THE HERMISTON
The Story of a Dog That Turned Wolf
By JAMES OLIVER CVRWOOD
WEYMAN, THE NATURALIST, AND HENRI, THE HUNTER,
MAKE THE STRANGE DISCOVERY THAT A DOG AND A
BLIND WOLF ARE MATES—THEY MARVEL
Fearing dire punishment after killing a man who attacks his mis
tress, Kazan, an Alaskan dog, one-quarter wolf, takes to wild life and
mates with Gray Wolf. Weeks later, drawn by memory of woman’s
kindness, Kazan saves the life of Joan and her baby, and with Gray
Wolf establishes a lair on Sun Rock, near Joan's home. Gray Wolf Is
blinded and her pups are killed by a lynx. Joan, her husband and
her baby leave the country, so Kazan and Gray Wolf go northward.
HERALD,
Mends with Kazan. 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—six—seven passed, and she had
not taken a mouthful. Weyman could
count her ribs.
“She die,” Henri told him on the
seventh night “She starve before she
eat in that cage. She want the forest,
the wild kill, the fresh blood. She
two—tree year old—toe 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 a low sobbing whine, and he
knew that It was Kazan crying for his
freedom.
Leaning against the side of the cabin
was an ax. 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 flee. Out
In the pen space she waited for
Kazan, and for a moment the two
stood there, looking at the cabin. Then
they set off into freedom. Gray Wolfs
shoulder at Kazan’s flank.
In the swamp Kazan and Gray Wolf
found a home under a windfall. It
was a small, comfortable nest shut in
entirely from the snow and wind. Gray
Wolf took possession of it immediately.
She flattened herself out on her belly,
and panted Mo show Kazan her con
tentment and satisfaction. Kazan kept
close at ber 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 Wolf’s 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 stara
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 cari
bou two miles distant, and the pres
ence of man she could pick up at an
even greater distance. On a still night
she had heard the splash of a trout
half a 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 a 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, so he began Just as instinctively
to heed her warnings. If Gray Woll
reasoned, it was to the effect that
without Kazan she would die. She had
tried hard now and then to catch a
partridge or a rabbit, but she had al
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
at her she did not snap back, but slunk
down as though struck a blow. With
her warm tongue she would lick the
long hair between Kazan's toes. For
days after he had run a sliver 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.
I Ing. In his struggles Kazan sprang
the remaining two traps. One of them
Weyman was with him when they missed. The fifth, and last, caught
struck fresh signs of lynx. There was him by a hindfoot
a great windfall ten or fifteen feet
Henri and Weyman were out early.
high, and in one place the logs had When they struck off the main Une
formed a sort of cavern, with almost toward the windfall, Henri pointed to
solid walls on three sides. The snow the tracks of Kazan and Gray Wolf,
was beaten down by tracks, and the and his dark face lighted up with
fur of rabbit was scattered about pleasure and excitement. When they
Henri was jubilant.
reached the shelter under the mass of
| “We got heem—sure I” he said.
fallen timber, both stood speechless
He built the bait-house, set a trap for a moment, astounded by what they
and looked about him shrewdly. Then saw. Even Henri had seen nothing
he explained his scheme to Weyman. like this before—two wolves and a
If the lynx was caught, and the two lynx, all In traps, and almost within
wolves came to destroy it the fight reach of one another’s fangs. But sur
would take place in that shelter under prise could not long delay the business
the windfall, and the marauders would of Henri’s hunters instinct. The
have to pass through the opening. So wolves lay first in his path, and he
Henri set five smaller traps, conceal was raising his rifle to put a steel
ing them skillfully under leaves and capped bullet through the base of
moss and snow, and all were far Kazan's brain, when Weyman caught
enough away from the bait-house so him eagerly by the arm.
“Wait !” he cried. “It’s not a wolf.
that the trapped lynx could not spring
It’s a dogi”
them In his struggles.
Henri lowered his rifle, staring at
' “When they fight, wolf jump this
Weyman’s eyes shot to
way an' that—an’ sure get In,” said the collar.
Henri. “He miss one, two, Uree—but Gray Wolf. She was facing them,
snarling, her white fangs bared to
he sure get in trap somewhere.”
I That same morning a light snow fell, the foes she could not see. Her blind
making the work more complete, for eyes were closed. Where there should
It covered up all footprints and burled have been eyes there was only hair,
the telltale scent of man. That night and an exclamation broke from Wey-
Kazan and Gray Wolf passed within a man’s lips.
