登陆注册
15297300000008

第8章 THE HUNGER CRY(1)

The day began auspiciously.They had lost no dogs during the night, and they swung out upon the trail and into the silence, the darkness, and the cold with spirits that were fairly light.Bill seemed to have forgotten his forebodings of the previous night, and even waxed facetious with the dogs when, at midday, they overturned the sled on a bad piece of trail.

It was an awkward mix-up.The sled was upside down and jammed between a tree-trunk and a huge rock, and they were forced to unharness the dogs in order to straighten out the tangle.The two men were bent over the sled and trying to right it, when Henry observed One Ear sidling away.

"Here, you, One Ear!" he cried, straightening up and turning around on the dog.

But One Ear broke into a run across the snow, his traces trailing behind him.And there, out in the snow of their back-track, was the she-wolf waiting for him.As he neared her, he became suddenly cautious.He slowed down to an alert and mincing walk and then stopped.He regarded her carefully and dubiously, yet desirefully.She seemed to smile at him, showing her teeth in an ingratiating rather than a menacing way.She moved toward him a few steps, playfully, and then halted.One Ear drew near to her, still alert and cautious, his tail and ears in the air, his head held high.

He tried to sniff noses with her, but she retreated playfully and coyly.

Every advance on his part was accompanied by a corresponding retreat on her part.Step by step she was luring him away from the security of his human companionship.Once, as though a warning had in vague ways flitted through his intelligence, he turned his head and looked back at the overturned sled, at his team-mates, and at the two men who were calling to him.

But whatever idea was forming in his mind, was dissipated by the she-wolf, who advanced upon him, sniffed noses with him for a fleeting instant, and then resumed her coy retreat before his renewed advances.

In the meantime, Bill had bethought himself of the rifle.But it was jammed beneath the overturned sled, and by the time Henry had helped him to right the load, One Ear and the she-wolf were too close together and the distance too great to risk a shot.

Too late, One Ear learned his mistake.Before they saw the cause, the two men saw him turn and start to run back toward them.Then, approaching at right angles to the trail and cutting off his retreat, they saw a dozen wolves, lean and gray, bounding across the snow.On the instant, the she-wolf's coyness and playfulness disappeared.With a snarl she sprang upon One Ear.

He thrust her off with his shoulder, and, his retreat cut off and still intent on regaining the sled, he altered his course in an attempt to circle around to it.More wolves were appearing every moment and joining in the chase.The she-wolf was one leap behind One Ear and holding her own.

"Where are you goin'?" Henry suddenly demanded, laying his hand on his partner's arm.

Bill shook it off."I won't stand it," he said."They ain't a-goin'

to get any more of our dogs if I can help it."Gun in hand, he plunged into the underbrush that lined the side of the trail.His intention was apparent enough.Taking the sled as the centre of the circle that One Ear was making, Bill planned to tap that circle at a point in advance of the pursuit.With his rifle, in the broad daylight, it might be possible for him to awe the wolves and save the dog.

"Say, Bill!" Henry called after him."Be careful! Don't take no chances!"Henry sat down on the sled and watched.There was nothing else for him to do.Bill had already gone from sight; but now and again, appearing and disappearing amongst the underbrush and the scattered clumps of spruce, could be seen One Ear.Henry judged his case to be hopeless.The dog was thoroughly alive to its danger, but it was running on the outer circle while the wolf-pack was running on the inner and shorter circle.It was vain to think of One Ear so outdistancing his pursuers as to be able to cut across their circle in advance of them and to regain the sled.

The different lines were rapidly approaching a point.Somewhere out there in the snow, screened from his sight by trees and thickets, Henry knew that the wolf-pack, One Ear, and Bill were coming together.All too quickly, far more quickly than he had expected, it happened.He heard a shot, then two shots in rapid succession, and he knew that Bill's ammunition was gone.Then he heard a great outcry of snarls and yelps.He recognized One Ear's yell of pain and terror, and he heard a wolf-cry that bespoke a stricken animal.And that was all.The snarls ceased.The yelping died away.Silence settled down again over the lonely land.

He sat for a long while upon the sled.There was no need for him to go and see what had happened.He knew it as though it had taken place before his eyes.Once, he roused with a start and hastily got the axe out from underneath the lashings.But for some time longer he sat and brooded, the two remaining dogs crouching and trembling at his feet.

At last he arose in a weary manner, as though all the resilience had gone out of his body, and proceeded to fasten the dogs to the sled.He passed a rope over his shoulder, a man-trace, and pulled with the dogs.

He did not go far.At the first hint of darkness he hastened to make a camp, and he saw to it that he had a generous supply of firewood.He fed the dogs, cooked and ate his supper, and made his bed close to the fire.

