University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1915-09-04
CHAPTER Xxx
A Feud In the Wilderness

A Feud In the Wilderness
A soft wind blowing from the soutf
and east brought the scent of the in
vaders to Gray VOLTS nose when they
D were still half mile away. She gave
the warning to Kazan and he, too
. found the strange scent in the air. II
grew stronger as they advanced
When two hundred yards from the
windfall they heard the sudden crash
; of falling tree, and stopped. For a
full minute they stood tense and listen
ing. Then the silence was broken by
a squeaking cry. followed by splash.
Gray VOLTS alert ears fell back and
she turned her blind face understand
ingly toward Kazan. They trotted
ahead slowly. approaching the wind
fall from behind Not until they had
reached the top of the knoll on which
the wonderful change that had taken
place during their absence. Astound-
ed. they stood while he stared. There
was no longer little creek below
them. Where it had been was pond
that reached almost to the foot of the
knoll. 1t was full hundred feet in
width and the backwater had flooded
the trees and bush for five or six times
that distance toward the burn. They
had come up quietly and Broken
Tooth's dull-scented workers were un-
aware of their presence. Not fifty feet
away Broken Tooth himself was
gnawing at the butt of a tree. An
equal distance to the right of him four
or five of the baby beavers were at
play building miniature dam of mud
and tiny twigs. On the opposite side
of the pond was steep bank six or
seven feet high, and here few of the
older children-two years old, but still
not workmen-were having great fun
climbing the bank and using it as to-
boggan-slide. 1t was their splashing
that Kazan and Gray Wolf had heard.
In a dozen different places the older
beavers were at work
A few weeks before Kazan had
looked upon a similar scene when he
had returned into the north from
Broken Tooth's old home. 1t had not
interested him then. But quick and
thrilling change swept through him
now. The beavers had ceased to be
mere water animals. uneatable and
with an odor that displeased him. They
were invaders-and enemies. His
fangs barred silently His crest stiff
ened like the hair of brush, and the |
muscles of his forelegs and shoulders |
stood out like whipcords. Not a sound |
came from him as he rushed down /
was oblivious of danger until Kazan
was within twenty feet of him. Natur-
ally slow of movement on land, he |
stood for an instant stupefied. Then
he swung down from the tree as Ka-
zan leaped upon him. Over and over
they rolled to the edge of the bank,
carried on by the dogs momentum. In
another moment the thick heavy body
of the beaver had slipped like oil from
under Kazan and Broken Tooth was
safe in his element, two holes bitten
clean through his fleshy tail. Baffled
in his effort to get a death-hold on
Broken Tooth, Kazan swung like
flash to the right The younger beav-
ers had not moved. Astonished and
frightened at what they had seen, they
stood as If stupefied. Not until they
say Kazan tearing toward them did
hey awaken to action. Three of them [
reached the water. The fourth and I
beavers not more than |
hree months old-were too late. With I
/ single snap of his jaw Kazan broke ,
he back of one The other he pinned [
lown by the throat and shook as G
errier shakes rat When Gray 7
Wolf trotted down to him both of the r
title bodies were dead. She shifted Il
t their soft little bodies and whined. t
'erhaps the baby creatures reminded e
er of runaway Ba-ree, her own baby, C
Or there was note of longing in her a
vhine as she nosed them. 1t was the e
lother whine. Il
But if Gray Wolf had visions of her p
wn Kazan understood nothing of s.
hem. He had killed two of the crea- "
lres that had dared to invade their "
ONE. To the little beavers he had d
zen as merciless as the gray lynx that "
ad murdered Gray VOLTS first chill n
rem on the top of the Sun Rock Now h
lat he had sunk his teeth into the "
esh of his enemies his blood was Il
lied with frenzied desire to kill. He a
aved along the edge of the pond.