Gilpin observer. (Central City, Colo.) 1897-1921, 1918-02-28

friends with Kasan. But she would
not eat. Weyman noted that, and each
day he tempted her with the choicest
morsels Of deer and moose fat. Five
days--ax-seven passed, and she had
not taken mouthful. Weyman could
court her ribs.
"she die" Henri told him on the
seveath night. "She starve before she
eat In that cage. She want the forest,
the wild kill. the fresh blood. She
two-t'ree year old-too old to make
civilize."
Henri went to bed at the usual hour,
but Weyman was troubled, and sat up
late. Midnight came.
He rose. opened the door softly, and
went out. Instinctively his eyes turned
westward. The sky was a blaze of
stars. In their light he could see the
cage, and he stood, watching and lis
tening. A sound came to him. It was
Gray Wolf gnawing at the sapling bars
of her prison. A moment later there
came low sobbing whine, and he
knew that 1t was Kazan crying for his
freedom.
Leaning against the side of the cabin
was an az. Weyman seized It, and his
lips smiled silently. He moved to.
ward the cage. A dozen blows, and
two of the sapling bars were knocked
out. Then Weyman drew back. Gray
Wolf found the opening first, and she
slipped out into the starlight like a
shadow. But she did not fee. Out
in the open space she waited for
Kazan. and for a moment the two
stood there. looking at the cabin. Then
they set of into freedom, Gray VOLTS
shoulder at Kazan's flank.
In the swamp Kazan and Gray Wolf
found home under a windfall. It
was small, comfortable nest, shut in
entirely from the snow and wind. Gray
Wolf took possession Of it Immediately.
She f1attened herself out ON her belly,
and painted to show Kazan her con-
tentment and satisfaction. Kazan kept
close at her side. A vision came to
him, unreal and dreamlike, of that
wonderful night under the stars-ages
and ages ago, it seemed-when he had
fought the leader Of the wolf-pack, and
young Gray Wolf had crept to his side
after his victory and had given her
self to him for mate.
The hair had now begun to grow
over Gray VOLTS sightless eyes. She
had ceased to grieve. to rub her eyes
with her paws, to whine for the sum
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 q 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
and hearing-became
more and more developed in her, those
same senses became less active in Ka-
Fan.
He began to depend upon Gray Wolf.
She would point out the hiding place
Of a partridge fifty yards from their
trail. In their hunts she became the
game was found. And
40 AAdAuA icuIucu " IuSt " ueT III Iu0
hunt, SO he began just as instinctively
to heed her warnings. II Gray Wolf
reasoned, 1t was to the effect that
without Kazan she would die. She had
tried hard now and then to catch .
partridge or a rabbit, but she had all
ways failed. Kazan meant life to her,
And-if she reasoned-it was to make
herself Indispensable to her mate.
It was her habit. spring, summer
and winter, to snuggle close to Kazan
and lie with her beautiful head resting
on his neck or back. If Kazan snarled
Mt her she did not snap back, but skunk
down as though struck blow. With
her warm tongue she would lick the
long hair between Knzan's toes. For
days after he had run silver in his
paw she nursed his foot. Blindness
had made Kazan absolutely necessary
to her existence-and now, in 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.