Baxter Springs news., 1917-07-26

0f the sun on her back did her anxiety
overcome her caution. Slowly she
moved toward the ri,er, shifting the
air and whining. There was no longer
the smell Of smoke in the air, and she
could not catch the scent Of man.
She followed her own trail back to
the sand.bar, and In the fringe OF
thick bush overhanging the white
shore Of the stream she stopped and
listened. After little she scrambled
down and went straight to the spot
where she and KaZan were drinking
when the shot came. And there her
nose struck the sand still wet and
thick with Kazan's blood.
She knew It was the blood of her
mate, for the scent Of him was all
about her In the sand, mingled with
the man-smell of Sandy McTrlgger.
She sniffed the trail Of his body tC
the edge Of the stream, where Sandy
had dragged him to the canoe. She
found the fallen tree TO which he had
been tied. And then she came upon
one Of the two clubs that Sandy had
used to beat wounded Kazan into sub
missiveness. 1t was covered with blood
and hair, and all at once Gray Wolf
lay back on her launches and turned
her blind face to the sky, and there
rose from her throat q cry for Kazan
that drifted for miles on the wings
of the south wind. Never had Gray
Wolf given quite that cry before. II
was not the "call" that comes with
the moonllt nights, and neither was
1t the hunt-cry, nor the she-w0lf's
yearnIng for matehOod. 1t carried
with 1t the lament of death. And after
that one cry Gray Wolf skunk back to
the fringe of bush over the river, and
lay with her face turned to the stream.
A strange terror fell upon her. She
had grown accustomed to darkness,
but never before had she been alone
in that darkness. Always there had
been the guardianship Of Kazan's pres
enco. She heard the clucking sound
Of q spruce hen In the bush a few
yards away, and now that sound came
to her us II from out Of another world.
A grOund-mOuse rustled through the
grass close to her forepaws, and she
snapped at 1t, and closed her teeth
on a rock. The muscles Of her shoul-
ders twitched tremulously and she
shlyered as IL stricken by intense cold.
She was terrified by the darkness that
shut out the world from her, and she
paved ut her closed eyes, as II che
might open them to light.
Early in the afternoon she wandered
back on the plain. 1t was different.
II frightened her, and soon she re-
turned to the beach, and snuggled
down under the tree where Kazan had
lain. She was not so frightened here.
The smell Of Kazan was strong about
her. For an hour she lay motionless,
with her head resting on the club clot-
ted with his hair and blood. Night
found her stlll there. And when the
moon and the stars came out sne
crawled back into the pit in the white
sand that Kazan's body had made un-
der the tree.
With dawn she went down to the
edge Of the stream to drink. She
could not see that the day was almost
as dark as night, and that the gray
black sky was a chaos Of slumbertng
storm. But she could smell the pres
ence Of It In the thick air. and could
feel the fOrked flashes .of lightning
that rolled up with the dense pail
from the south and west The distant
rumbllng Of thunder grew louder, ana
she huddled herself again under the
tree. For hours the storm crashed
over her, and the rain fell In a deluge.
When It had finished she SUNK out
from her shelter like a thing beaten.
Vainly she sought for one last scent
Of Kazan. The club was washed clean.
Again the sand was white where
Kazan's blood had Redeemed Il. Even