The Outcasts Part 9

"It's the Bull!" cried A'tim triumphantly. "Now, Brothers, we shall feast. Have I not spoken the truth?"

On again sped the four Killers--the four that were eager of blood; on through the thicket, and with suddenness out upon a plain that had been fire-swept years before--a plain wide, and void of poplar, or spruce, or cottonwood. Only the gra.s.s plain, and on the plain seven Buffalo; a waiting crescent of seven huge heads lined in symmetrical defense; a little in front old s.h.a.g, and behind, shoulder to shoulder, the others. With a cry of dismay, A'tim stopped.

"A trick--a trap!" yelped the Wolf.

"I did not know of these," whined A'tim; "but it is nothing. If we charge boldly they will stampede."

"They will fight," answered the Wolf. "No charge will break a Wolf Pack, and it will be that way with these, I think."

"The Buffalo are different," lied A'tim. He knew better, but it was his only hope. Well he knew that if there were no attack his New Comrades would surely eat him. In the battle many things might come to pa.s.s, his Dog wisdom said; the Wolves might be killed, or prodded full of a sufficiency of fight; the Buffalo might stampede, being new to s.h.a.g's leaders.h.i.+p; or, when the combat was heavy, he could steal away if he saw it going against them. Also his desire for revenge on s.h.a.g was a potent factor.

"They will surely break if we charge with strength," he declared: "they are Cows, having no Calves to guard, and each will think only of her own safety when she hears your fierce cry, Pack Leader. I, who have lived upon Buffalo in the South, know this.

Why should I say this, being also in the fight, if it were not true. Come, Brothers, even now they are afraid."

The Buffalo Cows were stamping the young-turfed prairie with nervous feet. s.h.a.g was throwing clouds of dust over his lowered head, and kinking his tufted tail in battle anger.

"Yes, he will fight," declared A'tim, as s.h.a.g snorted and shook his head defiantly; "he will fight, but that will save much running, for we shall soon bring him down."

The Wolf Leader weighed the matter with a gravity born of his long fast. Certainly it appeared worth a battle. If they could but make one Kill, what a feast it would be! Never had he seen Gra.s.s Feeders of this bulk. Why should he and his Sons, who were strong fighters, full of the Wolf cunning, dread these Buffalo who had nothing but horns for defense! No fear of the fierce-cutting hoof thrust, such as Mooswa gave! And he was hungry. He looked at the Dog-Wolf with the eye of an epicure; what miserable eating his thin carca.s.s would make. Much better this fight for a Buffalo.

"We will charge," he said. "All at the Bull!"

With short, gasping yelps the three Wolves and the Mongrel dashed at the Herd. The crescent of horned heads swayed a little irresolutely; but s.h.a.g, wise old Leader, Leader of mighty Herds, Patrician of a thousand kine, who had stood against the fierce blizzard, and the Foothill Wolves that came down in mighty Packs seeking the calves that were in his charge,--he who had fought the young Bulls growing into their strength, and kept them in subjection until his horns were worn to stubs and of no avail; whose heart, once aroused, was strong, and knew not of defeat until it came: this dauntless Monarch of the plain stood firm.

What were four Wolves to him! Let them come.

"This is a Leader!" said the six Cows. "Surely here is no danger."

"No danger," repeated s.h.a.g, hearing their voices; "stand close and there is no danger."

"Oo-oo-oo-ah, wah, wah, wah!" howled the Wolves and barked the Dog-Wolf, as almost to the stockade of heavy heads they rushed.

"Circle, Brothers, circle," called the big Wolf, as he swerved to the right, seeking to turn the flank of the Cow line. Like trained soldiers the Buffalo crescent swung as the Wolves swung, s.h.a.g always a little in front. With an angry snarl the Leader dashed at the Buffalo; his two Sons were at his shoulder.

"The Bull! the Bull!" yelped A'tim, crouching to steal under the giant head, and lay him by the flank.

Famine-braved, the Wolves fought and snapped, and snarled the Kill cry. Crazed beyond cowardice by the smell of their own blood, the Cows fenced and thrust, and stood one against the other--the sharp horns ripped like skinning-knives.

"Ee-e-yah! if I could but do it!" snarled the great Wolf. Ah! he had her--by the nose! Down to her knees, dragged by the Wolf, came the Cow that had turned s.h.a.g from the Death Flower.

"Yah, yah, yah!" snarled the Wolf joyously through his set teeth, as the Cow bellowed loud in her agony of terror.

Then something like the falling of a great forest was heard, and the Buffalo Bull descended upon the Big Wolf and blotted him out from the light of the world. It was not a question of horns at all; it was simply a great weight like an avalanche of rock crus.h.i.+ng him into the herbed plain. His grim jaws relaxed their hold; from ears and nostrils flowed his mighty strength in a red stream.

Even as s.h.a.g charged the Wolf, A'tim had reached for the Cow's flank! Ah! here was his chance. The Bull's fat throat beckoned to him from within easy reach. Wah, for his revenge! E-e-uh, for the throat grip--the throat-cutting hold!

Eagerly, wide-jawed he sprang at the Brother Outcast--and missed.

The carnage had sent s.h.a.g's life back a score of years; the battle heat warmed his old blood until it coursed with the fire of fighting youth; he was a young Bull again, full of the glorious supple strength that had been his as chief gladiator of all the prairie arena: that was why A'tim fell short as he reached for the death hold.

With a deft twist s.h.a.g had the Dog-Wolf pinned to the earth between the worn old horns.

"Now, traitor," he grunted.

"Spare me," pleaded A'tim; "I, who am not of your kind, slept by your side, and guided you to this land where you have a Herd. I was forced to this by the Wolves--they threatened to eat me.

Spare me, Great Bull; I came to warn you, but the Wolves followed fast."

s.h.a.g hesitated. One crunch from his broad forehead, one little push--so, and the Dog-Wolf, who was A'tim, would--

[Ill.u.s.tration: "THOU ART A TRAITOR, AND A GREAT LIAR," SAID THE BULL.]

"Spare me, s.h.a.g--let me go," pleaded the mongrel again; "I brought you to this Herd--to this Northland which is good. Were we not Outcast Brothers together?"

Again s.h.a.g hesitated. Why not? Was he not a Buffalo Bull, a Leader of Herds? Did his kind ever do aught for revenge--kill except in defense of their own lives? And was not this Dog-Wolf lying helpless between his horns beyond all chance of doing him injury--this Mongrel that had been as a Brother to him when they were Outcasts? Also the Wolves were dead--trampled into silence.

"Thou art a traitor, and a great liar, A'tim," said the Bull, rising, "but you may go because you are an Outcast, and because I also was one."

And that was the beginning of the Herd of the Wood Buffalo, that are big and strong and beautiful, in the spruce forests of the Athabasca Lake.

[Ill.u.s.tration: END]