But Fenris had not broken all ties with the cave.  The chain was too strong for that, the hold on his wild heart too firm.  If there is one trait, far and near in the wilds, that distinguishes the woods children, it is their inability to forget.  Fenris had joined his fellows, to be sure; but he still kept watch over the cave.

The strongest wolf in the little band, the nucleus about which the winter pack would form, he largely confined their hunting range to the district immediately about the cave.  It held him like a chain of iron.  Although the woods trails beguiled him with every strong appeal, the sight of his master was a beloved thing to him still, and scarcely a night went by but that he paused to sniff at the cavern maw, seeing that all was well.  At such times his followers would linger, trembling and silent, in the farther shadows.  Because they had never known the love of man they utterly failed to understand.  But in an instant Fenris would come back to them, the wild urge in his heart seemingly appeased by the mere assurance of Ben’s presence and safety.

Ben himself was never aware of these midnight visits.  The feet of the wolves were like falling feathers on the grass; and if sometimes, through the cavern maw, he half-wakened to catch the gleam of their wild eyes, he attributed it merely to the presence of skulking coyotes, curious concerning the dying coals of the fire.

XXXII

Beatrice had kept only an approximate track of the days; yet she knew that an attempt to rescue her must be almost at hand.  Even traveling but half a dozen miles a day, and counting out a reasonable time for exploration and delays, her father’s party must be close upon them.  And the thought of the forthcoming battle between her abductor and her rescuers filled every waking moment with dread.

She could not escape the thought of it.  It lingered, hovering like a shadow, over all her gayest moments; it haunted her more sober hours, and it brought evil dreams at night.  Her one hope was that her father had given her up for lost and had not attempted her rescue.

She realized perfectly the perfection of Ben’s plans.  She knew that he had provided for every contingency; and besides, he had every natural advantage in his favor.  The end was inevitable:  his victory and the destruction of his foes.  There would be little mercy for these three in the hands of this iron man from the eastern provinces.  If they were to be saved it must be soon, not a week from now, nor when another moon had waned.  If Ben was to be checkmated there were not many hours to waste.

She had had no opportunity to escape, at first.  Ben knew that she could not make her way over the hundreds of miles of howling wilderness without food supplies, and always the wolf had been on guard.  He was like a were-wolf, a demon, anticipating her every move, knowing her secret thoughts.  But the wolf had gone now to join his fellows.  She was not aware of his almost nightly return.  Perhaps the fact of his absence gave her an opportunity, her one chance to save her father from Ben’s ambush.