Then I spoke reassuringly to the horses as they plodded wearily along, too tired to run.
It was nearly twenty minutes later, before the wolves started towards me again. It had not taken them long to eat one of their own pack. As I had plenty of cartridges, I could stand the battle as long as they could. Again I took my time and sighted my gun carefully. I pulled the trigger and down went the next wolf. His fellows tore at him before he had scarcely touched the ground.
A wolf is a monstrous brute for one minute, a brother may be running beside him, the next minute the brother is down and the other is tearing at his vitals. Well, men are like that sometimes, when one slips, there are plenty of others to rush him down but few to lift him up. Let some one call “mad dog“ and in no time, the rabble is calling mad dog, without knowing whether the dog is mad or whether there even is a dog.
In a brief time, I had to shoot another wolf, as the pack again approached. The horses had lost some of their nervousness and were grabbing snow by the mouthful. They seemed to have come to the conclusion that there was
118
|
|
plenty of protection in the rear. Well they had more faith in me than I had in myself. My hands were cold as I had to take my mits off every time I used the gun.
The moon had risen early and it looked cold and wintry as it rode across the sky. Millions of stars were shining brightly, making it almost as light as day. I was clapping my hands together to get the blood circulating in them to keep them from freezing and my nose was a constant chore. Before I realized it, the pack was again approaching and was nearer than I expected.
Putting up my gun, I shot, but missed. Then another shot missed its mark. The third shot caught one old wolf not a rod from the sled. I suddenly became nervous. Was I losing my aim? I must not let the beasts get so close the next time. My hands were so cold but I was determined not to throw off any more of the beef until I was forced to.
They began to approach again and I thought, “For the love of Mike, what do they consider a meal? They had had one quarter of beef and five wolves so far. Just at this point, my horses wanted to stop. Can you imagine that? They must have thought that it was just a hunting trip. I had to urge them on.
119
|
|
