登陆注册
15297300000017

第17章 THE LAIR(2)

His mate looked at him anxiously.Every little while she emitted a low growl, and at times, when it seemed to her he approached too near, the growl shot up in her throat to a sharp snarl.Of her own experience she had no memory of the thing happening; but in her instinct, which was the experience of all the mothers of wolves, there lurked a memory of fathers that had eaten their new-born and helpless progeny.It manifested itself as a fear strong within her, that made her prevent One Eye from more closely inspecting the cubs he had fathered.

But there was no danger.Old One Eye was feeling the urge of an impulse, that was, in turn, an instinct that had come down to him from all the fathers of wolves.He did not question it, nor puzzle over it.It was there, in the fibre of his being; and it was the most natural thing in the world that he should obey it by turning his back on his new-born family and by trotting out and away on the meat-trail whereby he lived.

Five or six miles from the lair, the stream divided, its forks going off among the mountains at a right angle.Here, leading up the left fork, he came upon a fresh track.He smelled it and found it so recent that he crouched swiftly, and looked in the direction in which it disappeared.

Then he turned deliberately and took the right fork.The footprint was much larger than the one his own feet made, and he knew that in the wake of such a trail there was little meat for him.

Half a mile up the right fork, his quick ears caught the sound of gnawing teeth.He stalked the quarry and found it to be a porcupine, standing upright against a tree and trying his teeth on the bark.One Eye approached carefully but hopelessly.He knew the breed, though he had never met it so far north before; and never in his long life had porcupine served him for a meal.

But he had long since learned that there was such a thing as Chance, or Opportunity, and he continued to draw near.There was never any telling what might happen, for with live things events were somehow always happening differently.

The porcupine rolled itself into a ball, radiating long, sharp needles in all directions that defied attack.In his youth One Eye had once sniffed too near a similar, apparently inert ball of quills, and had the tail flick out suddenly in his face.One quill he had carried away in his muzzle, where it had remained for weeks, a rankling flame, until it finally worked out.So he lay down, in a comfortable crouching position, his nose fully a foot away, and out of the line of the tail.Thus he waited, keeping perfectly quiet.There was no telling.Something might happen.The porcupine might unroll.There might be opportunity for a deft and ripping thrust of paw into the tender, unguarded belly.

But at the end of half an hour he arose, growled wrathfully at the motionless ball, and trotted on.He had waited too often and futilely in the past for porcupines to unroll, to waste any more time.He continued up the right fork.The day wore along, and nothing rewarded his hunt.

The urge of his awakened instinct of fatherhood was strong upon him.

He must find meat.In the afternoon he blundered upon a ptarmigan.He came out of a thicket and found himself face to face with the slow-witted bird.

It was sitting on a log, not a foot beyond the end of his nose.Each saw the other.The bird made a startled rise, but he struck it with his paw, and smashed it down to earth, then pounced upon it, and caught it in his teeth as it scuttled across the snow trying to rise in the air again.As his teeth crunched through the tender flesh and fragile bones, he began naturally to eat.Then he remembered, and, turning on the back-track, started for home, carrying the ptarmigan in his mouth.

A mile above the forks, running velvet-footed as was his custom, a gliding shadow that cautiously prospected each new vista of the trail, he came upon later imprints of the large tracks he had discovered in the early morning.As the track led his way, he followed, prepared to meet the maker of it at every turn of the stream.

He slid his head around a corner of rock, where began an unusually large bend in the stream, and his quick eyes made out something that sent him crouching swiftly down.It was the maker of the track, a large female lynx.

She was crouching as he had crouched once that day, in front of her the tight-rolled ball of quills.If he had been a gliding shadow before, he now became the ghost of such a shadow, as he crept and circled around, and came up well to leeward of the silent, motionless pair.

