White Wolf

“ The White Wolf
On the night when he was born, in the smoke-smelling wigwam beside the lone Michikamaw, there had come a strange, long howling of the wind amid the cleft granite heights which overhung the water. At the sound the fainting girl on the pile of deerskins opened eyes which grew suddenly wild and dark. ”

“ Without a word White Wolf turned and rode toward his band, and Red Pine returned to his warriors.
White Wolf was a big, fat, burly Indian, who has since become quite well known on the plains as the meanest beggar of them all; one who will steal a blanket or murder a white man for the sake of a drink of whisky. He has became very much demoralized since the time we first met him, demanding the prisoner of the Sioux chief. ”

“ A snipe rose suddenly, and began to call out; a capercailzie lofted all at once, with a great rush of winged bulk, above the snow-bound forest; and a white hare slid, like a wraith of the winter, down a silent forest aisle.
Then came the White Wolf of the Frozen Wastes, the terror of the blizzard, ghost-like, enormous, and swift. In dead, grim silence came he, loping his loose, tireless wolf's lope, and stopped at a windfall, where two forest giants, their decaying strength discovered by the extra weight of snow, lay prone, one across the other. ”

“ They passed the dark night together: the Bear under a haystack, Purring Váska on the haystack, and the Goat and the Ram by the fire.
“Ugh, ugh!” said the White Wolf, “it is not Russian flesh I smell. What manner of people may they be? I must find out!”
The Goat and the Ram bleated with fright, and Purring Váska held such discourse: “Listen, White Wolf, Prince of all the wolves! Don’t anger our eldest one, for if he should get at you, it will be your end. Don’t you see his beard? that’s where his strength lies. With his beard he strikes down the animals, but with his horns he only flays them. ”

“ The answer was instant.
Something rumbled within the den, deep down, like a geyser.
The white wolf whined again, and sprang aside just as the bear, maddened with the pain of a .450-caliber rifle bullet in his stomach, and seeking a sacrifice, hurled out of the dark and up over the tree-trunk, striking, with appalling nail-strokes, right and left; and the quickness of those strokes was only a less astonishment than the agility of the wolves getting out of the way of them. But—but he had come out to abolish one wolf, that bear; not one hundred and twenty-nine. ”

“ After the other braves had told their stories, Little White Wolf’s father walked with long, firm steps to the center of the circle and began to speak. While Little White Wolf listened, he thought that his father looked unusually strong and tall.
Big White Wolf told how he had been tracking a deer in a small glen at the southern end of the valley when he heard a snarl. Turning quickly, he saw a large female puma poised to spring at him from a tree. Just as the cat leaped, Big White Wolf shot his arrow. The cat fell dead at his feet. ”

“ He passed the hunting-lodge of the King and turned almost mechanically into a black-throated gorge—a natural amphitheatre through which an amber stream flowed swiftly—a dizzy kind of place, with steep, precipitous rocks, a false step on which would plunge one into the stream below.
"A fine theatre for a fine deed," Ulric muttered. "Here it was that King Max won his crown and his wife, God bless her! But those days are over; no white-throated wolf will ever stray down the Devil's Windpipe again, for the legend is fulfilled, and the old story will some day be forgotten." ”

“ A cry of triumph burst from Ulric. With three legs only the wolf would be at his mercy. Its instinct would be to turn and fly, pursued by the victor, who had only to track his prey down until, exhausted by loss of blood, the end came. Farsala was saved!
Not yet, not yet. This was no ordinary breed of wolf, as Ulric might have remembered. With an amazing energy and tenacity the beast turned and faced his enemy. He could see Ulric now, and, lying under the ledge of rock, the latter was at a terrible disadvantage. Foaming with rage and filled with lust to kill, the white-throated wolf came on. ”

