I fought in silence now, and only managed to keep my feet with difficulty, as they kept trying to pull me down. I shook myself free, and then broke the neck of one who held my leg. But he seized my neck in his death-throes, and before I could recover the others swept me off my feet and another got at my throat. I could hardly move, but when I got a chance I struck into the mass of fur under which I was buried.
Once I managed to kill a wolf with one stroke of my back leg, as the others pushed him on to me, but the one at my throat hung on, though I clawed and bit him almost to pieces.
I could not draw my breath properly and my head swam. I regained my feet and caught an unwary wolf as he leapt up and broke his back with one bite, but with a rush they overwhelmed me again, and I felt bite after bite all over me, and I gasped for air, but the wolf at my throat never relaxed his grip, and there were black dots in front of my eyes.
I felt that I could hardly struggle any more, but then I heard my mate come back to the fight. She attacked them from behind and killed a pair of wolves in quick succession. This only left two, one of whom escaped and darted out through the tunnel, and the one who held my neck fell dead from his wounds.
I staggered to my feet, gulping down the air, then my leg gave way and I sank down, almost fainting from the pain.
My wife was hardly wounded at all, but the bone of one of my hind legs was broken through, and from a terrible gash in my chest poured out my life’s blood. She sat down by me and licked my wounds, and soon the pain subsided.
I felt a growing weakness, and a beautiful sleepiness came over me. Then I saw three of the cubs come from the side tunnel. They were quite well, but the fourth, who was the largest, lay dead under the heap of wolves; but my wife never turned to them, and she licked me frantically, trying to stop the blood, which poured from scores of my wounds.
The light seemed to be fading, though I knew it was only afternoon, and I felt curiously aloof from my body and felt no pain.
The mist in front of my eyes was getting worse, and I heard the whimpering of the cubs, as if they were very far away, and my poor mate continued to try and stop the bleeding, but I felt it was useless.
My strength was ebbing fast, and I was weak like a little cub again. I looked at my wife, but I could not see her so clearly, and I thought of the eclipse and of my master, and I glanced up for the sun, forgetting where I was.
I looked at her again, and she seemed very far off and misty, like my mother was when I saw her in the hut years before.
Then a terrible pain shot through me, and when it died away I could only just feel her licking, and I sank into a wonderful dream, in which everything seemed far off, and I thought I saw my master, and then——
About the Author
CAESAR
PATRICK O’BRIAN was the author of the acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin tales and the biographer of Joseph Banks and Picasso. His first novel, Testimonies, and his Collected Short Stories have recently been reprinted by HarperCollins. He translated many works from French into English, among them the novels and memoirs of Simone de Beauvoir and the first volume of Jean Lacouture’s biography of Charles de Gaulle. In 1995 he was the first recipient of the Heywood Hill Prize for a lifetime’s contribution to literature. In the same year he was awarded the CBE. In 1997 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by Trinity College, Dublin. He died in January 2000 at the age of 85.
The Works of Patrick O’Brian
The Aubrey/Maturin Novels
in order of publication
MASTER AND COMMANDER
POST CAPTAIN
HMS SURPRISE
THE MAURITIUS COMMAND
DESOLATION ISLAND
THE FORTUNE OF WAR
THE SURGEON’S MATE
TREASON’S HARBOUR
THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD
THE REVERSE OF THE MEDAL
THE LETTER OF MARQUE
THE THIRTEEN-GUN SALUTE
THE NUTMEG OF CONSOLATION
CLARISSA OAKES
THE WINE-DARK SEA
THE COMMODORE
THE YELLOW ADMIRAL
THE HUNDRED DAYS
BLUE AT THE MIZZEN
Novels
TESTIMONIES
THE CATALANS
THE GOLDEN OCEAN
THE UNKNOWN SHORE
RICHARD TEMPLE
CAESAR
HUSSEIN
Tales
THE LAST POOL
THE WALKER
LYING IN THE SUN
COLLECTED SHORT STORIES
Biography
PICASSO
JOSEPH BANKS
Anthology
A BOOK OF VOYAGES
Copyright
HarperCollinsPublishers
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Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
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Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2001
First published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in 1930
Copyright © Patrick O’Brian 1930, 1999
Patrick O’Brian asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
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EPub Edition © APRIL 2012 ISBN: 9780007466429
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