Show r t-O t et 1 a N I t i ill e eBy V. V B By y art James Jamos t U Oliver nl s t Tj f d tit r 1 I f 4 v. v e- e Copyright 1 by the e M Bobbs-M Merrill Bobba-Merrill Company Compan r FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE KAZAN KNOWS F THE THC JOY OF PERFECT FREEDOM HOW HE MEETS THE CHALLENGE OF A HUGE GRAY WOLF t r Kazan Is a n vicious Alaskan sledge dog quarter one gray r wolf lIe He saves his masters master's life I and Is taken along when the master master master mas mas- ter goes to civilization to meet k his bride and return with her to c frozen the country Even the rF master Is afraid to touch the dog but Isobel Kazan's new newy y mistress wins his devotion in In- On the way northward McCready a team dog-team rIver joins the party Inflamed by drink on the following night McCready beats the master Insensible insensible Insensible In in- In- In sensible and attacks the bride Kazan flies files at nt the assailants assailant's throat and 1 kills him Fearful of punishment the dog tal takes es toi to toilie ilie i le woods and wild life v CHAPTER R IV Continued f. f t 1 i 4 j r 1 After that l H Kazan sa sat t f for fora r i n a long lI his his' haunches h s sniffing the then new new frees om of the air all and watching the thc dee deep pits Bits pits pits' In the forest about him lily lilyas as as tl thy y faded away before dawn Now and then since the day dar the traders ha had t first j bought him and put him Into traces sledge traces n na away a oye over on on the IC cI J Kle zie 11 Ur ok of IuS' IuS free free- f ee- ee doni dom longingly the wolf wol blood In him urging n t i. i tak e 1 it J hc f. f li tT never Yer dared It thrilled him now Ther There we 1 a no flubs clubs h there r no na whips whips- none of the man-beasts man whom he had hadj first learned arned t to distrust and then to j hate It was his misfortune that misfortune that quart quarter of wolf and the clubs Instead of subduing him had aided added to the Savagery si agery that was b born barr hi In himMen him Men had been his worst enel enemies enemies They hud lied b beaten him time and again until he was almost almost dead They called him bad and stepped wide of him and never missed missed the chance to snap a whip over oyer over his back His body was covered covered covered cov cov- ered with scars they had given giyen him bim lIe He had never felt kindness orr or love until the first night the woman had put her warm little hand lined on hi his he d and antI lead md snuggled her face close down to hits his while Thorpe her Thorpe her husband had husband had cried out In horror lie had almost hurled buried his its fangs in her white flesh butIn butIn but butan In an Instant her gentle touch and her voice had hall sent through him that wonder wonderful ul thrill that was his first knowledge gc of love And nd now it was was a n aman moan man lUan who was driving him from flom her way tray from the hand baud that had never held eld a club or a i whip and he growled as he trotted deeper Into the forest t I He came to the edge of a swamp as ilay shay broke For a time he had been 4 filled with a n strange uneasiness and light did not quite dispel It At last ho Ile was free of men lIe He could detect I nothing that reminded him of their I hinted presence In Inthe the air ait But nut neither neither could could he smell the presence of other flogs o of the sledge the fire of compan compan- and food and so far back as us he could remember th they y had hall alwa always s 's been beenu beena u a part pUIt of his life j Here It was very quiet The swamp luy uy ay lu Iu a hollow between two lidge e fountains and the spruce and cedarev cedar ceda r rev ew low and so thick thick so thick that tha t i here cre was almost no snow under them the day was like e twilight Two Tw lungs he began to miss more than all nl 1 food tiers food and company Both th the tho e volf olf and the dog that was in him derl dc- dc rl the first and that part of or him h Lint liat was dog longed for the latter T To Tooth o oth desires the wolf blood that was waa S trong In him rose It tot told Sd d lira Ira that somewhere In this sH silent nt orld between th the two ridges theras there ther e ras as companionship and that all li he e 1 jad all ad to do to find It was to sit back o oIs on onIs n ils Is haunches and cry out his lonell less era ss More than once something trem lied led ed In his deep chest rose In hi his bis s and end ended ell there In a whine I It II Itras ras as as the wolf howl hotel not yet quite born Food come came more easily than voice award midday he be cornered a n bI big g kite rabbit under a log and killed t it t I he e warm flesh and blood was better j fan an frozen fish or tallow tallow- and aad branc bran c nd d the feast he had hall gave him conic conti- once nce That afternoon bo lie chased man many y obits s and killed two more Until ow iw W h he lie had bad never known know n the deli delight ht o of ot f and killing gat at w even eve n laugh OUgh h he did not eat all nU he hc killed But there was no fight In the rab- rab 1 They hey died too easily The They were e try ry sweet and tender to eat ent eathen when hen h he E to s is s hungry but ut the first thrill of ot kill kill- them passed away after a a 1 time Ii He e something bigger er lIe He no long long- stunk