Show RERE REON RE- RE 4 ON OF KAZAN by JAMES JAS OLIVER e C U I COPYRIGHT G 1 I 8 Service I Synopsis Part P Part wolf walt part pah part dog when when two months old Barco has his first meeting with an ane anen e en enemy n e m y Y young youns- owl Fighting hard the antagonIsts antagonists antagonists aro are suddenly plunged Into a swollen creek Badly buffeted and half halt drowned Baree Is finally final final- t ly 11 flung flung- on the tho bank but the I water has destroyed his sense of direction and he Is lost lonely and hungry For many days his life lite Is one of fear and distress He meets various arlous creatures atthe of at I the wild and goes through a n thunderstorm He lie is III learning more and more Chapter II Continued lI-Continued Continued 4 It was quite fortunate for Baree that this tills Instinct did not go to the limit In In Inthe the beginning and make him understand that mt lots his own br breed the breed the ed-the the wolf wolf was was most feared of or all the creatures creatures creatures crea crea- tures claw hoof and wing of the forests Otherwise like the small boy who thinks he can swim before he has mastered a stroke he lie might somewhere somewhere some some- where have hare jumped in be beyond ond his d. d depth and had his head chewed off Very much alert with the hair standing tip up along his spine and a little growl In his his- throat thront Baree smelled smelted of the big footprints made by bythe bythe bythe the bear and the moose It was the bear scent bear scent that made him growl He followed the tracks to the edge of the creek After that he resumed his wandering wandering wandering wan wan- dering and also his hunt for food For two hours he did not find a crayfish Then he came out of the green timber r into the edge of a over burned-over country Here Rere everything was black The st stumps of the trees stood up like huge charred canes It was a comparatively fresh burn of last autumn and the ash was still soft under Baree's feet Straight through this black region ran the creek and andover andover over oer It hung a n blue sky in which the surf sun was Chining It WAS quite inviting Inviting ing to Baree The fox the wolf the moose and the caribou would h havi ht t turned back from the edge of ot this dead country In J. J it would ha bo good good hU but t i pro gro d but now It Iti aV i 1 elea Even the owls would have found nothing to eat out there It was the blue sky and the sun and md the softness of the earth under his feet that lured Baree It was pleasant to tra travel eI el In after his painful experiences experiences experiences In the forest He lie continued to follow the stream though there was now little possibility of his finding anything an to eat The water had become become be be- come sluggish and und dark the channel was choked with charred debris that had fallen Into It when the forest had burned and Its shores were soft and anti muddy After a time when Ba Baree ee stopped pUll and look looked d about him Im he lie could no longer see ee the green timber he had left He lie was alone In In that desolate wilderness of charr charred d tree tree- corpses It was as still as death too Not the chirp of a n bird broke the si sl si- lence In the soft ash he could not hear the fall faU of his own feet But Dut he was not frightened There was the assurance of safety here If It he could only find something to eat That was was the master thought that possessed Baree Instinct had hadnot hadnot hadnot not yet Impressed upon him that this which he saw sawall all about him was star star- He went went on seeking hopefully for food But at last as the hours passed hope began to die out of him The sun sank westward The rhe sky grew less blue a n low wind began to ride over the tops of the stubs and now and then Ulen one of them fell with a n startling startling- crash Tish Baree could go no farther An hour before ore dusk he lay down In the open weak and starved The sun dIsappeared disappeared b behind the forest The moon rolled up from the east The sky glittered glittered glit gUt with stars stars And and all through the night Baree Daree lay as If dead When morning came he dragged himself to the stream for a drink With his last strength he went on It was the wolf urging him him compelling compelling him to struggle struggle struggle gle to the last for his life The dog dogIn dogin dogin in him wanted to He lle down and die But Hut the wolf spark wolf spark In him burned stronger In the end It won Half nl f a amile amile mile mUe farther on he came again to the green timber In the forests as well as In the great cities fate plays its changing and whimsical Land hand If It Baree Duree had dragged goed himself Into the timber b half lt an hour later Inter he would have died He lie was too far gone n l w tc to hunt for tor crayfish I or kill the weakest bird But Dut he came as BB the ermine the ermine the most t bloodthirsty little pirate of ot all nil the f wa lid w making a kill was tully tally a hundred yards ards from where Baree Darco lay stretched out under a spruce almost ready to give up the ghost was war a mighty hunter unter of ot hi his hi kind Ills His body was about seven Beven Inches lon long with a tiny tipped slack tall tail appended to It and ande ne e weighed perhaps five ounces A taby's taby fingers finger pr could have bave encircled him anywhere between his four legs and I his little sharp-pointed sharp head with Its beady red eyes could slip easily through a n hole an inch In diameter For several centuries had helped to make history It was he he- he when his pelt was worth a n hundred dollars In kings king's s 's gold that gold that lured the first shipload of ot gentlemen adventurers ers over the sea with Prince Rupert at their head blend It was wall little who was responsible for for forthe the forming of the great Hudson's Hudsons Bay Day company and the discovery of at half a continent for almost three centurIes he had fought his fight for existence with the trap trapper r. r And now though he was no longer worth his weight weight-in In yellow gold he was the cleverest cleere t the fiercest and the most merciless of all the creatures that made up his world As Baree lay under th the tree sew was creeping on his pr prey prey y His Ills game was a big fat spruce hen standIng standIng standing stand- stand Ing under a n thicket of black currant bushes lIe He was like a shadow shadow shadow-a a gra gray dot here n a flash there now hidden hidden hidden hid hid- den behind a stick no larger than a aman's amans amans aman's amans aman's mans man's wrist appearing for fora n moment the next Instant gone as quickly as If he had not existed Thus he approached approached ap ap- ap from fifty