"That couldn't be helped, Harkness," the scout master told him. "Your wolves had broken out, and you couldn't expect to ever trap many of them again, at the best. They came at us like fury, and we had to defend ourselves, or we'd have been torn to pieces like a flash. And that's why this happened. We weren't out hunting for trouble; but you've lost you pack on account of a weak place in your pen."