He kept the fire brightly blazing, for he knew that it alone intervened between the flesh of his body and their hungry fangs.His two dogs stayed close by him, one on either side, leaning against him for protection, crying and whimpering, and at times snarling desperately when a wolf approached a little closer than usual.At such moments, when his dogs snarled, the whole circle would be agitated, the wolves coming to their feet and pressing tentatively forward, a chorus of snarls and eager yelps rising about him.
Then the circle would lie down again, and here and there a wolf would resume its broken nap.
But this circle had a continuous tendency to draw in upon him.Bit by bit, an inch at a time, with here a wolf bellying forward, and there a wolf bellying forward, the circle would narrow until the brutes were almost within springing distance.Then he would seize brands from the fire and hurl them into the pack.A hasty drawing back always resulted, accompanied by angry yelps and frightened snarls when a well-aimed brand struck and scorched a too daring animal.
Morning found the man haggard and worn, wide-eyed from want of sleep.
He cooked breakfast in the darkness, and at nine o'clock, when, with the coming of daylight, the wolf-pack drew back, he set about the task he had planned through the long hours of the night.Chopping down young saplings, he made them cross-bars of a scaffold by lashing them high up to the trunks of standing trees.Using the sled-lashing for a heaving rope, and with the aid of the dogs, he hoisted the coffin to the top of the scaffold.
"They got Bill, an' they may get me, but they'll sure never get you, young man," he said, addressing the dead body in its tree-sepulchre.
Then he took the trail, the lightened sled bounding along behind the willing dogs; for they, too, knew that safety lay only in the gaining of Fort McGurry.The wolves were now more open in their pursuit, trotting sedately behind and ranging along on either side, their red tongues lolling out, their lean sides showing the undulating ribs with every movement.
They were very lean, mere skin-bags stretched over bony frames, with strings for muscles -- so lean that Henry found it in his mind to marvel that they still kept their feet and did not collapse forthright in the snow.
He did not dare travel until dark.At midday, not only did the sun warm the southern horizon, but it even thrust its upper rim, pale and golden, above the sky-line.He received it as a sign.The days were growing longer.
The sun was returning.But scarcely had the cheer of its light departed, than he went into camp.There were still several hours of gray daylight and sombre twilight, and he utilized them in chopping an enormous supply of firewood.
With night came horror.Not only were the starving wolves growing bolder, but lack of sleep was telling upon Henry.He dozed despite himself, crouching by the fire, the blankets about his shoulders, the axe between his knees, and on either side a dog pressing close against him.He awoke once and saw in front of him, not a dozen feet away, a big gray wolf, one of the largest of the pack.And even as he looked, the brute deliberately stretched himself after the manner of a lazy dog, yawning full in his face and looking upon him with a possessive eye, as if, in truth, he were merely a delayed meal that was soon to be eaten.
This certitude was shown by the whole pack.Fully a score he could count, staring hungrily at him or calmly sleeping in the snow.They reminded him of children gathered about a spread table and awaiting permission to begin to eat.And he was the food they were to eat! He wondered how and when the meal would begin.
As he piled wood on the fire he discovered an appreciation of his own body which he had never felt before.He watched his moving muscles and was interested in the cunning mechanism of his fingers.By the light of the fire he crooked his fingers slowly and repeatedly, now one at a time, now all together, spreading them wide or making quick gripping movements.
He studied the nail-formation, and prodded the finger-tips, now sharply, and again softly, gauging the while the nerve-sensations produced.It fascinated him, and he grew suddenly fond of this subtle flesh of his that worked so beautifully and smoothly and delicately.Then he would cast a glance of fear at the wolf-circle drawn expectantly about him, and like a blow the realization would strike him that this wonderful body of his, this living flesh, was no more than so much meat, a quest of ravenous animals, to be torn and slashed by their hungry fangs, to be sustenance to them as the moose and the rabbit had often been sustenance to him.
He came out of a doze that was half nightmare, to see the red-hued she-wolf before him.She was not more than half a dozen feet away, sitting in the snow and wistfully regarding him.The two dogs were whimpering and snarling at his feet, but she took no notice of them.She was looking at the man, and for some time he returned her look.There was nothing threatening about her.She looked at him merely with a great wistfulness, but he knew it to be the wistfulness of an equally great hunger.He was the food, and the sight of him excited in her the gustatory sensations.Her mouth opened, the saliva drooled forth, and she licked her chops with the pleasure of anticipation.