“Look !” he commanded of Henri.
hundred feet of the windfall, and Gray
Wolf’s keen scent detected something “What in the name of heaven—”
‘One is dog—wild dog that has run
strange and disquieting In the air. She
Informed Kazan by pressing her shoul to the wolves,” said Henri. “And the
der against his, and they swung off other is—wolf.”
“And blind!” gasped Weyman.
at right angles, keeping to windward
"Oui, blind, m’sieur,” added Henri,
of the trap-line.
For two days and three cold starlit falling partly into French in his amaze
nights nothing happened at the wind ment. He was raising his rifle again.
fall. Henri understood, and explained Weyman seized it firmly.
“Don't kill them, Henri,” he said.
to Weyman. The lynx was a hunter,
like himself, and also had Its hunt-line, “Give them to me—alive. Figure up
which It covered about ouce a week. the value of the lynx they have de
On the fifth night the lynx returned. stroyed, and add to that the wolf
went to the windfall, was lured bounty, and I will pay. Alive, they
straight to the bait, and the sharp- are worth to me a great deal. Heav
toothed steel trap closed relentlessly ens, a dog—and a blind wolf—mates !”
He still held Henri’s rifle, and Henri
over its right hindfoot. Kazan and
Gray Wolf were traveling a quarter of was staring at him, as if he did not
a mile deeper in the forest when they yet quite understand.
Weyman continued speaking, his
heard the clanking of the steel chain
aa the lynx fought to free itself, Ten eyes and face biasing.
“A dog—and a blind wolf—mates!”
minutes later they stood in the door
he repeated. “It is wonderful, Henri.
of the windfall cavern.
I It was a white clear night, so filled Down there, they will say I have gone
with brilllaut stars that Henri himself beyond reason, when my book comes
could have hunted by the light of them. out. But I shall have proof. I shall
The lynx had exhausted itself, and take twenty photographs here, before
lay crouched on its belly as Kazan you kill the lynx. I shall keep the
and Gray Wolf appeared. As usual. dog and the wolf alive. And I shall
Gray Wolf held back while Kazan be pay you, Henri, a hundred dollars
gan the battle. In tho first or second apiece for the two. May I have them?”
Henri nodded. He held his rifle in
of these fights on the trapline, Kazan
would probably have been disembow readiness, while Weyman unpacked his
eled or had his jugular vein cut open, camera and got to work. Snarling
had the fierce cats been free. They fangs greeted the click of the camera
were more than his mutch in open shutter—the fangs of wolf and lynx.
tight, though the biggest of them fell But Kazan lay cringing, not through
ten pounds under his weight. Chance fear, but because he still recognized
had saved him on the Sun Rock. Gray the mastery of man.
Henri shot the lynx, and when Kazan
Wolf and the porcupine had both add
Once more ill fortune cornea
ed to the defeat of the lynx on the understood this, he tore at the end of
to Kazan and Gray Wolf—they
sand-bar. And along Henri's hunting his trap chains and snarled at the
come Into contact with brutal
lino tt was the trap that was his ally. writhing body of his forest enemy.
men, those of the mining coun
Even with his enemy thus shackled By means of a pole and a babiche
try In the Northwest. Read of
he took bigger chances than ever with noose, Kazan was brought out from un
Important developments in the
der the windfall and taken to Henri's
the lynx under the windfall.
next installment.
The cat was an old warrior, six or cabin. The two men then returned
seven years old. His claws were an with a thick sack and more babiche,
Inch and a quarter long, and curved and blind Gray Wolf, still fettered by
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
like scimitars. His forefeet and his left the traps, was made prisoner. All the
hindfoot were free, and as Kazan ad- rest of that day Weyman and Henri
A Humble Worker.
vanced, he drew back, so that the trap worked to build a stout cage of sap-
He does not look like a very Impor
chain was slack under bis body. Here lings, and when it was finished, the tant part of a big automobile organi-
Kazan could not follow his old tactics two prisoners were placed In It.
zatton, this stooped, grizzled man. but
Before the dog was put in with Gray the president of a great motorcar com
of circling about his trapped foe, until
it had become tangled tn the chain, or Wolf, Weyman closely examined the pany, according to Popular Science
had so shortened and twisted it that worn and tooth-marked collar about Monthly, says that Magnet Bill saves
there was no chance for a leap. He his neck.
his salary a dozen times over every
On the brass piate be found en day he works. Rain or shine, summer
had to attack face to face, and sud
denly he lunged in. They met shoul graved the one word, "Kazan.” and or winter, Magnet Bill may be seen
der to shoulder.