“ Their long white fangs snapped, and the fire in their eyes took a different hue.
Very well the dark wolf knew the meaning of the halt, the turn, the change in his fellows' eyes. He knew the stern law of the pack—the instant and inevitable doom of its hurt member. The average gray wolf knows how to accept the inevitable. Fate itself—the law of the pack—he does not presume to defy. He will fight—to justify his blood, and, perhaps, to drug his despair and die in the heat of the struggle. ”

“ The soul of the wolf was small, the soul of the white hunter large, and the large soul eat up the little one. The wolf became a wolf with a human soul. The soul remembered the wrong that the Shawnee warriors had done its body; it burned for revenge. It made the wolf walk erect like a human; it taught him to carry in his paw the tomahawk of the red-man—to steal upon the Shawnee chiefs in the forest—to give their souls to the dark spirit and to graven on their breasts the totem of the Red Arrow. Thus the soul keeps alive the memory of the squaw that the Shawnee warriors killed. ”

“ Our walls have been inscribed with the terrifying announcement that "White Wolf is a devourer of sheep," which in Chinese, by a play on the last word, can be understood to mean: "White Wolf is a devourer of foreigners." ”

“ Then came a plunge in the black heart of the pool, and King Max was by Ulric's side.
A huge hand shot out, there was a groan and a rattle, the splash of a body in the pool, and the King stood neck-deep in the flood with the white throat of the wolf in his hand. He had torn the throat out as he had done on one great occasion before.
"The body," Ulric faltered, "the body!"
"Will go over the waterfall into the pool below, never to be seen any more. You seem to have forgotten that anything once there never rises again. Get on my back." ”

“ On one side of the rocky platform was a fringe of bushes from which the wolf would assuredly emerge when he came down to water—indeed, Ulric had already proved this by the spoor. On the other side of the platform was a rugged, steep slope of rocks overhanging the river. Down this slope the wolf would in all probability make his way.
Near to the end of this miniature cliff was a shelf or ledge of rocks under which a man could hide himself. There was just a chance that Ulric might lurk there and deal the wolf a treacherous and fatal stab as he passed. ”

“ In his hand the warrior carried a tomahawk. The moonbeams danced upon the edge of the steel.
The warrior paused in the center of the glade and looked around him as though expecting some one. Then he spoke, defiantly:
“I am the White Dog, a great brave of the Shawnee nation. I seek the Wolf Demon in the forest. If he has a heart as big as a weasel’s, he will come from his lair and face me.” ”

“ The man attempted to step out of his circle of flame, but the wolves surged to meet him. Burning brands made them spring aside, but they no longer sprang back. In vain he strove to drive them back. As he gave up and stumbled inside his circle, a wolf leaped for him, missed, and landed with all four feet in the coals. It cried out with terror, at the same time snarling, and scrambled back to cool its paws in the snow. ”

“ Little Wolf gave the offending flowers several slight twiches, this way, and that. "There, how do you think they look now," said she.
"O they do look lovely," said Louise, glancing at herself, admiringly in the mirror, why could not I fix them so?"
Little Wolf gave her head a slight toss of triumph, thereby creating a breezy excitement, quite becoming among her ringlets, and the moss rose buds with which they were ornamented. Her dress was white and gauzy, and her every movement floated it gracefully about her slender figure. ”

“ Even in the midst of the snow, and when it is so cold that the wolf shivers in his den, this frail, pure flower peeps up for a few brief moments above the shining white surface, and then is not seen again. It is of a white or faintly bluish color; and he who touches it and inhales its heavenly odor is immediately healed of every earthly disease. But there is one singular thing about it—no one can see it unless he be pure and innocent and good; to all others the heavenly flower is invisible. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 realisation 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. ”

“ Instances are not uncommon of their attacking man. In 1824, upwards of thirty children were devoured by Wolves in one pergunnah alone. Sometimes a large Wolf is seen to seek his prey singly. These are called Won-tola by the Canarese, and reckoned particularly fierce.”
This Indian Wolf has dingy reddish-white fur, some of the hairs being tipped with black; the lower parts are dingy white, the tail slightly tipped with black.
Closely allied to the Indian Wolf is a variety from Tibet, “Canis laniger, sometimes called the ‘White Wolf’ by sportsmen who cross the Himalayas. ”

