Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1917-06-14
CHAPTER X.
The Great Change.


leys were taking on warmer glow.
The poplar buds were ready TO burst.
The scent OF balsam and OF spruce
grew heavier In the alr each day. ana
all through the wilderness, In plain and
forest, there was the ripping murmur
of the spring floods finding their way
/ To HudsOns hay. In that great bay
there was the rumble and crash Of the
ice fields laundering down In the early
breakup through the ROes Welcome
the doorway tn the Arctic. and for that
reason there still came with the April
wind an occasional sharp breath or
winter.
Kazan had sheltered himself against
that wind. Not breath Of mir stirred
In the sunny spot the w0lf-dog had
chosen for himself. He was more COM
Portable than he had been ut any time
during the six months OF terrible win
ter-and as he slept he dreamed.
Gray Wolf, his wild mate, lay near
him, fiat on her belly. her fOrepaws
reaching out, her eyes and nOstrils as
keen and alert as the smell Of man
could make them. For there was that
smell Of man. as well as Of balSam
and spruce, In the warm spring air.
She gazed anxlOusly and sometimes
steadily, ut Kazan us he slept. Her
own gray spine stlffened when she
saw the tawny hair along kaZan's
back bristle ut some dream vision.
She whlned softly IA his upper lip
snarled back. showing his long, white
fangs. But, for the most part, KaZan
lay quiet, save for the muscular
twitchings Of legs, shoulders and
muzzle, which always tell when dog
is dreaming; and as he dreamed there
came to the door of the cabin out on
the plain blue-eyed glrl-wOman. with
q big brown braid over her shoulder,
who called through the cup Of her
hands, "Kazan. Kazan. KaZan"
The voice reached family to the top
of the Sun rock, and Gray Wolf fiat
tened her ears. Kazan stirred, and IN
another instant he was awake and on
his feet. He leaped 10 an Outcropping
ledge, shifting the air and looking far
out over the plain that lay below them.
Over the plain the woman's voice
came to them again, and Kazan ran TO
the edge Of the rock and whlned. Gray
Wolf stepped softly to his side and
laid her muzzle on his shoulder. She
had grown to know what the Voice
meant. Day and night she feared ii.
more than she feared the scent or
sound Of man.
Since she had given up the pack and
her old life for Kazan, the Voice had
become Gray VOLTS greatest enemy,
and she hated 1t. 1t took Kazan from
her. And wherever it went, Kazan
followed.
Night after night 1t robbed her of
her mate, and left her to wander alone
under the stars and the moon, keeping
faithfully to her loneliness, and never
once responding with her own tongue
TO the bunt-calls of her wild brothers
and sisters In the forests and out on
the plains. Usually she would snarl at
the Voice. and sometimes nip KaZan
lightly 10 show her displcasure. But
today, as the Voice came third time,
she skunk back into the darkness OF a
assure between two rocks, and Kazan
saw only the fiery glow of her eyes.
KaZan ran nervOusly to the trail
their feet had worn up to the top Of
the Sun rock, and stood undecided. All
day, and yesterday, he had been I'M
easy and disturbed. Whatever 1t was
that stirred him seemed to he In the
air, for he could not see 1t or hear II
or scent 1t. But he could feel II. lie
went to the assure and shifted at Gray
Wolf. Usually she whlned coaXingly.
But her response today was to draw
back her lips until he could see her
white fangs.
A fourth time the Voice came to
them family, and she snapped fiercely
ut some unseen thing In the darkness
between the two rocks. Kazan went
again to the trail, still hesitating. Then
he began to go down. 1t was a mar
row, winding trail, worn only by the
pads and claws Of animals, for the Sun
rock was a huge crag that rose almost
sheer up for hundred feet above the
tops Of the spruce and balsam, Its bald
crest catching the first CLEANS Of te4
sun In the morning and the last glow
Of 1t in the evening. Gray Wolf had
first led Kazan to the security Of the
retreat at the top of the rock.
!. When he reached the bottom he no
longer hesltated, but darted swiftly In
the direction Of the cabin. Because
Of that instinct Of the wild that was
still In him, he always approached the
cabin with caution. He never gave
warning, and for a moment Joan was
startled when she looked up from her
baby and saw Kazan's shaggy head
and shoulders In the open door. The
baby struggled and kicked in her de-
light, and held out her two hands with
cooling cries to Kazan. Joan, too, held
put q hand.
'KaEanl" she cried softly. ''COme
%, Kazan!"
cloulv tha ,vIld rad lIghf IN KaEanin