STORY TEN MOTHER WOLF LISTENS TO WASHER’S STORY

Mother Wolf was close behind, but Sneaky reached Washer’s side first. There was a suspicious leer on his face, but the sight of the blood on the raccoon’s body seemed to puzzle him. He stopped and glanced up at the tree.

“Where’s Billy Porcupine?” he asked. “I don’t see him in the tree.”

“He ran down and escaped,” replied Washer. “I couldn’t stop him.”

Sneaky licked his chops, and added: “Quite likely!” He sniffed among the lower branches of the tree. “If my nose doesn’t deceive me there’s been no porcupine around here. No, sir; nothing but raccoons.”

He turned and smiled at Mother Wolf and the youngsters. He felt quite proud of his spying quality. “I smell nothing but raccoon up that tree,” he added. “Therefore, it was a raccoon, and not a porcupine, that you treed.”

“But little brother said it was Billy the Porcupine,” interrupted one of the cubs.

“How’d Little Brother know it was a porcupine?” asked Sneaky. “When did you ever see one?”

Now Washer was feeling very miserable, first, because his wounds hurt him, and second because one of his own people had turned on him and attacked him after he had saved his life. So he spoke without thinking. “I don’t know,” he stammered. “Maybe I never saw one.”

“Ah! ha!” scoffed Sneaky. “I thought so. It was only a trick to deceive us. I see now what it means.”

He turned to the tree again, and looked up it, and began sniffing at the trunk and limbs. “Nothing but raccoon odor,” he added. “No porcupine has been here.”

“For goodness sake,” interrupted Mother Wolf, wiping the blood from Washer’s face, “what are you wasting your time about? Why don’t you help Little Brother? He’s all bloody, and we must help him home.”

“Ah, bloody! So he is! Then if it was Billy the Porcupine we should find quills sticking in him.”

He examined Washer’s wounds a little roughly, smiling all the time. Of course, there were no porcupine quills, and this seemed to please Sneaky immensely.

“Just as I thought,” he said finally. “There are no quills. Therefore, there was no porcupine here. Then why did Little Brother deceive you?”

He turned to the cubs, who were watching him curiously.

“I’ll tell you, my children,” he continued. “It was a raccoon you had treed—one of Little Brother’s own people. He knew it all the time, and he didn’t want you to have him for your dinner. So he told you this little story about a porcupine, and sent you home to call us while his friend could escape in the woods. See, he’s gone. There’s nothing up the tree.”

They followed the direction of his pointing nose. The tree was empty. Then they turned their eyes toward Washer.

“Can you deny that, Little Brother?” Sneaky added in a beguiling voice. “Of course you can’t.”

“But how’d he get hurt?” asked one of the cubs. “See, he’s bleeding all over.”

Mother Wolf interfered at this moment. “Sneaky, you run down to the brook and get some water,” she commanded. “If Little Brother didn’t meet a porcupine, he ran into something just as bad. We won’t stop to discuss that now. Hurry up with that water!”

Sneaky dropped his tail between his legs and started for the brook, but half way there he stopped and said: “It wasn’t a porcupine, I know that. Therefore, it was a raccoon. Little Brother deceived my children to save his life. No wolf will stand for that. He’s not a friend of my people. I’ll tell Black Wolf that.”

Mother Wolf, who had been busy cleaning the blood from Washer’s fur, looked a little disturbed. Sneaky had another argument against admitting Washer to the wolf pack.

“Little Brother,” she whispered, “it is true what Sneaky says? Was Billy Porcupine up that tree?”

Washer could not deceive Mother Wolf. She had been too kind to him. “No,” he answered, “it was a raccoon, and I couldn’t bear to see him killed. He belonged to my own people.”

Mother Wolf nodded her head, showing that she understood his feelings. “But these wounds,” she added, a little puzzled. “How did you get them?”

Washer was greatly distressed at this question. If he told the truth, he would have to condemn one of his own people of ingratitude, but even that was better than deceiving Mother Wolf.

“It was the raccoon,” he answered after a pause. “When he came down the tree he bit me. He thought I belonged to the wolf pack, and he called me a traitor. I don’t suppose he understood.”

“He didn’t deserve the kindness you showed him,” was the quick retort. “If he was near here I’d send the children and Sneaky after him. He deserves punishment. Do you know where he’s hiding?”

“No! He ran away in the woods and that was the last I saw of him.”

Mother Wolf had such confidence in Washer that she did not doubt his word. She knew that Little Brother would not deceive her to protect one of his own people.

“Well, I’m glad he isn’t here,” she added, sighing. “Sneaky would hunt him down, and I don’t suppose you’d like to see him killed, even if he did bite you.”

“No, I don’t wish him harm.”

Washer’s voice was a little trembly, and a tear stood in one of his eyes. “What is it,” asked Mother Wolf sympathetically, “that makes you so sad, Little Brother? Do your wounds hurt you so much?”

“No, I was thinking of my people,” replied Washer. “They won’t have me. They’ll turn against me because I was brought up in a wolf’s den, and your people won’t have me. I’m an outcast—without a home or people.”

“Don’t say that,” whispered Mother Wolf. “You’re my adopted child, and I shall always look after you. My people will have to take you. If they don’t—”

Her eyes flashed, and Washer knew that she was prepared to fight for him. But he had no desire to bring trouble to her, and he said: “No, no, don’t do that. Let me go away in the woods. I’m old enough now to make a living. You must not introduce me to the pack. I shall always remember you and my Wolf Brothers, but no good can come of trying to make me a wolf. I’m only a raccoon.”

“Little Brother, don’t talk like that. I’m going to take you tomorrow to the council, and Black Wolf shall listen to me. My people must protect you. If Black Wolf says so none of them will dare harm you. Come now, and don’t feel sad any more.”

Washer tried to dry his eyes and look cheerful, but it was not very easy to do this. His own people had denied him, and he dreaded appearing before the wolf pack. He knew that Sneaky would condemn him, and try to drive him away, and the very thought of Black Wolf made him shudder. What kind of a leader was he, and would he listen to Mother Wolf’s pleadings? In the next story you will read of how Mother Wolf took him to the council and pleaded with and defied the leader of the wolf pack.