Gilpin observer., 1918-04-04
CHAPTER XIX.
An Empty World.

Mile after mile Kazan went on. For
. time he was oppressed by the shiv-
ering note Of death that had come to
him in Sandy McTrigger's cry, and
he slipped through the banskians like
. shadow, his ears fiattened. his tail
trailing, his hindQuarters betraying
that curious Sinking quality of the
wolf and dog stealing away from dam
ger. Then he came out upon plain,
and the stiffness, the billion stars in
the clear vault Of the sky, and the
keen air that carried with it breath
Of the Arctic barrens made him alert
and questioning. He faced the dlrec-
ton Of the wind. Somewhere OF there,
far to the south and west, was Gray
Wolf.
For the first time in many weeks
he sat back on his launches and gave
the deep and vibrant call that echoed
weirdly for miles about him. Back in
the banskians the big Dane heard 1t,
and whined. From over the still body
of Sandy McTrigger the little profes-
Dor looked up with a white tense face,
and listened for second cry. But
instinct told Kazan that to that first
call there would be no answer, and
now he struck out swiftly. galloping
mile after mile. as n dog follows the
trail Of Its master home. He did
not turn back to the lake, nor was his
direction toward Red Gold City. As
straight as he might have followed a
road blazed by the hand of man he
cut across the forty miles of plain and
swamp and forest and rocky ridge
that lay between him and the McFar-
lane. All that night he did not call
again for Gray Wolf. With him rea-
soning was process brought about
by hablt--by precedent-and as Gray
Wolf had waited for him many times
before he knew that she would be
waiting for him now near the sand
bar.
BY dawn he had reached the river,
within three miles of the sand-bar.
Scarcely was the sun up when he stood
on the white strip of sand where he
and Gray Wolf had come down to
drink. Expectantly and confidently he
looked about him for Gray Wolf, whin-
Ing softly. and wagging his tail. He
began to search for her scent, but
rains had washed even her footprints
from the clean sand. All that day he
searched for her along the river and
out on the plain. He went to where
they had killed their last rabbit. He
smiled ut the bushes where the poison
baits had hung. Again and again he
ha,
out his mating cry to her. And slow
iy. as he did these things, nature was
working In him that miracle of the
wild which the Crees have named the
spirit call" As II had worked I'm
Gray Wolf, SO now 1t stirred the blood
of Kazan.
With the going Of the sun, and the
sweeping about him OF shadowy night
he turned more and more to the south
nnd east. His whole world was made
up OF the trails over which he had
hunted. Beyond those places he did
not know that there was such a thing
as existence. And In that world, small
In his understanding of things, was
Gray Wolf. He could not miss her.
That world, in his comprehension of
1t, ran from the McFarlane In q mar
row trail through the forests and over
the plnins to the little valley. II Gray
Wolf was not here-she was there,
and trelessly he resumed his quest Of
ner.
Not until the stars were fading out
Of the sky again. and gray dny was
Ewing place to night, did exhaustion
and hunger stop him. He killed rab-