If he failed, as was generally the case at first, a
curious bit of wolf intelligence and wolf training came out at once.
As the wolves advanced the father and mother would steal gradually ahead
at either end of the line, rarely hunting themselves, but drawing the
nearest cub's attention to any game they had discovered, and then moving
silently to one side and a little ahead to watch the result. When the
cub rushed and missed, and the startled rabbit went flying away,
whirling to left or right as rabbits always do, there would be a
lightning change at the end of the line. A terrific rush, a snap of the
long jaws like a steel trap,--then the old wolf would toss back the
rabbit with a broken back, for the cub to finish him. Not till the cubs
first, and then the mother, had satisfied their hunger would the old
he-wolf hunt for himself. Then he would disappear, and they would not
see him for days at a time, until food was scarce and they needed him
once more.
One day, when the cubs were hungry and food scarce because of their
persistent hunting near the den, the mother brought them to the edge of
a dense thicket where rabbits were plentiful enough, but where the cover
was so thick that they could not follow the frightened game for an
instant.
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