Cheyenne record., 1918-03-21

night. Then she made herself q neg
under . banskian shrub. and waitet
until dawn.
Just how she knew when night blot
ted out the last glow Of the sun. 80
without seeing she know when day
came. Not until she felt the warmth
of the sun on her back did her anxiety
overcome her caution. Slowly she
moved toward the river, smiling 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 1t 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 McTrigger.
She sniffed the trail of his body to
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. It was covered with blood
and hair, and all at once Gray Wolf
Ior hno oIy hnr hon fp1r oH
her blind face to the sky, and there
rose from her throat cry for Kazan
that drifted for miles on the wings
of the south wind. Never had Gray
Wolf given quite that cry before. 1t
was not the "call" that comes with
the moonlit nights, and neither was
it the hunt-cry, nor the she-wolf'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
ence. She heard the clucking sound
of a spruce hen In the bush few
yards away, and now that sound came
to her as If 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
shivered as If stricken by intense cold.
She was terrified by the darkness that
shut out the world from her, and she
paved at her closed eyes, as if she
might open them to light.
Early in the afternoon she wandered
back on the plain. It was different.
1t 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 still there. And when the
moon and the stars came out she
crawled back into the pit In the white
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 chaos Of slumbering
storm. But she could smell the pres
ence Of 1t 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
rumbling Of thunder grew louder, and
she huddled herself again under the
tree. For hours the storm crashed
over her, and the rain fell in deluge.
When 1t had finished she skunk out
from her shelter like 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 reddened 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 ground-mouse that she cor
neret under a root, and dug out with
her paws, escaped her fangs.
Thirty-six hours before this Kazan
and Gray Wolf had left half Of their
last kill q mile or two farther back
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 It. In her was
developed to its finest point that sixth
sense of the animal kingdom, the sense