Shag hesitated. One crunch from his broad forehead, one little push—so, and the Dog-Wolf, who was A'tim, would—
"Spare me, Shag—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 Shag 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.
| TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES The word "everyting" has been retained on page 82. The punctuation was standardized in the caption "One after another they hurtled into the slaughter-pen of the Blood Indians' corral." The punctuation and paragraphing were standardized on page 129. A table of contents was added to the HTML version. |