Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1917-04-18

lear neSltatlOn no longer IN MIN,
and announced himself to his new COM
rades of the great plain.
The pack hunted again that night, or
else it vas a new pack that started
doe caribou to the big frozen lake. The
night was almost as clear as day, and
from the edge Of the forest Kazan first
saw the caribou run out on the lake a
third of a mile away. The pack was
about a dozen strong, and had already
ton, the two leaders running almost
abreast of the kill, and slowly closing
in.
With a sharp yelp Kazan darted out
into the moonlight. He was directly in
the path of the fleeing doe, and bore
down upon her with lightning speed.
Two hundred yards away the doe saw
him, and swerved to the right, and the
leader on that side met her with open
jaws. Kazan was in with the second
leader, and leaped at the does soft
throat. In a snarling mass the pack
closed in from behind, and the doe
went down, with Kazan half under her
body, his fangs sunk deep in her jugu-
lar. She lay heavily on him, but he did
not lose his hold. 1t was his first big
kill. His blood ran like fire. He
snarled between his clamped teeth.
Not until the last culver had left
the body over him did he pull himself
out from under her chest and forelegs.
He had killed a rabbit that day and
was not hungry. So he sat back in the
snow and waited, while the ravenous
pack tore at the dead doe. After a lit.
tie he came nearer, nOSed in between
two of them, and was nipped for his in
trusion.
AS kazan drew back, still h~esitating
to mix with his wild brothers, a big
gray form leaped out of the pack and
drove straight for his throat. He had
just time to throw his shoulder to the
attack, and for a moment the two
rolled over and over in the snow. They
were up before the excitement Of sud
den battle had drawn the pack from
the feast. Slowly they circled about
each other, their white fangs bare,
their yellowish backs bristling like
brushes. The fatal ring of wolves
drew about the fighters.
1t was not new to Kazan. A dozen
times he had sat in rings like this,
waiting for the final moment. More
than once he had fought for his life
within the circle. 1t was the sledge-
dog way of fighting. Unless man inter-
ruIted with a club or a whip it always
ended in death. Only n fighter could
come alive. Sometimes both died.
And there was no man here-Only that
fatal Gordon of waiting white-fanged
demons, ready to leap upon iad tear
to pieces the first of the fighters who
was thrown upon his side or back. ka-
Fan was a stranger, but he did not fear
those that hemmed him in. The n
great law of the pack would compel
them to be fair.
He kept his eyes only on the big gray
leader who had challenged him. Shout
der to shoulder they continued to
circle. Where a few moments before
there had been the swapping of jaws
and the rending of flesh there was now
silence. Soft-footed and soft-throated
mongrel dogs from the south would
have snarled and growled, but Kazan
and the wolf were still, their ears laid
forward instead of back, their tails
free and bushy.
Suddenly the wolf struck in with the
swiftness Of lightning, and his jaws
came together with the sharpness OF
steel striking steel. They missed by
an inch. In that same instant Kazan
darted in to the side, and like knives
his teeth gashed the VOLTS flank.
They circled again, their eyes grow
ing redder, their lips drawn back until
they seemed to have disappeared. And
then Kazan leaped for that death-grip
at the throat-and missed. It was
only by an inch again, and the wolf
came back, as he had done, and laid
open Kazan's flank so that the blood
ran down his leg and redeemed the
snow. The burn of that f1ank-wound
told Kazan that his enemy was old in
the game of fighting. He crouched
low, his head straight out, and his
throat close to the snow. 1t was a
trick KaZan had learned in puppyhood
to shield his throat, and wait.
Twice the wolf circled about him,
and Kazan pivoted slowly, his eyes half
closed. A second time the wolf leaped
and Kazan threw up his terrible jaws,
sure of that fatal grip just in front of
the forelegs. His teeth snapped on
empty air. With the nimbleness of a
cat the wolf had gone completely over
his back.
The trick had failed, and with a
rumble of the dog-snarl in his throat,
Kazan reached the wolf in a single
bound. They met breast to breast.
Their fangs FLASHED and with the whole
weight of his body, Kazan flung him
self against the VOLTS shoulders,
cleared his jaws, and struck again for
the throat hold. 1t was another miss
by a hairs breadth-and before he