University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1915-09-08
CHAPTER XXI
A Shot on the Sand.Bar

July and August Of 1911 wer
months of great fires in the North
land. The swamp home of Kazan an
Gray Wolf, and the green valley be
tween the two ridges. had escape
the seas of devastating flame; bu
now, as they set forth on their wan
dering adventures again, it was no
long before their padded feet came IL
contract with the scared and blackene'
desolation that had followed so close
ly after the plague and starvation o.
the preceding winter. In his humilia
ton and defeat, after being driven
from his swamp home by the beavers
Kazan led his blind mate first into the
south. Twenty miles beyond the
ridge they struck the fire-killed for
est. Winds from HudsOn's Bay had
driven the flames in an unbroken sea
into the west, and they had left not
vestige of life or a patch of green.
Blind Gray Wolf could not see the
blackened world. but she sensed it.
1t called to her memory of that other
fire, after the battle on the Sun Rock;
and all of her wonderful instinct,
sharpened and developed by her blind
ness, told her that to the north-and
not sOuth-lay the hunting grounds
they were seeking. The strain of dog
that was in Kazan still pulled him
south. 1t was not because he sought
man, for to man he had now become
as deadly an enemy as Gray Wolf her
self. 1t was simply dog instinct to
travel southwark; in the face of fire
it was wolf instinct to travel north
ward. At the end of the third day
Gray Wolf won. They recrossed the
little valley between the two ridges.
and swung north and west into the
Athabasca country, striking a course
that would ultimately bring them to
the headwaters of the McFarlane Riv-
er
Late in the preceding autumn q
prospector had come up to Fort Smith,
on the Slave River, with a pickle bot
tie filled with gold dust and nuggets.
He had made the find on the McFar-
lane. The first mails had taken the
news to the outside world, and by
midwinter the earliest members of
horde were rushing
into the country by snowshoe and dog
sledge. Other finds came thick and
fast. The McFarlane was rich in free
gold, and miners by the score staked
out their claims along it and began
work. Late-comers swung to new
fields farther north and east and to
Fort Smith came rumors Of finds"
richer than those of the Yukon. A
score of men at first-then a hundred,
five hundred, a thousand-rushed into
the new country. Most of these were
from the prairie countries to the
south, and from the placer beds of
he Saskatchewan and the Frazer.
From the far North, travelling by way
IF the Mackenzie and the Lizard, came
/ smaller number of seasoned pros
,ectors and adventurers from the Yu-
who knew what it meant to
,tarve and freeze and die by inches.
One of these late comers was San
ly McTrigger. There were several
reasons why Sandy had left the Yu-
zon. He was "in bad" with the police |
who patrolled the country west of
Dawson, and he was broke" In |
spite of these facts he was one of the |
,est prospectors that had ever fol-
owed the shores of the Klondike. He |
lad made discoveries running up to |
| million or two, and had promptly |
ost them through gambling and drink
lie had no conscience, and little fear.
Brutality was the chief thing written
n his face. His undershot jaw, his
mop of red hair proclaimed him at
nee as a man not to be trusted be-
-ond ones own vision or the reach of
bullet. 1t was suspected that he
lad killed a couple of men, and rob-
'ed others, but as yet the police had
allied to get anything ION" him. But
long with this bad side of him, San
" McTrigger possessed a GOODNESS
nd a courage which even his worst
nemies could not but admire. and
lso certain mental depths which his
unpleasant feature did not proclaim.
Inside of six months Red Gold City
ad sprung up on the McFarlane,
undred and fifty miles from Fort
;mith, and Fort Smith was five hun
red miles from civilization. When
andy came he looked over the crude
objection of shacks. gambling houses
nd saloons in the new town, and
nada I'M hic mind that fhe tima wae