Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-11-02

found home under windfall. 1t was
small comfortable nest, shut in en-
tirely from the snow and wind. Gray
Wolf took possession of it immediate
ly. She f1attened herself out on her
belly, and painted to show Kazan her
contentment and satisfaction. Nature
again kept Kazan close at her side. A
vision came to him. unreal and dream
like of that wonderful night under the
stars - ages and ages ago, it seemed
- when he had fought the leader Of
the wolf pack. and young Gray Wolf
had crept to his side after his victory
and had given herself to him for mate.
But this mating season there was no
running after the doe or the caribou,
or mingling with the wild pack. They
lived chiefly on rabbit and spruce part
ridge, because Of Gray VOLTS blind
ness. Kazan could hunt those alone.
The hair had now grown over Gray
VOLTS sightless eyes. She haa ceased
to grieve, to rub her eyes with her
paws, to whine for the sunlight. the
golden moon and the stars. Slowly
she began to forget that she had ever
seen those things. She could now run
more swiftly at Kazan's flank. Scent
and hearing had become wonderfully
keen. She could wind caribou two
miles distant, and the presence of man
she could pick up at an even greater
distance. On still night she had
heard the splash of a trout half mile
away. And as these two things =
scent and hearing - became more and
more developed in her, the same
senses became less active In kazan.
He began to depend upon Gray Wolf.
She would point out the hiding place of
q partridge fifty yards from their trail
In their hunts she became the leader
- until the game was found. And as
Kazan learned to trust her In the hunt
SO he began just as instinctively to
heed her warnings. If Gray Wolf
reasoned, it was to the effect that
without Kazan she would die. She had
tried hard now and then to catch
partridge, or rabbit, but she had al
ways failed. Kazan meant life to her
And - If she reasoned - 1t was to
make herself indispensable to her
mate. Blindness had made her differ
ent than she would otherwise have
been. Again nature promised mother
hood to her. But she did not - as she
would have done in the open, and with
sigh. hold more and more aloof from
Kazan as the days passed. It was her
habit. spring, summer and winter, 10
snuggle close to Kazan and lie with
her beautiful head resting on his neck
or back. If Kazan snarled at her she
did not snap back, but skunk down as
though struck blow With her warm
tongue she would lick away the ice
that froze to the long hair between Ka-
zans toes. For days after he had run
a silver in his paw she nursed his loot.
Blindness had made Kazan absolutely
necessary to her existence - and now,
in differen way, she became more
and more necessary to KaZan. Tney
were happy In their swamp home.
There was plenty of small game about
them. and 1t was warm under the wind
fall. Rarely did they go beyond the
limits Of the swamp to hunt. Out on
the more distant plains and the barren
ridges they occasionally heard the cry
of the wolf pack on the trail of meat,
but it no longer thrilled them with a
desire to join in the chase.
Ore day they struck farther than
usual to the west. They left the swamp
crossed plain over which fire had
swept the preceding year, climbed a
ridge and descended into second
plain. At the bottom Gray Wolf stop
ped and shifted the air. At these times
kazan always watched her, waiting
eagerly and nervously If the scent was
Too faint for him to catch. But today
he caught the edge of it. and he knew
why Gray VOLTS ears fattened, and
her hindquarters dropped. The scent
of game would have made her rigid
and alert. But it was not the game
smell It was human, and Gray Wolf
skunk behind Kazan and whined. For
several minutes they stood without
moving or making a sound, and then
Kazan led the way on. Less than three
hundred yards away they came to a
thick clump Of scrub spruce, and al
most ran into a snow smothered tepee.
It was abandoned. Life and fire had
not been there for long time. But
from the tepee had come the man
smell With legs rigid and his spine
Kazan approached the open
ing to the tepee. He looked in. In the
middle of the tepee, lying on the CHAIR
ed embers of fire, lay ragged blan-
ket - and in the blanket was wrapped
the body of a little Indian child. Ka-
zan could see the tiny moccasined
feet But so long had death been there
that he could scarcely smell the pres
tnce of it. He drew back, and saw
Gray Wolf cautiously Dosing about 4
long and peculiarly shaped hummock