Kazan's fangs with a strange thrill made note of it walking slowly about the automobile
snapped at the other's throat, and In his diary.
plant, his eyes fixed on the ground.
After thia Weyman often remained
missed. Before he could strike again,
He gets bls nickname from the fact
the lynx flung out its free hindfoot, at the cabin when Henri went out on that his tools consist solely of a tin
and even Gray Wolf heard the ripping the trap-line. After the second day he bucket and a big steel magnet,
sound that it made. With a snarl dared to pat his hand between the sap- strapped to the end of a shovel handle.
Kazan was flung back, his shoulder ling bars and touch Kazan, and the It is his duty to save automobile tires
next day Kazan accepted a piece of by removing from the roadway every
torn to the bone.
Then It was that one of Henri’s hid- raw moose meat from his hand. But nail and piece of metal that might
den trapa saved him from a second at at his approach. Gray Wolf would al cause a tire puncture. Thousands of
tack—and death. Steel Jaws snapped ways hide under the pile of balsam In cars are run over this roadway to
over one of his forefeet, and when be the corner of their prison. The in- the testing place, and without the pre
leaped, the chain stopped him. Once stinct of generations and perhaps of cautions taken by Magnet Bill the cost
or twice before, blind Gray Wolf had centuries had taught her that man for cut and punctured tires would
deadliest enemy. And yet. amount to many thousands of dollars
leaped in, when she knew that Kazan
yearly.
was in great danger. For an Instant this man
she forgot her caution now, and aa she was not afraid of him. She was fright-
Moro Recruits.
heard Kazan’s snarl of pain, she • ned at first; then puzzled, and a
sprang in under the windfall. Five growing curiosity followed that. Oc-
“My stomach's gone back on me. I
traps Henri had hidden In the space casionally, after the third day, she can’t go to banquets any more." "Cheer
in front of the batt house, and Gray would thrust her blind face out of up, old chap. You're only sixty-five.
Wolf’s feet found two of these. Sho tho balsam and sniff the air when
CHAPTER XIII—Continued.
HERMISTON,
OREGON:
Depann
23
FM
loas.
*
tre
I
Two Thanksgiving
Proclamations of
Revolutionary Days
Heavy Responsibility
HE lastThanksgiving proclama
tion of the revolution was re
ported to congress October 18,
1783. by Duane, Samuel Hunt
ington and Holten. It was written by
Mr. Duane and given to the people on
the second Thursday In December. It
expresses thanks for the'discharge of
troops in the following words:
“Whereas, It has pleased the Su
preme Ruler of all human events to
dispose the hearts of the late bellig
erent powers to put a period to the
effusion of human blood, by proclaim
ing a cessation of all hostilities by |
sea and land, and these United States I
are not only happily rescued from the
dangers and calamities to which they
have been so long exposed, but their
freedom, sovereignty and indepen
dence are ultimately acknowledged ; |
and, whereas, in the process of a con- !
test on which the most essential rights
of human nature depended the Inter
position of divine providence in our
favor hath been most abundantly and
most graciously manifested, and the
citizens of these United States have
every reason for praise and gratitude
to the God of their salvation ; . . . the
United States In congress assembled
do recommend it to the several states
to set apart the second Thursday In
December next as a day of public 1
thanksgiving.”
The first national Thanksgiving to
be promulgated after the adoption of
the Constitution of the United States
was written by Washington and Issued
on October 3, 1789. This was a gen-
eral recommendation of thanksgiving course of our public affairs in general,
for the establishment of the Constitu the unexampled prosperity of all class
tion. The whereabouts of the original es of our citizens, are circumstances
of this instrument is unknown. The which peculiarly mark our situation
earliest Thanksgiving proclamation of with indications of the divine benefi
Washington as president In the pos- cence toward us. In such a state it is
session of the department of state is an especial manner our duty as a peo
one dated January 1, 1795, -and was ple, with devout reverence and affec
issued In view of the suppression of tionate gratitude, to acknowledge our
the rebellion In western Pennsylvania, many and great obligations to almighty
which for a time threatened the safety God, and to implore him to continue
of the union.
