Show on of kazan by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD gl doubled par A co chapter VI continued li lt was a splendid night that fol lowed perhaps baaree baree would hate elep through it in his nest on the top of alie dam it alie bacon smell had not stirred the new hunger in him since his adventure in the canyon the deeper forest had held a dread for him especially at night but this night was like a pale golden day it was moonless but the stars shone like a billion distant lamps flooding the world in a soft and billowy sea of light A gentle whisper of wind made pleasant sounds in the treetops beyond that it was very quiet for it was the boulting Moul ting moon end the wolves were not hunting the on Is had lost their voice the foxes clunk with the silence of shadows and even the beavers had begun to cease heir labors the horns of the moose the deer and the caribou were in ten der venct and they moved but little and fought not at all it was late july boulting Moul ting moon of the cree moon of silence for the in this silence baaree baree began to hunt he stirred up a family of half grown partridges but they escaped him lie pursued a rabbit that was swifter than he I 1 or an hour he had no luck then he heard a sound that made every drop of blood in him thrill he was close 0 o ts camp and what he had heard was a rabbit in one 0 ts snares he came out into a little starlit open and there he caw the rabbit going through a most marvelous pantomime it amazed him for a moment and he stopped in bis trad s the rabbit had ann alb furry head into the snare and his first frightened jump had shot the sapling to which the copper wire was attached so that he was now hung half in midair with only his hind feet touching the ground and there he was dancing madly while the noose about his neck slowly choked him to death baaree baree gave a sort of gasp he could understand nothing f the part that the wire and the sapling were placing in this curious game all he could see was that was hopping and dancing about on his hind legs in a most puzzling like ash ion it mar be that he thought it aume eume sort of play in this instance however he did not regard as he had looked on the beaver he knew that made mighty fine eating and after another moment or two of hesitation he darted upon ills prey half gone already made al most no struggle and in the glow of the stars baaree baree finished him and for halt an hour afterward he feasted had heard no sound for the snare into which had run ills head was the one set farthest from his c imp the smoldering coals of his fire he sit with his back to a tree smoking his black pipe and dreaming covetously of Ne when baaree baree continued his night v baaree baree no longer had the desire to launt lie was too full but he nosed in and out of the starlit spaces en immensely the stillness and alie golden glow of the night he was fol foiling a rabbit run when he came to a place where two fallen logs left a trail no wider than his body he squeezed through something tight ened about ills neck there was a sudden snap a swish as the sapling was released from its trigger and baaree baree was jerked olt his feet so sud denly that he had no time to condee ture as to what ivas happening the dp in his died in a gur glennd the next moment he as going through the pantomimic actions of who wag having his ven bance inside bilm I 1 or the life of him baaree baree could not keep from dancing about while the wire grew tighter and tighter about his neck furiously he struggled it aas a miracle that the fine wire held him in a few moments more it must have broken but me taggart had heard halml the factor caught up his blanket and a heavy etlick as he hurried toward alie snare it wag not a rabbit making those he knew that perhaps a fisher cat a lynx a fox a young olt it was the wolf he thought of first when he saw baaree baree at the end of the wire he dropped the blanket and baled the club it there had been clouds overhead or the stars had been liss brilliant baaree baree would have died us surely as had died with alie club raised over his head me taggart saw in time the white star the white tipped ear and the jet black of barbes coat with a swift movement he ex clinn ged the club for the blanket in that hour could have looked ahead to the days that were to come he would have used the club could tie have foreseen the great tragedy in which baaree baree was to play a altal part his hopes and destroying ying jils world he would have beaten aim to a pulp there under the gail of the stars and baaree baree could he have forea een what was to happen between this brute a white skin and tre tr e most beautiful thing in the 1 forests would have fought evermore even more bitterly before he surrendered himself to the smothering embrace of the pac tor s blanket on this night I 1 ate had played a strange hand for them both and only that I 1 ate and perhaps the stars above held knowledge of what ita outcome was to be half an hour later bush s alre was burning brightly again in the glow of it baaree baree lay trussed up like an indian papoose tied into a bal loon shaped ball with thong his head alone showing where his captor had cut a hole for it in the blanket lie was hopelessly caught so closely imprisoned in the blanket that he could scarcely move a muscle