Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-10-12

enemies. They had beaten him time
and again until he was almost dead:
They called him bad" and stepped
wide of him, and never missed the
chance to snap a whip over his back.
His body was covered with scars they
had given him.
He had never felt Kindness or love,
until the first night the woman had
put her warm little hand on his head,
and had snuggled her face close down
to his, while Thorpe = her husband
had cried out in horror. He had al
most buried his fangs in her white
flesh. but in an instant her gentle
touch, and her sweet voice, had sent
through him that wonderful thrill that
was his first knowledge of love. And
now it was a man who was driving him
from her, away from the hand that had
never held a club or a whip, and he
growled as he trotted deeper into the
forest
| He came to the edge of a swamp as
day broke. For time he had been
! filled with a strange uneasiness, and
, light did not quite dispel It. At last
he was free of men. He could detect
nothing that reminded him OF their
hated presence in the air. But neither
could he smell the presence OF other
dogs. of the sledge, the fire, OF COM
panionship and food, and so far back
as he could remember they had always
been a part of his life.
Here it was very quiet The swamp
! lay in a hollow between two ridge
mountains, and the spruce and cedar
grew low and thick 50 thick that
there was almost no snow under them.
and day was like twilight Two things
he began to miss more than all others
food and company. Both the wolf
and the dog that was in him demanded
the first, and that part OF him That was
dog longed for the latter. TO both de-
sires the wolf blood that was strong IN
him rose responsibility. 1t told him Ihat
somewhere in this silent world BE-
tween the two ridges there was COM
partnership, and that all he had to 40
, 10 find it was to sit back on MS
launches, and cry out his loneliness.
More than once something trembled IN
his deep chest. rose in his throat, and
ended there in whine. 1t was the
wolf howl, not yet quite born.
Food came more easily than voice.
Toward midday he cornered a big
white rabbit under a log, and killed It,.
. The warm flesh and blood was better
than frozen fish, or tallow and bran,
and the feast he had gave him conf
dence. That afternoon he chased many
rabbits, and killed two more. Until now
he had never know the delight OF pur-
! suing and killing at will, even though
he did not eat all he killed.
! But there was no fight in the RAD
bits. They died too easily. They were
very sweet and tender to eat, when he
was hungry. but the first thrill OF kill
ing them passed away after time. He
wanted something bigger. He no long
! or SUNK along as if he were afraid, or
as if he wanted to remain hidden. He
held his head up. His back br1stled.
F., His tail swung free and bushy. like
! VOLTS. Every hair in his body qu1v-
cred with the electric energy OF lie
and action. He travelled north and west
| It was the call of early days - the
! DAYS away uD on the Mackenzie. The
! Mackenzie was thousand miles away.
! He came upon many trails In the
snow that day. and shifted the scents
left by the hoofs of moose and caribou,
and the fur padded feet of lynx. He
followed a fox, and the trail led him to
place shut in by tall spruce, where
the snow was beaten down and red
deneo with blood. There was an owls
head. feathers, wings and entrails ly-
ing here, and he knew that there were
other hunters abroad besides himself.
, Toward evening he came upon
tracks in the snow that were very
much like his own. They were quite
fresh. and there was a warm scent
about them that made him whine, and
sled him again with that desire to fall
bac,, upon his launches and send forth