The Last Wolf (26 page)

She walked slower, deep into the trees, found a patch of new grass yellowed by the evening sun, curved her spine down into it, wrapped her tail over her face and closed her eyes. Her heaving
flank slowed into a settled rhythm. She summoned one last dream and sent it away across the forest, a wolf track that left no footprint.

1
. For the definitive, full-blooded account of the way the Nez Perces were treated by the U.S. government, read Dee Brown’s classic of the
American West,
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

2
. The other species were eleven bison, seven wolves, four deer, three moose, two black bears, one pronghorn antelope, one golden eagle(!), one red
fox, one otter and ‘sixteen unknown prey’.