feet to within three feet of the spruce That was his favorite striking distance Unerringly he launched himself at the drowsy partridges partridge's throat and his needle-like needle teeth sank through feathers Into flesh was prepared for tor what happened then It always happened when he attacked the wood- wood partridge Her wings were powerful and her first Instinct when he struck p t C r j 9 J I f 91 1 i r- r Was Creeping on His Prey was always that of flight She rose straight up now with a n grea great thunder of wings hung tight his teeth burled buried 1 deep In her throat and his tiny sharp claws clinging to her like hands Through the air he 1 whizzed with her biting deeper and I deeper until a n hundred yards ards from fromm where that terrible death tiling had hud fastened to her throat thront crashed again to earth Where she fell was not ten feet from Baree Daree For a few moments he I looked at the struggling mass of feathers feathers feathers feath feath- ers In a daze not quite comprehending that at last food was almost within his reach was d dying ing but she still struggled convulsively with her wings Baree Buree rose stealthily and after a q moment in which he gathered all his remaining strength he made a u rush for her Ills His teeth sank sanle Into herr her breast breast and and not until then did he see The ermine had raised his head from the death grip death at the partridges partridge's partridges partridge's partridges partridge's part part- ridges ridge's throat and his savage little red eyes glared for a single Ins Instant ant Into I I Barcas ns as something too T nil gig if to kill and with an angry squeak the ermine was aa gone Napanee's wings relaxed and the throb went out of her body She was dead Baree hung on until ie tae W was S sure Then he be began his feast With Wilh murder In his heart hover hovered d near neur whisking whis here and there but never r coming nearer than half halt a dozen feet from Baree Ills His e eyes cs were redder than ever er Now and then he emitted a n sharp little squeak of rage Never had he been so angry In all his life To have a n fut fat partridge stolen from him like this was an un Imposition Imposition imposition tion he had never neer suffered before lIe He wanted to dart In and fasten his leis teeth In Baree's Jugular But he was too good n a general to make the attempt too good a Napoleon to Jump deliberately deliberately to his Waterloo An owl he would have fought lIe He might even ven have given battle to his big brother and his deadliest enemy the enemy the mink But nut In Baree Barce he recognized the wolf- wolf breed and he vented his spite at a n distance After a time his good sense returned and he lie went off oft on another hunt Baree farce ate n a third of the partridge and the remaining two thirds he cached very carefully at the foot of the bl big spruce Then he hurried down downto to the cre creek k I for a n drink The world looked very different to him now I After all ones one's capacity for happiness happiness happiness happi happi- ness depends lar largely ely on how deeply one has hus suffered Ones One's hard luck and misfortune forn form the stick measuring for future good luck and fortune So it was with Baree Fort Forty eight eight hours ago a a. full stomach would not have made him a tenth part as happy as he was now Then his greatest longing was for his mother Since then a still greater yearning had come Into his life for life for food In a way It was fortunate fortunate fortunate for for- for him tl at he had almost died of exhaustion and starvation for his experience had helped to make malee a n man manof manof manof of him him or or a wolf dog Just as you are of n a mind to put It He lIe would miss his mother for a long time But he would never miss her ber again as he had missed her yesterday and the day clay before For another d y and night Baree remained r re remained In the vicinity of his cache ache When the last bone was picked ho moved on He TIe now entered a n country country country coun coun- try where subsistence war no longer longera a perilous problem for him It was a al l lynx country and where there are lynx there are also a n great many rab rab- bits When the rabbits thin out the lynx emigrate to better hunting grounds As the snowshoe rabbit breeds all the summer through Baree area found himself In a a. land of plenty It was not difficult for him to catch and kill the young rabbits For a week h he prospered and grew bigger and stronger each ench day But all nil the time stirred by that seeking Wanderlust spirit still spirit still hoping to find the old home and his mother mother mother-he he traveled into the north and east cast And this was straight Into the trapping trap- trap 1 pIn ping country of Pierrot the halfbreed Pierrot until two years ears ago had believed to fo he be one of or the mo most t fortun fortunate te to men 14 19 the big wilderness That was before La Mort rort Rouge the Rouge the Red Death Death cf cr n He was half halt French and he h sd h-sd married a Cree chiefs chIef daughter and md In their lo log cabin rabIn on the Gray Loon the they Im had lived U for forman man many years rears In great grent prosperity and happiness Pierrot was proud of three things s In this wild world of his he wa was Immensely proud of Wyola his royal blooded ro wife he was proud of his daughter and he was proud of his reputation as a hunter Until the R Red d came life Ufe was quite complete complete complete com com- for him It was then two then two yeara years year a ago that ago o that the small smallpox ox killed his princess ss wife He lIe lived in the little cabin on the Gra Gray Loon but he was a n different Pierrot The heart was sick Id In him It would have died had It not been for his dau daugh daugh- h- h ter tel His Ills wife had named her Ne- Ne Ne Ne- which means menns menns' menns the Willow N had grown up like the willow slender as a reed with all her mothers mother's mothers mother's mothers mother's moth moth- ers er's wild beauty and with a n little of or orthe the French thrown In She was sixteen sixteen six sIx- teen with great grent dark wonderful e eyes es and hair hall so beautiful that an agent from Montreal passing that way had once tried to bu buy It It fell In two I shining braids each as ns big bl as a a mans man's I wrist almost to her knees Non 1 leu Pierrot had said a cold glitter In his eyes as he sa saw what was In the agents agent's face It Is not for barter Two days after Baree had entered his trapping ground Pierrot came In from the forests with a n troubled look lookIn In lots his face fuce And now he Is In the trapping trapping- grounds of Pierrot and the lovely How will will he fare TO BE CONTINUED |