Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-11-04

hard under their feet. There were six
lanimals in the acre, two Of them bulls
- and these bulls were fighting, while
three COWS and yearling were hud-
died in a group watching the mighty
duel! Just before the storm young
bull, sleek, three-quarters grown, ana
3 with the small compact antlers OF
four year DID, had led the three cows
and the yearling to this sheltered spot
among the spruce. Until last night he
had been master of the herd. During
the night the older bull had invaded
his dominion. The invader was four
times as old as the young bull. He was
kalf agains as heavy. His huge pal
mate horns, knotted and irregular -
but massive - spoke of age. A warrior
Of hundred fights, he had not hest
tatec to give battle in his effort to rob
the younger bull of his home and fam
lily. Three times they had fought since
dawn, and the hard trOdden snow was
red with blood The smell of it came
to Kazan's and Gray VOLTS nostrils
Kazan shifted hungrily. Queer sounds
rolled up and down in Gray VOLTS
throat and she licked her jaws.
Fer moment the two fighters drew
few yards apart, and stood with low.
cred heads. The old bull had not yet
won victory. The younger bull repre-
scented youth and endurance; In the
older bull those things were pitted
against craft. greater weight, maturer
strength and a head and horns that
were like a battering ram. But in that
great hulk of the older bull there was
one other thing age. His huge
sides We're painting. His nostrils were
as wide as bells Then, as if some in
visible spirit of the arena had given
The signal. the animals came together
again. The crash of their horns could
have been heard half mile away, and
under twelve hundred pounds of flesh
and bone the younger bull went plung-
ing back upon his launches. Then was
when youth displayed itself In an in
slant he was up and locking horns
with his adversary. Twenty times he
had done this, and each attack had
seemed filled with increasing strength.
And now. as if realizing that the last
moments Of the last fight had come, he
twisted the old bulls neck and fought
as he had never fought before. Ka-
zan and Gray Wolf both heard the
sharp crack that followed as If a
dry stick had been stepped upon and
broken It was February, and the
hoofed animals we're already beginning
&c shed their horns = especially the
older bulls, whose palmate growths
drop first This fact gave victory to
the younger bull in the blood stained
arena few yards from Gray Wolf and
Kazan. From it's socket in the old
bulls skull one of his huge antlers
broke with that sharp swapping sound,
and in another moment four inches Of
stiletto-like horn buried itself back Of
his foreleg. In an instant all hope and
courage left him. and he swung back
ward yard by yard, with the younger
bull prodding his neck and shoulders
until blood dripped from him IN little
streams. At the edge of the clearing
he flung himself free and crashed off
into the forest.
The younger bull did not pursue. He
tossed his head and stood for few
moments with heav1ng sides and dilat-
cd nostrils, facing in the direction his
vanquished foe had taken. Then he
turned, and trotted back to the still
motionless COWS and yearling.
Kazan and Gray Wolf were culver
ing. Gray Wolf skunk back from the
edge of the clearing, and Kazan follow
ed. No longer were they interested
in the COWS and the young bull. From
that clearing they had seen meat driv-
en- forth = meat that was beaten In
fight and bleeding. Every instinct of
the wild pack returned to Gray Wolf
now = and in Kazan the mad desire
to taste the blood he smelled. Swift
~ they turned, toward the blood STAIN
ed trail of the old bull, and when they
came to it they found it spattered red.
Kazan's Jaws dripped as the hot scent
irovc the blood like veins of fire
through his weakened body. His eyes
were redeemed by starvation, and in
Them there was light now that they
had never known even in the days OF
The wolf pack. ~ -.
He set off swiftly, almost forgetful of
Gray Wolf. But his mate no longer
required his flank for guidance. With
her nose close to the trail she ran -
ran as she had run in the long and
thrilling hunts before blindness came.
Half mile from the spruce thlcket
they came upon the old bull. He had
sought shelter behind chmp of bal
sam, and he stood over a growing pool
of blood in the snow. He was still
breathing hard His massive head.
srotesoue now with its one antler, was
dropping. Flecks of blood dropped
from his distended nostrils. Even