The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-10-28
TRUE At The LAST
Wolf Dog Deserted Master, But
Still Loved Him.
Answered "CaT of His. Fathers"
Though He Proved Loyal When
Loyalty Meant Death by the
Fanos of His Pack.

FanQS OF His Pack
He had been called Wolf since pup
pyhood. He stood nearly forty inches,
with small ragged, rail-like body, and
unusually long legs that ended in great,
soft, padlike feet. Jack Stern, Steve
WOrmelI's partner, used to say that
the dog could not turn round in their
'two-by four" cabin without knocking
over the table and chairs and seriously
endangering the stove and other furni-
ture.
One evening, as Steve and Jack sat
playing game of cribbage in their
ranger cabin, a wolf howled lugubri-
ously from the mountain side. After a
moment came the answer; then an
other caught up the call, and another,
until the lonesome wall echoed from
mountain top to mountain top.
Suddenly there came howl, nearer
and more deep-throated.
Stern opened the door.
"Come here, Stevel'' he said, and
the ranger stepped TO his side.
On small, treeless mound, not far
from the cabin, sat Wolf. He was
nose pointed toward the sky, while
from his throat came a cry quite un-
like his usual howl.
"It's the call of his fathers, Steve"
said Jack. "Some day you'll have no
| dog; he'll be gone with the pack
Stove lanuhaa or ho idoa uo bod
brought Wolf, an awkward, bench-leg-
ged puppy, out to the ranger cabin in a
| sack; the dog had always been faith
full and contented with his lot.
But one morning in the spring Wolf
was missing.
Wolf would return when the running"
season was over. He had heard of
dogs doing that. But spring merged
| into summer, and summer into fall, yet
| the dog did not come back.
Then they began to hear that Wolf
| had been seen running at the head of a
small band of wolves, although they
never found a man who had actually
seen him.
About Christmas time, when the
snow was deeper than for many win
tiers past, prowling bands of wolves be-
| gan to come down near the camp.
One day Steve found that a large
| bull elk had been killed within mile
of camp. Signs of the struggle were
| TO be seen for hundred yards round.
| Near the scattered bones of the elk
were the disembowled remains of two
wolves. A little farther along a young
COW elk had fallen beneath the fangs
] of the mountain bandits. And at each
| kill Steve found large track, twice
| the size of that made by common
| wolf
When the snow had crusted so that
it would bear up the weight of a man,
| Steve threw his rifle across his arm
| and walked over to the breaks of the
Grande Ronde. He was nearing the
| broken lands when the sound of a run
ming pack came to his ears. A moment
later small band of wolves, perhaps
| fifteen in number, burst from the tim
Der, running toward him. And at their
/ head ran Wolf.
The ranger forgot his danger He
| cried, wolf, don't you know me?"
| The sound of his voice brought the
great dog to standstill, and the pack
/ stopped with him. Nose in the air
sides aquiver, he stood a moment
then, with low bay of recognition, he
sprang toward his one-time master
/ The pack, evidently mistaking their
Il
leaders intention, likewise rushed at
Steve. And the next instant, with his
| gun dubbed, ne was in the midst of a
snarling, swapping mass of famine.
/ crazed wolves.
When Jack arrived on the scene he
found Steve sitting in the snow, with
| the shaggy head of Wolf pillowed in
his lap. Around him. with their NANCY
pelts torn and bloody, lay half dozen
| dead wolves.
| The rangers clothing was torn to
shreds and one arm and leg were a
mass of cuts and gashes; but there
were tears in his eyes.
He fought for me- Jack" he said
pressing the stiffening lids over the
| glazed eyes of the dead hound "He
| gave his life for me. How he fought
And against his own blood, too. Yon.
| der lies one of his own pups. Why
| shouldn't / love m?"-Youth's Com.
i