Woof

“ Woof, long since, had grunted and mumbled his way into a winter lair. But the wolves remained, strange gray shadows on the snow, and possibly a few of the hardier smaller creatures.
More than once in those long winter nights their talk was chopped off short by the song of the pack on some distant ridge. Sometime, when the world is old, possibly a man will be born that can continue to talk and keep his mind on his words while the wolf pack sings. But he is certainly an unknown quantity to-day. ”

“ And methought that another woof was woven, which crossed the first, and yet it was no whit less beautiful. Then the women who wove the woofs cried out, ‘Enough!’ And a fair white arm reached out and seized the rare fabrics, and tore them into shreds. And then the sky was overcast, and the thunder began to roll and the lightning to flash, and red fires gleamed, and fierce wolves howled around me, and I awoke.”
“This dream,” said Queen Ute, “is more than I can understand. Only this I can see and explain, that in the dim future the woof of another’s fate shall cross thy own. ”

“ The pig, being an incurable sceptic by nature, and, moreover, possessed of a keen and discriminating nose, persisted in believing him to be a bear and a lover of pork, and would squeal nervously at the sight of him. The rest of the farmyard folk accepted him at his own illusion, and appeared to regard him as a gigantic species of dog. And so, with nothing to mar his content but the occasional paroxysms of Mrs. Jabe's broom, Woof led the sheltered life and was glad to be a dog. ”

“ She amiably forgot him and wandered off by herself, intent on nothing so much as satisfying her appetite, which had increased amazingly. It was necessary that she should load her ribs with fat to last her through her long winter's sleep in some cave or hollow tree. And as for Woof, once more he thought of Jabe Smith and Jinny, and the kind, familiar farmyard, and the delectable scraps from the kitchen, and the comforting smell of fried pancakes. What was the chill and lonely wilderness to him, a dog? He turned from grubbing up an ant stump and headed straight back for home. ”

“ At this flagrant interference with his own lawful kill, it flared to fury. His assailant was bigger than he, better nourished, and [Pg 18] far stronger; but for some minutes he put up a fight which, for swift ferocity, almost daunted the hitherto unawakened spirit of Woof. A glancing blow of the stranger's, however, on the side of Woof's snout—only the remnant of a spent stroke, but enough to produce an effect on that most sensitive center of a bear's dignity—and there was a sudden change in the conditions of the duel. Woof, for the first time in his life, saw red. ”

“ Once a deer leaped from the trail, and once he heard Woof grunting in the thickets. And just as he came to a little cleared space, three strange, dark birds flung up on wide-spreading wings.
He knew them at once. All mountaineers come to know them before their days are done. They were the buzzards, the followers of the dead. And what they were doing in the thicket just beside the trail, Dan did not dare to think.
Of course they might be feeding on the body of a deer, mortally wounded by some hunter. ”

“ Of course they did n't fight often. They had entirely opposite interests. The bear was a berry-eater and a honey-grubber, and the cougar cared too much for his own life and beauty to tackle Woof in a hunting way.
A fawn leaped from the thicket in front of him, startled by his sound in the thicket. The truth was, Whisperfoot had made a wholly unjustified misstep on a dry twig, just at the crucial moment. Perhaps it was the fault of Woof, whose presence had driven Whisperfoot from the trail, and perhaps because old age and stiffness was coming upon him. ”

“ The stranger, though at first somewhat puzzled by Woof's violent efforts to wag a non-existent tail, apparently found her big wooer sympathetic. For the next few weeks, all through the golden, dreamy autumn of the New Brunswick woods, the two roamed together; and for the time Woof forgot the farm, his master, Jinny, and even Mrs. Jabe's impetuous broom.
But about the time of the first sharp frosts, when the ground was crisp with the new-fallen leaves, Woof and his mate began to lose [Pg 14] interest in each other. ”

