Show BAREE B A A EE son I 1 L I 1 L of 0 f K kazan A UZ M fan HOMESICK BAREE fart w 1 it part doe when two month old bares bare has hag his bl alist meeting with an enemy n m 7 young owl awl fighting hird hard t the he an are ar suddenly into aw wollen 0 ilen creek badly buffeted and halt half drowned bares to finally anally flunk on the bank but the wat water er has destroyed his sense enie of dir direction rec tf 0 n and he is I 1 lost loat lonely frand and h u n chapter xa pter il 1 l continued eldiree baree was waa fully three quarters af 9 a toll mile from the windfall when he be camo to a point where the creek split itself into two clan channels nels he had but bui one choice to follow the stream that flowed cowed a little south and east this stream did not ran swiftly it was not filled with shimmering rI riffles rif fles tIles and rocks about which the water sang and foamed it grew black like the forest it t was still and deep without knowing it baaree baree was burying himself deeper and deeper into old trapping grounds since had died they had lain undisturbed except tor ter the wolves for gray wolf alid kazan had not hunted on this side of the waterway and the wolves thein selves preferred the more open country tor for the chase suddenly bares found himself at the edge of a deep dark pool in which the water lay still its as oil and his bla heart nearly jumped out of his body when a treat great sleek chining creature sprang out cut from almost under ills his nose and landed with a tremendous splash in the center of it it was the otter the atter had not heard beard baree baaree and in another moment his wife came sailing out of a patch of gloom loom and behind het hel come came three little otters leaving behind them four shimmering wakes in the oily looking water irater what happened after that made baaree baree forget for a few minutes that he was lost had als blaip tp feared under the surface and now ile he came ame up directly under his unsuspecting mate with a force that lifted her half out of 0 the water instantly lie he was gone again and took after him fiercely to baaree baree it did not mot look like play two of the baby otters had pitched on the third which seemed to be fighting desperately the chill and ache went out of barbes body ills blood run ran excitedly he forgot himself and let out a hark bark in a flash the otters disappeared for several minutes the water in the alie pool continued to rock and heave and that was waa all after a little barce drew himself bade back into the bushes bashes and went on it was about three in the afternoon and the sun should still detill have been well up in the sky but it was growing darker steadily and the strangeness and fear of it all lent grenter greater speed to bareis legs lie ile topped stopped every little while to listen and fit at one of these intervals lie he heard biear a sound that drew from him a responsive spon sive and joyous whine it was a distant howl howla a wolfs howl straight glit ahead of him baree baaree was not thinking of wolves but of kazan and lie he ran through the gloom of the forest until ahe was winded then he stopped and listened a long time the wolf li wi did not come again instead of it there rolled up from the west a deep and thunderous rumble through the treetops trec tops there flashed a vivid streak of lightning A moaning whisper of wind rode in advance of the storm the thunder seemed searching baree baaree out where he be stood shivering under p canopy of great spruce tills this was his second j the first had bad frightened him ter terribly riby and lie had bad crawled far hack back into the shelter of tile the windfall the hest best he could find now was a hollow under a big root and into this lie slunk crying softly it was a baby lah fall cry cry for his mother for home for warmth for sirmo thing soft and protecting to nestle up to and ns cis lie cried alio storm burst over the forest barce had never before heard so much inucci noldo noise and he had never seen the lightning play in such sheets of fire us when this june deluge fell it seemed lit at times RH as though tile the whole world were inflame and the lie earth seemed to and roll under the crashes of the thunder lie ile ceased ills crying and made himself as small as he could under the root which protected itam bilm partly from the ter terrific rifle beat of the rain which came down through tile the tre eaps in a flood it was now so black that except eicel lit when the light 7 ng ripped great holes in the gloom he could not see ee the spruce trunks twenty feet away twice that distance from narce there was a bu huge ge dead stub that stood out like a ghost each time the fires swept the sky as if defying the flaming hands bands up there to strike und and strike at last one of them did I 1 A bluish tongue of snapping flame came ran down the old stub and as aa it touched the earth there came a tremendous explosion above the treetops the alie massive stub shivered and nd tilt then n it broke asunder