She never knew what kept her hands steady, but steady they were. The
cloth was removed, and now she could see the red, angry wound, with the
hair shaven away to a little distance on every side. She dipped her
cloth into the antiseptic; it stung her fingers! She touched the cloth
lightly against the wound; and to her astonishment the wolf-dog relaxed
every muscle and let his head fall to the ground; also the growl died
into a soft whine, and this in turn ended.
She had conquered! Ay, when the wound was thoroughly cleansed and when
she started to wind the bandage again, she had even the courage to touch
Black Bart's body and make him rise up so that she could pass the cloth
freely. At her touch he shuddered, to be sure, as a man might shudder at
the touch of an unclean thing, but there was no snarl, and the teeth
were not bared.
As she tied the knot which secured the bandage in its place she was
aware that the eyes of Bart, no longer yellow-green, watched her; and
she felt some vague movement of the wonder that was passing through the
brute mind. Then the head of the wolf-dog jerked up; he was staring at
something in the distance, and there was nothing under heaven that Bart
would raise his head to look at in this manner except one thing. The
fingers of Kate grew stiff, and trembled. Slowly, in a panic, she
finished the knot, and then she was aware of someone who had approached
without sound and now stood behind her.
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