Never Cry Wolf Page #3

This was a matter of principle,

a territorial dispute.

And he had fired the first shot.

# What never?

No, never

# What never?

# Hardly ever

# Hardly ever, ever sick at sea

# So give five cheers and one cheer...

Oh!

# I am the very model

of a modern major general

# I've information vegetable,

animal, and mineral

# I know the kings of England

and I quote the fights historical

# From Marathon to Waterloo

in order categorical

# I'm very well acquainted too

with matters mathematical

# I understand equations

both the simple and quadratical

# About binomial theorem

I'm teeming with a lot of news

# With many cheerful facts

about the square of the hypotenuse

27 cups of tea later, I completed

a two-acre circle around my tent,

including a 100-yard section

of the wolf's path.

What had taken me six hours

and 27 cups of tea,

he accomplished in just a few minutes.

At each of the places that I'd marked,

he made his mark on the opposite side,

indicating that my boundary

was acceptable to him.

And thus he granted me the space

for Lupus Base One.

I'm supposed to watch his behavior,

but all he does is stay

in front of his den and watch mine.

I can't remember ever being the object

of so much constant attention.

I now arise at 10:00 in the evening,

as everything becomes more active

during the long polar twilight.

In my notebook,

the wolf has become George.

The two are identical in color,

with the same contrasting

shoulder marking and long-legged gait.

But I've detected a difference,

and I've named her Angeline.

As George has become a family of five,

the reason for his long staring match

with me has lost its mystery.

It's well-known that wolves mate for life,

but knowing that has hardly prepared me

for their constant and varied

displays of affection.

Every evening George goes off

on his nightly rounds.

What he does on these excursions

remains a mystery to me.

Angeline always remains

behind with the cubs,

though I can see that she longs to follow.

It's perplexing.

The overall reason behind the study

is that the government wants final proof

that wolves are responsible

for the disastrous decline in caribou.

So far I haven't seen a single caribou,

or observed the wolves eating anything.

My own food supplies

are nearing exhaustion,

and the local environment

offers scant pickings.

Yet the wolves seem perfectly healthy.

I've done numerous scatological studies

and only turned up a smattering

of small mammal bones.

The whole question of sustenance

around Lupus Base One

has me completely mystified.

Angeline has given me the first clue.

In less than an hour

she's caught and consumed 23 mice.

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