But he was not destined to enjoy that bed.Before his eyes closed the wolves had drawn too near for safety.It no longer required an effort of the vision to see them.They were all about him and the fire, in a narrow circle, and he could see them plainly in the firelight, lying down, sitting up, crawling forward on their bellies, or slinking back and forth.They even slept.Here and there he could see one curled up in the snow like a dog, taking the sleep that was now denied himself.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 渐远渐逝

    渐远渐逝

    这是一个长久的故事,因为记录的是生活中的点滴,从有想法时开始。
  • 龙族之最终幻想

    龙族之最终幻想

    幻想?亦或是真实?那么楚子航是否真的存在过?当繁花落尽,是否有人记得那当年的樱花?
  • 万化圣兽诀

    万化圣兽诀

    传说,上古时期,苍莽大陆有各种各样的异兽出没,它们高逾千丈,体若神铁,动辄就可撕山裂石,排山倒海,毁天灭地,恐怖无边。相传,在所有的异兽之中,以四兽为尊,它们分别是东方之青龙,西方之白虎,南方之朱雀,北方之玄武。它们强大无边,堪与神明并列,因此被人们尊称为“四圣兽”。四圣兽之外,亦有四灵,它们分别是麒麟、凤凰、龙和龟。另有四凶,为混沌、穷奇、梼杌、饕餮。除此之外,还有更多的游离于古书之外的上古神兽,亦为人们所称道,如传说之中的神鸟毕方、三足金乌以及金翅大鹏等,又如神兽赤炎兽、白泽......群号:197527996
  • 你还痛么亲爱的

    你还痛么亲爱的

    人生如戏,戏如人生。爱过、恨过,最后,可以静静的问候久远的朋友:“你还痛么,亲爱的?”
  • 封锁在角落里的爱

    封锁在角落里的爱

    一场车祸,夺去了她蓬勃的生命,让她成为了植物人,与爱人相隔。昏迷两年后,她终于醒来,却要面对自己的爱人和自己的亲妹妹要结婚的消息。看着自己亲妹妹和爱人亲昵的动作,她的心,撕裂般的疼痛,却不得不逼着自己去放手,她不能让妹妹肚子里的孩子一生下来就没了爹!她沉重的步伐有序,一步又一步的踏上了爱人与妹妹的婚礼殿堂,同时,也踏上了复仇之路。
  • 终极BOSS:傲娇小公举要爹地

    终极BOSS:傲娇小公举要爹地

    【爱情】云峥:爱情就是你不来,我就过去。言Boss:爱情就是你不来,我转身就走。【求婚】云峥:如果你不求婚,以后你跪着求我,我都不会跟你结婚。言Boss:让我跪着求你的机会只有一次。说着,言Boss单膝跪地凝望着她:“云小峥,我们两个左挑右选,就挑中了对方这么一个玩意,所以我们也不要祸害别人了。现在,让我娶了你吧。”【未来】云峥:我伸出手,你要立刻牵住,不然我转身就走。言Boss:左手抱着一个女娃,右手抱着一个男娃,后背背着一个萌娃。你伸出手,我立刻就拉。不过……没手了,怎么办?云峥掏出一个项圈:别担心,终极Boss要用终极武器。言Boss,想试试新玩法吗?
  • 后宫凶猛:臣妾是卧底

    后宫凶猛:臣妾是卧底

    她是现代疯狂的卧底女警,穿越成亡国公主,暴君强娶,诸王相逼。皇上怒不可遏:朕视你如心头肉,你却无心于朕,那就用美人换江山吧!叶念惜一嫁再嫁,成了恶名昭著的卧底皇后,辗转九州,成就皇图霸业。轩辕谂:本王身中剧毒,命不久矣,对你有威胁的人,本王都一一替你杀了。叶念惜:他们都死了,本宫只能嫁给你了。
  • 星语学院之王子恋上淡雅公主

    星语学院之王子恋上淡雅公主

    只因为一个电话,让在国外的三姐妹回国,也是因为这个电话让她们找到了真爱!“今生今世,永不分离!”“执子之手,与子偕老!”
  • 田园修仙

    田园修仙

    徐青是一个华夏国南方一省城的一个普通高校毕业生,毕业后没有工作只能回家务农,本以为他这一辈子都会这样过了,可是一场大雨从些改变了他的生活,他也从些走上了一条别人从未走过的路。。。。。。
  • 驱魔老师

    驱魔老师

    是人类?是驱魔师?还是天魔道人?终究要有一个选择,但毕竟已经有了太多羁绊,我该何去何从呢?