The Republican., 1888-10-06
A RACE FOR LIFE.
Thrilling Adventure With Raven
Gus Wolves in Norway.
A Feud Caused by Love h-fTair Settled
Amid the Howling of wild Beasts
Rescued at the Eleventh
Hour,

Where the fir trees began to grow less
closely; where, between their tall trunks
and in their black foliage, cleaned a few
crimson splashes of fire as the sun sank be-
low the horizon; whore the snow Law deem
and unspotted save by the multitudinous
prints of their own restless feet-there, on
the outskirts of the forest, at the wane of
day, the wolves were gathering themselves
together. Hungry they We're, and eager for
work to begin. There was no play among
them no leaping over one another's backs.
or wrestling or growing pretenses at fight
ing. They were on business-the first bust
ness of life; to keep life; and to keep life, if
YOU happen to be a wolf means hard work
and plenty of it, with but little time to spare
on the amenities of existence.
And now their old gray leaders-warriors
who have survived many a scene of death
and disaster to man and wolf-leap out to-
Eether from the woods upon the darkening
plain. They raise their noses sniff the wind
and shake themselves One yawns and
stretches his paws, while puff of hot
breath rises from his tongue, and, as he
shuts his narrow jaws with a snap sharp
canine teeth, white as the snow itself, glis-
ten in the dusk.
Then begins that long, slouching, tireless
trOt, that Internal gallop which beats horse
and man and all things living for combined
speed and endurance. The pack covers
nearly five and twenty square yards of
snow and settles into its stride, each beast
moving and turning in unison with the rest
as flight of birds mysteriously wheels in
air. They are Norway wolves these, and
experience has long since taught them what
work will be necessary before supper and a
return to their forest Businesses.
Note what happens almost at the start
One 1.-THE brute suddenly slips and strains
his leg. Fearfully he glances at his com
paniOus on the right and left, but as yet
they know not of the accident All too
soon, however, the pace tells upon the in
1ured animal. Nature asserts herself in the
great gray wolf, his eyes glow like red-hot
embers, his sinewy leg gives under him, he
hOwls his farewell to dear life, and his
place in the ranks know him no more But
the manned creatures sufferings are over
almost instantly, for the fittest alone sur
vive in a pack of wolves. A ravenous fight
ing mass of fur and legs and teeth closes in
upon him, and he is gone, leaving no monu-
ment more enduring than drops of his own
hot blood, which have fallen and melted for
themselves deep holes in the trampled snow
Then forward they sweep, the cannibals,
on the best possible terms with one another,
and feeling as you would feel after anchovy,
or an olive, or some such preliminary to
some important gastrOnOmic efforts
But now, ahead there stands a solitary
tree, naked save where, on its topmost
branches, the dark pine-needes mingle in
one shapeless clump, or where, lower down,
dead cones still cling to the parent bough
In the rough bark at its foot are fecks of
wool; but the sheep which rub themselves
there in the summer are far away now.
Something Of greater interest meets the
wolves here, Along the snow at the base
of the tree and running at right angles to
the course they hava till now been taking
extend two parallel lines, cut by the irons
of a sedge. One vehicle alone has passed
since the snow last fell, but it appears to
have gone by quite recently, for the scent
is strong and the pack take it up without a
moments halt. Now supper becomes a
probability, for where there is asledge there
is h.rse, perhaps two; where there is a
sledge there is also a man, possibly more
than one.
Have you ever heard the bowling of
SvOlvesl
have, seated in & comfortable place of
entertainment, with my mind at ease and
certain knowledge that many iron bars sep
arnted me from the invisible howlers. Even
Gnder these circumstances the sound was