CHAPTER XVIIINIGHT WITH THE WOLVES
“Wemight spend a good while out in a camp like this, provided we weren’t caught in too heavy a snowstorm,” remarked Harry, while he and Joe were disposing of the meal they had cooked for themselves.
“Right you are, Harry. I believe we could scare up lots of game, big and little.”
“How far do you imagine we are from home?”
“Not less than five miles. We did pretty well on the snowshoes, all things considered.”
“Not counting the tumbles, you mean,” answered Harry with a laugh.
The meal finished, they put away what was left of the steaks for the morrow. They resolved to keep a camp-fire burning all night, and for that purpose chopped quite a pile of wood.
The shelter they had built was not over eight feet in diameter, and on one side of this they placed the carcasses of the deer, being afraid to leave them outside, for fear that some wild animal might come up and rob them of the prizes. Theylay down on the other side of the shelter, close to the tiny doorway they had left. Just outside of this doorway was the fire, which they heaped up with chunks of wood piled as high as the limbs overhead permitted.
“We must be careful of the flames,” cautioned Joe. “We don’t want to set the forest on fire.”
Utterly worn out from the tramp on snowshoes, they were both willing to retire early, and an hour after sunset found them both at rest, almost in each other’s arms. They had but scant covering from the cold, but with the shelter and the fire this was hardly necessary.
Harry was the first to fall asleep, and a little later Joe, with a last glance at the fire, followed suit.
An hour went by, followed by another. Outside, scarcely a sound broke the stillness of the night. The fire blazed away merrily as stick after stick was consumed, and then gradually sank lower and lower until only a flicker illuminated the surroundings.
Then, from a distance, a lone wolf appeared, on the trail of the deer that had been shot. The wolf sniffed the air, and uttered a lonely howl that was taken up by other wolves still further away. In a very few minutes ten or a dozen of the animals were gathered on the trail, and the packmoved slowly and cautiously toward where the deer had been taken.
When the wolves came in sight of the fire they paused again, and more lonely howls rent the night air. But the scent of the deer was now strong, and the wolves were desperately hungry, and gradually they grew bolder and formed a circle around the shelter.
Not far from the fire lay some of the bones of the deer, and a bit of the meat that Harry had burned in cooking the steaks. One wolf sneaked in and gobbled up this, and on the instant a wild howl of jealousy arose from the rest of the pack, as they sprang in to get their share.
It was this howl which awoke Joe and Harry with a start. Both sat up and rubbed their eyes, for some of the smoke of the fire had drifted into the shelter, and they could see but little in the semi-darkness.
“Wolves!” The exclamation came from Joe, and scarcely had he spoken when another howl went up.
“There must be a whole pack of them,” cried Harry. “And if that is so we are bound to have a lively time of it.”
Each young pioneer had placed his gun where he could put his hands upon it, and each caught up his weapon.
The wolves now came closer, and, in their fight among themselves, three of the pack tumbled up against the shelter and broke through the snow piled there.
“Hi! here they come!” ejaculated Joe, and, taking aim at the nearest wolf, he let drive with his rifle.
His aim was true, and the wolf fell back dead.
The report of the rifle caused the wolves to howl louder than ever, and some of them retreated to a position beyond the flicker of the camp-fire. But they now had the scent of blood in their nostrils, and the boys saw that another attack was coming.
“Get a brand from the fire!” shouted Harry, and shot at the nearest of the beasts, sending a second wolf to the ground.
The wolves were now snapping and snarling on all sides, and before Joe could turn to the fire one leaped for him, and fastened his teeth in the heavy coat the youth wore.
Seeing this attack Harry leaped in to the rescue. He had his gun by the barrel, and around came the stock with a sweeping blow that crushed in the beast’s skull.
Joe was near to the fire now, and caught up a blazing brand and waved it in the air. Then hekicked the other brands together, and threw on some dry brushwood which was handy.
“They are going to carry off the deer!” shouted Harry, and he was right. Two wolves that had not taken part in the attack on the lads were trying their best to haul away one of the carcasses.
