The Parma herald. (Parma, Idaho) 1903-1917, 1917-08-09

other hunters abroad besides himself
! Toward evening he came upon tracks
in the snow that were very much like
his own. They were quite fresh, and
there was a warm scent about them
that made him whine, and filed him
again with that desire to fall back up
on his launches and send forth the
wOlf-cry. This desire grew stronger
in him as the shadows Of night deep
ened IN the forest He had Travelled
all day, but he was not tired. There
was something about night, now that
there were no men near, that eXbilarat-
ed him strangely. The wolf blood in
him ran swifter and swifter. Tonight
1t was clear. The sky was filed with
stars. The moon rose. And at last
he settled back in the snow and turned
his head straight up to the spruce tops,
and the wolf came out of him in long
mournfu cry which quivered through
the still night for miles,
/ For long time he sat and listened
/ after that howl. He had found voice
voice with a strange new note in IL.
and it gave him stii greater confidence.
He had expected an answer, but none
came. He had Travelled in the face Of
the wind and as he hOwled. q bull
moose crashed through the scrub tim
Der ahead Of him, his horns rafting
against the trees like the tattoo Of
clear birch club as he put distance be-
rryeen hirge}f and rhar CRY
Twice Kazan hOwled before he went
on, and he found joy In the practice Of
that new note. He came then to the
foot Of rough ridge. and turned up
out Of the swamp 10 the top Of IT, The
stars and the moon were nearer TO him
there, and on the other side Of the
ridge he looked down upon a great
sweeping plain, with a frozen lake glis-
tening in the moonlight, and a white
river leading from it off into timber
that was neither 50 thick nor so black
as that in the swamp.
And then every muscle in his body
grew tense, and his blood Ieaped. From
far off in the plain there came a cry.
It was his cry-the wOlf-cry. His jaws
snapped. His white fangs cleaned,
and he growled deep in his throat. He
wanted to reply, but some strange in
stinct urged him not to. That instinct
Of the wild was already becoming mas
ter of him. In the air, in the whisper
ing Of the spruce tops, in the moon and {
the stars themselves, there breathed !
a spirit which told him that what he
had heard was the wolf-cry, but that it I
was not the wolf call.
The other came an hour later, clear /
and distinct, that same wailing howl at /
the beginning-but ending in a staccato /
of quick sharp yelps that stirred his :
blood at once into a fiery excitement /
that il had never known before. The .
same instinct told him that this was .
the call-the hunt-cry. It urged him TO I
come quickly. a few moments later il /
came again, and this time there was .
reply from close down along the foot .
Of the ridge, and another from so far .
away that Kazan could scarcely hear /
it. The hunt-pack was gathering for .
the night chase; but Kazan sat quiet .
and trembling.
He was not afraid. but he was not
ready to go. The ridge seemed to : y
the world for him. Down there it was
new. and strange. and without men.
From the other side something seemed /
pulling him back, and suddenly he
turned his head and gazed back
through the mOonlit space behind him,
and whined. 1t was the dog-whlne now.
The woman was back there. He could
hear her voice. He could feel the
touch of her soft hand. He could see .
the laughter in her face and eyes. the
that had made him warm and
happy. She was calling TO him through
the forests, and he was torn between I
desire to answer that call, and desire
to 90 down into the plain. For he
could also see many men waiting for
MIN with clubs. and he could hear the
tracking of whips. and feel the sting OF /
heir lashes. u
For a long time he remained on the
-op of the ridge that divided his world. /
And then, at last. he turned and went
Town into the plain.