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321
And
,
such
was
the
curiousness
of
the
game
,
the
way
of
life
for
one
lay
in
the
eating
of
the
other
,
and
the
way
of
life
for
the
other
lay
in
being
not
eaten
.
While
old
One
Eye
,
the
wolf
crouching
in
the
covert
,
played
his
part
,
too
,
in
the
game
,
waiting
for
some
strange
freak
of
Chance
,
that
might
help
him
on
the
meat-trail
which
was
his
way
of
life
.
322
Half
an
hour
passed
,
an
hour
;
and
nothing
happened
.
The
balls
of
quills
might
have
been
a
stone
for
all
it
moved
;
the
lynx
might
have
been
frozen
to
marble
;
and
old
One
Eye
might
have
been
dead
.
Yet
all
three
animals
were
keyed
to
a
tenseness
of
living
that
was
almost
painful
,
and
scarcely
ever
would
it
come
to
them
to
be
more
alive
than
they
were
then
in
their
seeming
petrifaction
.
323
One
Eye
moved
slightly
and
peered
forth
with
increased
eagerness
.
Something
was
happening
.
The
porcupine
had
at
last
decided
that
its
enemy
had
gone
away
.
Slowly
,
cautiously
,
it
was
unrolling
its
ball
of
impregnable
armour
.
It
was
agitated
by
no
tremor
of
anticipation
.
Slowly
,
slowly
,
the
bristling
ball
straightened
out
and
lengthened
.
One
Eye
watching
,
felt
a
sudden
moistness
in
his
mouth
and
a
drooling
of
saliva
,
involuntary
,
excited
by
the
living
meat
that
was
spreading
itself
like
a
repast
before
him
.
Отключить рекламу
324
Not
quite
entirely
had
the
porcupine
unrolled
when
it
discovered
its
enemy
.
In
that
instant
the
lynx
struck
.
The
blow
was
like
a
flash
of
light
.
The
paw
,
with
rigid
claws
curving
like
talons
,
shot
under
the
tender
belly
and
came
back
with
a
swift
ripping
movement
.
Had
the
porcupine
been
entirely
unrolled
,
or
had
it
not
discovered
its
enemy
a
fraction
of
a
second
before
the
blow
was
struck
,
the
paw
would
have
escaped
unscathed
;
but
a
side-flick
of
the
tail
sank
sharp
quills
into
it
as
it
was
withdrawn
.
325
Everything
had
happened
at
once
--
the
blow
,
the
counter-blow
,
the
squeal
of
agony
from
the
porcupine
,
the
big
cat
's
squall
of
sudden
hurt
and
astonishment
.
One
Eye
half
arose
in
his
excitement
,
his
ears
up
,
his
tail
straight
out
and
quivering
behind
him
.
The
lynx
's
bad
temper
got
the
best
of
her
.
She
sprang
savagely
at
the
thing
that
had
hurt
her
.
But
the
porcupine
,
squealing
and
grunting
,
with
disrupted
anatomy
trying
feebly
to
roll
up
into
its
ball-protection
,
flicked
out
its
tail
again
,
and
again
the
big
cat
squalled
with
hurt
and
astonishment
.
Then
she
fell
to
backing
away
and
sneezing
,
her
nose
bristling
with
quills
like
a
monstrous
pin-cushion
.
She
brushed
her
nose
with
her
paws
,
trying
to
dislodge
the
fiery
darts
,
thrust
it
into
the
snow
,
and
rubbed
it
against
twigs
and
branches
,
and
all
the
time
leaping
about
,
ahead
,
sidewise
,
up
and
down
,
in
a
frenzy
of
pain
and
fright
.
326
She
sneezed
continually
,
and
her
stub
of
a
tail
was
doing
its
best
toward
lashing
about
by
giving
quick
,
violent
jerks
.
She
quit
her
antics
,
and
quieted
down
for
a
long
minute
.
One
Eye
watched
.
And
even
he
could
not
repress
a
start
and
an
involuntary
bristling
of
hair
along
his
back
when
she
suddenly
leaped
,
without
warning
,
straight
up
in
the
air
,
at
the
same
time
emitting
a
long
and
most
terrible
squall
.
Then
she
sprang
away
,
up
the
trail
,
squalling
with
every
leap
she
made
.
327
It
was
not
until
her
racket
had
faded
away
in
the
distance
and
died
out
that
One
Eye
ventured
forth
.
He
walked
as
delicately
as
though
all
the
snow
were
carpeted
with
porcupine
quills
,
erect
and
ready
to
pierce
the
soft
pads
of
his
feet
.
The
porcupine
met
his
approach
with
a
furious
squealing
and
a
clashing
of
its
long
teeth
.
It
had
managed
to
roll
up
in
a
ball
again
,
but
it
was
not
quite
the
old
compact
ball
;
its
muscles
were
too
much
torn
for
that
.
It
had
been
ripped
almost
in
half
,
and
was
still
bleeding
profusely
.
Отключить рекламу
328
One
Eye
scooped
out
mouthfuls
of
the
blood-soaked
snow
,
and
chewed
and
tasted
and
swallowed
.
This
served
as
a
relish
,
and
his
hunger
increased
mightily
;
but
he
was
too
old
in
the
world
to
forget
his
caution
.
He
waited
.
He
lay
down
and
waited
,
while
the
porcupine
grated
its
teeth
and
uttered
grunts
and
sobs
and
occasional
sharp
little
squeals
.
In
a
little
while
,
One
Eye
noticed
that
the
quills
were
drooping
and
that
a
great
quivering
had
set
up
.
The
quivering
came
to
an
end
suddenly
.
There
was
a
final
defiant
clash
of
the
long
teeth
.
Then
all
the
quills
drooped
quite
down
,
and
the
body
relaxed
and
moved
no
more
.
329
With
a
nervous
,
shrinking
paw
,
One
Eye
stretched
out
the
porcupine
to
its
full
length
and
turned
it
over
on
its
back
.
Nothing
had
happened
.
It
was
surely
dead
.
He
studied
it
intently
for
a
moment
,
then
took
a
careful
grip
with
his
teeth
and
started
off
down
the
stream
,
partly
carrying
,
partly
dragging
the
porcupine
,
with
head
turned
to
the
side
so
as
to
avoid
stepping
on
the
prickly
mass
.
He
recollected
something
,
dropped
the
burden
,
and
trotted
back
to
where
he
had
left
the
ptarmigan
.
He
did
not
hesitate
a
moment
.
He
knew
clearly
what
was
to
be
done
,
and
this
he
did
by
promptly
eating
the
ptarmigan
.
Then
he
returned
and
took
up
his
burden
.
330
When
he
dragged
the
result
of
his
day
's
hunt
into
the
cave
,
the
she-wolf
inspected
it
,
turned
her
muzzle
to
him
,
and
lightly
licked
him
on
the
neck
.
But
the
next
instant
she
was
warning
him
away
from
the
cubs
with
a
snarl
that
was
less
harsh
than
usual
and
that
was
more
apologetic
than
menacing
.
Her
instinctive
fear
of
the
father
of
her
progeny
was
toning
down
.
He
was
behaving
as
a
wolf-father
should
,
and
manifesting
no
unholy
desire
to
devour
the
young
lives
she
had
brought
into
the
world
.