A bull bellowed an answer fainter than the whistle of a bird from the distance, and just on the verge of earshot trembled another sound.

Alcatraz did not know it, but it made him shudder; before long he was to recognize the call of the lofer wolf, that grey ghost which runs murdering through the mountains.
Small though the sounds were, they convinced Alcatraz that his claim to dominion would be mightily disputed.

But what is worth having at all if it is not worth fighting for?
He journeyed down the hillside stepping from grass knot to grass knot.

All the time he kept his sensitive nostrils alert for the ground-smell of water and raised his head from moment to moment to catch the upper-air scents in case there might be danger.

At length, before prime, he came down-wind from a water-hole and galloped gladly to it.