University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1915-08-23

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with the rage and strength of two
dogs, and his teeth met through the
flesh and hide of the cats throat. But
the big lynx escaped death by hall
an inch. 1t would take a fresh gIiI
to reach the jugular and suddenly
Kazan made the deadly lunge. There
was an instant's freedom for the
lynx, and in that moment it flung it.
self back, and Kazan grippej at its
throat-on top.
The cats claws ripped through the
flesh, cutting open his side-a little
too high to kill. Another stroke and
they would have cut to his vitals
But they had struggled close to the
edge of the rock wall, and suddenly
without a snarl or cry, they rolled
over 1t was fifty or sixty feet to the
rocks of the ledge below, and even as
they pitched over and over In the
fall, Kazan's teeth sank deeper. They
struck with terrific force, Kazan up
permOst. The shock sent him half a
dozen feet from his enemy. He was
up like flash, dizzy, snarling, on
the defensive. The lynx lay limp and
motionless where it had fallen. Ka-
zan came nearer, still prepared, and
shifted cautiously. Something told
him that the fight was over He turned
and dragged himself slowly along the
ledge to the trail, and returned to
Gray Wolf.
Gray Wolf was no longer in the
moonlight. Close to the two rocks
lay the limp and lifeless little bodies
of the three pups. The lynx had torn
them to pieces. With a whine of grief
Kazan approached the two boulders
and thrust his head between them.
Gray Wolf was there, crying to her.
self in that terrible sobbing way. He
went in, and began to lick her bleed
ing shoulders and head. All the rest
of that night she whimpered with pain.
With dawn she dragged herself out to
the lifeless little bodies on the rock
And Kazan saw the terrible work
of the lynx. For Gray Wolf was blind
not for day or night, but blind
for all time. A gloom that no sun
could break had become her shroud
And perhaps again 1t was that in
stinct of animal creation, which Of
ten is more wonderful than mans rea-
son, that told Kazan what had hap
pened. For he knew now that she
was helpless-more helpless than the
little creatures that had gamboled in
the moonlight few hours before. He
remained close beside her all that
day.
Vainly that day did Joan call for
Kazan. Her voice rose to the Sun
Rock, and Gray VOLTS head snuggled
closer to Kazan, and Kazan's ears
dropped back, and he licked her
wounds. Late in the afternoon Kazan |
left Gray Wolf long enough to run |
to the bottom of the trail and bring |
up the. snow-shOe rabbit. Gray Wolf |
muzzled the fur and flesh, but would
not eat Still little later Kazan
urged her to follow him to the trail. |
He no longer wanted to stay at the |
top of the Sun Rock. and he no long
er wanted Gray Wolf to stay there. |
Step by step he drew her down the |
winding path away from her dead
puppies. She would move only when
he was very near her-sO near that
she could touch his SCARED flank with
her nose
They came at last to the point in
the trail where they had to leap down
a distance of three or four feet from
the edge of a rock, and here kazan
saw how utterly helpless Gray Wolf
had become. She whined, and
crouched twenty times before she
dared make the spring, and then she
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at Kazan's feet. After this Kazan did
not have to urge her SO hard, for the
fall impinged on her the fact that she
was safe only when her muzzle
touched her mates flank. She fol-
lowed him obedientIy when they
reached the plain trotting with her
to his hip.
Kazan was heading for thicket in
the creek bottom half a mile away,
and a dozen times in that short dis
tance Gray Wolf stumbled and fell.
And each time that she fell Kazan
learned a little more Of the limita-
tions of blindness Once he sprang OF
in pursuit of rabbit, but he had not
taken twenty leaps when he stopped
and looked back Gray Wolf had not
moved an inch. She stood motionless,
shifting the air-waiting for him! For
a full minute Kazan stood. also walt