Her mate had slowly relaxed from his crouch and was watching her.He now evinced displeasure at her repeated failures, and himself made a mighty spring upward.His teeth closed upon the rabbit, and he bore it back to earth with him.But at the same time there was a suspicious crackling movement beside him, and his astonished eye saw a young spruce sapling bending down above him to strike him.His jaws let go their grip, and he leaped backward to escape this strange danger, his lips drawn back from his fangs, his throat snarling, every hair bristling with rage and fright.And in that moment the sapling reared its slender length upright and the rabbit soared dancing in the air again.
The she-wolf was angry.She sank her fangs into her mate's shoulder in reproof; and he, frightened, unaware of what constituted this new onslaught, struck back ferociously and in still greater fright, ripping down the side of the she-wolf's muzzle.For him to resent such reproof was equally unexpected to her, and she sprang upon him in snarling indignation.Then he discovered his mistake and tried to placate her.But she proceeded to punish him roundly, until he gave over all attempts at placation, and whirled in a circle, his head away from her, his shoulders receiving the punishment of her teeth.
In the meantime the rabbit danced above them in the air.The she-wolf sat down in the snow, and old One Eye, now more in fear of his mate than of the mysterious sapling, again sprang for the rabbit.As he sank back with it between his teeth, he kept his eye on the sapling.As before, it followed him back to earth.He crouched down under the impending blow, his hair bristling, but his teeth still keeping tight hold of the rabbit.