The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1888-09-29
Select Story.
TIE Wolves

From LoRgmdn's Magazine
Where the fir trees began to grow less
losely; where, between their tall trunks and
in their black foliage, cleaned few crim-
son splashes of fire as the sun sank below
the horizon; where the snow lay deep 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 to-
gether. Hungry they were, and eager for
work to begin. There was no play among
them, no leaping over one another's backs,
or wrestling, or growing pretences at fight
ing. They were on business-the first
business 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 scene of death
and disaster to man and wolf-leap out
together from the woods upon the darken-
ing plain. They raise their noses, sniff
the wind and shake themselves One
yswns and stretches his paws, while puff
of hot breath rises from his red tongue,
and as he shuts his narrow jaws with snap
sharp canine teeth, white as the snow
itself, glitter 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 fve-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 return to their forest fastnesses.
Note what happens almost at the start.
One little brute suddenly slips and strains
his leg. Fearfully he glances at his COM
panions on the right and left, hut as yet
they know not of the accident. All too
soon, however, the pace tells upon the in
jured 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 knows him no more.
But the manned creatures sufferings are
over almost instantly, for the fittest alone
survive in pack of wolves. A ravenous
fighting mass of fur and legs aud teeth
closes in upon him, and he is gone, leaving
no monument 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 OF some such preliminary to
more important gastronomic efforts.
But now, ahead, there stands solitary
tree, naked save where, on its topmost
branches, the dark pine needles 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 just now.
Something of greater interest meets the
wolves here. Along the snow at the base
of this tree, and running at right angles to
the course they have till now been taking,
extend two parallel lines, cut by the irons
of sledge. 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
Q moments halt. Now supper becomes a
probability, for where there is a sledge
there is horse, perhaps two; where there
is sledge there is also man, possibly
more than one.
Have you ever heard the bowling of
wolves?
/ have, seated in comfortable place of
entertainment, with my mind at ease and
certain knowledge that many iron bars
separated me from the invisible howlers.
Even under those circumstances the sound
was one that made me turn cold and won
der how nature had produced anything SO
hideous. 1t is like nothing but itself
you cannot compare or contrast it with any
other cry Of living things; gale of wind
in the rigging Of big ship at sea is the
nearest approach to it know. Thin, hol-
low walls of sound grow and swell and
burst into one demonaic howl that embodies
in its volume every conceivable note pf de-
spair aAd eternal torture, Then the cres-
cendo dies, sometimes as though suddenly
strangled, more often in long-drawn shrieks
that fade upon the ear. There is music in
their cadence at times; those that l heard
were fairly in tune-but SUCH q tune, such
a dFoning, tiendish, whirling blast Of mel
ody 1t was. IF the neither world has its
own music, that music should be the howl
of hungry wolves-the frantic chorus
whose elimination is death to flying singers
or fleeing audience, or beth.
So much for the wolves know; SO much
for wolves whose hearts are broken and
whose sides have ached often under the
heavy whip Of their master. So much for