Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1918-03-08


heavens sake. man take my word for
1t, an don't put your money on the
Dane!"
Others thrust themselves between
them. At first Kazan had snarled at
all these faces about him. But now
he lay back against the boarded side
of the cage and eyed them sullenly
from between his forepaws.
The fight was to be pulled off in Har-
ker's place, combination of saloon
and cafe. The benches and tables had
been cleared out and in the center of
the one big room cage ten feet square
rested on platform three and half
feet from the floor. Seats for the three
hundred spectators were drawn closely
around this. Suspended just above the
open top of the cage were two big oil
lamps with glass refectors.
1t was eight o'clock when Harker,
McTrigger and two other men bore Ka-
Fan to the arena by means of the wood
en- bars that projected from the bottom
Of his cage. The big Dane was already
in the fighting cage. He stood blinking
his eyes in the brilliant light Of the
rejecting lamps. He pricked up his
ears when he saw Kazan. kazan did
not show his fangs. Neither revealed
the expected luminosity. 1t was the first
they had seen of each other, and MUIR
muir of disappointment swept the ranks
of the three hundred men. The Dane
remained as mOtionleSS as rock when
Kazan was prodded from his own cage
into the fighting cage. He did not leap
or snarl. He regarded Kazan with
dubious questioning poise to his splen-
did head, and then looked again to the
expectant and excited faces of the wait
ing men. For a few moments Kazan
stood stiff-legged, facing the Dane
Then his shoulders dropped. and he,
too, coolly faced the crowd that had ex-
pected fight to the death. A laugh of
derisiOn swept through the closely seat
ed rows. Catcalls, jeering, taunts flung
ut McTrigger and Harker, and angry
voices demanding their money back
mingled with tumult of growing dis
content. Sandy's face was red with
modification and rage. The blue veins
in Harker's forehead had swollen twice
their normal size. He shook his fist in
the face of the crowd, and shouted:
"Wait! Give 'em chance, you
fools!"
At his words every voice was stilled.
Kazan had turned. He was facing the
Dane. The Dane had turned his eyes
to Kazan. Cautiously, prepared for a
lunge or a sidestep, Kazan advanced
little. The Danes shoulders bristled.
He, too, advanced upon kazan. -Four
feet apart they stood rigid. One could
have heard a whisper in the room now.
Sandy and Harker, standing close to
the cage, scarcely breathed. Splendid
in every limb and muscle, warriors of
hundred fights, and fearless to the
point of death, the two half-wolf vic
tins of man stood facing each other.
None could see the questioning look in
their brute eyes. None knew that in
this thrilling moment the unseen hand
of the wonderful Spirit God of the will
dernesS lowered between them, and
that one of its miracles was descending
upon them. 1t was understanding.
Meeting in the open-rivals in the
traces-they would have been rolling
/. in the throes of terrific battle. But here
came that mute appeal of brotherhood.
In the final moment, when only step
separated them, and when men ex-
pected to see the first mad lunge, the
splendid Dane slowly raised his head
and looked over kazan's back through
the glare of the lights. Harker trem-
bled, and under his breath he cursed.
The Danes throat was open to kazan
But between the beasts had passed the
voiceless pledge of peace. kazan did
not leap. He turned. And shoulder to
shoulder-splendid in their contempt of
man-they stood and looked through
the bars of their prison into the one of
human faces.
! A roar burst from the crowd-a roar
of anger, of demand, of threat. In his
rage Harker drew revolver and
leveled it at the Dane. Above the tu-
multi of the crowd single voice
stopped him.
Hold p it demanded. "Hold-in the
name of the law!"
For a moment there was silence.
Every face turned in the direction of
the voice. Two men stood on chairs
behind the last row. One was Sergeant
Brokaw of the Royal Northwest
Mounted. 1t was he who had spoken.
He was holding up hand. command
ing silence and attention. On the chair
beside him stood another man. He was
thin, with dropping shoulders. and
pale smooth face-a little man, whose
physique and hollow cheeks told moth
ing of the years he had spent close up
along the raw edge of the Arctic. 1t
was he who spoke now, while the SER
geant held up his hand. His voice was
low and quiet:
"Ill give the owners five hundred
dollars for those dogs" he said.
Every man in the room heard the of
fer. Harker looked at Sandy. For an
instant their heads were close together
.'They won't fight, and they'll make
good teammates" the little man went
on. I'll give the owners five hundred