Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-14
land-the song OF the caribou, a. the
flames leaped up into the dark night.
ze cariboo-oo.oo ze car
He roas' on high,
Jes' under ze skv-

names leaped I'D into the dark night.
Oh ze cariboo-oo.oo 70 cariboo-oo-oo.
He. roas' on high,
Ne beeE white carlboo-oo-oo?
Now!" he yelled. "Now-all togetherl"
and, carried away by his enthusiasm, the
forest people awakened from their silence
OF months and the song burst forth in n
savage frenzy that reached to the skies.
Two miles to the south and west that
first thunder of human voice reached the
ears OF Kazan and Gray Wolf and the
nastcrless huskies. And with the voices
or men they heard now the excited howl
lngs OF the dogs. The huskies faced the
direction of the sounds, moving restlessly
and whining. For few moments Kazan
STOOD as though carven OF rock Then
he turned his head. and his first look
was TO Gray Wolf She had skunk back a
dozen feet and lay Crouched under the
thick cover OF balsam shrub. Her body
legs and neck were flattened In tho snow.
she made no sound, but her lips we're
drawn back and her teeth shone white.
kazan trotted lack to her, shifted at
her blind face and whined. Gray Wolf
still did not move. He returned to the
dogs and his jaws opened and closed
with q snap. Still more clearly came
the Wild voice OF the cGtnival. and no
longer to be held back by Kazan's lead
ership, the four huskics dropped their
heads and skunk like shadows in its di-
rection.
Kazan hesitated. urging Gray Wolf But
not a muscle OF Gray VOLTS body moved.
She would have followed him In face of
fire but not In face of man. Not a sound
escaped her ears. She heard the quick
fall OF Kazan's feet as he left her. In
another moment she knew that he was
gone. Then-and not until then-dld she
lift her head and from her soft throat
there broke a whimperlng cry.
1t was her last call to Kazan. But
stronger than that there was running
through Kazan's excited blood the call Of
man and of dog. The huskies we're far
In advance of him now and for few mo-
ments he raced madly to overtake them.
Then he slowed down until he was trot-
ting, and 100 yards farther on he stopped.
Less than a mile away he could see where
the flames OF the great fires were redden-
ing the sky. He gaged back to see II Gray
Wolf was following and then went on un-
til he struck an open and hard-traveled
trail. II was beaten with the footprints
of men and dogs, and over II two of the
caribou had been dragged a day or two
before.
At last he came to the thinnod out strip
of timber that surrounded tho clearing
and the flare of the flames was I'm his eyes
The bedlam of sound that came to him
now was like fire in his brain. He heard
shril cries of women and children, the
barking and snarling and fighting of 100
dogs. He wanted to rush out and Join
them, to become again n part of what ne
had once been. Yard by yard he sneaked
through the thin timber until he reached
the edge of the clearing. There he stood
In the shadow of a spruce and looked out
upon life as he had once lived 1t. trem-
bling. wistful and yet hesitating in that
final moment.
A hundred yards away was the savage
circle of men and dogs and fire. His nos
trils were filled with the rich aroma of
the roasting caribou, and as he crouched
down, still with that wollsh caution that
Gray Wolf had taught him, men with
,long poles brought the huge carcasses
crashing down upon the melting snow
about the fires. In one great rush the
horde of wild revelers crowded in. with
barred knives and snarling mass of dogs
closed in behind them. In another mo-
ment he had forgotten Gray Wolf, had
forgotten all that man and the wild had
taught him, and like a gray streak was
across the open.
The dogs were surging back when he
reached them, with half dozen of the