slunk along as a s if he were afraid o or r lit it ft he wanted to remain hidden bidden ld Id tn II Ho lIo e his fi head cad up Ills IUs back bristled is s tall swung free tree and bushy like a n I if Ie s s. s Every hair in his body k ered with the electric energy of life and unel action He Be traveled north and west est It was the call of early da days s 's the days away up on the rite Mackenzie The he Mackenzie was ns a thousand miles away He TIe came upon many trails in the We snow that da day and sniffed the scents scent left p Ry y the hoofs of moose and caribou and the fl padded fur feet of a n lynx He HeI followed a n fox and the trail led him rim toa to ton tou I u n place place shut in by tall spruce where the snow was beaten benten down and reddened reddened reddened red red- with blood There us was an owls owl's head feathers wings and entrails lying Irig here and he knew v that there were other hunters abroad besides himself Toward oward evening he came upon tracks tracks' in the snow that were very much like liko h his is own They were quite fresh and t there here was a a warm scent about them themI I that made him whine and filled failed I him again with that desire to fall fallback back mck upon up up- o on h his s haunches s and s send n l forth the the- wolf olf This desire grew stron stronger er erin id iu him as th the shadows of night deepened deepened deep deep- ened in iu the forest lIe He had traveled a all ll day but he hc was not tired There I was waR something about night now ilia abut I there were no men ne near r that thai c cd ell him hint strangely The life wolf r i in him ran swifter and swi swifter t l Tonight Loli it was clear The sky was filled tilled with I stars The moon rose And at laste last h he e settled back In the sri snow snow ow and und turned his he head Hi straight up t to th the spruce tops and the wolf came out of him In a n long mournful cry which quivered through t the he still night f for t miles mites For a long time m h he sat and listened after niter that howl He had found voices voice voice- voice a s voice with a strange new note in it and It gave him still greater confidence He had expected an answer but none came He had traveled In the trig face of the wind and as he lie le howled a bull moose crashed through th the scrub tim Um- b ber er ahead of him His liis horns rattling against the trees like the tattoo of a aar acl cl cigar ar birch club as J be he put nut distance between between between be be- tween himself and that cr cry Twice Kazan howled bowled before he wenton went wenton on and he found Joy joyin in the practice of that new note He lIe came then to the theo foot Zoot o t of a a rough ridge c and d out ut of o lh he Swamp top of it tt TI rhe e stars n and d ibe we m moon o Were er nearer r to him film there and andon on the other side of the ridge r idge-he idge he hc looked down down upon noon ti great s sweeping ng n n a n frozen Is lake lak glistening glIst glis glistening glIs- glIs t in n. n the moonlight and a white ri leading r from it t off into timber that was neither so thick nor so black as that In the swamp 1 And d then every rc 1 n body Iy grow grew tense and his blood IC leaped caned ped From FrOl arall 9 ir oft hi in i tl p 1 aln th there e eIm a cry This his cry the cry the wolf wolf-cr wolf cry His Jaws Sacs snapped ills His whiter white fangs gleamed and he growled deep in Im his throat He wanted to reply but some strange instinct Instinct instinct in In- urged him him not to That Instinct of the wild was already becoming master mast mas mas- t ter r. r of him In the air nil in the whisperIng whisper whisper- I Ing pf th the s spruce ce tops toils in the moon and the the me stars themselves there breathed a. a spirit which told him that what be lie had heard heard was the cry cry but that it was not the wolf call The other came an nn hour later Inter clear and distinct that same walling wailing howl atthe at atthe the fife beginning but beginning but but ending in a staccato of quick sharp yelps elps that stirred his blood at once once into a fiery excitement that it had never known before The same instinct told him tl that this was the call the call the hunt cry It urged him to come quickly A few moments later it came calpe again and this time there was was a reply from close down along the he foot of the rid ridge e and another from so faraway faraway far faraway away that Kazan could scarcely hear bear it The hunt hunt was gathering forthe forthe for forthe the night chase but Kazan sat quiet and trembling He was not afraid but he was not ready to go The rIdge lidge seemed to split spIlt the world for h him m Down there it was new and strange and without men From the other side something seemed pulling him back and suddenly h he e turned his bis head bead and gazed back ack through the moonlit space behind him and whined It was ivas the dog dog whine whine now The woman oman j was vas back there He lie could bear hear her ber voice He could feel the touch ouch of her ber soft hand band I lie e could seethe see seethe ee the laughter in her face and e eyes ewes es th the the e laughter that had made him warm an and d happy She was calling to him through h the forests and ho he was ivas torn bet between veen desire to answer that call and desire