Page:The Cross Pull.pdf/79

 him again and he threw all the force of his lungs into one convulsive effort to answer it. For miles and miles across the white hills every living creature held its breath and lonely ranchers far down the valley felt the chill tingle of the wolf shiver as the lobo cry reached their ears. Having found his voice he called again and this time it was charged with all the pent up longings of the past year.

It started with a deep bass note, carrying a full, smooth volume, then swept abruptly up into a clear, siren peal that rolled on and on until it was tossed and echoed among the rimrocks of the valley.

The dog lobo and the she wolf from the north circled the edge of the basin until at last they met and stood facing one another across fifty feet of moonlit snow. They approached cautiously. The she wolf was suspicious of his scent; it was wolf scent, no doubt of that, but there was a faint trace of the conglomerate odor that marks the domestic dog. She sniffed at him, then snapped and fled.

Her speed was no match for his and he ran easily at her side. When she whirled and slashed at him he eluded her teeth but did not offer to re-