Animals -- Fiction; Idaho -- Fiction; Shepherds -- Fiction; Young men -- Fiction
Shep was still beside him, and the communion between them was even more
close than in life. They seemed almost like brothers, rather than master
and servant. A peace that was almost rapture abided in their
companionship. And it was necessary that Shep remain awake while he
himself dozed. But the dog’s outline was vaguely different. The ears
were always pointed and erect, the tail was not so lifted, and sometimes
when Hugh caught a sudden glimpse of him out of the corner of his eye, a
swift wave of icy terror swept over him. The dog was like
Cry-in-the-night,—that was it! He was gray and white-fanged just like
the wolves themselves.
Even the wind—the air—was different. It was full of smells that
stirred the flesh, and hushed little sounds to freeze the blood with
dread. It was vibrant and shuddering and alive, and the world had not
yet begun to grow old. And he always felt an overwhelming pride in his
own strength. His arms—curiously long and quite black with hair—could
crush the ribs of Cry-in-the-night like an eggshell. His chest was huge,
his legs were knotted and gigantic, and when he saw his reflection in
the water of the spring, the hairy growth was long and matted about his
throat. And clearest of all the dream was the ring of deadly shadows
that ever encroached upon the space of firelight, and the strange twin
lights that ever glowed from their depths.
Two and two, everywhere he looked. They always glowed hungrily, and
their watch was never done. Curious blue-green and yellow disks of fire,
close together and glowing ever in the darkness. Sometimes he would open
his lips and shout,—and for an instant they would draw back. They were
afraid of that wild cry of his, but they were more afraid of the flint
dagger that lay at his side. Ah, they died quickly—with a scream and a
howl—when the Death Flint went into them. It was a good thing to see,
but it also filled the heart with fear. He laughed and exulted when he
remembered how it was even quicker in its stroke than the leap of a
wolf.—But most of all the watchful circle feared the camp fire. They
could not rub the wood and strike the flame: in this he was master,
ruler and monarch of the earth! Cry-in-the-night might kill him in a
fair fight, but still he could not build a fire. The dreamer always felt
a great wave of exultation.
One night he dreamed that the fire burned almost down, and the circle
drew close. He wakened from his doze and shouted at them none too soon.
And a strange, wild cry from his own lips wakened Hugh, in the sheep
camp of the twentieth century, from his dream. He had cried out in his
sleep,—a hoarse, wild, savage cry that left him curiously awed. And the
coyote that had crept close to the flank of the flock slipped quickly
back into the forest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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