University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1915-09-01

like all dogs will who have come into
contact with the friendly porcupine,
and raced again and again around the
windfall, bowling at every jump.
Gray Wolf took the matter coolly. 1t
is possible that at times there are mo-
ments of humor in the lives of ami
mails. IL so, she saw this one. She
scented the porcupine and she knew
that Kazan was full of quilts. AS there
was nothing to do and nothing to fight
she sat back on her launches and
waited. pricking up her ears every
time Kazan passed her in his mad cir
cult around the windfall At his fourth
or fifth heat the pOrcupine smOothed
itself down little, and continuing
the interrupted thread of it's chatter
it and began to gnaw the tender bark
from a limb.
At last KaZan halted before GRAY
Wolf. The first agony of hundred
little needles piercing his flesh had
deadened into steady burning pain.
Gray Wolf went over to him and in
vestigated him cautiously. With her
teeth she seized the ends of two or
three of the quills and pulled them
out. Kazan was very much dog now.
He gave a yelp, and whimpered as
Gray Wolf jerked out second bunch
of quills. Then he fiattened himself
on his belly, stretched out his fore
legs, closed his eyes, and without
another sound except an occasional
yelp Of pain allowed Gray Wolf to go
on with the operation. Fortunately
he mad escaped getting any of the
quills in his mouth and tongue But
his nose and jaws were soon red with
blood For an hour Gray Wolf kept
faithfully at her task and by the end
of that time had succeeded in pulling
out most of the quilts. A few still
remained, too short and too deeply
inbedded for her to extract with her
teeth.
After this Kazan went down to the
creek and buried his burning muZzle
in the cold water. This gave him some
relief, but only for a short time. The
quills that remained worked their way
deeper and deeper into his flesh, like
living things. Nose and lips began to
swell. Blood and saliva dripped from
his mouth and his eyes grew red. Two
hours after Gray Wolf had retired to
her nest under the windfall quill had
completely pierced his lip and began
to prick his tongue. In desperation
Kazan chewed viciously upon a piece
of wood. This broke and crumpled the
quill, and destroyed its power to do
further harm. Nature had told him
the one thing to do to save himself.
Most of that day he spent in gnawing
at wood and crunching mouthfuls of
earth and mold between his jaws. In
this way the barb-toothed points of
the quills were dulled and broken as
they came through. At dusk he crawled
under the windfall, and Gray Wolf
gently licked his muzzle with her soft
cool tongue. Frequently during the
night Kazan went to the creek and
found relief in its ice-cold water.
The next day he had what the forest
people call 'porcupine mumps." His
face was swollen until Gray Wolf
would have laughed if she had been
human, and not blind His chops
bulged like cushions. His eyes were
mere slits. When he went out into
the day he blinked, for he could see
scarcely better than his sightless
mate. But the pain was mostly gone.
The night that followed he began to
think of hunting, and the next morn
ing before it was yet dawn he brought
a rabbit into their den. A few hours
later he would have brought spruce
partridge to Gray Wolf, but just as
he was about to spring upon his
feathered prey the soft chatter of a
porcupine few yards away brought
him to sudden stop. Few things
could make Kazan drop his tail But
that inane and incoherent prattle of
the little spiked beast sent him off at |
double-quick with his tail between his |
legs. AS man abhors and evades the |
creeping serpent, so Kazan would |
hereafter evade this little creature of |
the forests that never in animal his
tory has been known to lose its good |
humor or pick a quarrel
Two weeks of lengthening days, of
increasing warmth, of sunshine and |
hunting, followed Kazan's adventure |
with the porcupine. The last of the
snow went rapidly. Out of the earth |
began to Spring tins of green The