Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1918-03-01

had ceased to grieve, to rub her eyes
with her paws, to whine for the sun
light the golden moon and the stars.
SLOWLY she began to forget that she
had ever seen those things. She could
not run more swiftly at Kazan's flank.
Scent and hearing had become won
derfully keen. She could wind a carl
bou two miles distant, and the pres
ence Of man she could pick up at an
even greater distance. On still night
she had heard the splash of trout
half mile away. And as these two
things--scent and hearing-became
more and more developed in her, those
same senses became less active In Ka-
zan.
He began to depend upon Gray Wolf.
She would point out the hiding place
Of partridge fifty yards from their
trail. IN their hunts she became the
leader-until game was found. And
as Kazan learned to trust to her in the
hunt, 80 be began just as instinctively
to heed her warnings. IF Gray Wolf
reasoned, It was to the effect that
without Kazan she would die. She had
tried hard now and then to catch a
partridge or rabbit, but she had al
ways failed. kazan meant life to her.
And--if she reasOned-t was to make
herself Indispensable to her mate.
1t was her habit, spring, summer
and winter, to snuggle close to Kazan
and lie with her beautiful head resting
on his neck or back. II Kazan snarled
at her she did not snap back, but skunk
down as though struck blow. With
her warm tongue she would lick the
long hair between Kazan's toes. For
days after he had run q silver In his
paw she nursed his foot. Blindness
had made Kazan absolutely necessary
to her existence-and now, in a differ
ent way, she became more and more
necessary to Kazan. They were happy
In their swamp home. There was
plenty Of small game about them.
Rarely did they go beyond the limits
Of the swamp to hunt.
One day they struck farther than
usual to the west. They left the swamp.
crossed plain over which a fire had
swept the preceding year. climbed a
ridge, and descended into a second
plain. At the bottom Gray Wolf
stopped and shifted the air. At these
times Kazan always watched her wait
Ing eagerly and nervously If the scent
was too faint for him to catch. But
today he caught the edge of it, and
he knew why Gray VOLTS ears fiat
tened. and her headquarters dropped.
The scent Of game would have made
her rigid and alert. But it was not the
game smell, 1t was human, and Gray
Wolf skunk behind Kazan and whined.
For several minutes they stood without
moving or making sound and then
kazan led the way on.
Less than three hundred yards away
they came to thick clump of scrub
spruce, and almost ran into a tepee.
It was abandoned. Life and fire had
not been there for long time. But
from the tepee had come the man-smell.
With legs rigid and his spine quivering,
kaxan approached the opening to the
tepee. He looked In. In the middle of
the tepee, lying on the charred embers
Of q fire, lay a ragged blanket--And in
the blanket was wrapped the body Of
a little Indian child. Kazan could see
the tiny mOccasined feet. But so long
had death been there that he could
scarcely smell the presence Of It. They
skunk away, their ears fiattened and
their tails dropping, and did not stop
until they reached their swamp home.
Even there Gray Wolf still shifted the
horror and her muscles twitched and
shivered as she lay close at Kazan's
side.