The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1917-08-09
CHAPTER VII.

on the Nise - lie cedar and spruce
forest N3 iNc--e HaG~oa buiit The
hre. re o> sc~4.as s0-m a dozen
wcu1t> s-y ,>t .a-S> - che wolves
hzt -ctc>g& g. a-3 ~ yclt IN
his S-yg> ga. --.. pam, az
wN..1 . @ $780, -t meaning hUt
hi-> =. ckes . ,os aver los.
piles t ,@ 1-~ 4-.. che flames
leapvd 20 " aettlrs OF
the E-c> sceys z-i Lsat-d . S4pp.>
cloSe s.. ha-3 tc- u>s .srs- IN the night.
Fr m the s.el- + -@ watched him,
still wild-eyed ANA fearful, san t-em.
bling Sh. was holding her baby close
10 her breast. Her long heavy hair
smothered her shoulders and arms in
n dark lustrous veil that g.iStenei and
rippled in the freight when she
moved. Her young ace was scarcely
a woman's tonight. though she was n
mother. She looked like a child.
Old Pierre laughed as he threw down
the last armful of fuel, and stood
breathing hard.
ut was close, ma cherie,' he painted
through his white beard. I'VE vert
nearer to death out there on the plain
than we will ever be again, | hope. But
we are comfortable now, and warm.
Eth? You are nc longer afraid
He sat down beside his daughter,
and gently pulled back the soft fur
that enveloped the bundle she held in
her arms. He could see one pink cheek
"A A.I., To-, M. n,oc ne Jann thn
mother, were like stars.
ut was the baby who saved us" she
whispered. 1.-THE dogs were being torn
to pieces by the wolves, and l saw them
leaping upon you, when one OF them
sprang to the sledge. At first thought
II was one OF the dogs. But II was a
wolf. He tore once at us, and the bear
skin saved us. He was almost at my
throat when baby cried, and then he
stood there, his red eyes a foot from
us, and / could have sworn that he was
a dog. In an instant he turned, and
was fighting the wolves. l saw him
leap upon one that was almost at your
throat"
"He was a dog" said old Pierre,
holding out his hands to the warmth.
'"They often wander away from the
posts, and join the wolves. / have had
dogs do that. Ma cherie, a dog Is a dog
all his life. Kicks, abuse, even the
wolves cannot change him-for long.
He was one Of the pack. He came with
them-to kill. But when he found
U.S."
"He fought for u.s." breathed the
girl. She gave him the bundle, and
stood up, straight and tall and slim in
the freight. "He fought for us-an
he was terribly hurt" she said. II saw
him drag himself away. Father, If he
is out there-dying-"
Pierre Radisson stood up. He
coughed In q shuddering way, trying to
stife the sound under his beard. The
iieck of crimson that came to his lips
with the cough Joan did not see.
She had seen nothing Of 1t during the
six days they had been travelling up
from the edge Of civilization. Because
Of that cough, and the strain that came
Will IL, Il ltIIt udu uldutu iOTt tlIdu Ut
binary haste.
IL have been thinking of that" he
said. "He was badly hurt. and l do
not think he wen far. Hers-take lit
tie Joan and sit close to the fire until 1
come back"
The moon and the stars were bril-
liant in the sky when he went out in
the plain. A short distance from the
edge of the timber line he stood for q
moment upon the spot where the
wolves had overtaken them an hour
before. Not one OF his four dogs had
lived. The snow was red with their
blood, and their bodies lay stiff where
they had fallen under the pack. Pierre
shuddered as he looked at them. IL
the wolves had not turned their first
mad attack upon the dogs, what would
have become of himself, Joan and the
babyf He turned away, with another
OF those hollow coughs that brought
the blood to his lips.
A few yards to one side he found in
the snow the trail of the strange dog
that had come with the wolves. and
had turned against them in that mo-
ment when all seemed lost. 1t was not
q clean running trail. 1t was more OF
q furrow in the snow, and Pierre Rad
isson followed 1t. expecting to find tn,
dog dead at the end of 1t.
In the sheltered spot to which he haC
dragged himself in the edge of the for
est KaZan lay for a long time afteI
the fight, alert and watchful. He fel
no very great pain. But he had los
the power to stand upon his legs. Hi
TANKS seemed p~aralyzed. Gray VOL
crouched close at his side, shifting tn
air. They could smell the camp, an
Kazan could detect the two things tina
were there-man and woman. He kne,
that the girl was there, where he coul
e the glow of the freight throug
the spruce and the cedars. He wante
to 70 to her. He wanted to drag hin
self close in to the fire, and take Ora
Wolf with him, and listen to her voice
and feel the touch of her hand. Blu