Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1918-03-15

AArN In the afternoon she wandered
back % the plain. 1t was different.
1t fr4ghtessd her, and soon she 70
turned to the beach. and snuggled
down under the tree where Kaxan had
lain. She was not 80 frightened here.
Tia smell Of kaxan was strong about
be-. FOr an hour she lay mOtionless,
VITA her head resting on the club clot-
Ted with bis hair and blood. Night
Sound her still there. And when the
NOON and the stars came out she
e1w1ed back into the pit In the white
sand that Kaxan's body had made un-
'aer the tree.
With dawn she went down to the
edge Of the stream to drink. She
could not see that the day was almost
rs dark ss night, and that the gray
black sky was u chaos Of sluunberinR
storm. But she could smell the pres
ence of II 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
rumbiing of thunder grew louder, and
abe huddIed herself again under the
tree. For hours the storm crashed
over her, and the rain fell in deluge.
When II had finished she skunk out
from her shelter like q thing beaten.
vainly she sought for one Last scent
of Kazan. The club was washed clean
Again the sand was white where
Kaxan's blood had Redeemed 1t. Even
under the tree there was no sign of
him left
Until now only the terror Of being
alone in the pit of darkness that en-
velOped her had oppressed Gray Wolf.
With afternoon came hunger. 1t was
this hunger that drew her from the
sand-bar, and she wandered back into
the plain A dozen times she scented
game, and each time 1t evaded her.
Even a Rround-mOuse that she cor
nered under a root, and dug out with
her paws, escaped her fangs.
Thirty-six hours before this Kazan
and Gray Wolf had left a half Of their
aast kill q mile or two farther hack
on the plain. The kill was one Of the
big barren rabbits, and Gray Wolf
turned in Its direction. She did not
require sight TO find 1t. In her was
developed to Its finest point that sixth
sense Of the animal kingdom, the sense
Of Orientation, and as straight as q
pigeon might have winged its flight
she cut through the bush to the spot
where they had cached the rabbit.
A white fox had been there ahead Of
her, and she found only scattered bits
OF hair and fur. What the fox had
left the moose birds and bush jays
had carried away. Hungrily Gray Wolf
turned back to the river.
That night she slept again where
Kazan had lain, and three times she
called for him without answer. A
heavy dew fell, and it drenched the
last vestige Of her mates scent out
OF the sand. But still through the
day that followed, and the day that
followed that, blind Gray Wolf chung
to the narrow rim of white sand. On
the fourth day her hunger reached q
point where she gnawed the bark from
willow bushes. 1t was on this day
that she made a discovery. She was
drinking, when her sensitive nose
touched something In the waters edge
that was smooth, and bore faint odor
Of flesh 1t was one Of the big north.
ern river CLAIMS. She paved it ashore
shifting at the hard shell. Then she
crunched 1t between her teeth. She
had never tasted sweeter meat than
that which she found inside, and she
began hunting for other clans. She
found many of them. and ate until she
was NO longer hungry. For three days
more she remained ON the bar.
And then, one night, the call came
to her. 1t set her Quivering with
strange new excitement-somethi
that may have been u new hope, and
In the moonlight she trotted nervously
up and down the shining strip of sand,
facing now the north, and now the
south, and then the east and the west
her head flung up. listening, as IL in
the soft wind Of the night she was
trying to locate the whispering lure
Of wonderful voice. And whatever
It was that came to her came from
out Of the south and east. or there
ACROSS the barren, far beyond the
outer edge Of the northern timber line
was home. And OF there, In her
brute way. she reasoned that she must
6nd kazan.
The call did not come from their
old windfall home In the swamp. Ii
came from beyond that, and In fash
Ing vision there rose through her blind
ness picture Of the towering Sun
Rock. of the winding trail that led
to II. and the cabin ON the plain. II
was there that blindness had come to
her. IT was there that day had ended,
and eternal night had begun. And
1t was there that she had mothere6
her trst-bOrn. Nature had registered
these things so that they could never
be wiped out Of her memory, and when
the cal came it was from the sunlit
world where she had last known light
and life and had last seen the moon
n nd tho In, th.> hI,,., ,.;..l.