The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1917-08-02

man WAS taklnS up tnelr TRAIL. Tic
stopped where Gray Wolf had fallen,
and examined the snow. Then he came
on.
kazan urged Gray Wolf to her feet,
and they made for the thick swamp
close 10 the lake. All that day they
kept in the face of the wind. and when
Gray Wolf lay down Kazan stole back
over their trail, watching and smiling
the air.
For days after that Gray Wolf ran
lame, and when once they came upon
the remain OF al old camp, kaZan's
teeth were barred in snarling hatred of
the man-scent that had been left be
hind. Growing in him there was a de-
sire for NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. for his
own hurts, and for Gray VOLTS. He
tried to nose out the man-trail under
the cover of fresh snow, and Gray Wolf
circled around him anxiously. AT last
he followed her sullenly. There was u
savage redness In his eyes.
Three days later the new moon came.
And on the fifth night Kazan struck a
trail. 1t was fresh-so fresh that he
stopped as suddenly as though struck
by Il bullet when he ran upon 1t, and
stood with every muscle in his body
Quiyering, and his hair on end. 1t was
a mau-trail. There were the marks of
the sledge, the dogs feet, and the snow
shoe prints of his enemy.
Then he threw up his head to the
stars and from his throat there rolled
out over the wide plains the hunt-cry
tine wild and savage call for the
pack. Never had he put the savagery
IN II that was there tonight. Again
and again he sent forth that call, and
then there came an answer and IN
other and still another. until Gray Wolf
herself sat back on her launches and
added her voice to KaZan'S, and far out
on the plain a white and haggard-faced
man halted his exhausted dogs to lis
ten, while a voice said family from the
sledge:
THE wolves, father. Are they com
ing-after u.s."
The man was silent. He was not
young. The moor shone in his long
white beard, and added grotesquely to
the height of his tall gaunt figure. A
girl had raised her head from a bear
skin pillow on the sleigh. Her dark
eyes were filled beautifully with the
starlight. She was pale. Her hair fell
In a thick shining braid over her shout
der, and she was hugging something
tightly to her breast.
They're on the trail of something
probably a deer" said the man, looking
ut the breech of his rifle. Don't worry.
Wen stop at the next bit of scrub
and see if we can't find enough dry
stuff for a fire. Wee-ah-h-h-h, boys!
KOosh-koosh-" and he snapped his
whip over the backs of his team.
From the bundle ut the girls breast
there came "A small wailing cry. And
far back in the plain there answered it
the scattered voice of the pack.
AT last rKazan was on the trail of
He ran slowly at first, with
Gray Wolf close beside him, pauSing
every three or four hundred yards to
send forth the cry. A gray leaping form
Joined them from behind. Another
followed. Two came in from the side,
and Kazan's solitary howl gave place
10 the wild tongue of the pack. Num-
Ders grew, and with increasing number
he pace became swifter. Four-six-
seven-ten-fourteen, by the time the
more open and wind-swept part of the
plain was reached.
1t was a strong pack, filled with old
and fearless hunters. Gray Wolf was
he youngest, and she kept close to Ka-
shoulders. She could see nothing
If his red-shot eyes and dripping jaws,
and would not have understood if she
lad seen. But she could feel and she
was thrilled by the spirit of that
and mysterious savagery that
lad made Kazan forget all things but
lurt and death.
The pack made 40 sound. There
vas only the painting Of breath and the
soft fall of many feet. They ran swift
y oiAh iooN. Ehiih AWAY "uS u
cap ahead. with Gray Wolf nosing his
shoulder. When at last he saw a NOV
ng blotch far out on the plain ahead Of
aim, the cry that came out Of his
hroat was one hat Gray Wolf did not
understand.
Three hundred yards beyond that
moving blotch was the thin line of tim
yer, and Kazan and his followers bore
swiftly. Halfway to the timber
hey were almost upon 1t, and suddenly
t stopped and became a black and mo-
ionless shadow on the snow. From out
# it there leaped that lightning tongue
# flame that Kazan had always dread
ID, and he heard the kissing song of
he death-bee owe his head. He did
lot mind 1t now. He yelped sharply,
md the wolves raced In until four Of
hem were neck-and-neck with him.
A second flash-and the death-bee
from breast to tail Of a huge
ray fighter close to Gray Wolf. A
hird-a fourth-a fifth squirt of that
ire from the black shadow, and Kazan