White Fang . the game, waiting for some strange freak of Chance,that might help him on the meat-trail which was hisway of life. Half an hour passed, an hour; and nothing hap-pened. The ball of quills might have been a stonefor all it moved; the lynx might have been frozen tomarble; and old One Eye might have been all three animals were keyed to a tenseness ofliving that was almost painful, and scarcely everwould it come to them to be more alive than theywere then in their seeming petrifaction. One Eye moved slightly and peered forth with in-creased eagerness. Something was happening.
White Fang . the game, waiting for some strange freak of Chance,that might help him on the meat-trail which was hisway of life. Half an hour passed, an hour; and nothing hap-pened. The ball of quills might have been a stonefor all it moved; the lynx might have been frozen tomarble; and old One Eye might have been all three animals were keyed to a tenseness ofliving that was almost painful, and scarcely everwould it come to them to be more alive than theywere then in their seeming petrifaction. One Eye moved slightly and peered forth with in-creased eagerness. Something was happening. Theporcupine had at last decided that its enemy hadgone away. Slowly, cautiously, it was unrolling itsball of impregnable armor. It was agitated by notremor of anticipation. Slowly, slowly, the bristlingball straightened out and lengthened. One Eye,watching, felt a sudden moistness in his mouth and adrooling of saliva, involuntary, excited by the livingmeat that was spreading itself like a repast before I He watched the play of life before him. THE LAIR 73 Not quite entirely had the porcupine unrolled whenit discovered its enemy. In that instant the lynxstruck. The blow was like a flash of light. Thepaw, with rigid claws curving like talons, shot underthe tender belly and came back with a swift rippingmovement. Had the porcupine been entirely unrolled,or had it not discovered its enemy a fraction of asecond before the blow was struck, the paw wouldhave escaped unscathed; but a side-flick of the tailsank sharp quills into it as it was withdrawn. Everything had happened at once, — the blow, thecounter-blow, the squeal of agony from the porcupine,the big cats squall of sudden hurt and Eye half arose in his excitement, his ears up, histail straight out and quivering behind him. Thelynxs bad temper got the best of her. She sprangsavagely at the thing that had hurt her. But theporcupine, squealing and grunting, with disruptedanatomy trying feebly to roll up i
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