as if cloven by p a gigantic ax it crashed down so close to baree baaree that earth and sticks flew about tim and he let out a wild yelp of terror us as lie tried to crowd himself deeper into the alla shallow ilow hole bole under the root mo the destruction of the old stub ithe thunder and lightning seemed to ebli ave ve vested vented their malevolence the thunder cassea on saro into the south and east llor the rolling of 0 ten thousand heavy cartwheels over the roots of the orect ore ht and the went with it it by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD 06 doubleday Do ablay paso pa 4 co C service serl the rain min fell steadily the bole in which he be had taken shelter wu was soppy he was waa drenched hla his teeth chattered an he waited tot or th next thing to happen it was along watt walt when the rain min stopped and the sky cleared it was waa night through the tops topi of the trees baree baaree could have zeta een the stars blare it if he be had poked out ills his head bead and looked ul upward iward but hi he clung to hla his hole bole hour after hour passed exhausted halt half drowned footsore and hungry lie he did not move at last he tell fell into a troubled sleep a sleep in which every now and then he cried softly and forlornly for hla his mother when he ventured out from under the root it was morning and the sun was shining at first ilaree could hardly sand e nd ills legs were cramped every bone in his body seemed out of joint his ear wits was stiff where the blood had oozed out of it and hardened an when he be tried to wrinkle hta his wounded nose lie he gave a sharp yap of pain it if such a thing were possible he looked even worse than h he felt elt ills hair had dried in muddy patches he was dirt stained from end to end and where yesterday he had been plump and shiny he was now as thin and wretched us as misfortune could possibly make him and he was hungry lie he had never before known what it meant to ile be really hungry bun spy I 1 when he went on continuing la in the direction he had been following yesterday he slunk along in a dis heartened sort of way ills head and ears cars were no longer alert and lila curiosity was gone ile he was not only stomach hun gry mother hunger rose above his physical yearning for something to eat he wanted his mother as lie had never wanted her before in ills life lie he wanted to snuggle hla his shiv shivering pring little body close up to her and feel the warm caressing of her tongue and listen to the mothering whine of tier her volee and he wanted kazan find the old windfall and that big blue spot that was in the sky right over it while he followed again along the edge of the creek he whimpered for them as a child might ml flit grieve the forest grew more inore open after a time and this cheered him up a little also the warmth of the sun was taking the ache out of his body he grew hungrier and hungrier ile he had depended entirely on kazan and gray wolf for food ills his parents had bad in some ways maden great baby of him gray wolfs blindness accounted for this for or bince ince his birth shea had not taken up her hunting with kazan and it was waa quite natural that unree should stick close to tier her though more than once lie he had bad been filled with a great yearning to follow his father nature was hard at work trying to overcome its handicap now it was struggling to impress on baree baaree that the time had now come when he must seek his own food the tact fact impinged itself upon him slowly but steadily and he began to think of the three or four shellfish he had caught and devoured on the stony creek bar near the windfall he also remembered the open clam shell lie he lind had found and the lusciousness of the tender morsel inside it A new excitement began to possess him lie he became all at once ft hunter the thinning out of tile the forest tile the creek grew more shallow it ran over bars of sand and stones and baree baaree began to nose along the edge of these for a lonz long time lie bad no success the few crayfish that he saw were exceedingly lively and elusive and nil all the clam shells were shut so tight that even een kabans powerful jaws would have haie had difficulty in smashing them it was all almost not noon when lie he caught his first crayfish crawfish about as big as ft a mans forefinger ile he devoured detoured it ravenously alir taste of food fond gave him fresh colage cou age he caught two more croyal li li during the afternoon it was almost dusk when he stirred a youns youn rabb it out from under a cover of grass if he lial ha 1 been a month older lie rould could have caught it lie he was still very hungry for three cray crai deli scattered cli thip day lind had not don much to fill iiii I 1 in emptiness that was grong steadily in him with the llie approach of night barbes fears ears and great loneliness returned before the day lud had quite gone lie he found himself a shelter under a big rock where there wits has a soft bed of sand since ills fight