CHAPTER VII
THE WOOING OF SHE WOLF
And so they trotted into the forest. But She Wolf ran ahead of No Man to show that she was not afraid of him.
Old One Eye, who was just awake, heard them as they passed up the valley below his cave. And he said, “that is No Man and he is running with She Wolf, I do not see why she has accepted the advances of such a weak good-for-nothing. He will make her do the hunting while he sits in the cave and scratches on bone.”
She Wolf and No Man trotted steadily for two hours until they had come to a good hunting ground. And as they ran their noses and ears twitched.
Presently and of one accord they stopped, and She Wolf pointed to a dense thicket of alders that stood about a pool of a stream. They could hear the occasional clink of hoofs on submerged stones, and a sound of cropping and munching.
She Wolf and No Man dropped to the ground, and crawled to the alders and into them as silently as two serpents. A buck with a fine head was wading in the midst of the pool and feeding among the lily pads.
There was no way in which She Wolf could get at him with club or spear, and she had about made up her mind to rush into the pool, on the chance of striking before he could get away. But it was a poor chance and she knew it. Still she gathered herself to spring, and just then—twang—she turned with a snarl, for she had forgotten all about No Man and his bent stick. No Man was looking innocently at his right hand, and holding the bow in his left.
“You don’t even know enough to keep still,” said She Wolf angrily, “no wonder everybody despises you.”
“Look in the pool,” said No Man imperturbably.