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The spot where the boy voyageurs had landed was at the bottom of a small bay. The country back from the lake was level and clear of timber.Here and there, nearer the shore, however, its surface was covered with small clumps of willows that formed little thickets of deep green. Beside one of these thickets, within a hundred yards of the beach, the fire had been kindled, on a spot of ground that commanded a view of the plain for miles back.
“Look yonder!” cried Francois, who had finished eating, and had risen to his feet. “What are these, captain?’’ Francois pointed to some objects that appeared at a great distance off upon the plain.
The “captain” rose, placed his hand so as to shade his eyes from the sun, and, after looking for a second or two in the direction indicated,replied by saying, “Wapiti.”
“I’m no wiser than before I asked the question,” said Francois. “What is a wapiti?”
“Why, elk, if you like.”
“Oh! elk—now I understand you. I thought they were elk, but they’re so far off I wasn’t sure.”
Lucien at this moment rose up, and looking through a small telescope which he carried, confirmed the statement of the “captain,” and pronounced it to be a herd of elk.
“In my opinion,” continued Lucien, “the wapiti is the noblest of all the deer kind. It has all the grace of limb and motion that belongs to the common deer, while its towering horns give it a most majestic and imposing appearance. ”
Lucien was interrupted by an exclamation from Basil, who stood observing the wapiti.
“What is it?’’ they cried.
“Look yonder!” replied Basil, pointing at the herd. “Something disturbs them. Give me your glass, Lucien.” Lucien handed the telescope to his brother, who turned it toward the elk. The rest watched them with the naked eye. They could see that there was some trouble among the animals. There were only six in the herd, and even at the distance the boys could tell that they were all bucks. They were running to and fro upon the prairie, and doubling about as if playing, or rather as if some creature was chasing them. With the naked eye, however, nothing could be seen upon the ground but the bucks themselves, and the other boys looked to Basil, who held the glass, for an explanation of their odd movements.
“There are wolves at them,” said Basil, after regarding them for a second or two.
“That’s odd,” rejoined Norman. “Wolves don’t often attack full-grown wapiti, unless they are wounded or crippled somehow. There must be something the matter with one of the bucks, then, or else there’s a big pack of the wolves, and they expect to tire one of the wapiti down.”
“There appears to be a large pack,” answered Basil, still looking through the glass—“fifty at least. See! they have separated one buck from the herd—it’s running this way!”
Basil’s companions had noticed this, and all four now leaped to their guns. The wapiti was plainly coming toward them, and they could make out the wolves following upon his heels, strung out over the prairie like a pack of hounds. When first started, the buck was a full half mile distant, but in less than a minute’s time he came breasting forward until the boys could see his sparkling eyes and the play of his proud flanks.He was a noble animal to look at. His horns were full grown, and as he ran with his snout thrown forward, his antlers lay along both sides of his neck until their tips touched his shoulders. He continued on in a direct line until he was within less than a hundred paces of the camp; but he swerved suddenly from his course, and darted into the thicket of willows,where he was for the moment hidden from view. The wolves—fifty of them at least—had followed him up to this point; and as he entered the thicket several were close upon his heels. The boys expected to see the wolves rush in after him—as there appeared to be nothing to hinder them—but to the aston-ishment of all, they came to a sudden halt, and then went sneaking back—some of them even running off as if terrified!At first the boys believed this grange conduct due to their own presence and the smoke of the camp; but a moment’s thought convinced them that this could not be the reason, as they were all well acquainted with the nature of the prairie wolf, and had never witnessed anything like it before.
But they had no time to think of the wolves just then. The buck was the main attraction, and, calling to each other to surround the thicket,all four started in different directions. In a couple of minutes they had placed themselves at nearly equal distances around the thicket, and stood watching eagerly for the reappearance of the wapiti.
The willows covered about an acre of ground, but they were thick and full-leaved, and the buck could not be seen from any side. Wherever he was, he was evidently at a standstill, for not a rustle could be heard among the leaves, nor were any of the tall stalks seen to move.
The dog was now sent in. This would soon start him, and all four stood with guns ready. But hardly had the dog disappeared into the thicket when a loud snort was heard, followed by a struggle and the stamping of hoofs, and the next moment the wapiti came crashing through the bushes. All the boys ran round to the side he had taken, and had a full view of the animal as he bounded off. Instead of running free as before, he now leaped heavily forward; what was their astonishment on seeing that he carried another animal upon his back!
