Page:Silversheene (1924).djvu/166

 came hither, drawn by the strange lure of gold, but he did not molest them. Sometimes they had gone back and hung for a time on the outskirts of civilization, but this had been that they might prey on men and their belongings.

It had been a strange life into which Siversheene had been driven. At first, he had often dreamed of the old life, of Dick and Hilda, but to-day as he lay sleeping by the mouth of his den, with his wolf mate and the six pups inside, civilization and all that it had held for him seemed very far away.

Two influences had brought this about. The first had been the gray wolf mate, and the second the five blind helpless pups that Ke had fed and guarded that first year of the primitive life. No wolf ever provided more lavishly for his young than had Silversheene. He had stalked the sitting ptarmigan for them and had brought her home still warm. He had caught squirrels after hours of patient waiting. He had surprised the beaver in his woodcutting and