Show I BAREE BARE Son of Kazan I r f Chapter XII Continued XII Continued 21 21 It was WM a wonderfully wOI clear night after the storm torm storm cold old cold and brilliant I with th the shallows shadows standing out a as i clearly ns M living tiling things Th Till The third J Idea came to linroe now He lie was wo l like nil all animals largely of one olle Idea tIO j 11 Bt lit a R flaw flaw- u Ju a u creature with whom nil alt I lessor leaser Impulses l were wre governed by a n single le lending Impulse A Anti And this tm tin pulse In I the IK glow of qt the starlit night e was to reach roch ns as quickly o ns as possible the first of two cabins on 1 j g th the trap There he be would find II I 1 ISo Ii i r. r We So wont won't call c the process by which i I mine to this conclusion a proc process f PHI ess of reasoning Instinct or reasoning reason reason- J In Ing whatever It was n a flied fixed and post post- the Up faith came carne to Buree just the same S lie He began to miss the traps trails In hl his bis haste to cover distil distance to liCe tO to reach the cabin r It was Wall twenty five miles from Pier Iler rots rot's burned home to the first fint trap trap- cabin nail and hind mil monde made de ten of these theRe by hy nl nightfall The remaining fifteen lit fir teen were the most In III the open spaces the snow BilOW was deep betty and soft frequently he plunged through drift drifts In III which for a few moments moments mo 1110 ments he tie was burled burIN Three times durin during the perry part of the night heard the savage dirge of ot the will wolves Once It was a II wild of ot triumph ns as the hunters hunter pulled down their kill less IIRI than thon halt half halfa a n mile mite away In III the Iho deep forest slut the ul voice no longer called to 10 him It was repellent repellent repellent-n n voice oke of hatred and of ot trenchers treachery time that he lip heard It he hI HI stopped slopped In III his hll tracks and snarled j while his spine stiffened At midnight came to 10 the tiny 1 i amphitheater In the forest tores where Pierrot had cut the togs logs for the tie first of ot his trap line cabins For or at least a n minute woos stood nt ot the ace edge euge u of or orthe the clearing his ears very alert hIs Ids eyes ellS bright with hope and expectation expectation tion while he sniffed the air There WAS no smoke no sou sound nIl no light lIht In fn Inthe the one window M of ot the log shack Ills III disappointment fell on him even en ashe ns as lie he stood there again he sensed the tact of ot Ids his aloneness of ot the barrenness barrenness barren barren- ness ness- of his quest There lher was a disheartened dill dis- heartened slouch to his body as 8 he made his way WilY through the snow to the cabin door minor lie He had Imd traveled twenty twenty- five VI miles and he hue was tired The snow was wnM drifted deep at the Ihl doorway and here bore sat Rat down and whined It II was no longer the anxious questing whine of ot n II few hours ago ngo Now Nov It II voiced oJ 11 hopelessness and n deep despair For half an nil hour he sat Rat shiv ering rill with his back to the door and Ids his face to the starlit wilderness as us asIf liSIt If It there still remained the fleeting filIn hope that Hint might follow low after him over the trail Then he hI burrowed himself n hole deep 11 In III the snowdrift and passed the remainder of ot the thin night In slumber With Will the Hie first light of day Ilay narle resumed re- re the trail lie was not so alert this morn morning There was the thin disconsolate discon solute droop to his tall which the Indians In III call c the the the sign of the tho sick dog And was sick sick- not of ot body hody but hut of ot soul The keenness o of h his hope hind had died and he no longer expected to find the Willow The second at lit the tar fur end of the trap trap line line drew him on but It III Inspired In III him none of ot the enthusiasm with which he hll had hurried to the first lie traveled tr slowly and spasmodically hIs Ids suspicions of ot the forests again replacing repine repine- ing the excitement of ot his hits quest He tie approached each cacti of ot Pierrot's traps and lIt cautiously and twice twirl he showed hits his fangs once fangs once at a II marten that snapped nt at him from under a root where It had dragged ragged the trap In which I It W was H caught and ond the second time at nt n a big hll snowy owl that th had come to steal Meal bait halt and was now a prisoner at the Inn end wt t f a n steel chain It ma may bt be that hint Bare Haree thought It was unit and that he tie still remembered remembered vh I Idly the treacherous assault and tierce battle hattle of that night when as liS n a puppy he Was dragging his sore and wounded body through the mystery mystery mys mys- tery and fear of ot the big timber For foor he hp did lid more than to show his tangs fangs II lie He tore the owl Into Inlo pieces There were plenty of nt rabbits In Pierrot's traps trills and Haree did not go 10 hungry lie Ile reached the second I trap trap- rill n.