by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER VIII
THE BATTLE
Now they could hear the pack yelping down through the forest! Alreadyit had reached the brush hedge by the shore! It had made its turnnorthward, the yelps increasing in volume as it approached! Now theleaders were in sight!
"Go on! Go on!" yelled Skipper Ed, himself lagging in order that hemight fall in the rear of the boys and take a position between them andthe wolves, and as he did so he turned quickly and fired a random shotat the leader of the pack.
The cabin had just loomed into view dimly through the trees, and thewolves, almost upon their expected prey, were sounding the wild, fiercecry of triumph, when another pack, like phantoms in the forest shadows,coming from the direction of the cabin, swept down past Skipper Ed andthe boys, suddenly breaking forth as they ran into a fierce howl ofdefiance.[B]
[Footnote B: A few years ago Job Edmunds, a native acquaintance of theauthor, was saved from a pack of wolves in just this manner by hisdogs.]
"Thank God!" exclaimed Skipper Ed. "The dogs! The dogs will help us!Run, lads, and get to the door! I'll stop and help hold them with myrifle till you get in!"
But Bobby and Jimmy would not have it so. They, too, turned, and in thedim light of the shadowed forest the three fired into the face of thepack until their rifles were empty. Whether or not any of the animalsfell they could not see, but the pack paused for a moment in surprise.Then the dogs charged them, and as the three reached the cabin dooryelps and snarls told of the clash as the dogs met their wild kin of thehills in battle.
"Thank God!" again breathed Skipper Ed when the three, panting forbreath, were safe in the cabin, a moment later, with the good stout doorbetween them and the ravenous pack, which presently came snapping andsnarling around the cabin. "I never saw such a pack of wolves before. Inever knew that they gathered in such numbers in these days. There mustbe at least thirty of them."[C]
[Footnote C: Not many years ago a pack of upwards of thirty of these greatnorthern wolves appeared a few miles to the southward of this point. Oneof my friends was driven to the shelter of his cabin to escapethem.--Author.]
"The dogs! Partner, what will become of our dogs?" exclaimed Jimmy."They'll kill our fine dogs!"
"I'm afraid they will," agreed Skipper Ed, who had lighted a lamp andwas loading the magazine of his rifle. "Load up, partner. Load up,Bobby. We'll see what we can do from cover."
"We must have killed some of them!" Bobby exclaimed excitedly. "I know Idid! I saw three fall when we shot!"
"Yes, of course we did," agreed Skipper Ed, "but there are enough ofthem we didn't kill. Here, you chaps," he added, raising a window threeor four inches. "You should get some good shots from here. I'll try myluck from the shed door."
They had turned the lamp low, that they might see the better what wasgoing on out of doors. The wolves, baffled by the sudden disappearanceof their quarry, were ranged a little distance from the porch door, savetwo or three of the bolder ones, which were sniffing at the door itself.The dogs were nowhere to be seen.
"Look out!" called Bobby to Skipper Ed, who was about to open the porchdoor. "Some of them are right at the door!"
Then he and Jimmy began shooting. The wolves at the door fell, andSkipper Ed, opening the door a little way, joined in a fusillade at themain pack. The rapid reports of the rifles at close range, together withthe flashes of fire from an unseen source, struck panic to the heart ofthe pack. A slightly wounded one turned and ran. That was a signal forpanic, as is the way of men and beasts, and the whole pack followed ina mad, wild rush to the cover of the woods.
An instant and the last of the pack had faded into the shadows among thetrees--all save those left sprawling and limp upon the snow, which wouldnever roam the hills again, and one or two of the wounded, which werewhining, like whipped dogs, and the clearing about the cabin was asdeserted as ever it was.
"I'll go out," said Skipper Ed, "and end the suffering of those woundedbrutes. Build up the fire, partner, and put the kettle on, and we'llhave some tea. Then if there's no sign of what's left of the packreturning, we'll haul the carcasses into the shed, where we can skinthem tomorrow."
There was a roaring, cheerful fire in the stove when Skipper Ed returneda few minutes later to report that twelve wolves lay dead outside.
"There must be some more down where we shot them at first," said he, ashe drew off his _adikey_, "and some of those that got away were wounded,no doubt. At any rate we've cut the pack down so far in numbers that itwon't be a menace any longer."
"What'll they do now?" asked Bobby, as the three settled into their easychairs to wait for the kettle to boil.
"Go and look for caribou, and attend to their business, I suppose, andleave us quiet, peaceable folk alone," he laughed, adding: "I never sawsuch a pack before, though I've heard some of the old Eskimos say thatyears ago it used to happen now and again that packs like this appeared.Wolves are cowardly beasts, but numbers give them courage. When six oreight get together, you have to look out for them, and when the packgrows to a dozen they'll attack openly, and aren't afraid ofanything--not even man."
"Well, anyway we had the adventure we started out to get," laughedBobby, "and a little more of it than we expected."
"Yes, and a nice haul of wolf pelts to boot," added Skipper Ed.
"We were lucky they didn't get us," said Jimmy.
"Yes," agreed Skipper Ed, "lucky--the kind of luck we were talking abouttonight. That is, the luck of the Almighty's bounty and protection. Wedid the best we could, according to our lights, to protect and helpourselves, and so He helped, and brought us safely back, none the worse,and perhaps a little the stronger and better and richer in experiencethan we were an hour ago."
"It was a corking good adventure, anyhow!" broke in Bobby. "That sort ofthing just makes me tingle all over! Somehow when I get out of a messlike that I feel a lot bigger and stronger and more grown up. It wasgreat fun--now that it's over."
"You're a natural-born adventurer," laughed Skipper Ed. "You should havelived in the old days, when men had to fight for their life, or went outto find and conquer new lands."
"Well, I'm glad it's over," Jimmy shuddered--"the run from thewolves--and that they've gone. I didn't have time to feel much scaredout there, but I'm scared now of what might have happened. I don't liketo get into such fixes."
"Well, it's over, and all is well, and we're none the worse for it. Nowdrink your hot tea, lads," counseled Skipper Ed. "We've work to dobefore we sleep."
They ate their hardtack biscuit, and sipped the hot tea silently for alittle, listening the while to the snug and cheerful crackle of wood androar of flames in the big box stove.
"Now," said Skipper Ed finally, "we'll haul the wolves into the porch,and make them safe, for the dogs are like to tear at them, and injurethe pelts."
The following morning the carcasses of five additional wolves werediscovered at the place where they had first fired upon the pack. Two ofthe dogs, mangled and torn by wolf fangs, were dead, and three otherswere so badly injured that for a long time they were unfitted fordriving. But the others had discreetly decided that it was better "torun away and live to fight another day," and were none the worse fortheir scrimmage.
Bobby, of course, ran over to Abel's cabin to tell the great news of thebattle, and Abel and Mrs. Abel must needs return with him to assist inremoving the pelts from the animals, and to spend the day with SkipperEd and his partner. And a merry day it was for all of them, for wolfpelts could be traded at the mission store for necessaries. And none ofthem gave heed or thought to the danger the pelts had cost, save to givethanks to God for His deliverance; for dangers in that land are anincident of the game of life, and there the game of life is truly aman's game.