Under the lead-hued skies and the drive of the snow the fight swirled and eddied. The great dogs reared, clashed, tore, battered against tree-trunks, lost footing and rolled, staggered up again and renewed the onslaught. Ever Lad manoeuvered his way backward, waging a desperate "rear-guard action." In the battle"s wake was an irregular but mathematically straight line of trampled and blood-spattered snow.
Oh, but it was slow going, this ever-fighting retreat of Lad"s, through the deep drifts, with his mightier foe pressing him and rending at his throat and shoulders at every backward step! The old dog"s wind was gone; his once-superb strength was going, but he fought on with blazing fury--the fury of a dying king who _will_ not be deposed.
In sheer skill and brain-work and generalship, Lad was wholly Rex"s superior, but these served him ill in a death-grapple. With dogs, as with human pugilists, mere science and strategy avail little against superior size and strength and youth. Again and again Lad found or made an opening. Again and again his weakening jaws secured the right grip only to be shaken off with more and more ease by the younger combatant.
Again and again Lad "slashed" as do his wolf cousins and as does almost no civilized dog but the collie. But the slashes had lost their one-time lightning speed and prowess. And the blunt "rending fangs"
scored only superficial furrows in Rex"s fawn-colored hide.
There was meager hope of reaching home alive. Lad must have known that. His strength was gone. It was his heart and his glorious ancestry now that were doing his fighting--not his fat and age-depleted body. From Lad"s mental vocabulary the word _quit_ had ever been absent. Wherefore--dizzy, gasping, feebler every minute--he battled fearlessly on in the dying day; never losing his sense of direction, never turning tail, never dreaming of surrender, taking dire wounds, inflicting light ones.
There are many forms of dog-fight. Two strange dogs, meeting, will fly at each other because their wild forbears used to do so. Jealous dogs will battle even more fiercely. But the deadliest of all canine conflicts is the "murder-fight." This is a struggle wherein one or both contestants have decided to give no quarter, where the victor will fight on until his antagonist is dead and will then tear his body to pieces. It is a recognized form of canine mania.
And it was a murder-fight that Rex was waging, for he had gone quite insane. (This is wholly different, by the way, from "going mad.")
Down went Lad, for perhaps the tenth time, and once more--though now with an effort that was all but too much for him--he writhed to his feet, gaining three yards of ground by the move. Rex was upon him with one leap, the frothing and b.l.o.o.d.y jaws striking for his mangled throat. Lad reared to block the attack. Then suddenly, overbalanced, he crashed backward into the snowdrift.
Rex had not reached him, but young Wolf had.
Wolf had watched the battle with a growing excitement that at last had broken all bounds. The instinct, which makes a fluff-headed college-boy mix into a scrimmage that is no concern of his, had suddenly possessed Lad"s dearly loved son.
Now, if this were a fiction yarn, it would be edifying to tell how Wolf sprang to the aid of his grand old sire and how he thereby saved Lad"s life. But the shameful truth is that Wolf did nothing of the sort. Rex was his model, the bully he had so long and so enthusiastically imitated. And now Rex was fighting a most entertaining bout, fighting it with a maniac fury that infected his young disciple and made him yearn to share in the glory.
Wherefore, as Lad reared to meet Rex"s lunge, Wolf hurled himself like a furry whirlwind upon the old dog"s flank, burying his white teeth in the muscles of the lower leg.
The flank attack bowled Lad completely over. There was no chance now for such a fall as would enable him to spring up again unscathed. He was thrown heavily upon his back, and both his murderers plunged at his unguarded throat and lower body.
But a collie thrown is not a collie beaten, as perhaps I have said once before. For thirty seconds or more the three thrashed about in the snow in a growling, snarling, right unloving embrace. Then, by some miracle, Lad was on his feet again.
His throat had a new and deep wound, perilously close to the jugular. His stomach and left side were slashed as with razor-blades.
But he was up. And even in that moment of dire stress--with both dogs flinging themselves upon him afresh--he gained another yard or two in his line of retreat.
He might have gained still more ground. For his a.s.sailants, leaping at the same instant, collided and impeded each other"s charge. But, for the first time the wise old brain clouded, and the hero-heart went sick; as Lad saw his own loved and spoiled son ranged against him in the murder-fray. He could not understand. Loyalty was as much a part of himself as were his sorrowful brown eyes or his tiny white fore-paws. And Wolf"s amazing treachery seemed to numb the old warrior, body and mind.
But the second of dumfounded wonder pa.s.sed quickly--too quickly for either of the other dogs to take advantage of it. In its place surged a righteous wrath that, for the instant, brought back youth and strength to the aged fighter.
With a yell that echoed far through the forest"s sinister silence, Lad whizzed forward at the advancing Rex. Wolf, who was nearer, struck for his father"s throat--missed and rolled in the snow from the force of his own momentum. Lad did not heed him. Straight for Rex he leaped. Rex, bounding at him, was already in midair. The two met, and under the Berserk onset Rex fell back into the snow.
Lad was upon him at once. The worn-down teeth found their goal above the jugular. Deep and raggedly they drove, impelled by the brief flash of power that upbore their owner.
Almost did that grip end the fight and leave Rex gasping out his life in the drift. But the access of false strength faded. Rex, roaring like a hurt tiger, twisted and tore himself free. Lad realizing his own bolt was shot, gave ground, backing away from two a.s.sailants instead of one.
It was easier now to retreat. For Wolf, unskilled in practical warfare, at first hindered Rex almost as much as he helped him, again and again getting in the bigger dog"s way and marring a rush. Had Wolf understood "teamwork," Lad must have been pulled down and slaughtered in less than a minute.
