Gilpin observer., 1918-02-21
CHAPTER xii-continued.

CHAPTER xii-continued.
~
One day he found little baby moe
-casin under one of the closed win
dows. 1t was old, and worn out, and
blackened by snow and rain, but he
lay down beside it, and remained there
for long time, while the baby joan
a thousand miles away-was playing
with the strange toys of civilization.
Then he returned to Gray Wolf among
the spruce and balsam.
The cabin was the one place to
which Gray Wolf would not follow
him. At all other times she was at his
side. Now that she had become &C.
customed to blindness, she even ac-
companied him on his hunts, until he
struck game, and began the chase.
Then she would wait for him. Kazan
usually hunted the big snow-shoe rab
bits. But one night he ran down and
killed a young doe. The kill was too
heavy to drag to Gray Wolf, SO he re-
turned to where she was waiting for
him and guided her to the feast. In
many ways they became more and
heightened, until at last, through all
the wilderness. their footprints were
always two by two and never one by
one.
Then came the great fire.
Gray Wolf caught the scent of it
when 1t was still two days to the west.
The moon, drifting into the west, be-
came blood red. When 1t dropped be-
hind the wilderness in this manner.
the Indians called 1t the bleeding moon,
and the air was filled with omens.
All the next day Gray Wolf was
nervous, and toward noon Kazan
caught in the air the warning that she
had sensed many hours ahead Of him.
Steadily the scent grew stronger, and
by the middle of the afternoon the sun
was yelled by a film Of smoke.
The flight Of the wild things from the
triangle Of forest between the juno
lions Of the Pipestone and Cree rivers
would have begun then but the wind
shifted. 1t was fatal shift. The fire
was raging from the west and south.
Then the wind swept straight east
ward, carrying the smoke with 1t, and
during this breathing spell all the wild
creatures in the triangle between the
two rivers waited. This gave the fire
dine to sweep completely across the
base Of the forest triangle, cutting of
The last trails Of escape.
Then the wind shifted again, and the
Ere swept north The head of the tri-
angle became death-trap. All through
the night the southern sky was filled
with q lurid glow. and by morning the
heat and smoke and ash were suffocat-
Ing.
Panic-stricken, KaZan searched vain
u for a means Of escape. Not for an
fnstent did he leave Gray Wolf. 1t
would have been easy for him to swim
across either of the two streams, for
he was three-quarters dog. But &c the
Arst touch Of water on her paws, Gray
Wolf drew back, shrinking. Like all
her breed. she would face fire and
death before water. Kazan urged. A
dozen times he leaped in, and swan
out into the stream. But Gray Wolf
would come no farther than she could
wade.
They could hear the distant murmur-
Ing roar Of the fire now. Ahead of 1t
came the wild things. Moose, caribou
and deer plunged into the water Of the
streams and swan to the safety Of the
opposite side. Out upon white finger
of sand numbered big black bear with
two cubs, and even the cubs took to
tho water. and swan across easily. Ka-
nan watched them, and whined to Gray
Wolf.
And then out upon that white finger
At sand came other things that dreaded
the water as Gray Wolf dreaded 1t: a
big fat porcupine, sleek little marten
. fisher-cat that shifted the air and
wailed like child. Those things that
could not or would not swim outnum.
hered the others three to one. Hun.
dreds Of little ermine scurried along
me shore like rats, their squeaking lit.
tie voices sounding necessarily; foxes
ran swiftly along the banks, seeking
= tree or windfall that might bridge
the water for them; the lynx snarled
and faced the FIRE; and Gray Wolra
own tribe-the wolves-dared take nc
deeper step thai she.
Dripping and painting, and hall
choksd BY heat and smoke. Kazan came
10 Gray VOLTS side. There was but
0ne refuge left near them, and thai
vas the sand bar. Il reached out fol
ofty feet into the stream. Quickly h
~ his blind mate toward 1t. Al they
sUDe thnsugh ~ low brush to thu
1ssr.ssu. sanstkiAg stopped thsa