The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1917-09-13


Dripping and painting. and half
choked by heat and smoke, Kazan came
to Gray VOLTS side. There was but
n refuge left near them. and that
was the sane bar. 1t reached out for
fifty feet into the stream. Quickly he
led his blind mate toward 1t. AS they
came through the low brush to the
river-bed, something stopped them
both. To their noStrils had come the
scent Of a deadlier enemy than fire. A
lynx had taken possession OF the sand
bar, and was crouching at the end Of
1t. Three porcupines had dragged
themselves into the edge Of the water,
and lay there like balls, their quilts
alert and -quivering. A fisher-cat was
snarling at the lynx. And the lynx.
with ears laid back, watched Kazan
and Gray Wolf as they began the inva-
sion Of the sand bar.
Faithful Gray Wolf was full Of fight,
and she sprang shoulder to shoulder
with Kazan, her fangs barred. With ar
angry snap, Kazan drove her back, and
she stood Quivering and whining while
he advanced. L~ight-footed, his pointed
ears forward, no menace or threat In
his attitude, he advanced. 1t was the
deadly advance OF the husky trained in
battle, skilled in the art of killing. A
man from civilization would have said
that the dog was approaching the lynx
with friendly intentions. But the lynx
understood. 1t was the old feud of
many generatiCns-made deadlier now
by KaZan's memory Of that night at the
top Of the Sun Rock.
Instinct told the fisher-cat what was
coming, and It crouched low and fiat
the porcupines, scolding like little chill
dren at the presence Of enemies and
the thickening clouds Of smoke. thrust
their quilts still more erect. The lynx
lay on its belly. like a cat, its hind
quarters twitching, and gathered for
the spring. Kazsn's feet seemed scarce
ly TO touch the sand as he circled light
~ around it. The lynx pivoted as he
circled, and then it shot in a round
snarling ball over the eight feet of
space that separated them.
KaZan did not leap aside. He made
NJ effort to escape the attack, but met
it fairly with the full force of his Shout
ders, as sledge-dog meets sledge-dog.
He was ten pounds heavier than the
lynx, and for a moment the big loose
jointed cat with its twenty knifelike
claws was thrown on its side. Like a
flash kazan took advantage of the mo-
,,n,t n,1 J,O..n fA, ~ lnaIr 80 tha
cats neck.
In that same moment blind Gray
Wolf leaped in with a snarling cry, and
fighting under Kazan's belly, she fas-
tened her jaws In one of the cats hind
legs. The bone snapped. The lynx,
twice outwcighed, leaped backward,
dragging both KaZan and Gray Wolf.
1t fell back down on one OF the porcu-
pines, and a hundred quilts drove into
It's body. Another leap and IT was free
fleeing into the face of the smoke.
KaZan did not pursue. Gray Wolf
came to his side and licked his neck.
where fresh blood was crimSoning his
tawny hide. The nSher-cat lay as #
dead, watching them with fierce little
black eyes. The %porcupines continued
to chatter, as If begging for mercy.
And then n thick black ~suffocating pail
Of smoke drove low over the sand bar
and with II came air that was furnace
hot.
At the uttermost end Of the sand bar
Kazan and Gray Wolf rolled them
selves into balls and thrust their heads
under their bodies. The fire was very
near now. The roar of it was like that
Of a great cataract, with now and then
q louder crash Of falling trees. The
air was filled with ash and burning
sparks, and twice Kazan drew forth his
head to snap at blazing embers that
fell upon and scared him like hot
irons.
Close along the edge Of the stream
grew thick green bush, and when the
fire reached this, it burned more SLOW
ly, and the heat grew less. Still, 1t was
a long time before Kazan and Gray
Wolf could draw forth their heads and
breathe more freely. Then they found
that the finger Of sand reaching out In
to the river had saved them. Every
where In that triangle between the two
rivers the world had turned black, and
was hot underfoot.
The smoke cleared away. The wind
changed again, and swung down cool
and fresh from the west and north. The
fsher-cat was the first to move eau
~tiously back to the forests that had
been. but the porcupines were still
rolled into balls when Gray Wolf and
Kazan left the sand bar. They began
to travel upstream, and before night
came, their feet were sore from hot
ash and burning embers.
The moon was strange and forebod-
ing that night, like a spatter of blood
in the sky, and through the long silent
hours there was not even the boot OF
an owl to give a sign that life still ex-
listed where yesterday had been a para
disc Of wild things. Kazan knew that
there was nothing to hunt, and they
continued to travel all that night. With
$780, 49, .WHr mn