“ As the woof is subjected to more wear and tear than the warp, it should be stouter. For this reason each of the two ends of which it is composed is twisted separately before the two are twisted together, while for the warp the latter of these processes is sufficient. The result of this difference is that, when looked at beneath the microscope, the thread of the woof has an uneven look, as though it were a small cable, while that of the warp looks flat and smooth, and is therefore adapted to reflect the [86] light, receiving the shiny look which makes a silk-stuff so attractive. ”

“ The others nodded assent, and dispatched a messenger to the king to say he must fight the great Woof and master him or resign his sovereignty.
“For a bear with feathers,” added the messenger, “is no bear at all, and the king we obey must resemble the rest of us.”
“I wear feathers because it pleases me,” growled the king. “Am I not a great magician? But I will fight, nevertheless, and if Woof masters me he shall be king in my stead.”
Then he visited his friends, the gulls, who were even then feasting upon the dead bear, and told them of the coming battle. ”

“ In the course of no long time his discernment told him that Woof was growing up under the delusion that he was a dog. It was perhaps a convenience, in some ways, that he should not know he was a bear—he might be the more secure from troublesome ancestral suggestions. But as he appeared to claim all the privileges of his foster-mother, Jabe Smith's foreseeing eye considered the time, not far distant, when the sturdy and demonstrative little animal would grow to a giant of six or seven hundred pounds in weight, and still, no doubt, continue to think he was a dog. ”

“ We could indicate an absent one, but in most cases only by a sort of mimicry. Thus Woof was so known because of a trick of his in imitating well the “woof” of a startled beast. Gurr was so designated because of his husky voice, and his wife was Goor because her call was similar to his though not so harsh. There was another man with a split lip and singular utterance, and we said “Chu-Chu” when we referred to him. Hair was so called because he [Pg 33] was the most hairy one among us. We must have known more than a hundred different sounds for different things. ”

“ But Woof had not forgotten either the good example of Jinny or the discipline of Mrs. Jabe's broom. Far be it from him to help himself without leave. But he was very hungry. Something must be done to win the favor of the strangely unresponsive round-faced man in the bunk. Looking about him anxiously, he espied a pair of greasy cowhide "larrigans" lying on the floor near the door. Picking one up in his mouth, after the manner of his retriever foster-mother, he carried it over and laid it down, as a humble offering, beside the bunk. ”

“ He rounded a turn of the trail, and there before him stood a logging camp.
To Woof a human habitation stood for friendliness and food and shelter. He approached, therefore, without hesitation.
There was no sign of life about the place, except for the smoke rising liberally from the stove-pipe chimney. The door was shut, but Woof knew that doors frequently opened if one scratched at them and whined persuasively. He tried it, then stopped to listen for an [Pg 21] answer. The answer came—a heavy, comfortable snore from within the cabin. ”

“ Beating Up the Woof.—The weaver presses the right-hand pedal, and every alternate thread separates from the other, leaving a space between the two sets of warp threads for the shuttle to be thrown from right to left, carrying the woof threads through. The operator then draws this thread up at the side to make a good selvedge and brings home the beater, thus pressing the woof into the warp. A sheer fabric requires a light stroke of the beater, while firm cloth requires more force. ”

“ At least, that would be his train of thought according to those naturalists who insist on ascribing human intelligence to all the forest creatures. But it is true that Woof had learned to recognize a rifle shot, and he feared it worse than anything on earth.
Far away on the ridge top, a pair of wolves sat together with no more evidence of life than two shadows. One of the most effective accomplishments a wolf possesses is its ability to freeze into a motionless thing, so the sharpest eye can scarcely detect him in the thickets. ”

“ When night fell the wolf had turned down out of the main range, and was three thousand feet below in the great basin. Going was good there, and as there was moonlight, Terry kept Woof on the track for an hour after dark. They camped where they found a bed under a juniper. The wolf, at dark, had lain down. Now all night long, having once been routed out, the brute would worry and start, kept awake by dread of a night approach. ”

