Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-14
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CALL.

orIowED days Of feasting on the
X frozen flesh Of the old bull. In vain
-. wolf tried 10 lure Kazan Off into the
ss,. and the swamps. There was hunt
- now And Gray Wolf wanted TO be
n,ss1a-wIth Kazan. But with Kazan, as
s.,.h most men, leadership and power
.sod new sensations. And he was the
,ssssr of the dog-pack, as he had once
hesn a leader among the wolves. Not
sniv gray Wolf followed at his Hank now,
~, the four huslties trailed behind MIN.
Once more he was experiencing that tri-
,,,,nh and strange thrill that he had
sin,ost forgotten and .only Gray Wok.
g. tbat eternal night of her blindness
ix.,, ,,,ttb dread foreboding the danger into
.rhicb his newly achieved czarship might
lead him.
For three days and three nights they
.1a,aiped In the neghborhood OF the dead
r.oose ready to defend II against others
snd vet each day and each night growing
isss vIsllant in their guard. Then came
,ha fourth night, on which they killed
roung doe. Kazan led in that chase and
a. the first time, In the excitement of
havina the pack at his back. he left his
hii,d mate behind When they came to
he kill he was the first to leap at its
.nft tt-oat And not until he had begun
,o tear al the does flesh did the others
send them back with a snarl. At the
yleam of his fangs they crouched quiv-
srInr on their bellies in the snow.
Kazan's blood was fomented with brute
,yuItation. and the excitement and fas-
c;nation that came i'm the possession OF
now power took the place of Gray Wolf
each day little more. She came In
half an hour after the kill, and there
MAS no longer the lithesome alertness to
rlndnCgg I'm the tilt
N her cars or the poise of her head. She
Ala not cat much of the doe. Her blind
face was turned always in kazan's direc-
linn Wherever he moved she followed
him with her unseeing eyes, as IL eX-
Meeting each moment his old signal to
her-that low throat-note that had called
10 her so often when they were alone
in the wilderness.
In Kazan, as leader OF the pack. there
was working n curious change. II his
mates had been wolves 1t would not
have been difficult for Gray Wolf to have
Iured him away. But kazan was among
his own kind He was dog. And they
we're dogs Fires that had burned down
and ceased to warm him famed UP i'm
him anew. In his life with Gray Wolf
one thing had oppressed him as 1t could
not oppress her, and that thing was
loneliness Nature had created him OF
that kind which requires companionship-
not of one but of many. 1t had given
him birth that he might listen to and
obey the commands of the voice of man.
He had grown to hate men, but of the
dogs--hls kind-he was a part. He had
been happy with Gray Wolf, happier
than he had ever been In the companion
ship of men and his blood-brothers. But
he had been a long time separated from
the life that had once been his and the
call of blood made him for time forget.
And only Gray Wolf, with that wonder
ful supernstinct which nature was CIV
ing her In place of her lost sight, foresaw
the end TO which 1t was leading him.
Each day the temperature continued
TO rise until when the sun was warmest
the snow began to thaw little. This
was two weeks after tho fight near the
bull Gradually the pack had swung east
ward, until II was now 80 miles east and
% miles south of the old home under the
windfall. More than ever Gray Wolf
began to long for their, old nest under
the fallen trees. Again with those first
promises of spring In sunshine and air,
thers was coming also for the second
time in her life the promise of approach
Ing motherhood.
But her efforts to draw Kazan back
were unavailing. and In spite of her pro-
test he wandered each day a little farther
east and south at the head OF his pack.
Gray Wolf was haunted by constant
fear.
) Slowly and surely the lure OF man drew
him nearer to the post-a Q lille tonight.
two miles tomorrow. but always nearer.
And Gray Wolf. fighting her losing fight
10 the end, sensed in the danger-filled air
the nearness of that hour when he would
respond to the final call and she would be
left alone.
These were days of activity and excite
. ment at the fur company's post, tile days
of accounting, of profit and of pleasure: !:
the days when the wilderness poured in
its treasure o' fur. to be sent n little later
10 London and Paris and the capitals of
Europe. And this year there was more
than the usual interest in the foregath-
ering OF the ,orest people.
The plague had wrought its terrible
havoc. and not until the fur-hunters had
come to answer TO the spring rollcall
would II bT known accurately who had
lived and wRo had died.
The Chippewans and half-breeds from
the South began TO arrive first, with their
teams of mongrel ours, picked UP along
the borders OF civilization. Close after
them came the hunters from the west
ern barren lands. bring with them loads
OF white fox and caribou skins. and an
army OF blg-footed, long-legged Mac
kenzio hounds that pulled like horses
and walled like whipped puppies when
the huslSies and Eskimo dogs set upon
them. Packs OF fierce Labrador dogs,
never vanquished except by death. came
from close TO Audson's Bay. Team after
team Of Etle yellow and gray Eskimo
dogs, as quick with their fangs as were
their blsck and sWift-running masters
with their hands and feet, met the much
larger and dark-colored Malemutes from
the Athabasca- Enemies of all these
packs OF fierce huskies trailed In from
ah sides. fighting. swapping and snarl-
Ing with the lust of killing deep born in
mem from their wolf progenitors.
There was no cessation in the battle
OF the fangs. 1t began with the first
brute arrivals, 1t continued from dawn
through the day and around the camp
hrea at night. There was never an end
70 The strife between the dogs. and be-
tween the men and the dogs. The snow
vas trailed and stained with blood and
he scent OF IL added greater fierceneRs
10 the wolf-breeds.
half dozen battles were fought 10
me death each day and night. Those
mat died were chiefly the south-bred
sars-mixtures of mastif, Great Dane.
shd sheep-dog-and the fatally slow
1ackenzie hounds. About the post rose
ne smoke OF a hundred camp-fires. and
soent these fires gathered the women
ana the children OF the hunters. When
me snow was no longer fit for sledging.
ailiains, the factor, noted that there
~eIs many who had not come. and the
1ecounts of these he later scratched out
VI his le0Rara Enourfnn that fhay Uara