with he had traveled a long distance and mid the rock under which he made his bed this night was at least eight or nine miles from the windfall it was in the open ol of the creek bottom with the durk dark forest of spruce and cedars close on either side and when the moon rose and the th tun stem filled the sky iky daree could look put and see left the th water of the stream shimmering in a glow low almost as bright as a day directly la in front of him running to the th waters batees edge was wan a broad carpet of white sand land across thin sand band half an hour later came cama a huge black bear until datil barea had joeen jdeen the otters at play in the creek Us i of the forests had not gone beyond hla his own kind and such creatures as an owl and rabbits and small feathered things the otters had not frightened him because he still measured things by size and was not halt half as an big as kazan hut but the bear wils was a monster beside which kazan would have stood a mere pigmy it calure nure was taking this athla way of introducing ilaree barce to the fact that there were more important creatures in the forests than dogs and wolves and owls and crayfish crawfish she was driving the point home with a little more than necessary emphasis for WaLn Waka yoo the bea bear weighed six hundred pounds if he weighed an ounce ile he was tat and sleek from a months feasting on fash nis ills shiny cont coat was like black velvet velia in the moonlight and lie he walked with a curious rolling motion with his head hung low the horror borror grew when he be stopped broadside in the carpet of and not more than ten feet from the rock under which baree baaree was shivering as if lie he had the ague it was wag quite evident that lind lied caught scent of him in the air taree could hear him sniff could hear his breathing caught the starlight flashing in his reddish brown eyes as they swung suspiciously auspiciously toward the big boulder if baree baaree could have known then that he be his insignificant little self was making that monster actually nervous and uneasy he would have given a yelp of joy for wake yoo in bpi spite te of h his Is biz size e w was as 8 somewhat 0 in ew be it of a coward when it come came to wolves and baree baaree carried the wolf scent it grew stronger in Waka nose find and just then as if to increase whatever nervousness was growing in him there came from out of the forest behind him a long walling howl with an audible grunt moved on wolves were pests he argued they stand up and fight sn amp lp and yap at ones heels for hours lit at a time and were always out of the way quicker than a wink when n one turned on them what was the use of lia liangqing ngIng around where there were wolves on a beautiful night might like this lie he lumbered oil 0 decisively baree baaree could hear him splashing heavily through thron gli the water fit the creek not uell then did the wolf dog draw a full breath it was almost a gasp but the exel excitement teme t was not over for the night beree baree had chosen his bed at a place where the animals came down to drink and where they crossed from one of the creek forests to the other othen not long after this the bear had disappeared lie he heard it a heavy crunch ing in the sand and hoofs rattling against stones and a bull moose with n huge sweep of antlers anglers passed through the open space in the moonlight babee baree stared with popping eyes for if Walin yoo had weighed six hundred pounds this gigantic creature whose legs were v ere so long that it seemed to be walking ou on stilts weighed at least denst twice ns as much A cow moose followed and then a calf the calf seemed nil all legs it was too much for baaree baree and he shoved himself farther and farther 1 back a ek under tinder the rock until he lay wedged in like a sardine in a box and there he lay until morning 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 when ahrn baree baaree ventured forth from under his rock lt the beginning of the next div day he be was a much older puppy than whan he met thi the young owl in hla his path near the old windfall if experience pan can be made to take the place of age lie he had aged a great deal in the last forty eight hours in fact he had passed almost out of hood lie ile awoke with a new and much broader nepton nc of 0 the world it wits was a big place it II was filled with many things of kaman kni in and gray wolf were not the mf arst t important the monsters he had bad spen seen on the lie moonlit plot of sand had find roused in him a new kind of caution ant ami the one greatest instinct of beasts tile the primal understand understanding inz that it to 1 the strong that prey upon the wak nag ing wakening swiftly in him As yet he quite naturally men measured brute force and the menace of things by size alone thus the bear was more ter than kazan and the moose way war more terrible than the bear bares baite has now discovered that we a big world with many ad ventures and hes learning fast fait TP B |