Catching up another firebrand, Joe hurled it at the wolves, and it landed between them, directly on the deer meat. At once the wolves dropped their hold, and slunk back into the circling pack.
The young pioneers were now both at the fire, and did what they could to make it blaze up. As the light grew brighter the wolves slunk still further back, and the fighting, for the time being, came to an end.
“That was a struggle, wasn’t it?” panted Harry, piling more wood on the flames. “At the start I thought we’d be eaten up alive. Did he bite you much?”
“No; his teeth only got into my coat,” answered Joe.
“Do you think they’ll come back?”
“They will if we give them the chance.”
“Let us throw out the dead wolves. That will give them something to feed on.”
The carcasses of the wolves were dragged from the shelter, and while Joe carried two brighttorches Harry dragged the dead wolves toward a nearby hollow.
Hardly had the first carcass gone down than the live wolves were on it, rending and tearing it apart in a mad fury to get the meat.
“I’m glad it’s that meat instead of ourselves,” was Harry’s comment, and he gave a shudder.
The dead wolves disposed of, they returned to the camp-fire, and while Joe piled on what was left of the wood Harry cut more, so that the blaze might not die down even for a moment.
“Wild beasts hate fire worse than anything else,” said Joe. “A good blaze will prove our greatest protection.”
For over an hour they saw nothing more of the wolves, for each of the pack had gotten his portion of the dead ones, and was disposing of it greedily.
But now came a howl from a distance, and this drew closer slowly. The scent of blood was in the air, and another pack had found it and was tracing it to its source.
“More wolves are coming!” ejaculated Joe, and now his face turned pale. “Oh, Harry, do you think there will be too many for us?”
“Let us make a half-circle of the fire and get in it,” was the reply. “I think we can keep them off if we try.”
A little later came a fierce howling from thehollow. The second pack had come up and was fighting for what was left of the wolves’ meat.
“It’s too bad there isn’t enough of that wolves’ meat to go around,” said Joe.
“Let us sneak up and knock over a couple more of the beasts,” answered his chum.
This was agreed to, and, leaving the fire blazing brightly, they sneaked through the snow to a spot where they could catch sight of the howling and struggling beasts.
Two clever shots caused two more of the wolves to go down. They were the largest and heaviest of the packs, and in a twinkling their fellows leaped upon them, rending them limb from limb.
“What horrible creatures!” said Harry. “They haven’t the slightest feeling for one another!”
“They have been half starved by the heavy fall of snow, Harry. They wouldn’t be that way if they could get anything else.”
Returning to the fire, they reloaded and chopped more wood. In the hollow the wolves continued to snarl and yelp, each trying to get the best of the meat. Occasionally there would be a fierce fight between two wolves lasting for several minutes.
The fire had now dried out the branches hanging over the shelter, and the boys had their handsfull keeping the blaze from mounting among the trees. Twice it did catch, but they put out the flames before they gained much headway.
It was not until early morning that the sounds in the hollow ceased. Both of the boys could scarcely keep their eyes open, yet each had refused to go to sleep again.
“I’m going to take another look at those wolves,” said Joe, and walked forward, gun in one hand and firebrand in the other. He moved with caution, but this was unnecessary. Every wolf had vanished.
“They are gone!” he cried joyfully.
“Gone?” queried Harry. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, Harry, they are gone, and have left nothing but the bones and bits of hide behind them.”
Both young pioneers inspected the hollow with interest. The snow was churned up in all directions, and hither and thither lay the bones, skulls, and bits of hide and hair. By the tracks they could see that what remained of the packs had gone off to the southward.
“That was a night I don’t wish to duplicate,” said Joe. “It’s enough to make one’s hair stand on end to think about.”
“Perhaps they’ll come back again to-night.”
“That is true. We must be prepared for them.”
Having had such an experience, the two young hunters resolved to go no further from home, but remain in that vicinity for the rest of their hunting tour. This being so, they spent several hours in strengthening the shelter, so that it might resist another attack should it come.
Breakfast disposed of, they brought out a couple of ropes they had carried along, and hoisted the deer up into the branches of one of the trees, so that the wolves would not be able to get at them. Then they left a low, smudge fire burning, and set off once more in quest of game.