of his body A few feet away from him was bathing a bleed ing hand in a basin of water there was also a red streak down the side of ts bullish neck you little devil 1 he snarled at baaree baree you little devil I 1 he reached over suddenly and gave barbes head a vicious blow with his heavy hand 1 I ought to beat your brains out and I 1 bellev e I 1 will 1 baaree baree watched him as he picked up a stick close at his side a bit of firewood pierrot had chased him but this was the first time he had been near enough to the man monster to see acl red glow in his eyes they were not like the eyes of the wonder tul creature almost caught him in the web of her hair and who had crawled after him under the rock n they were beast eye they you little devall made him shrink and try to draw bis head back into the blanket as the stick was raised at the same time be snarled ills white fangs gleamed in the firelight his ears were flat lie wanted to sink his teeth in the red throat where he had already drawn blood the stick fell it tell agian and when was done baaree baree lay half stunned his eyes partly closed by the blows and ills mouth bleeding the way we take the devil out of a wild dog snarled I 1 guess you won t try the biting gigae again eh youngster A thousand devils but you went almost to the bone of this hand he began washing the wound again barbes teeth had sunk deep and there was a troubled look anthe factors face it was bulj a bad month for bites from his kit he got a small flask of whisky and turned a bit of the raw liquor on the wound cursing baaree baree as it burned into his flesh dareen half shut ees were fixed on him steadily lie knew that at last he had met the of all his enemies and yet he was not afraid the club in bush ts hand had not killed his spirit it had killed his fear it biad roused in him a lia tred such as he had never known not even when he was fighting sew the outlaw owl the vengeful animosity ot the wolf was burning in him now along with the savage cour age of the dog baaree baree did not take his eyes from as he smoked lie watched the man when the latter stretched himself out on the bare ground and went to sleep lie listened still later to the man monsters heinous snoring again and again during the long night he struggled to free himself he would never forget that night it was terrible in the thick hot folds of the blanket his limbs and body were sut located until the blood almost stood still in his veins yet he did not whine they began to journey before the sun was up for if baaree baree s blood was almost dead within him bush mactag garts was scorching his body with the heat of its anticipation he made his last plang as he walked swiftly through the forest with baaree baree under his arm he would send pierrot at once for father grolln at his mission seventy miles to the west he would marry yes marry her I 1 that would tickle pierrot and he would be alone with while pierrot was gone for the this thought flamed s blood like strong whisky there was no thought in his hot and unreasoning brain of what might say of what she might think he was not after the soul of her his hand clenched and he laughed harshly as there flashed on him tor an instant the thought that perhaps pierrot would not want to give her up pier bah I 1 it would not be the first time he had killed a man or the sec ond T laughed again and he walked still taster there was no chance of bis losing no chance for to get away from him he bush was lord of this wilderness master of its people abbl ter of their destinies he was power and the law the sun was well up when pierrot standing in front of his cabin with Ne pointed to a rise in the trail three or four hundred yards away over which had just ap feared he Is coming with a face which had aged since last night he looked at again he saw the dark glow in her eyes and the deepening red of her parted lips and his heart was sick again with dread was it possible she turned on alro her eves shining her voice trembling remember you must send him to me tor his answer she cried quickly and she darted into the cabin with a cold gray face pier rot faced bush chapter VI from the window her face screened brathe folds of the curtain which she hid made for it the willow saw what happened outside she was not sall ing now she was breathing quickly and her body was tense she heard ts coarse voice his bolster ous greeting and then she saw him showing pierro Pl erro what he carried under his arm there came to her distinctly his explanation of how he had caught his capthi in a rabbit snare he un wrapped the blanket gave a cry of amazement in an instant she was out beside them she did not look at s red face blazing in its joy and exultation it Is she cried slie took the bundle from mactag gart and turned to pierrot tell him that baaree baree belongs to me aishe said ahe hurried into the cabin mactag gart looked after her stunned and amazed alien he looked at pierrot man halt blind could leave seen that pierrot was as amazed as he ne biad not spoken to him the factor of lac brinl she had not looked at halml and she had aiken the dog from him with as little con corn ad though he had been a wooden roan the red in his face deepened as he stared from pierrot to the door through which she had gone and she hid closed behind her TO BE CONTINUED |