Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1917-06-21

30 kaEanB life seemed now 10 DO
made up chiefly OF three things: his
hatred OF everything that bore the
scent or mark OF the lynx. his grieving
for Joan and the baby, and Gray Wolf.
Il was natural that the strongest pas
sion In him should be his hatred OF the
lynx, for not only Gray VOLTS blind
ness and the death OF the pups, but
even the loss OF the woman and the
baby he laid TO that fatal struggle on
the Sun Rock. From that hour he be-
came the deadliest enemy OF the lynx
tribe. Wherever he struck the scent
Of the big gray cat he was turned into
q snarllng demon, and his hatred grew
day by day, as he became more com
pletely a part Of the Wild.
He found that Gray Wolf was more
necessary TO him now than she had
ever been since the day she had left
the wolf-pack for him. He was three
quarters dog, and the depart Of him
demanded companionship. There was
only Gray Wolf to give him that now.
They were alone. Civilization was four
hundred miles south OF them. The
nearest Hudson's Bay post was sixty
miles TO the west. Often, In the days
OF the woman and the baby, Gray Wolf
had spent her nights alone out In the
forest. waiting and calling for Kazan.
Now II was Kazan who was lonely and
uneasy when he was away from her
side.
In her blindness Gray Wolf could
no longer hunt with her mate. But
gradually a new code Of understanding
grew up between them, and through
her blindness they learned many
things that they had not known be-
fore. BY early summer Gray Wolf
could travel with Kazan, II he did not
move too swiftly. She ran at his flank,
with her shoulder OF muzzle touching
him, and KaZan learned not TO leap,
but to trot. Very quickly he found that
he must choose the easiest trails for
Gray VOLTS feet. When they came to
u space to be bridged by leap. he
would muzzle Gray Wolf and whine,
and she would stand with ears alert
listening. Then Kazan would take the
leap, and she understood the distance
she had to cover. She always over
leaped, which was q good fault.
In another way, and one that was
destined TO serve them many times in
the furure, she became of greater help
than ever to Kazan. Scent and hear
Ing entirely took the place Of sight.
Each day developed these senses more
and more, and at the same time there
developed between them the dumb Ian
guage whereby she could impress upon
Kazan what she had discovered by
scent or sound. 1t became curious
habit Of Kazan's always to look at
Gray Wolf when they stopped to listen,
or to scent the air.
After the fight on the Sun Rock, Ka-
zan had taken his blind mate to a thick
clump Of spruce and balsam In the
river bottom, where they remained I'M
I'll early summer. Every day for weeks
Kaxan went to the cabin where Joan
and the baby-and the man-had been.
For a long time he went hopefully,
looking each day or night TO see some
sign Of life there. But the door was
never open. The boards and saplings
ut the windows always remained.
Never spiral Of smoke rose from the
clay chimney. Grass and vines be-
gan to grow in the path. And fainter
and fainter grew that scent which IA
zan could still find about 1.-THE scent
Of man, of the woman, the baby.
One day he found q little baby moe
casln under one Of the closed win
dows. 1t was old, and worn out, and
blackened by snow and rain, but he
lay down beside 1t, and remained there
for long time, while the baby joan
thousand miles away-was playing
with the strange toys Of civilization.
Then he returned to Gray Wolf among
the spruce and balsam.
The cabin was the one place to
which Gray Wolf would not follow
him. At all other times she was at his
side. Now that she had become &C.
customed to blindness, she even &C.
companied him on his hunts, until he
struck game, and began the chase.
Then she would wait for him. Kazan
usually hunted the big snow-shoe rab-
bits. But one night he ran down and
killed a young doe. The kill was too
heavy to drag to Gray Wolf, so he re-
turned to where she was waiting for
him and guided her to the feast. In
many ways they became more and
more inseparable as the summer
heightened, until at last, through all
the wilderness, their footprints were
always two by two and never one by
one.
Then came the great fire.
Gray Wolf caught the scent of 1t
when 1t was still two days to the west.
The moon, drifting into the west, be-
came blood red. When 1t dropped be-
hind the wilderness in this manner,
the Indians called it the bleeding moon,
and the air was filed with Omens.
All the next day Gray Wolf was
nervous, and toward noon Kazan
caught in the air the warning that she
had sensed many hours ahead of him.
Steadily the scent grew stronger, and