George Startles Sleeping Albert and Sets Off a Chase

George Startles Sleeping Albert and Sets Off a Chase is a July episode in which an apparent attack between two adult wolves becomes a bout of play involving Angeline as well. Observed from the narrator’s telescope, the encounter begins with George approaching Albert while he sleeps and ends with the three wolves separating, greeting one another, and returning to the den. Its significance lies in the reversal: what looks like a serious rupture in the family group resolves as a shared game.

Conditions at the Den

The episode takes place after the wolves have killed a Caribou near their summer den. With food close at hand, George, Angeline, and Albert do not hunt that night; instead, they remain near the den and rest. The following morning is warm and calm. Angeline lies on rocks overlooking the den, while George and Albert rest separately on the esker ridge. For much of the morning, the adult wolves show little activity beyond changing position and looking about.

Albert eventually gets up and wanders down to the bay for a drink. He spends some time hunting Arctic sculpins before starting back toward the ridge. Partway there, he stops, abandons the return to his resting place, and settles where he is. Sleep soon overtakes him. The leisurely morning, following a successful hunt, supplies the quiet interval in which George’s approach can unfold slowly enough for the observer to watch it develop.

George’s Approach

George has been watching Albert’s excursion from where he lies with his head on his forepaws. Once Albert falls asleep, George rises, stretches, and yawns. He begins walking toward him with an appearance of casual aimlessness, pausing to sniff shrubs and mouseholes and stopping twice to scratch himself. Yet his attention remains on Albert throughout. The contrast between these unhurried gestures and his steady approach makes the change in his conduct especially striking to the observer.

When George comes within about fifty feet of Albert, his manner changes. He lowers himself into a crouch and inches forward with apparent intent. From the telescope, the narrator cannot tell what has prompted the shift. The developing scene raises the possibility that the family’s apparent harmony has broken down, or that Albert has violated a rule and is about to face serious consequences. This is the observer’s anxious interpretation, not an explanation supplied by the wolves; the suspense depends on how little he can know before the next action clarifies the scene.

George continues until he is roughly ten feet from the sleeping wolf. After pausing, he leaps onto Albert with a loud roar. Albert wakes abruptly and makes a high-pitched sound of shock and outrage, a new entry in the narrator’s record of wolf vocalizations. George immediately jumps away and runs. Albert gets to his feet and follows him. The sudden shift from George’s deliberate, concealed approach to a fast retreat begins the chase, while Albert’s pursuit turns the apparent attack into an exchange of roles.

The Chase and Angeline’s Part

The pursuit initially looks earnest. George runs up the esker, with Albert following close behind; the two change direction repeatedly and exert themselves as they race. When they pass the summer den, Angeline appears, takes in what is happening, and joins in. Her participation changes the action from a confrontation between two wolves into a three-way chase. George, now pursued by both Albert and Angeline, can no longer evade them by dodging and runs down the esker, across the muskeg, and along the bay shore.

A split rock near the head of the bay briefly gives George a chance to reverse the pursuit. He passes through the narrow opening and circles back, meeting Angeline broadside. The collision sends her sliding aside; for a moment one pursuer is out of the chase, but Albert catches up with George before he can get away. The two go down together, and Angeline returns to the action. The scene’s rapid reversals—ambusher pursued, pursuer temporarily displaced, and all three drawn together—make its course look more like a rough game than a settled contest.

The encounter ends as suddenly as it began. The wolves separate, shake themselves, sniff noses, wag their tails, and trot back toward the den. No lasting hostility is described, and none of the three remains apart from the group. Their shared return supplies the clearest evidence for reading the chase as play rather than as a serious conflict: the apparent violence of the opening gives way to familiar social contact and a return to the day’s routine.

Play Within the Family Group

The observer’s initial alarm reflects the limits of interpreting behavior from a distance. George’s slow, watchful approach and sudden leap can suggest a dangerous confrontation when considered alone. The ending changes the meaning of those actions: all three wolves take part, and they rejoin one another calmly. The narrative lets the visible sequence correct the observer’s fearful speculation without claiming access to the wolves’ private intentions.

The incident also fits alongside other playful interactions the narrator had witnessed. Such practical jokes were rare, but Angeline sometimes hid and sprang at George as he returned from a hunt. After startling him, she would nuzzle him, embrace him with her forepaws, or move beside him in an affectionate welcome. Those occasions are described as a private ritual between mates, whereas the present chase brings Albert into the play as well. Together, the episodes complicate a picture of the wolves as defined only by hunting and vigilance: their observed life also includes surprise, pursuit, and social play within the family group.