and his eye on me. After that he became my regular
companion, an expected feature of my return trips, running
with me every time for a while and coming a little bit
closer till about the middle of November he disappeared,
never to be seen again. This time I saw him in the
underbrush, about a hundred yards ahead and as many more
to the west. I took him by surprise, as he took me. I
was sorry I had not seen him a few seconds sooner. For,
when I focused my eyes on him, he stood in a curious
attitude: as if he was righting himself after having
slipped on his hindfeet in running a sharp curve. At the
same moment a rabbit shot across that part of my field
of vision to the east which I saw in a blurred way only,
from the very utmost corner of my right eye. I did not
turn but kept my eyes glued to the wolf. Nor can I tell
whether I had stirred the rabbit up, or whether the wolf
had been chasing or stalking it. I should have liked to
know, for I have never seen a wolf stalking a rabbit,
though I have often seen him stalk fowl. Had he pulled
up when he saw me? As I said, I cannot tell, for now he
was standing in the characteristic wolf-way, half turned,
head bent back, tail stretched out nearly horizontally.
The tail sank, the whole beast seemed to shrink, and
suddenly he slunk away with amazing agility. Poor fellow
--he did not know that many a time I had fed some of his
brothers in cruel winters. But he came to know me, as I
knew him; for whenever he left me on later drives, very
close to Bell's corner, after I had finished my lunch,
he would start right back on my trail, nose low, and I
have no doubt that he picked up the bits of bacon which