Among the Esquimaux; or, Adventures under the Arctic Circle
Page 25
CHAPTER XXIV
UNWELCOME CALLERS
Within the following fifteen minutes it seemed as if a thousand wolveshad arrived on the plateau, and were fighting, feasting, snarling, andrending the bodies of the musk oxen to fragments. They were far enoughremoved from the cavern for the inmates to hear each other readily,while discussing the curious occurrence.
The boys could not contemplate a visit from the ravening beasts withthe indifference of their companions. To them it seemed that thebrutes would be rendered ten-fold fiercer by their taste of blood, andwould not stop until they had devoured them.
"Do you think they will visit us?" asked Rob of Docak.
The latter was standing in the middle of the cavern, in the attitudeof listening. He nodded his head, and replied:
"Yes--eat ox--den come here."
"If that is so I think we ought to prepare for them," suggested Fred,who shared the nervousness of his friend.
"How can we prepare more than we're prepared now?" asked Jack;"they've got to come in that opening one at a time, and it will be funfor us to set back here and pick 'em off."
"Provided they don't crowd in so fast that we can't do it."
"With four guns, I reckon we oughter take care of ourselves."
"Dere fire, too," remarked the Esquimau, jerking his head in thedirection of the flames.
"Ah, I forgot that," said Rob, with a sigh of relief, recalling thedread which all animals have of fire. Indeed, he felt certain at themoment that the burning wood would prove far more effective than theirweapons in keeping off the wolves.
It would be supposed that the bodies on the plateau were enough tokeep the brutes occupied for a long time, and to afford them a mealsufficient to satisfy them for the night; but who ever saw a wolf whennot ravenously hungry? They howled, and snarled, and fought, andpressed around the carcasses in such numbers that, when only the bonesremained, it may be said that their appetites were but fairly whetted,and they were more eager than ever after additional prey.
Fully a score, in their keenness of scent, had been quick to strikethe trail of the surviving musk oxen that had fled from the hot fireof the hunters. The scent was the more easily followed since a coupleof the animals had been wounded, and there can be little doubt thatall fell before the ferocity of their assailants, though the musk oxmakes a brave fight ere he succumbs to those cowardly creatures.
Darting hither and yon, with their pointed snouts skimming over theground, it was not Long before several struck the footprints of theparty that had taken refuge in the cavern. A dozen or, perhaps, ascore would not have dared attack them had they not been inflamed bythe taste of food already secured. As it was, they were aroused tothat point that they were ready to assail any foe that could help tosatisfy their voracity.
"Here they come!" exclaimed Rob Carrol, springing to his feet, withrifle ready.
"Yes--dey come--dat so."
While the native was speaking he stood motionless, but with inimitabledexterity brought his gun to a level, and, apparently without any aimat all, let drive into the pack crowding toward the entrance to thecavern.
No aim was necessary, for the wolves pressed so close that no oneperson could fail to bring down one at least of them.
Amid the snarling and growling rang out a single sharp yelp, whichproved that some member of the pack was "hit hard." Whether struckmortally or not made no difference, for the moment blood appeared uponhim his comrades fell upon him with unspeakable ferocity and tore himlimb from limb.
The shot had the effect, too, of driving them away from the entrancefor a brief while, but they speedily returned, crowding so far forwardthat their eyes, lank jaws, and noses showed plainly in the reflectionof the firelight.
It was evident that the shot of the Esquimau produced no permanenteffect upon them. It may have been, indeed, that they wished for asecond that it might afford them the pretext for feasting upon anotherof their fellow-citizens.
But the fire was burning brightly, and they dreaded that. So long asit was going and the hunters kept close to the flame, they were safeagainst the fangs of the wolves.
"That's too good a chance to be lost," remarked Rob, discharging hisrifle among the animals.
Fred was but a moment behind him, so that two, if not more, of thebrutes were slain and afforded an appetizer for the rest. Docak hadlost no time in ramming another charge into his gun, while JackCosgrove held his fire, as if expecting some emergency, when a quickshot was likely to be necessary.
"It don't strike me as a good thing for all our guns to be empty atthe same time," was his sensible remark, "so s'pose we take turns inbanging into 'em."
"Dat right--dat good," commented the Esquimau, and the boys promisedto follow the suggestion.
The scene at this time was striking. Looking toward the entrance tothe cavern, nothing could be observed but the fronts of the fierceanimals, all fighting desperately to get at the opening, all eagerbeyond expression to reach the serene hunters within, but restrainedby the glowing fire beyond, to which they dared not go.
Quick to note their dread of this element, the boys became morecomposed, though both could not help thinking how it would be if therewere no fire. The fuel if judiciously used was sufficient to lastuntil daylight, by which time the courage of the brutes would oozeaway to that extent that they would be likely to withdraw.
But the party could not spend all their time in the cavern, and, ifattacked on the open plain, it would require the hardest kind offighting to beat off their assailants.
"But what is the use of speculating about the future?" Rob askedhimself, as, seeing that it was his turn, he drove another bulletamong the brutes, doubling up one like a jack-knife, while hiscomrades proceeded to "undouble" him in the usual style.
"Suppose," said Fred, "we should keep this up until we killed ahundred, wouldn't the rest have enough to eat by that time?"
"No," replied Jack, who had seen the animals before; "the rest of 'emwould be as hungry as ever after eating 'em. You may keep the thinggoing till there is only two left, and then shoot one of 'em; theother will gulp him down in a dozen mouthfuls, and then lick his chopsand whine for more."
Docak looked at his friend and grinned at this graphic illustration ofthe voracity of the lupus species.
However, it was quite clear that our friends were wasting a good dealof ammunition, which might be needed before their return. So theyseated themselves on the floor of the cavern near the fire, that waskept going with moderate vigor, and exchanging a few words now andthen as the turmoil permitted, they sent a shot into the pack, whensome of the foremost ventured to thrust their snouts too far into thecavern.
"If they only had sense enough to combine into one rush," said Fred,"they could wipe us out in a twinkling."
"That's just what they would do if it wasn't for the fire," was thereply of his friend; "but it does seem to me that they must get tiredafter awhile."
"I can't detect any signs of it yet. Let me try something."
Catching a brand from the fire, Rob whirled it about his head until itwas fanned into a roaring blaze, when he hurled it right among thehowling horde.
The scampering that followed was laughable. In a second or two not awolf was visible, and only the smoking torch lay on the ground whereit had fallen just outside the entrance.
It was expected they would soon return, and some of them did sneakback within a short distance, but the smoldering brand was a terror tothem so long as it held any life, and they waited until it was utterlyextinguished before venturing closer.
Meanwhile, Docak showed such disquiet and concern over something elsethat Jack Cosgrove, well knowing it must be serious, determined toforce him to an explanation, for he had racked his brain in vain tothink what grisly dread was looming in front of them.