THE BATTLE
Now they could hear the pack yelping down through the forest! Already
it had reached the brush hedge by the shore! It had made its turn
northward, the yelps increasing in volume as it approached! Now the
leaders were in sight!
"Go on! Go on!" yelled Skipper Ed, himself lagging in order that he
might fall in the rear of the boys and take a position between them and
the wolves, and as he did so he turned quickly and fired a random shot
at the leader of the pack.
The cabin had just loomed into view dimly through the trees, and the
wolves, almost upon their expected prey, were sounding the wild, fierce
cry of triumph, when another pack, like phantoms in the forest shadows,
coming from the direction of the cabin, swept down past Skipper Ed and
the boys, suddenly breaking forth as they ran into a fierce howl of
defiance.[B]
[Footnote B: A few years ago Job Edmunds, a native acquaintance of the
author, was saved from a pack of wolves in just this manner by his
dogs.]
"Thank God!" exclaimed Skipper Ed. "The dogs! The dogs will help us!
Run, lads, and get to the door! I'll stop and help hold them with my
rifle till you get in!"
But Bobby and Jimmy would not have it so. They, too, turned, and in the
dim light of the shadowed forest the three fired into the face of the
pack until their rifles were empty. Whether or not any of the animals
fell they could not see, but the pack paused for a moment in surprise.
Then the dogs charged them, and as the three reached the cabin door
yelps and snarls told of the clash as the dogs met their wild kin of the
hills in battle.
"Thank God!" again breathed Skipper Ed when the three, panting for
breath, were safe in the cabin, a moment later, with the good stout door
between them and the ravenous pack, which presently came snapping and
snarling around the cabin. "I never saw such a pack of wolves before. I
never knew that they gathered in such numbers in these days. There must
be at least thirty of them."[C]
[Footnote C: Not many years ago a pack of upwards of thirty of these great
northern wolves appeared a few miles to the southward of this point. One
of my friends was driven to the shelter of his cabin to escape
them.--Author.]
"The dogs! Partner, what will become of our dogs?" exclaimed Jimmy.
"They'll kill our fine dogs!"
"I'm afraid they will," agreed Skipper Ed, who had lighted a lamp and
was loading the magazine of his rifle. "Load up, partner. Load up,
Bobby. We'll see what we can do from cover."
"We must have killed some of them!" Bobby exclaimed excitedly. "I know I
did! I saw three fall when we shot!"
"Yes, of course we did," agreed Skipper Ed, "but there are enough of
them we didn't kill. Here, you chaps," he added, raising a window three
or four inches. "You should get some good shots from here. I'll try my
luck from the shed door."
They had turned the lamp low, that they might see the better what was
going on out of doors. The wolves, baffled by the sudden disappearance
of their quarry, were ranged a little distance from the porch door, save
two or three of the bolder ones, which were sniffing at the door itself.
The dogs were nowhere to be seen.
"Look out!" called Bobby to Skipper Ed, who was about to open the porch
door. "Some of them are right at the door!"
Then he and Jimmy began shooting. The wolves at the door fell, and
Skipper Ed, opening the door a little way, joined in a fusillade at the
main pack. The rapid reports of the rifles at close range, together with
the flashes of fire from an unseen source, struck panic to the heart of
the pack. A slightly wounded one turned and ran. That was a signal for
panic, as is the way of men and beasts, and the whole pack followed in
a mad, wild rush to the cover of the woods.
An instant and the last of the pack had faded into the shadows among the
trees--all save those left sprawling and limp upon the snow, which would
never roam the hills again, and one or two of the wounded, which were
whining, like whipped dogs, and the clearing about the cabin was as
deserted as ever it was.
"I'll go out," said Skipper Ed, "and end the suffering of those wounded
brutes. Build up the fire, partner, and put the kettle on, and we'll
have some tea. Then if there's no sign of what's left of the pack
returning, we'll haul the carcasses into the shed, where we can skin
them tomorrow."
There was a roaring, cheerful fire in the stove when Skipper Ed returned
a few minutes later to report that twelve wolves lay dead outside.
"There must be some more down where we shot them at first," said he, as
he drew off his _adikey_, "and some of those that got away were wounded,
no doubt. At any rate we've cut the pack down so far in numbers that it
won't be a menace any longer."
"What'll they do now?" asked Bobby, as the three settled into their easy
chairs to wait for the kettle to boil.
"Go and look for caribou, and attend to their business, I suppose, and
leave us quiet, peaceable folk alone," he laughed, adding: "I never saw
such a pack before, though I've heard some of the old Eskimos say that
years ago it used to happen now and again that packs like this appeared.
Wolves are cowardly beasts, but numbers give them courage. When six or
eight get together, you have to look out for them, and when the pack
grows to a dozen they'll attack openly, and aren't afraid of
anything--not even man."
"Well, anyway we had the adventure we started out to get," laughed
Bobby, "and a little more of it than we expected."
"Yes, and a nice haul of wolf pelts to boot," added Skipper Ed.
"We were lucky they didn't get us," said Jimmy.
"Yes," agreed Skipper Ed, "lucky--the kind of luck we were talking about
tonight. That is, the luck of the Almighty's bounty and protection. We
did the best we could, according to our lights, to protect and help
ourselves, and so He helped, and brought us safely back, none the worse,
and perhaps a little the stronger and better and richer in experience
than we were an hour ago."
"It was a corking good adventure, anyhow!" broke in Bobby. "That sort of
thing just makes me tingle all over! Somehow when I get out of a mess
like that I feel a lot bigger and stronger and more grown up. It was
great fun--now that it's over."
"You're a natural-born adventurer," laughed Skipper Ed. "You should have
lived in the old days, when men had to fight for their life, or went out
to find and conquer new lands."
"Well, I'm glad it's over," Jimmy shuddered--"the run from the
wolves--and that they've gone. I didn't have time to feel much scared
out there, but I'm scared now of what might have happened. I don't like
to get into such fixes."
"Well, it's over, and all is well, and we're none the worse for it. Now
drink your hot tea, lads," counseled Skipper Ed. "We've work to do
before we sleep."
They ate their hardtack biscuit, and sipped the hot tea silently for a
little, listening the while to the snug and cheerful crackle of wood and
roar of flames in the big box stove.
"Now," said Skipper Ed finally, "we'll haul the wolves into the porch,
and make them safe, for the dogs are like to tear at them, and injure
the pelts."
The following morning the carcasses of five additional wolves were
discovered at the place where they had first fired upon the pack. Two of
the dogs, mangled and torn by wolf fangs, were dead, and three others
were so badly injured that for a long time they were unfitted for
driving. But the others had discreetly decided that it was better "to
run away and live to fight another day," and were none the worse for
their scrimmage.
Bobby, of course, ran over to Abel's cabin to tell the great news of the
battle, and Abel and Mrs. Abel must needs return with him to assist in
removing the pelts from the animals, and to spend the day with Skipper
Ed and his partner. And a merry day it was for all of them, for wolf
pelts could be traded at the mission store for necessaries. And none of
them gave heed or thought to the danger the pelts had cost, save to give
thanks to God for His deliverance; for dangers in that land are an
incident of the game of life, and there the game of life is truly a
man's game.