Chapter 5 Choosing a Mate.
The wolf pack ran back up the riverside and into the woods, continuing its search for food.
Tempers were short, and the wolves snapped impatiently at one another.
The red dog was especially quick to bite or bark at anyone who came too close.
Although she was not the leader, she held a special place in the pack.
She had been the first to notice the two men and their sled dogs.
She had also led the wolves to the camp and fire and, thanks to her watchful gaze, she had quickly warned the wolves when other men approached.
The leader of the pack was a large gray wolf.
He was the winner of many fights and had the scars to prove it.
He was even missing his right eye.
One eye snapped at any younger members who tried to pass him or run too close.
The red dog, however, fell in beside him, as though it were her rightful place.
He did not snap or snarl at her.
In fact, he seemed quite pleased.
He touched the side of her neck with his nose while they trotted across the snow.
Other male wolves sought the red dog's attention, but one eye pushed them back.
Any wolf who challenged the leader was risking a fight.
Many tried to take the lead from one eye or to win the affection of the red dog, but none succeeded.
It was all a part of the wild.
One eye had worked and fought hard to become the leader of the pack.
He would not give up his position easily.
One day the wolves ran into a clearing and one eye stopped short.
The rest of the pack followed his lead, waiting to see what he would do next.
A moose was standing a few hundred feet away.
The pack quickly fell into formation and ran in for the kill.
All of the wolves and the red dog surrounded the giant animal and chased it down.
The moose weighed well over 800 pounds.
It was more than enough to feed everyone.
At long last, the famine was over.
The wolves were now back in the land of game.
The pack started to break up.
Two by two, male and female, the wolves began to leave.
It was time to decide who would be the red dog's mate.
One-Eye made it very clear that no one else should even try.
When a younger wolf nuzzled against the red dog's neck, one eye quickly attacked him.
The fight did not last long.
The young wolf ran off and one eye returned to the red dog.
He had won her loyalty, fair and square.
The wild was a harsh place.
The wolves' rules were not the rules of humans.
The wolves did not question the rules or even understand them.
They were simply rules that they must follow.
Now that it was just the two of them, the red dog once again found food.
She led one eye to an Indian village where they could raid food stores and rabbit traps.
She taught One-Eye how to pull the ropes from the trees and grab the rabbits from the traps.
She knew how to steal meat cooking on fires and where fish was kept near the tents.
The sights and smells of the camp were strange to one eye, but every detail was familiar to the dog.
She stood on the edge of the camp, listening and waiting for something or someone.
She whimpered softly as she watched the men and women of the camp sitting by the fire and talking.
Only with much prodding from one eye did she return to the woods.
After a time, the red dog started to slow down.
She was getting very heavy, and it was difficult to keep pace with her mate.
She needed some place safe and dry to settle down and have her puppies.
She found a cave a few miles up a small stream.
It was partway up a hill and safe from other animals.
She went in carefully, searching for signs of life.
She found none.
One eye treated her with care.
Once she was settled in, he brought her food and guarded the door while they waited.
Five puppies were born, four girls and one boy.
The red dog licked them clean while one eye looked on.
The puppies let out tiny cries while taking their first breaths.
The boy was different from his sisters.
They all had their mother's reddish fur, but he was all gray.
He looked just like his father.
For the first while, the puppies lived in a world of darkness as their eyes were still shut.
They knew only the smells and sounds of the cave and their mother's gentle touch.
The boy cub quickly got used to his surroundings, finding his way to and from his mother, listing for his father to come home.
He and his sisters rolled and played with each other, waiting to be fed, discovering new sounds all around them.
Slowly their eyes started to open.
They could see their mother at last.
They explored the cave, sniffing in all the corners and climbing on all the rocks.
They didn't go near the entrance, though.
Whenever they walked too far in that direction, the red dog quickly pulled them back.
To their young eyes and innocent minds, they thought it was another wall.
They had no idea another world existed beyond the wall of light.
All they knew was the cave.
As the seasons changed, another famine hit the land.
Every day, one eye searched long and hard for meat to bring to his family.
There was little to be found, though, and certainly not enough to feed so many mouths.
The puppies became weaker and could no longer play or roam about the cave.
The red wolf went out hunting, too, but could find nothing.
It was very difficult for her to watch her puppies grow weak.
She knew in her heart that the wild was a harsh place and that she must learn to accept it.
She whimpered sadly when she came home from a hunt to find only one puppy left.
It was the gray cub.
She snuggled in close to keep him warm, doing everything she could to save the life of her only pup.
At long last, one eye was successful.
He killed a bird and brought it back to the cave.
Things became easier again.
Both parents went out for food and came back with enough to help the gray cub.
Soon he was a healthy pup again, bounding around the cave.
He had survived his first famine, although it wouldn't be his last.
All was well until one day one eye did not come home.
The red dog knew something was wrong.
She left the cave to look for him and found the lifeless body of her mate a few miles away.
He had lost a battle with the lynx.
The red dog spent a few moments sniffing one eye and saying goodbye.
Suddenly she realized that her cub was all alone in the dangerous wild.
What if the lynx found its way to the cave?
Anything could have happened while she was away.
The red dog ran back to the cave as fast as she could.
