for countless generations.

The cows and fawns seemed gentle and harmless enough, though their very
numbers filled the young wolves with a certain awe. After their first
lesson it would have been easy enough for the cubs to have killed all
they wanted and to grow fat and lazy as the bears, which were now
stuffing themselves before going off to sleep for the winter; but the
old mother wolf held them firmly in check, for with plenty of small game
everywhere, all wolves are minded to go quietly about their own business
and let the caribou follow their own ways. When October came it brought
the big stags into the open,--splendid, imposing beasts, with swollen
necks and fierce red eyes and long white manes tossing in the wind. Then
the wolves had to stand aside; for the stags roamed over all the land,
pawing the moss in fury, bellowing their hoarse challenge, and charging
like a whirlwind upon every living thing that crossed their paths.

When the mother wolf, with her cubs at heel, saw one of these big furies
at a distance she would circle prudently to avoid him. Again, as the
cubs hunted rabbits, they would hear a crash of brush and a furious
challenge as some quarrelsome stag winded them; and the mother with her
cubs gathered close about her would watch alertly for his headlong rush.
As he charged out the wolves would scatter and leap nimbly aside, then
sit down on their tails in a solemn circle and watch as if studying the
strange beast. Again and again he would rush upon them, only to find
that he was fighting the wind. Mad as a hornet, he would single out a
cub and follow him headlong through brush and brake till some subtle
warning thrilled through his madness, telling him to heed his flank;
then as he whirled he would find the savage old mother close at his
heels, her white fangs bared and a dangerous flash in her eyes as she
saw the hamstring so near, so easy to reach. One spring and a snap, and
the ramping, masterful stag would have been helpless as a rabbit, his
tendons cut cleanly at