and confirm the blessings we expe
This document was written by Alex rience.
ander Hamilton, secretary of the treas
“Deeply penetrated with this senti
ury, and bears amendments by Ed
ment, I, George Washington, president
mund Randolph, secretary of state. of the United States, do recommend
The original copy is yellow and the
to all religious societies and denom
Ink is faded, but It Is yet legible. It
inations, and to all persons whomso
Is the engrossed copy which bears the
ever within the United States, to set
great seal of the United States and the
signatures of Washington and Ran apart and observe Thursday, the 19th
dolph. The proclamation is as fol day of February next, as a day of pub
lic thanksgiving and prayer, and on
lows :
"When we review the calamities that day to meet together and render
which afflict so many other nations, their sincere thanks to the great ruler
the present condition of the United of nations for the manifold and signal
States affords much of consolation and mercies which distinguish our lot as
satisfaction. Our exemption hitherto a nation, particularly for the posses
from foreign war, an Increasing pros sion of constitutions of government
pect of the continuance of that exemp which unite and by their union estab
tion, the great degree of internal tran lish liberty with order, for the preser
quility we have enjoyed, the recent vation of our peace, foreign and do
confirmation of that tranquility by the mestic; for the seasonable control
suppression of an insurrection which wklch has been given to the spirit of
so wantonly threatened it, the happy disorder in the suppression of the late
insurrection.”
T
. :
roi
" (
hhats
JUST THE THING
Season for All to
Magnify Blessings
and Forget Crossi
E CELEBRATE that great
holiday, Thanksgiving, al
this season. In the gay
round of pleasures the day
always brings, perhaps not one of u
will stop a moment and seriously look
back over the past year, now rapidly
drawing to a close. Many of us—li
fact, all of us—should pause a moment
and quietly review the past months.
Perhaps these months brought tu
many trials, but they also brought us
many blessings. It is the blessings we
should itemize and magnify and for
get the crosses. We may sigh dis
contentedly and say, “Well, last year 1
had many more reasons to be thank
ful than I have this year,” but If we
are fair and honest with ourselves we
will have to admit that, even U
troubles came our way, the blessing!
that followed them were far greater
In number.
Who has not read the story of that
first Thanksgiving Day?
Fancy I
woman in these times enduring the
hardships and worries those strong
hearted New England pilgrims en
dured; and what a wonderful lessor
In unselfishness they have
down to us I
Argue and elaborate as we will
our burdens, we know fate has b
good to us. Life Is not all
i If it were we would very soon 81
I tired of life. Disappointments, i
I backs, disillusionments come to evt
one, and we must expect they "
come to us. Indeed, we have no Vo
in the matter. They will come to
as surely as day follows night; but
we accept them patiently I That
another story.
Many women look only on the de
side of life. "What’s the user th
Everything I try
say dejectedly.
do turns out a failure.' There is
tiny breath of selfishness here. "I” 1
very prominent In these women
thoughts. Perhaps If they did some
thing worth while for someone els
their work would be crowned wit
success. Doing something for anothe
has never yet turned out a fallu"
There isn’t a case on record shown
where failure has followed a kind dee
done for another. Perhaps this otM
did not appreciate the efforts taken,"
her behalf, yet the fact remains tM
the woman who put herself out"
make another woman happy C
rienced a wonderful happiness here
—New York Evening Telegram.
W
VERY POPULAR
Con
GWAPCK:
USE
Da.
SLIMS
ANT-
FAT”:
NEVER FANS!
Belongs to All Humanity.
Essentially our American Thanks
giving is least American of our holi
days, for the simple reason that it Is
too human to be merely American.
The Duck—My. I’m gettingPIP,
There were no most human things left
for the New England fathers to orig The whole family just watch
inate. They are immemorially older the time.
than this country. There are no orig
Feast Without Gorging.
inal ways of expressing gratitude. All
the pathways of thanksgiving are very
Thanksgiving day is “‘a
old paths.—James Lane Allen In Mun. many pleasant activities la “mo
In the pursuit of health and
a
ment, but of old it was , . (
of heartfelt thanksgiving.
e
Ail that I have ia thine." says God and so it should always be-
I
"H’m, I guess Ill get about a barrel
of that stuff."
for all they are worth.
gorge?