- n. linn lo Into In Ih nunn n nn I ten Ian hours hourI of ot traveling He tie met with no 10 very ry great disappointment here I Ifor for n no at hind had not anticipated very ry much h. h The 1111 snow had banked thus this cabin c et en e en higher than tin the other It la lay hay three feet deep against I the he door dor and II he till window with a u thick coatIng coat coat- Ing log of t fro frost t. t At I this place which was flo lose lJ to the edge l' of ot a n lug Ill barren and unsheltered h by the thick forests farther far far- farther ther hack Pierrot had built hullt n I shelter for his hili firewood ned and In lu this Ihl l shelter Unree Ilaree made his temporary home All 1 the hI next tiny he hI remained somewhere oll I near the end of ot the trap trap tine line skirting I th the edge pd of ot the barren and ami Investigating I lug ing g the short hort side hie line of ot a n doyen on I Itral's traps which Pierrot and hud hind strung through a II swamp In III which there had been hlen many signs of ot III lynx It was IS the thirst 1 day before he hue set 11 out outon on en his return to tn the Cray Gruy Loon lInn a He the did not travel very Iry fast spending spend lag ing Ihl two days In covering cO the twenty twenty- twenty twenty- live ft-e miles mill between the nr t anti and the second trap mine cabins At t the 1111 second second sec SIC ond cabin he remained for three III Jays days end and It was on the Ill ninth day tiny that he hI reached Ih Ill I'll the Gru Gray Loon There WIN was WINno no chance There r were Ne no nn tracks tacks In Inthe the hl snow OW but his hll own 11 made nine days Ito Marcos Barons quest for tor hoc erne Tilts now mor more or less Involuntary r a II sort ot or sally routine a week ho he made m By Iy JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD II 7 P Pa Pat I A Co B III Ms his burrow In the dog corral and at least twice between dawn and darkness dark ness he would go to the birch bark tepee pee and the chasm Ills trail troll soon oon lien ten hard liard In the snow became as fixed ns nil Pierrot's trap And then of ot n a sudden Borel made it II change He Ito threat n II night In the tepee After Atter that whenever Er he hI was nt ut the till Gray lY I. I Loon IOury o during the day he always slept In the tepee The two blankets were his bed bed mind and they were n II part II of ot And there all through the long winter he be waited The lh winter passed anti and sprung spring came and still continued to haun haunt haun his I old uld I trails even going now and then over the tile old tro trap line lIne as tar far as 88 the first of ot the two cabins The traps trap were rusted and sprung now the thawing snow disclosed bones and feathers between their jaws under the were remnants of ot fur tur and put on the Ice of the lakes lokI were picked skeletons of cf foxes and amid wolves that hat had taken the poison Thelast The last snow went The swollen 8 streams sang lOll In the forests and canyons canons The grass turned green Irn and the first flowers flowers flow flow- ers came All these thRe things were happening and the birds hind had mated and II nested f'S I Id mural still did not lIot comp come cornel I And nt lit last something broke Inside of ot Inree ilaree his last hope perhaps hi hU his last dream II and one cue day he bade good good-by to 10 the Gray No one can say what It cost him togo to togo go 10 no due ne can say lIay how he fought the things that were holding 1 hIm Mm to thin tho tepee teple tho the old swimming swimming- pool the familiar paths In the forest and the two graves es that were not so I lonely now under the tall lull spruce lIe He r 1 f And Into the North He Went went lie He hod had no reason simply reason simply went It may many be lie that there Is a Master l whose hand guides the beast beas t ns as well wIll as ns the mOil mean and that hint we know just enough of ot this guidance to call It Instinct For foor In dragging himself himsel t nw uy Karoe noree faced the Great ture It was there In tn the north waiting tar fur him him and and Into the north he wen went t. t a a a a aIt It was early lIrly In August when Ilare e left the Gray Cray Loon lIe He had hod no objective Live tive In view Hut there was still left let upon his mind like the time delicate emu hu pr lon of at light and shadow on a negative tI ve the memories of ot his earlier earlie r days Things an an- an happenings that h he e re had bad almost forgotten recurred to him himas 09 ns Ids his trail led him farther and farther far for farther th ther r away from the Gray Cray Loon an and 1 his earlier experiences became ren real I again pictures thrown out afresh 1 In a I his mind by the breaking of ot the thu last t III ties that held him to the home human of ot thi the e Willow Involuntarily he followed th the e