Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-03
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NOlIVER
cURWOOD

redder, their lips drawn back until they
seemed TO have disappeared And then
Kazan leaped for that death-srip at the
throat-and missed. II was only by an
Inch again, and the wolf came back. as he
had done, and laid open Kazans flank so
that the blood ran down his leg and red
dened the snow. The burn Of that flank
wound told Kazan that his enemy was old
In the game of fighting. He crouched low.
his head straight out, and his throat close
TO the snow. 1t was a trick Kazan had
learned In puppyhood-to shield his [ ~oat,
and wait.
Twice the wolf circled about him, and
closed, A second time the wolf leaped,
and Kazan threw up his terrible Jaws
sure of that. fatal grip just in front OF the
forelegs. His teeth snapped on empty
air. With the nImbleness of n cat the
wolf had gone completely over his back.
The trick had failed. and with a rumble
Of the dog-snarl in his throat, Kazan
reached the wolf in single bound. They
met breast to breast. Their fangs clashed
and with the whole weight OF his body,
Kazan flung himself against the wolf 8
shoulders, cleared his jaws, and struck
again for the throat hold. 1t was another
miss-by hairs breadth-and before ne
could recover, the VOLTS teeth were bur-
led in the back of his ieck
For the first time in his life Kasan
felt the terror and the pain OF the death
grip, and with a mighty effort he flung
his head a little forward and snapped
blindly. His powerful jaws closed on
the VOLTS foreleg, close to the body.
There was q cracking OF bono and a
crunching of flesh, and the circle Of wait
Ing wolveC grew tense and alert. Ono or
the other of the fighters was sure to
go down before the holds were broken,
and they but awaited that fatal fall as
signal to leap in TO the death.
Only the thickness OF hair and hide
on the back Of Kazan's neck, ana the
toughness OF his muscles, saved him
from that terrible fate of tho vanaulshed.
The VOLTS teeth sank deep, but not
deep enough to reach the vital spot, and
suddenly Kazan put every ounce OF
strength In his limbs to the effort, and
flung himself up bodily from under his
antagonist. The grip on his neck re-
laxed, and with another rearing leap
he tore himself free.
As swift as a whip-lash he wflirled on
the broken-legged leader OF the pack
and with the full rush and weight OF his
shoulders struck him fairly In the side.
More deadly than the throat-grip had
Kazan some times found the lunge when
delivered at tho right moment. 1t was
deadly now. The big gray wolf lost his
Leel, TOhtu upon MS DHCh lot dl lIlbtdIlts
and the pack rushed in, eager to rend
the last OF life from the leader whose
power had ceased to exist.
From out of that gray, snarling, bloody
Tipped mass Kazan drew back. painting
and bleeding. He was weak. There was
a curious sickness in his head. He
wanted to lie down In the snow. But
the old and infallible instinct warned him
not to betray that weakness. From out
~ ha MI oil ha aha-
came up to him. and lay down in the
snow before him, and then rose swiftly
and shifted at his wounds.
She WAS young and strong and beau
tiful. but Kazan did not look at her.
Where the fight had been he was look
ing at what little remained OF the old
leader. Tho pack had returned to the
feast.
He heard again the cracking OF bones
and the rending OF flesh. and something
told him that hereafter all the wilder
ness would hear and recognize his voice,
and that when he sat back on his
launches and called to tho moon and the
stars, those swift-footed hunters OF tho
big plain would respond to 1t. He circled
twice about the caribou and the pack.
and then trotted off to tho edge OF tho
black spruce forest.
When he reached the shadows he looked
back. Gray Wolf was following him,
She was only a few yards behind. And
now she came up to him, a little timidly.
and she, too. looked back to the dark
blotch of life out on the lake. And as
she stood there close beside him, Kazan
shifted at something In the air that was
not tho scent OF blood or tho perfume
of the balsam and spruce. It was a thing
that seemed to come to him from the clear
stars,N the cloudless moon. the strange
and beautiful quiet of tho night itself.
And its presence seemed to be part OF
Gray Wolf.
He looked at her and he found Gray