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

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moon when she refused to leave the
windfall. Kazan did not urge her. In
stinct made him understand, and he
did not 60 far from the windfall that
night in his hunt When he returned
he brought rabbit.
Came then the night when from the
darkest corner of the windfall Gray
Wolf warned him back with a low
snarl. He stood in the opening, rab-
bit between his jaws. He took no Of
fense at the snarl, but stood for a
moment, gazing into the gloom where
Gray Wolf had hidden herself Then
he dropped the rabbit and lay down
squarely in the opening. After a lit
tie he rose restlessly and went out
side. But he did not leave the wind
fall. 1t was day when he reentered.
He shifted. as he had shifted once be-
fore long time ago. between the
That which was in the air was no
longer a mystery to him. He came
nearer and Gray Wolf did not snarL
She whined coaxingly as he touched
her Then his muzzle found some
thing else. Ii was soft and warm and
made queer little smiling sound.
There was a responsive whine in his
throat, and in the darkness came the
quick soft caress of Gray VOLTS
tongue. Kazan returned to the sun
shine and stretched himself out be-
fore the door of the windfall. His
jaws dropped open, for he was filled
with strange cOntentment.
CHAPTER XVIII
The Education of Ba.ree
Robbed once of the joys of parent
hood by the murder on the Sun Rock,
both Gray Wolf and Kazan were differ
ent from what they would have been
had the big gray lynx not come into
their lives at that time As if it were
but yesterday they remembered the
moonlit night when the lynx brought
blindness to Gray Wolf and destroyed
her young, and when Kazan had
avenged himself and his mate in his
terrible fight to the death with their
enemy. And now, with that soft lit
tie handful of life smuggling close up
against her, Gray Wolf saw through
her blind eyes the tragic picture of
that night more vividly than ever and
she quivered at every sound, ready to
leap in the face of an unseen foe, to
rend all flesh that was not the flesh
of Kazan. And ceaselessly, the slight
est sound bringing him to his feet,
Kazan watched and guarded. He
mistrusted the moving shadows. The
swapping of twig drew back his up
per lip. His fangs cleaned menacing-
ly when the soft air brought a strange
scent In him, too, the memory of the
Sun Rock, the death of their first
young and the binding of Gray Wolf,
had given birth to a new instinct. Not
for an instant was he off his guard.
AS surely as one expects the sun to
rise so did he expect that sooner or
later their deadly enemy would creep
on them from out of the forest. In
another hour such as this the lynx had
brought death. The lynx had brought
blindness. And so day and night he
waited and watched for the lynx to
come again. And woe unto any other
creature of flesh and blood that dared
the windfall in these first
days of Gray VOLTS motherhood.
But peace had spread its wings of
sunshine and plenty over the swamp.
There were no intruders, unless the
noisy whisky-jacks. the big-eyed
the chattering bush spar
rows, and the wood-mice and ermine
could be called such. After the first
day or two Kazan went more fire.
quently into the windfall, and though
more than once he nosed searchingly
about Gray Wolf he could find only
the one little pup. A little farther
west the Dog-Ribs would have called
the pup Ba-ree for two reasons-be-
cause he had no brothers or sisters,
and because he was mixture of dog
and wolf. He was a sleek and lively |
little fellow from the beginning, for
there was no division of mother |
strength and attention. He developed |
with the true swiftness of the wolf
whelp, and not with the slowness OF
the dog-pup.