University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1915-08-30

was almost unbroken by sound. Once
in the far distance there came the cry
of wolf, and now and then, to punct-
uate the deathly silence, the snow owl
hooted in bloOd-curdling protest from
his home in the spruce-tOps. The
moon was straight above the old bull
when Gray Wolf scented the first real
danger Instantly she gave the warn
ing to KaZan and faced the bloody
trail, her 1.-THE body quivering. her
fangs cleaning in the starlight. a
snarling whine in her throat. Only in
the face of their deadliest enemy. the
lynx-the terrible fighter who had
blinded her long ago in that battle on
the Sun Rock-did she give such
warning as this to KaZan. He sprang
ahead of her, ready for battle even
before he caught the scent of the gray
beautiful creature of death stealing
over the trail.
Then came the interruption. From
a mile away there burst forth single
fierce long-drawn howl.
After all, that was the cry of the
true master of the wilderness-the
wolf. 1t was the cry of hunger. 1t
was the cry that sent mems blood run
ming more swiftly through their veins,
that brought the moose and the deer
to their feet shivering in every limb
the cry that walled like a note of death
through the swamp and forest and
over the snow-smothered ridges until
its faintest echoes reached for miles
into the starlit night.
There was silence, and in that awe
some stiffness Kazan and Gray Wolf
stood shoulder to shoulder facing the
cry, and in response to that cry there
worked within them a strange and
mystic change, for what they had
heard was not warning or a menace
but the call of Brotherhood. Away off
there-beyond the lynx and the fox
and the fisher-cat, were the creatures
of their kind, the wild-wolf pack, to
which the right to all flesh and blood
was common-in which existed that
savage socialism of the wilderness,
the Brotherhood of the Wolf. And
Gray Wolf, setting back on her
launches, sent forth the response to
that cry-a wailing triumphant note
that told her hungry brethren there
was feasting at the end of the trail.
And the lynx. between those two
cries, sneaked of into the wide and
moonlit spaces of the forest.
CHAPTER XIV
A Fight Under the Stars
On their launches Kazan and Gray
Wolf waited. Five minutes passed,
ten fifteen-and Gray Wolf became
uneasy. No response had followed her
call Again she howled, with Kazan
quiveriing and listening beside her,
and again there followed that dead
stiffness of the night This was not
the way of the pack. She knew that
it had not gone beyond the reach of
her voice and its silence puzzled her.
And then in a fash it came to them
both that the pack, or the single wolf
whose cry they had heard, was very
near them. The scent was warm. A
few moments later Kazan saw NOV
ing object in the moonlight. 1t was
followed by another, and still another,
until there were five slouching in a
half-circle about them, seventy yards
away Then they laid themselves fiat
in the snow and were motionless.
A snarl turned Kazan's eyes to Gray
Wolf His blind mate had drawn
back Her white fangs cleaned
menacingly in the starlight. Her ears
were fiat. Kazan was puzzled. Why
was she signaling danger to him when
it was the wolf, and not the lynx, out
there in the snow? And why did the
wolves not come in and feast? Slowly
he moved toward them, and Gray
Wolf called to him with her whine. He
paid no attention to her, but went on,
stepping lightly, his head high in the
air, his spine bristling.
In the scent of the strangers, Kazan
was catching something now that was
strangely familiar. 1t drew him to-
ward them more swiftly and when at
last he stopped twenty yards from
where the little group lay fiattened
in the snow, his thick brush waved
slightly. One of the animals sprang
up and approached. The others fol-
lowed and in another moment Kazan
was in the midst of them, smelling
and smelled, and wagging his tail.
They were dogs, and not wolves
In some lonely cabin in the wilder
ness their master had died, and they
had taken to the forests. They still
bore signs off the sledge-traces. About
their necks were moosehide collars.