“ It was the Wolf; slim, vital, clean-limbed, smiling, in marked contrast with all those others.
On the instant Fyles remembered something of Fraser’s description of the Wolf.
“I don’t know how it is with you, Sergeant,” he had said. “But I’m all for fool instinct when it comes to estimating the other feller. I can’t place the Wolf, and that’s a fact. He’s the brains and ability of a township of hard-living citizens. But he’s more. He looks like a half-breed and lives like one. Nevertheless, he’s white as you or me. They call him the Wolf, without any other name. ”

“ In the Hungarian steppes four or five of those dogs would lay themselves down on the grass in the evening, sleeping there like so many harmless lambs, with their faces inward for the heat of each other's breath. The keen eye of the wolf was soon attracted by the white fleeces, with no shepherd near to guard them. Eager for blood, he careered swiftly over the plain, and sprang unsuspecting into the midst of the flock, only to find himself clenched in the relentless jaws of Kaiser and his comrades, wolves more terrible than himself under the clothing of timid sheep. ”

“ To sheer off, rear high in the air, and plant his fore foot right into the would-be-murderer's brain, was a feat performed without a sign from Little Wolf, who sat like one paralyzed, while Black Hawk in a fury trampled their assailant under his feet. She saw Hank's ghastly face and flaxen ringlets go down, and she saw his life blood spurting far over the pure white snow, and the next instant she was borne swiftly away from the terrible scene. ”

“ Black Wolf came in at sunset with a bear cub which he had found feeding apart from its mother. He was triumphant, and Crooked Lightning was scornful when White Arrow appeared empty-handed. His left wrist was bruised and swollen, and there was a gash the length of his forearm.
“Follow my tracks back,” he said, “until you come to the kill.” With a whoop two Indians bounded away and in an hour returned with a buck.
“I ran him down,” said White Arrow, “and killed him with the knife. He horned me,” and went into his tent. ”

“ THEN Lop-Ear came with his pack. She had nearly forgotten the presence of these attractive outlaws. The moon was shining. The cabin pond was like a pool of milk, it was so bright and full of light. The trout swimming through the water were black fish-shapes and cast black shadows on the white-sand bottom. Migrant birds were chirruping uneasily in the trees, as if they were still on their way in the night. The green timber forest had awakened, as the desert does, in the evening. And then as they topped a ridge or knob far away, the voices of the wolves became clamorous in the gloom. ”

“ Many a woodman, many a heath-gatherer, came face to face in the thickets with the menacing white teeth of a wolf, and was either carried off and eaten, or just saved his life by the aid of his courage and his bill-hook. Guided by a human intelligence, the wolves had become organised and disciplined, and were far more formidable than a band of discontented soldiery let loose in a conquered country. ”

“ His white, sanguine throat should repair the mischief.
"You want me to kill this wolf for you, madam?" Ulric asked.
"Yes, yes," the Queen responded eagerly. "Track him, slay him, bring his skin to me. There is still time, and I have those about me who will keep the secret. A day or two will suffice to make good that which is lost. Farsala will be none the wiser. An imitation would be out of the question, for Prince Thor would set tongues wagging, and all would be lost. Can you do this, Ulric?"
Ulric made the most of his inches. He would show Prince Thor what a "pretty boy" was made of. ”

“ One Indian alone has lived to tell of an encounter with this mysterious slayer. He was only stunned, and recovered. He reported that he was attacked by a huge gray wolf, with a man’s head—the face painted black and white. The wolf stood on its hind legs like a man, but in hight far out-topping any human. He caught a glimpse of the monster as it struck him down with a tomahawk that the beast held in its paws. And that’s the story of the Wolf Demon, who has killed some of the bravest warriors of the Shawnee nation. ”