told Kazan for the
twentieth time. "There's nothin' like beatin's to make dogs an' wimmin
live up to the mark. A month from now you'll be worth two hundred
dollars or I'll skin you alive!"

Three or four times before dusk Sandy worked to rouse Kazan's animosity.
But there was no longer any desire left in Kazan to fight. His two
terrific beatings, and the crushing blow of the bullet against his
skull, had made him sick. He lay with his head between his forepaws, his
eyes closed, and did not see McTrigger. He paid no attention to the meat
that was thrown under his nose. He did not know when the last of the sun
sank behind the western forests, or when the darkness came. But at last
something roused him from his stupor. To his dazed and sickened brain it
came like a call from out of the far past, and he raised his head and
listened. Out on the sand McTrigger had built a fire, and the man stood
in the red glow of it now, facing the dark shadows beyond the shoreline.
He, too, was listening. What had roused Kazan came again now--the lost
mourning cry of Gray Wolf far out on the plain.

With a whine Kazan was on his feet, tugging at the babiche. Sandy
snatched up his club, and leaped toward him.

"Down, you brute!" he commanded.

In the firelight the club rose and fell with ferocious quickness. When
McTrigger returned to the fire he was breathing hard again. He tossed
his club beside the blankets he had spread out for a bed. It was a
different looking club now. It was covered with blood and hair.

"Guess that'll take the spirit out of him," he chuckled. "It'll do
that--or kill 'im!"

Several times that night Kazan heard Gray Wolf's call. He whined softly
in response, fearing the club. He watched the fire until the last embers
of it died out, and then cautiously dragged himself from under the snag.
Two or three times he tried to stand on his feet, but fell back each
time. His legs were not broken, but the pain of standing on them was
excruciating. He was hot and feverish. All that night he had craved a
drink of water. When Sandy crawled out from between his blankets in the
early dawn he gave him both meat and water. Kazan drank the water, but
would not touch the meat. Sandy regarded the change in him with
satisfaction. By the time the sun was up he had finished his breakfast
and was ready to leave. He approached Kazan fearlessly now, without the
club. Untying the babiche he dragged the dog to the canoe. Kazan slunk
in th