Page:Silversheene (1924).djvu/202

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volver and the wolf sprang into the thicket, but he soon discovered him watching him through the brush. When he raised the revolver the head again disappeared. He snapped all five cartridges and none of them would go. The revolver had been thoroughly soaked in the river. So he got out some new cartridges from a waterproof case in his knapsack and reloaded it.

By this time the gray wolf had again come into the open, perhaps fifty yards away. Richard's eyesight was still dim from the blow on his head so he could not see as plainly as he would otherwise have done. His head ached terribly, and he was weak and discouraged. At the thought of his plight, and the loss of his rifle in the river, and all his bad luck for the past six days, a sudden anger against the wolf flamed up in him and he took careful aim at the gray wolf's head and fired. Always before when he had raised a gun against him he had run and jumped as though frantic to escape, but he now stood quite still as though wait-