trail trull of ot these Impressions ot of these thes e past happenings and slowly the thy they y helped to build up new Interests to for tor r him lie He came to the blind canon t up which e and Pierrot hud had 1 I That seemed but yester yester- day He lie entered the little mead w and stood beside the great rock that had almost crushed the life lite out of ot the Willows Willow's body and then he rEmembered remembered remembered where his big bear friend had died under Pierrot's rifle rifle rIlle- und and he lie smelled of ot 1 whitened bones where they li lay y scattered In the green grass with flowers growing up I among theta them I ArM And now for tor the first lI time In many weeks a bit of at the old old thine time eagerness I put speed Into Barons Haree's feet Memories that had been blIn hazy and Indistinct I through forgetfulness were becoming I realities again and as he would have I returned to the Gray Loon Joon had find been there here so now with something some seine thing of ot the feeling of ot a u wanderer goIng going going go go- ing home hOllie he returned to the old beav beav- er All through the tie month of ot August noree made the pond beaver his Ids head head- I I quarters At times his excursions excursion kept him away for tor two or three thrle days day j at nt a n time These Journeys were nl nl- ways Into the tile north sometimes a little east and sometimes a little west weRt but I never again Into Inlo the south And at nt last lut early In September he left the pond beaver for good It was almost December when I Irile Irue Lerue I Le rue rile a halfbreed from Inc Lac ham saw V Haree's footprints In freshly fallen snow and n a little later Inter caught a flash of ot him In the bush bURh Mon Alon DIeu I J tell 1111 you OU his leis feet flet lire are 11 as big as my 11 hand and he Is ns os black ns nil n a ravens raven's wing with the sun on It III 10 I he exclaimed In the Company's store nt at Lee Lac A fox tox Non I 1 lie He Is halt half as ns big as ns a 0 hear bear A wolf wolf out ull ullAnd I And black ns as the devil I l t was one olle of those who heard He lie was putting his huts signature In Ink Ilik to a n letter he had written to the Company when Lerue's words came cameto cameto cameto to him film Ills hand tin an lint a drop of Ink spattered tt d- d on th the letter Through him tali there ran ron a curious curious cu cu- rious shiver as he looked over at the halfbreed Just then lien Marie came In had brought her back from her tribe Her lIer big dark eyes had a 11 asick asick sick look in them and some of ot her wild beauty had gone since a year ago ngo With scarcely a sound that hint the othErs others others oth oth- ers could hear Marie had whispered into the Factors Factor's ear and folding his letter rose quickly and left lett the store He lIe was vas gone an on hour Lerue Le- Le rue and the others were puzzled It was not often that Marie came Into the store It was not often that they saw her at all nil She Slie remained hidden In the Factors Factor's log hou house e e. e and each tach I time line that he saw her Lerue thought that her face tace was a n little thinner than Ihan 1 the last Insl and und her eyes bigger and hungrier hun grier looking In his own heart there was lens a great yearning Many a night he I I passed paRsed the little window beyond which i I he knew that slip she was sleeping often I he lie looked to catch a n glimpse of ot her i pale face and he tie lived 11 In the one Imp Imp- i of ot knowing that Marie understood understood under under- stood and that lint Into her eyes there I came for tor on an Instant a different light when their glances met No one else knew The secret lay between them them them- I II mind and nil patiently Lerue waited and watched Some day he kept saying i to himself Some Some day day and and that was all 1111 I I t Lerue was WOI thinking of ot this when I returned at the tee end of ot the hour The Factor carne came straight up I Ito to where the half dozen of ot them were seated about the big box stove and with a grunt of ot satisfaction shook the I freshly fallen snow from tram his shoulders Pierre has hns accepted the I governments government's offer and Is 18 s going to I guide the map map making party up Into the time Barrens this winter he an an- anI I I pounced Tau Vou know knew Lerue he Lerue-he he has hns hasa a hundred and fifty traps and dead dead- tolls falls set and a big poison bait coun try A good II line n 1 eh shit And I J have hare leased fd It of ot Mill him for tor the season It will give me the outdoor work I net need need- d- d three thrle days on the t trail 10 11 three days here Eh th what do you yoo say any to the bargain bar bar- I 1 gain It Is good sold said Lerue I Yes IS It Is la good said Beget Hoget I A wide to fox tox country said Bald Mons MODS Houle Roule And easy to travel murmured murmur Va Vs i lenie lente In a voice that was almost like a womans TO R na CONTINUED I |