“ Vertical stripes serve well as another easy method of variation and are produced by using two woof threads of different tones and weaving first with one and then with the other. This weave is very attractive as the body of the rug with a plain border at either end.
As soon as the children have mastered the plain weave and have a fairly clear idea of the possibilities in design [Pg 43] through varying the colors in the woof only, they may be initiated into the mysteries of the "gingham weave" and allowed to experiment with the variations in warp as well as in woof. ”

“ In the original, 'Give ample room and verge enough.' In the Life of Gray (Works, vii. 486) Johnson says that the slaughtered bards 'are called upon to "Weave the warp, and weave the woof," perhaps with no great propriety; for it is by crossing the woof with the warp that men weave the web or piece ”

“ I do not mean that, Mac,—not the mere mechanical warp and woof of it, to hang beggars and sots with,—but the more potent essence, the inner cosmic power of it, to rouse the soul into grand expansive consciousness, and then to suspend it far above the carks and cares of this weary world, to sew it aloft to some leaf of the Tree of Life, like the nest of Jean Paul's tailor-bird, that it may swing there, above the hum and dust of matter, swayed and sung to sleep by the expanding breath of Infinity! ”

“ After the flight of the ants from the stadium, my woofus was found, still alive, in one of the passageways beneath the seats, where he had evidently dragged his poor mangled body and hidden himself. His life was spared by some one who recognized him as the beast who had rescued me on the day of the games. Word was brought me, and I at once went to him with Emsul. At my command, the woofus submitted to treatment, and soon recovered. He became a great pet of Lilla and little Kew. Always he lies on guard by the crib while the baby sleeps. ”

“ We had been travelling in this way for some two or three nights, when one morning very early we came down to a stream at a point close by a clump of buildings. The wind was blowing from them to us, and suddenly Wooffa threw herself up on her haunches and gasped one word—‘Pig!’
I had heard of pig before, and Wooffa had eaten it to her cost; and in spite of the cost she agreed with everyone in saying that young pig is the very [142] best thing there is to eat in all the world. ”

“ To each of these posts was fastened the chain of one woofus; and then the ant men withdrew, leaving Cabot to his own devices.
The woofus is the most dreaded carnivore of all Poros. It is about the size and general appearance of an earthly mountain-lion, except that it is hairless, is lavender in color, has webbed feet, and has pale blue antennae instead of ears. A woofus is a match for ten Cupians in fair fight; and its chief occupation, when not fighting, is just to sit and howl.
Most of the fauna of the planet are either reptiles or insects. Birds are unknown. ”

“ While many things may be used for warp with a certain degree of success, there are fine points to be observed in weaving as in all the art-crafts, and the real beauty of the result depends upon giving due attention to these points. It is always well to remember that in all weaving the warp plays a most important part. Mercerized cotton warp works out effectively with silk or linen woof or with a combination of both, and retains its beauty after being laundered many times. ”

“ We kept on for a mile or so before we stopped, down by the side of a little stream. Then we divided the pig fairly, and nothing that I had heard about his goodness had been exaggerated. No; there are many good things in the world—honey and berries and sugar and cooked things; but pig is above all others.
So good was he that, if I had been by myself, I think I should have stayed there, and gone down again next night for another, and probably been shot for my pains. But, as Wooffa had told me long ago, it was in doing just that very thing that her husband and two children had lost their lives. ”

“ Again the thunder-stick spoke, and I heard what I knew was Wooffa charging. I heard her growling in her throat in what was almost a roar, and the crashing of bushes and the shouts of the man’s voice, and more crashing of bushes, which died away in the distance down the hillside. Then all was silent except where somewhere in the rear of the house, little Kahwa whimpered miserably to herself.
All this I heard, and most of it I understood, [191] standing motionless and helpless inside the trap, powerless to help my wife and children when in such desperate straits within a few yards of me. ”