The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1907-06-14
BY VIM. J. LONG

ever knew where his cubs were
hidden only he himself could tell.
He was an enormous brute, pow
erful and cunning beyond meas
ure, that haunted the lonely
thickets and ponds bordering the
great caribou barrens over the
ridge, and that kept silent
watch. within bowling distance,
over the den which he never saw.
Sometimes the mother wolf met
him on her wanderings and they
brought the game he had caught.
fov or young goose: and some
times when she had hunted in
vain he met her, as If he had un-
derstood her need from a distance.
and led her to where he had
buried two or three of the rabbits
that swarmed in the thickets. But
spite Of the attention and the in
differen watch which he kept, he
never ventured near the den,
which he could have found easily
enough by following the mothers
tracks. The old she-wolf wouId
have flown at his throat like a fury
had he showed his head over the
top Of the ridge.
The reason for this was simple
enough to the. savage old mother.
though there are some things about
it that men do not yet understand.
Wolves. like cats and foxes, and in
deed like most wild male animals.
have an atrocious way of killing
their own young when they find
them unprotected; so the mother
self and rarely allows the male to
come near it. Spite of this beastly
habit 1t must be said honestly Of
the old he-wolf that he shows a
marvellous gentleness towards his
mate. He runs at the slightest show
Of teeth from mother wolf half
his size, and will stand meekly a
snap of the jaws or a cruel cash OF
the terrible fangs in his flank Will
out defending himself. Even our
hounds seem to have inherited
something of this primitive wolk
trait, for there are seasons when,
unless urged on by men, they will
not trouble mother wolf or fox.
Many times, in the early spring,
when foxes are mating. and again
later when they are heavy with
young and incapable of hard run,
have caught my hounds trotting
meekly after mother fox, smiling
her trail indifferently and sitting
down with heads turned aside when
she stops for moment to watch
and zap at them disdainfully. And
when you call them they come
shamefaced; though in winter time,
when running the same fox to
death. they pay no more heed to
your call than to the crows clamor-
ing over them.
The moment the young wolves
take to marrying the deer-as they
Invariably do II the mother won
he not with them-the caribou
leave the country The herds be-
come, moreover. so wild and sus-
picious after very little wolf
hunting that they are exceedingly
difficult Of approach; and there is
no living thing on earth, not even a
white wolf or a trained greyhound.
that can tire or overtake a startled
caribou. The swinging rack Of these
big white wanderers looks easy
enough when you see it; but when
the fleet stag hounds are slipped,
as has been more than once tested
In Newfoundland, try as hard as
they will hhey cannot keep within
sight of the deer for a single quar-
ter mile, and no limit has ever yet
been found. either by dog or wolf,
to Megaleep's tirelessness. So the
old wolves, relying possibly upon
past experience. keep the cubs and
hold themselves strictly to small
game as long as 1t can possibly be
found. Then when the bitter days
OF winter come. with their scarcity
Of small game and their unbearable
hunger, the wolves turn to the carl
bou as last resort. killing a few
here by stealth, rather than speed,
and then, when the game grows
wild, going far Off to another range
where the deer have not been dis
turbed and so can be approached
more easily.
On this afternoon, however, the
old mother wolf had run plump
upon the caribou and her fawns In
the midst of a thicket, and had
leaped forward promptly to round
them up for her hungry cubs. It
would have been the easiest matter
in the world for an old wolf to
hamstring one of the slow fawns,
or the mother caribou herself as
she lowered In the rear to defend
her young; but there were other
thoughts In the shaggy gray head
that had seen so much hunting go
the mother wolf drove the deer
slowly, puzzling them more and
more, as collie distracts the herd
by his payyings. out into the open
where her cubs might join in the
hunting.
The wolves now drew back, all
save the mother, which advanced
hesitatingly to where the caribou
stood with lowered head watching
every move. Suddenly the cow
charged. so swiftly, furiously. that
l the old wolf seamad almost cauoht