The men were cordial and personable, and Chen felt better after learning that they hadn’t come to kill the cub. “Wolf… wolves are complex animals,” he stammered. “It would take days to tell you all about them. Let’s go see the cub. Stay back; don’t step inside the pen. He bites strangers. He almost bit a league cadre once.”
Chen took two pieces of meat out of a bag and picked up an old chopping board before walking quietly toward the cave opening. He laid the board down on the ground and shouted, “Little Wolf, Little Wolf, time to eat.” The cub flew out the cave and pounced on the meat. Chen quickly pushed the board over to block the entrance before jumping out of the pen. The cub was usually fed in the morning and afternoon. This was the first time he’d been fed so soon after noon, which made him very happy; he tore at the meat. Bao and the others backed away.
The observers crouched in a semicircle. With the arrival of these men and their unfamiliar scents, the cub behaved strangely. Instead of charging them threateningly, as he normally did, he tucked his tail between his legs and made himself small as he carried a piece of meat to the far end of the pen, where he laid it down and then went back to get the second piece. With his hackles standing up, he went ahead and ate, but he was unhappy about being surrounded by so many people. After a couple of bites, he changed his demeanor, wrinkling his nose and baring his fangs as he rushed the soldiers. His savage look and his speed caught them by surprise, and all five frightened men fell backward. Even with the chain, the cub came within three feet.
Staff Officer Batel sat up and dusted off his hands. “That’s some wild animal, a lot meaner than our wolfhounds. That chain saved us.”
“Not even a year old, and it’s already as big as a full-grown dog,” Xu said. “Thanks for bringing us here, Old Bao. Now I really feel like I’m on a battlefield.” He turned to Batel. “Wolves are faster and a lot sneakier than dogs. And their attacks are lightning quick.”
Batel nodded as the cub turned and leaped at the meat, gobbling it down while making hoarse, threatening growls.
The two men measured the cub’s size with their eyes and took a good look at his fur and skin. They concluded it would be best to aim at the head or the chest from the side. That would kill a wolf without damaging the pelt.
“These youngsters know their business,” Bao said, his face glowing, “All the herdsmen and most of the students were against raising this cub, but I told them to go ahead. If you know your enemy as well as you know yourself, you can’t lose. I’ve brought lots of people over to see the cub. The Chinese, who are afraid of wolves, are the most eager to see them. They all say it’s a better animal than the ones they see in the zoo. It’s a rare opportunity to see a live wolf at close range. This is the only one out here. When the corps leadership comes to inspect, I’ll make this their first stop.”
“I’m sure they’ll come when they hear about the famous Mongolian wolf cub.” Then Xu turned to Chen. “Make sure the chain and post are secure.”
Bao looked at his watch. “Now back to business. We’re here not only to see the cub but also to get one of you to come with us. These marksmen were sent to help us eliminate the wolf scourge. Staff Officer Xu shot a high-flying hawk yesterday. From the ground it looked like a pea. One shot was all it took. So which one of you will it be?”
Chen’s heart sank. The Olonbulag wolf’s mortal enemy had arrived. Following the rapid growth of the farming population, military vehicles and cavalry troops had finally pushed all the way to the border. “The horse herders know where to find the wolves,” he said glumly. “Get one of them to be your guide.”
“The old ones won’t come,” Bao said, “and the young ones are useless. All the experienced ones have gone into the mountains to tend the horses. Since these two officers have taken the trouble to come all this way, one of you has to go, just this one time.”
“Why not ask Dorji, the brigade’s most famous wolf killer?”
“The deputy commander already took him. Commander Li loves to hunt, especially from a moving vehicle.” He took another look at his watch. “Stop wasting time.”
Seeing they had no choice, Chen said to Yang, “Why don’t you go?”
“I don’t know the wolves as well you. It’s… it’s better that you go.”
“I’ll decide,” Bao said impatiently. “Chen, you come with us. But if you’re like Bilgee, always letting the wolves go, and we come back empty-handed, I’ll kill your cub. No more nonsense. Now let’s go.”
Chen’s face paled; he instinctively took a step to block the cub. "Okay, I’ll go. I’m ready.”
The two vehicles sped west, trailed by a pair of yellow dust dragons.
Chen had not ridden in a motor vehicle for more than two years. The rare opportunity to hunt this way would have made him feel privileged if he hadn’t become so fascinated by wolves, if he’d just arrived at the grassland, if he hadn’t been learning from the wolves. How exciting, how pleasurable to speed across the grassland like the wind in pursuit of wolves! It should have been more satisfying than fox hunting with British aristocrats, or hunting bears in a snowy forest with Russian tsars, or joining encirclement hunts with thousands of horses, like the Manchu imperial family.
But at the moment, Chen’s only wish was that the vehicle would break down. He felt like a traitor, leading an army to arrest friends. Bao knew how he felt toward wolves, and he wondered how he’d manage to protect his cub and spare the other wolves.
The corps’ wolf-extermination campaign had already begun throughout the grassland. This time, the wolves would be chased out of China and off the stage of history, condemned with a terrible reputation, while their invaluable influence and achievements would be obliterated. No one but Bilgee, the grassland devotees of the wolf totem, and his two friends back in the yurt would understand how sad he was. Chen’s sorrow was that he was simultaneously too advanced and too ancient.
On the Olonbulag, one encountered a different wind every five miles and another rain every ten. Now Chen was riding down on a wet, sandy road. The howling autumn wind helped clear his head. He concluded that they had to go to a place where they could find wolves, but one from which the wolves could easily escape.
He turned to Bao in the backseat. “I know where there are wolves, but the vehicle will be useless. It’s too hilly and too reedy.”
Bao glared at him. “Don’t play games with me. Mosquitoes are concentrated in reedy areas at this time of year, and you won’t find wolves there. Don’t you think I’d know that after hunting wolves these past six months?”
Chen corrected himself. “What I meant was, we can’t enter the mountains or the reedy area, so we’ll have to go to the sandy hills and big gentle slopes where there aren’t so many mosquitoes.”
Bao wouldn’t let him off the hook that easily. “The horse herders chased the wolves away after that incident with the young horses on the sandy hills. We didn’t see any wolves yesterday when we drove around there. I can tell we won’t be able to use your talents today. So listen carefully. I don’t go back on my word. We didn’t kill any wolves yesterday, and that has made us very unhappy.” Bao took a drag from his cigarette and blew the smoke into the back of Chen’s head.
Chen realized how difficult it would be to put anything over on someone shrewd enough to climb all the way up from the bottom of the bureaucracy. “I know another patch of sandy land,” he said, “northwest of the Chaganuul Mountains. It’s a sandy area with little grass because of the wind, but there are lots of mice and prairie dogs, quite a few marmots too. Now that the wolves have no horses to eat, they have to move to places with lots of small animals.”