.

.

Goo' night, everybody." His eyes fluttered and went shut.

His chin fell forward on his chest.
And even as they eased him down upon the blankets his snores were rising on the frosty air.
But there was another sound.

Far and faint it was, in the remote distance, the cry of the hungry wolf-pack as it took the trail of other meat than the man it had just missed..