But soon Wolf grasped the fact that he could do worse damage by keeping out of his ally"s way and attacking from a different quarter, and thereafter he fought to more deadly purpose. His favorite ruse was to dive for Lad"s forelegs and attempt to break one of them. That is a collie manoeuver inherited direct from Wolf"s namesake ancestors.
Several times his jaws reached the slender white forelegs, cutting and slashing them and throwing Lad off his balance. Once he found a hold on the left haunch and held it until his victim shook loose by rolling.
Lad defended himself from this new foe as well as he might, by dodging or by brushing him to one side, but never once did he attack Wolf, or so much as snap at him. (Rex after the encounter, was plentifully scarred. Wolf had not so much as a scratch.)
Backward, with ever-increasing difficulty, the old dog fought his way, often borne down to earth and always staggering up more feebly than before. But ever he was warring with the same fierce courage; despite an ache and bewilderment in his honest heart at his son"s treason.
The forest lay behind the fighters. The deserted highroad was pa.s.sed. Under Lad"s clawing and reeling feet was the dear ground of The Place--The Place where for thirteen happy years he had reigned as king, where he had benevolently ruled his kind and had given worshipful service to his G.o.ds.
But the house was still nearly a furlong off, and Lad was well-nigh dead. His body was one ma.s.s of wounds. His strength was turned to water. His breath was gone. His bloodshot eyes were dim. His brain was dizzy and refused its office. Loss of blood had weakened him full as much as had the tremendous exertion of the battle.
Yet--uselessly now--he continued to fight. It was a grotesquely futile resistance. The other dogs were all over him--tearing, slashing, gripping, at will--unhindered by his puny effort to fend them off. The slaughter-time had come. Drunk with blood and fury, the a.s.sailants plunged at him for the last time.
Down went Lad, helpless beneath the murderous avalanche that overwhelmed him. And this time his body flatly refused to obey the grim command of his will. The fight was over--the good, _good_ fight of a white-souled Paladin against hopeless odds.
The living-room fire crackled cheerily. The snow hissed and slithered against the gla.s.s. A sheet of frost on every pane shut out the stormy twilit world. The screech of the wind was music to the comfortable shut-ins.
The Mistress drowsed over her book by the fire. Bruce snored snugly in front of the blaze. The Master had awakened from his nap and was in the adjoining study, sorting fishing-tackle and scouring a rusted hunting-knife.
Then came a second"s lull in the gale, and all at once Bruce was wide awake. Growling, he ran to the front door and scratched imperatively at the panel. This is not the way a well-bred dog makes known his desire to leave the house. And Bruce was decidedly a well-bred dog.
The Mistress, thinking some guest might be arriving whose scent or tread displeased the collie, called to the Master to shut Bruce in the study, lest he insult the supposed visitor by barking.
Reluctantly--very reluctantly--Bruce obeyed the order. The Master shut the study door behind him and came into the living-room, still carrying the half-cleaned knife.
As no summons at bell or knocker followed Bruce"s announcement, the Mistress opened the front door and looked out. The dusk was falling, but it was not too dark for her to have seen the approach of anyone, nor was it too dark for the Mistress to see two dogs tearing at something that lay hidden from her view in the deep snow a hundred yards away. She recognized Rex and Wolf at once and amusedly wondered with what they were playing.
Then from the depth of snow beneath them she saw a feeble head rear itself--a glorious head, though torn and bleeding--a head that waveringly lunged toward Rex"s throat.
"They"re--they"re killing--_Lad!_" she cried in stark, unbelieving horror. Forgetful of thin dress and thinner slippers, she ran toward the trio. Halfway to the battlefield the Master pa.s.sed by her, running and lurching through the knee-high snow at something like record speed.
She heard his shout. And at sound of it she saw Wolf slink away from the slaughter like a scared schoolboy. But Rex was too far gone in murder-l.u.s.t to heed the shout. The Master seized him by the studded collar and tossed him ten feet or more to one side. Rage-blind, Rex came flying back to the kill. The Master stood astride his prey, and in his blind mania the cross-breed sprang at the man.
The Master"s hunting-knife caught him squarely behind the left fore-leg. And with a grunt like the sound of an exhausted soda-siphon, the huge dog pa.s.sed out of this story and out of life as well.
There would be ample time, later, for the Master to mourn his enforced slaying of the pet dog that had loved and served him so long. At present he had eyes only for the torn and senseless body of Lad lying huddled in the red-blotched snow.
In his arms he lifted Lad and carried him tenderly into the house.
There the Mistress" light fingers dressed his hideous injuries.
Not less than thirty-six deep wounds scored the worn-out old body. Several of these were past the skill of home treatment.
A grumbling veterinary was summoned on the telephone and was lured by pledge of a triple fee to chug through ten miles of storm in a balky car to the rescue.
Lad was lying with his head in the Mistress" lap. The vet" looked the unconscious dog over and then said tersely:
"I wish I"d stayed at home. He"s as good as dead."
"He"s a million times better than dead," denied the Master. "I know Lad. You don"t. He"s got into the habit of living, and he"s not going to break that habit, not if the best nursing and surgery in the State can keep him from doing it. Get busy!"
"There"s nothing to keep me here," objected the vet". "He"s----"
"There"s everything to keep you here," gently contradicted the Master. "You"ll stay here till Lad"s out of danger--if I have to steal your trousers and your car. You"re going to cure him. And if you do, you can write your bill on a Liberty Bond."
Two hours later Lad opened his eyes. He was swathed in smelly bandages and he was soaked in liniments. Patches of hair had been shaved away from his worst wounds. Digitalis was reinforcing his faint heart-action.
He looked up at the Mistress with his only available eye. By a herculean struggle he wagged his tail--just once. And he essayed the trumpeting bark wherewith he always welcomed her return after an absence. The bark was a total failure.