The boys could hardly believe their eyes, but there it was, sure enough,a brown, shaggy mass, lying flat along the shoulders of the wapiti, and clutching it with large, spreading claws. Francois cried out, “A panther!”Basil at first believed it to be a bear, but Norman, who had lived more in these parts where the animal is found, knew at once that it was the dreaded wolverene.
The boys, surprised by such an unexpected sight, had suddenly halted.Francois and Basil were about to renew the pursuit, but Norman told them to remain where they were.
“They won’t go far,’’ said he; “let us watch them a bit. See! the buck takes to the water!”
The wapiti, on leaving the willows, had run straight out in the first direction that offered, which happened to be in a line parallel with the edge of the lake. His eye, however, soon caught sight of the water, and, doubling suddenly round, he made directly toward it, evidently with the intention of plunging in. He had hopes, no doubt, that by this means he might rid himself of the terrible creature that was clinging to his shoulders, and tearing his throat to to pieces.
A few bounds brought him to the shore. Though there was no beach at the spot, the bank rising steeply from the water’s edge to a height of eight feet, the buck did not hesitate, but sprang outward and downward. A heavy splash followed, and for some seconds both wapiti and wolverene were lost under the water. They rose to the surface, just as the boys reached the bank, but they came up separately. The dip had proved a cooler to the fierce wolverene; and while the wapiti was seen to strike boldly out into the lake and swim off, the wolverene, evidently out of his element, kept plunging about clumsily, struggling to get back to the shore.Francois emptied his gun at the savage beast, and the brute sank dead to the bottom of the lake. Strange to say, not one of the party had thought of firing at the buck. Persecution by so many enemies had won for him their sympathy. But the buck swam on, keeping almost in a direct line out into the lake. It was evident to all that he could not swim across the lake,as its farther shore was not even visible. Realizing that he must either return to where they were, or drown, the boys stood still and watched his motions. When he had got about half a mile from the shore, to the surprise of all, he was seen to to rise higher above the surface, and then all at once to stop, with half of his body clear out of the water ! He had come upon a shoal, and seemed determined to remain there until such time as it should be safe for him to return.
Later the boys found that the buck had been wounded. An arrowhead was sticking in one of his thighs. The Indians had been after him, and very lately too, as the wound showed. It would not have been a mortal wound, if the arrowhead had been removed; but, as it was, it finally proved his death. The wound explained why the wolves had assailed an animal that otherwise, from his great size and strength, would have defied them. The wolves had seen the wolverine as they approached the thicket, and that accounted for their strange behavior in the pursuit.
( Captain Mayne Reid )
Captain Mayne Reid (1818-1883) is known as a British novelist, though much of his life was spent in America. He was born in Ireland, and at the age of twenty came to America in search of adventure. He roved through Canada and many of the states of the Union. For some time he did newspaper work in Philadelphia, where he met Edgar Allan Poe. In 1846 he enlisted in the Mexican War and won a captain’s commission. He is a popular author with boys because his stories are simply written and are full of adventures based upon his own experiences.
This story is taken from his book The Young Voyageurs, The young voyageurs of the story are three brothers, Basil, Lucien, and Francois. Dressed in the costume of the backwoods hunter, they are making their way, in a birchbark canoe, from the swamps of Louisiana to the home of their uncle, who is stationed at a remote Hudson Bay Company post near the shores of the Arctic Sea. Their cousin, Norman, is their guide and is called “captain” in the story.
antlers : large, hard objects on the head of male elk
wolverine : a very tough animal of the forest
visible : able to see
A) Answer the following questions.
1) What part of the story is most interesting to you?
2) Which is your favourite description?
3) Why did the boys have sympathy for the elk?
4) Why did the wolves attack the elk?
5) Do you think this story would make a good movie? Explain.
B) Outline—Make an outline of the important incidents in the story.
1) setting -______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2) The wolves -__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3) A panther and Death -_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
C) Fill in the blanks—Choose the correct words to complete these sentences.
1) The setting for this story is ________________.
2) Wapiti belong to the _____________ family.
3) Wolves don’t usually attack ______________.
4) The boys’ presence and the smoke from the fire stopped the wolves from_____________.
5) Wolves, wolverines, and an arrowhead all contributed to _____________.