同类推荐
  • 开元天宝遗事

    开元天宝遗事

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 砚斋词话

    砚斋词话

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 珍珠船

    珍珠船

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 名卿绩纪

    名卿绩纪

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 佛说龙施女经

    佛说龙施女经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 管理的戒律、经营的戒律、营销的戒律(全集)

    管理的戒律、经营的戒律、营销的戒律(全集)

    本书汇集了最经典的管理学、经营学和营销学定律,这些定律囊括了企业管理的方方面面,内容涵盖员管理的授权、沟通、分享,创新管理,危机管理,战略管理,营销管理,生产管理等等,通俗易懂,简单实用。这些著名的思想精华和智慧,帮助读者更快抵达事业成功的彼岸。
  • 狂王之王

    狂王之王

    呃...........我的名字叫王狂!本书暂停更新,各位读者抱歉了!参白在这里给大家赔罪!
  • 弑苍龙

    弑苍龙

    (练手)帝国爆发内战,赤州城被重重包围,一个曾经极为耀眼,但修为突然的少年,却在此前刚刚踏入该城,故事从此开始……
  • 玄阴之巅

    玄阴之巅

    这里是玄天大陆,强者为尊的世界。你不强大,很好,那就死亡。一个落魄氏族的少年,一个不能进行觉醒的丹田,但日子总是要过的。出来混的,谁没有两把刷子。小片段:“嘿嘿,人类,看来你需要帮助啊?”“我可以帮你,可以帮你摆脱废物之名,甚至可以帮你成为不世天才,你只需要像我供奉灵魂,是不是很心动,来吧,对我献出你的灵魂吧,来吧。,只要献出你的灵魂,你就可以得到你想要的一切,荣誉,地位,女人…。”时年:“……。”这只狗,真尼玛扯蛋。
  • 国民校草PK傲娇公主

    国民校草PK傲娇公主

    什么?惹了她就想溜?我们女主保存了17年的初吻就这么轻易的不翼而飞了?没门,她要他负责到底,我们女主一系列的报复计划正在秘密进行中。却不知,在过程中,已经慢慢产生了感情。。
  • 爱已成殇夜微凉

    爱已成殇夜微凉

    叶昕薇:“爱得淋漓尽致,恨得剔心透骨。爱情里没有恨,当你全力去爱一个人时,是一种绽放,便不会有丝毫的怨言。”宁爱香:“爱是情感的释放,恨是感情的收敛。”吴运芳:“爱情像钱包里的钱一样,来得快,去得也快。二者的区别是,钱用完还可以赚,唯有爱情一去不复返”。
  • (完结)爱妃,朕要争宠:不做小老婆!

    (完结)爱妃,朕要争宠:不做小老婆!

    “本王要孩子,还不至于让一个妓女为本王生!”王爷说。大臣说“皇上,天朝的皇妃怎能让一个妓女来做,简直就有损国体!”太后说“你是皇上的妃子,却私通王爷,不知羞耻!”她穿越到妓院被王爷所救,怀了王爷的孩子,他却把她当作利用的对象,还要杀她的孩子……她怒了:宝宝!咱们走,找新爹爹去……
  • 复仇公主的酷帅王子们

    复仇公主的酷帅王子们

    她,原本生活在幸福快乐的家庭,却因父亲的背叛而失去了她的母亲。她,因为被姐姐陷害,被不了解真相的父亲以为是她杀害了她自己的母亲,而被赶出家门。而她,因为家庭的背叛,使自己的母亲死于父亲的枪下。最终,她们三个一起踏上了复仇之路,在这个途中,她们遇上了自己的青梅竹马,她们又会有怎样的命运呢?他们和她们最终会……
  • 一剑胜雪

    一剑胜雪

    赵客缦胡缨,吴钩霜雪明。银鞍照白马,飒沓如流星。十步杀一人,千里不留行。事了拂衣去,深藏身与名。闲过信陵饮,脱剑膝前横。将炙啖朱亥,持觞劝侯嬴。三杯吐然诺,五岳倒为轻。眼花耳热后,意气素霓生。救赵挥金锤,邯郸先震惊。真正的剑客,侠客行...
  • 拯救世界这种事还是另请高明吧

    拯救世界这种事还是另请高明吧

    剑与魔法的失落大陆,每年总会有热血青年以为自己是勇者踏上了讨伐魔王的道路。而从地球不知为何穿越到此的邵无尘对于这种热血事情却早已没了兴趣。“阁下,国王已经决定了,册封您为护国大法师,讨伐魔王的任务就交给你了!”“我也不是谦虚,我一个自由的旅行者怎么就成了王国的希望之星了?拯救世界这种事,还是另请高明吧,你去佣兵市场,随便都能挑出自称肉搏巨龙的勇者。”