Evening star., 1924-08-08

Beaver. 1t was evidently an affair
or moment. White Fang came in,
until he touched Gray. Beavers knee,
so curious was he. and already for
getful that this was a terrible man.
animal. Suddenly he saw strange
thing like mist beginning to arise
from the sticks and moss beneath
Gray Beavers hands. Then among
the sticks themselves appeared a live
thing, twisting and turning, of d color
like the color OF the sun in the sky
White Fang knew nothing about fire.
1t drew him as the light in the
mouth OF cave had drawn him in his
early puppyhood. He crawIed the
several steps toward the fame. He
heard Gray Beaver chuckle above him
and he knew the sound was not hos
tie Then his nose touched the fame
and at the same instant his little
tongue went out to it.
For moment he was paralyzed
Ine unknown lurking in the midst Of
tine sticks and moss was savageIy
clutching him by the nose. He
scrambled backward. bursting out in
an astonished explosion of ki-yis At
the sound kiche leaped snarling to
the end Of her stick. and there ragged
terribly because she could not come to
ms alo. But Gray Beaver laughed
loudly, and slapped his thighs, and told
camp. till everybody was laughing up
roariously. But White Fang sat on his
launches and ki-yi'd and ki-yi'd, a for
lorn and pitiable little figure in the
midst of the man-animals.
1t was the worst hurt he had ever
known. Both nose and tongue had been
scorched by the live thing, sun-colored.
that had grown up under Gray Beavers
hands He cried and cried interminably. "
and every fresh wall was greeted by"
bursts OF laughter the part of the
man.animals. He tried to soothe his
nose with his tongue, but the tongue was
burnt, too. and the two hurts coming
together produced greater hurt where
upon ne cried more hopelessly and help
lessly than ever.
And then shame came to him. He
knew laughter and the meaning of it,
1t is not given us to know how some
animals know laughter. and know when
they are being laughed at. but it was
And he felt shame that the man
animals should be laughing at him. He
turned and fled away, not from the hurt
or the fire, but from the laughter that
of him. And he fed to Kiche raging at
the end of her stick like an animal gone
mad-to kiche, the one creature in the
world who was not laughing at him.
Twilight drew down and night came
on. and White Fang lay by his mothers
side. His nose and tongue still hurt
but he was perplexed by a greater trou-
Bile. He was homesick. He felt va,
cancy in him, a need or the hush and
Quietude of the stream and the cave in
the Cliff Life had become too populous. 8,
There were so many of the man-animals
men, women and children all making"
noises and irritations. And there wersr
the dogs, ever squabbling and bickerine.5i
bursting into uproars and creating con-.
fusions. The restful loneliness Of the
only life he had known was gone. Here
the very air was palpitant with life II
hummed and buzzed increasingly. Con-
tinually changing it's intensity and
abruptly variant in pitch. il impinged
on his nerves and senses, made him
nervous and restless and worried him
with perpetual imminence of happen
ing.
He watched the man-animals coming
and going and moving about the camp
In fashion distantly resembling the way
men look upon the gods they create. go
looked White Fang upon the man
animals before him. They were superior
creatures, of a verify. gods. To his dim
comprehension they were as much won-.
der wonders as gods are to men. They
were creatures of mastery, possessing!
all manner Of unknown and Impossible
potencies, overlords of the alive and the
not afive-making obey that which
moved, imparting movement to that
which did not move and making life
sun.colored and biting life. to grow out
OF dead moss and wood. They were fire.
makers! They were gods, 81