desir e to go down into the plain For li be he e could also see many men waiting fo for r him dm with with clubs and he could hear bear th the e cracking lac ing bf of whips s and feel the sting o of P Ui their lashes For a long time he be remained on th the e top of the ridge that divided his world And Ami then at last he lie turned and wen went t tl down Wll Into the plain CHAPTER V. V Leader of the Pack All that night Kazan kept close t to o the pack bunt but never quite approached approached ap ap- It t. t This was fortunate fo for r him He lie still bore the scent of ot traces and of man The pack would have ha tor torn n him Hint to pieces The first instinct of the e wild is that of self I It t may have been this his a whisper back bac k through the years of ute savage forebears that made Kazan roll In lu the snow now and jand and then where the feet of the pack puck had hall trod the ilia thickest That night the pad pack I killed a caribou caribo u on the edge ege of of the lake e and feasted feasts d de until nearly dawn Kazan Kazun hung bung In th the e face of ot the wind The smell of blood d and of ot warm flesh fiesta tickled his nostrils and his sharp ears could cat catch h th the e cracking of ot bones But the Instinct was vas stron stronger er than the temptation Not until broad day when the pack had hod scattered far and wide oYer over the tife- plain did he tie go boldly to the scene of or orthe the kill lIe He found nothing lint hut an area area of ot reddened blood snow covered with bones entrails and torn bits of tough hide bide But It was enough and und he rolled rolleda In it In-it It and burled his nose In what was left and remained all that day close to lit It saturating himself with the scent of It That night when the moon and the stars caine came out again lie be he sat back with fear and hesitation no longer in him and announced himself to his new comrades comrades comrades com com- rades of the great plain s The pack hunted again that night or else it was a n new pack that started miles s to the south and came up with a n doe lIoe caribou to the big frozen rozen lake The nig night was almost ns as clear dear as day and anu anufrom from the edge of the forest Kazan first saw the caribou run out on the lake a n third of ot a a amile mile away awny The pack was about a dozen strong and had already split into the fatal horseshoe f formation formation forma forma- I tion the two wo leaders running almost abreast of the kill and slowly closing In With a n sharp yelp l Kazan darted o out Int Into the moonlight He was directly Inthe in inthe inthe the path of or the fleeing doe and bore down clown upon her with lightning speed Two hundred yards away the doe doc saw him and nd swerved to the right and the leader on that side met her with open Jaws Kazan Krizan was In with the second lender leMler and leaped at the does doe's soft throat throat In a n snarling mass the pack pride clos closed 11 in from behind and the doe doo wen went t down with Kazan half haIr under her body lwy his fangs sunk deep In her lar She la lay heavily on him but he did not lose his hold It was his first big biff 1 kill Ill His Ills blood ran like fire He snarled between his clamped teeth N Not t until the last quiver had hall left the body boch over oyer him did he pull himself lr out from under her ch chest st and forelegs lIe He had hind killed a rabbit that day and amI was not hungry So he lie he sat back in the snow and waited while th the ray ravenous nom pack tore at the dead doe After a little lit lit- tle he IC came nearer nosed In between two of them and was nipped for his intrusion in In- I I As Kazan drew back still hesitating t to mix with his wild brothers a a 1 big form leaped leaned out of the prick pack and d' d di drove doYe oYe ove str straight for his throat He had hind just time to throw his shoulder to thea the a alack fack and for a n moment moment the the two r rolled li d over oyer and over In the snow They were we're cre tip lip before tIle the excitement of of sudden sud sud- ud I d den ddn battle hall had drawn the pa pack k from tl feast Slowly they illey cli 1 cled l d about about ea each h other their white fangs bare th their r yellowish backs bristling l hike ike brushes bl hes The he fatal ring of wolves I dl drew Y about abolt the fighters I Iwas t. t It Itt was not new to Kazan A dozen times 1 s sh h he had ad sat oat hi Iii n rings like this waiting for the rife final final moment More than once he had fought for his life within n the circle It was was t rife the le sledge sledge- i t of fighting Unless man mun Interi interrupted inter Inter- i i up eil with a n club or a whip it alwa always ended n q In death Only one fighter could I cOl conic out alive Sometimes both died And there was was' no only lImn only here here only U that a t fats fata cor cordon on of waiting fanged white demons ready to leap upon and tear to pieces the first first of the fighters who was was thrown thrown n upon his his side or ox back ha- ha Ka Kazan zan was a stranger but JUt he did Id not f al althos those thos th that t hemmed hl him n in in The Tim on one great grent law of the pack would compel them to be fair He i kept pt his eyes only on the big gr gray y lead leader r who had challenged him Shoulder Shoulder der del to shoulder |