One of Rick Bass's most widely respected works of natural history, The Ninemile Wolves follows the fate of a modern wolf pack, the first known group of wolves to attempt to settle in Montana outside protected national park territory. The wolf inspires hatred, affection, myth, fear, and pity; its return polarizes the whole of the West -- igniting the passions of cattle ranchers and environmentalists, wildlife biologists and hunters. One man's vigorous, emotional inquiry into the proper relationship between man and nature, The Ninemile Wolves eloquently advocates wolf reintroduction in the West. In a new preface, Bass discusses the enduring lessons of the Ninemile story. "Eloquent...inspiring...with his own passion, Mr. Bass makes a powerful case for reviving wolf packs in the United States." RICK BASS’s fiction has received O. Henry Awards, numerous Pushcart Prizes, awards from the Texas Institute of Letters, fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, and his memoir,  Why I Came West,  was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award. The Ninemile Wolves By Rick Bass Mariner Books Copyright © 2003 Rick Bass All right reserved. ISBN: 0618263020 Chapter One "IRON! IRON!" The shout drifted up through the forest out of the tumult ahead, near the entrance to the gem mines. Birds settled in the branches of the cedar trees shrilled and rose from their perches. I urged my horses on, the wheels of the chariot stirring up clouds of fine dust from the path behind me. Then I pulled on the reins, slowing the chariot down as the path twisted abruptly around a tree. Ahead of me the trees gave way to grass, falling away down the slopes of the foothills. To the right was the stone wall around the compound of the gem mines, its guard towers deserted. I could see a large knot of people in the entranceway where the gates hung wide open. What were they doing there? Had there been an accident? A riot? That was all we needed. As I slowed down in the empty space of the killing field around the mines and wheeled the chariot around, they spotted me. I stopped the chariot a few feet from them. A tall man, one of only a few wearing robes rather than laborers' tunics, stepped out of the crowd as they turned toward me, excitement showing on his face. It wasn't a riot, then, or an accident. "Escount Cathan, it's fortunate that you have arrived; may Ranthas be with you." His beard was cut quite short, and his oiled hair was overlaid with powdery dust. His face was thin and gaunt, his eyes deep-sunk but alight with the same interest as the others'. "What's all the commotion, Maal?" I asked. "What's so important that work's been interrupted, with the ship due to arrive any day now?" Any day now, that was, as long as the coriolis storm out over the ocean dissipated soon. It was the second this month, and the ship had already been delayed once. "Master, we have found iron! The priest of Ranthas who offered to help our mining operations has discovered a huge seam of the red ore!" I almost refused to believe him at first. Iron? Had we been sitting on top of one of the most valuable commodities of all for these last few ailing months and neglected it? Iron was in short supply across Aquasilva; the floating islands simply didn't hold enough of the ore to meet the demands of the steel foundries -- and, ultimately, of the continents' armies. After flamewood and its derivatives, iron was the most highly prized of all the raw materials. "Is this certain?" I demanded, keeping my face impassive. I didn't want to show too much excitement in front of the mine workers. In answer, Maal called to someone in the throng. There weren't as many of them as I'd thought at first; about twelve or fifteen people were clustered there, mostly overseers and foremen. Someone at the back tossed a lump of rock over their heads. Maal deftly caught it and handed it to me. One of the horses whickered as I turned the rock over in my hand, noting the gray-black crystals in it. "Is it mineable?" "The priest thinks so. He's in the mine with Haaluk." "Someone come and hold the reins," I said. One of the men moved over and took them, and I stepped out of the chariot. "Take me to the priest," I said to Maal. "The rest of you continue with your work." A path opened for me to pass through them. Maal led me across the court inside the palisade. There were buildings along one side, and the opencast trenches on the other. Opposite us yawned the black hole of the mine entrance. I wasn't particularly fond of going in there -- I hate caves -- but this was important, so I'd have to try not to think about being underground. This gemstone mine was the principal reason for the existence of Clan Lepidor, the northernmost of the fifteen clans on the continent of Oceanus, and by a small margin the northernmost continental clan in the world. There hadn't been a city here before the Tuonetar War,