THE SUNDAY FICTION MAGAZINE, MAY 28, 1916.
ber white arms to the myriads of stars
twinkling in the gTeat cold void overhead
and burst into a kind of a song. It had
no words, M'sieu, but flowed on with many
changes in sound and melody, like rapids
from a great distance. I felt that creep
ing of the scalp as I have told you, M'sieu,
I had felt when first I saw her. I tried to
move and couldn't. I wondered a little,
whether my limbs had frozen while I wait
ed. Still the woman in white chanted with
her eyes raised to the stars. She stopped
suddenly. The next moment, may tho
faints attest it, M'sieu,
she had broken Into
the howl of a wolf!
The next moment,
M'sieu, that clearing
was crowded with
wolves! They came
out of the woods, in
every direction. They
came silently, like so
many gray shadows,
and 1 would have
thought them shadows,
maybe, and I myself
dreaming, had not
their eyes burned so
brightly in the dark
ness. They came in
numbers, and squat
ted down on their
haunches in a great
semi-circle, facing the
wolf woman. It was
a strange spectacle.
M'sieu. The moon
light wilderness, with
its frozen snow and
crackling frost-rimmed
pines, the northern
lights still wavering
and beckoning with
long pale tentacles
overhead. The great
crouching circle of
wolves, with eyes
gleaming, teeth glis
tening, and tongues
lolling In the still
bright light of the full
moon. And in their
center, silent now, but
watching every move
ment with eyes that
burned with a gleam
like the animals before
her, stood the wolf
woman. She was still
garbed in white, but
wore no toque, and
her black curls rippled
down her back and
glistened in a thou
sand high lights. "
Soon the silence was
broken. She pointed
with her white arm toward the winding
rail.
"After him, children!" she shrieked.
And every wolf in that earful circle
pivoted on his hind legs and was off down
the trail, every throat vibrating with the
great scng of the wilderness.
Through a rift in the tree below I could
see the lake, and Harvey Gale, now the
more and all had converged as a black
spot far oat on the lake, I heard bis dis
tant shriek, and so did the wolf woman.
Her mocking laugh floated far out upon
the still night air. She walked within the
cabin and closed the door.
He turned abruptly, clasped her in his
arms, and kissed her once. As he did so
her hand quietly removed his revolver.
fA&.. V, csVi il H
merest speck, out on the glare ice. In an
incredibly short time the pack had broken
cover and were at his heels. A moment
1 am not a brave man, M'sieu. But an
insane man will dare anything. In a mo
ment I was running with stiffened limbs
toward the cabin. In another minute
was pounding at her door. It swung
open and I stared directly Into the
wide, dark eyes of the wolf woman. Her
lips were smiling, but her eyes were not.-
How long I gazed, fascinated, I cannot'
say. But I seemed
to lose will power
and consciousnesa by
degrees. As I fell
forward upon the
threshold I thought
I heard a laugh ring
ing in my ears. I;
I was numb with
cold when I opened
my eyes. It was
morning. The cabin
was cold, chill and
desolate. The Iron
beds and cooking
range were mere
piles of rust. X
looked In vain for
the woman In whltej
or the old creature
she was said to have
as com panion. I
looked In vain,
M'sieu, for even
lamp or candle
There was no evi
dence that the cabin
had ever been occu
pied. Dreaming?
i give you my
word, M'sieu, I do
not think so. For
they found Harvey
Gale where the black
spots had converged
on the glare lcev
And his revolver was
missing. Nor was
there any snow to
conceal It, bad It
been there.
And a month
later an old Chip
pewa Indian, badly
frostbitten, who had
staggered into camp
to die, told a fan.
tastic tale about
how he had seen, on
a certain evening
when the northern
lights flamed cold
ly in the heavens, a
great wolf pack, led
by a figure in white, whose long black
hair and mocking laugh were those of
woman.
The men crowded about his bunk
glanced from one to another and tapped
their heads and winked. But, M'sieu,
did none of these. For I have seen queer
things.
Copyright, 1916, by J. Kecley.
BREAKING A BA
ABIT
THREE or four men were talking about
breaking bad habits and giving their
experiences.
"Did I ever master a" bad habit?" re
sponded a very active business man when
the question was put up to him. "I did,
but I had to have some outside assistance,
though I didn't ask for it.
"Once upon a time I had the bad habit
f eating three meals a day, and I had to
have them or there was trouble for some
body. Then my coffee at breakfast must
be just so or there was trouble; the bacon
must be properly crisp or there was trou
ble; the toast had to be correctly brown or
there was trouble; the eggs could not vary
from standard or there was trouble. The
other meals I was not so supersensitive
about. But I must have my smoke after
each one. It was trouble ail around, go
ing and coming, because I ruffered no less
than those about me.
"That was twenty-five years ago; and I
was in control of the situation and insist
ed on having everything exactly as I
wanted it. It was an extremely bad habit
and I didn't realize it. Then came changed
conditions, and I was forced out into a
world beyond my control.
"Everywhere I went I was called a
crank, and my reputation in that line soon
expanded all over, because I had a new
eating place about every week or ten days.
One morning, after I had been to all the
feederies within a mile of my lodgings, a
kind hearted waiter girl in a very nice lit
tle tearoom I had discovered came down
on me like a thousand of brick for finding
fault with the breakfast she had brought
me.
"She said I wasn't old enough to be
senile, nor young enough to be a baby,
and looked like I might be a very respec
table person if I were properly trained.
She was Irish and she wasn't afraid. Well,
you know some men would have raised a
row about talk like that from a servant to
a guest, but I didn't. It struck me as the
light struck Saul of Tarsus, and I thanked
her sincerely.
"After breakfast I took counsel with
my better nature and resolved I would try
to live up to the waiter girl's suggestion.
Next morning I went to the same place
for breakfast and had the same breakfast.
Breakfasts vary, and this wasn't really
quite what it should have been, but I ate
it without a growl, though I did want to
growl. I could see the girl was expecting
the usual manner, but I disappointed her.
"As I left she looked at mc rather curi
ously and smiled. I told her I knew the
breakfast was just a bit shy. but I
wouldn't worry, because I was sure It
would be better tomorrow. And it was.
At least I thought so.
"And thus it went for meal after meal,
at one place and another, some good and
some bad, but I had my mind fixed to take
things as they came, and I stuck to it. I
went further. I resolved to give them up
as they went, and if I missed a meal or a
smoke or my coffee I consoled myself by
thinking the next would taste that much
better, and I laughed instead of whined.
"I will admit that it wasn't as easy to
do as it is to tell it, for there was a thirty
year habit to overcome, and a habit grows
mighty tight to one In that time. It took
me a year to become reformed, but I final,
ly got there, and now whatever other bad
habits I mav hava t v.-.. ..,. i
- - t;u t mat one,
and 1 don't have headaches or Indigestion
or a grouch, and there Isn't a waiter girl!
I know who doesn't think I have the finest!
disposition she ever m i.i. A
- " it' nun, u(K
what a lovely husband I would be If r
j many. iiew xorit Sua,,;
Unconvinced
"Now, to illustrate the roundness of
the earth, said Columbus, "I will show
you an egg." ";..
...
mat aoesn t convince me," replied the!
court astronomer. "If you had waited till'
the egg became an omelet, it would prove
that the earth is flat."
. - -
Willie Wise j
Parson Willie, do you know where all
boys go who play baseball on Sunday 7
Willie Yes. but I won't tU vnn. mnii'
f
tell a cop, and then we'll all get ehasedj