So the mother wolf drove the deer slowly,
puzzling them more and more, as a collie distracts the herd by his
yapping, out into the open where her cubs might join in the hunting.
The wolves now drew back, all save the mother, which advanced
hesitatingly to where the caribou stood with lowered head, watching
every move. Suddenly the cow charged, so swiftly, furiously, that the
old wolf seemed almost caught, and tumbled away with the broad hoofs
striking savagely at her flanks. Farther and farther the caribou drove
her enemy, roused now to frenzy at the wolf's nearness and apparent
cowardice. Then she whirled in a panic and rushed back to her little
ones, only to find that all the other wolves, as if frightened by her
furious charge, had drawn farther back from the cranny in the rocks.
Again the old she-wolf approached cautiously, and again the caribou
plunged at her and followed her lame retreat with headlong fury. An
electric shock seemed suddenly to touch the huge he-wolf. Like a flash
he leaped in on the fawns. One quick snap of the long jaws with the
terrible fangs; then, as if the whole thing were a bit of play, he loped
away easily with the cubs, circling to join the mother wolf, which
strangely enough did not return to the attack as the caribou charged
back, driving the cubs and the old he-wolf away like a flock of sheep.
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