Washington telegraph., 1926-06-11
BAREE, Son of Kazan
By JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD
P


suddenly when he lost his balance and
fell. He let out piercing cry of ter
ror as he felt himself hiRplng, and
then plunged downwat 1nntnust
have been high up in the for
to Baree 1t was a tremendous ran. His
soft little body thumped from log to
log as he shot this way and that, and
when at last he stopped, there was
scarcely breath left in him. But he
stood up quickly on his four trembling
legs-and blinked.
A new terror held Baree rooted there.
In an instant the whole world had
changed. 1t was flood of sunlight.
Everywhere he looked he could see
strange things. But It was the sun that
frightened him most. 1t was his first
impression Of fire, and 1t made his
eyes smart. He would have skunk back
into the friendly gloom of the wind
fall, but at this moment Gray Wolf
came around the end Of great log,
followed by Kazan. She muzzled
Baree joyously, and Kazan in a most
doglike fashion wagged his tail. This
mark Of the dog was to be a part Of
Baree. Half wolf, he would always wag
his tail. He tried to wag 1t now. Per
haps Kazan saw the effort, for he
emitted muffled yelp Of appreciation
as he sat back on his launches.
Or he might have been saying to
Gray Wolf.
"Well, we've got the little rascal out
Of that windfall at last haven't wei"
For Baree 1t had been a great day.
He had discovered his father-and the
world.
And 1t was wonderful worlds
world Of vast silence, empty of every
thing but the creatures Of the Wild
The nearest HudsOn's Bay post was a
hundred miles away, and the first town
of civilization was straight three
hundred to the south. Two years be
fore, Tusoo, the Cree trapper, had
called this his domain. 1t had come
down to him. as was the law Of the
forest, through generations Of fore
fathers; but Tusoo had been the last
Of his wornout family he had died Of
smallpox, and his wife and his chill
dren had died with him. Since then
no human foot had taken up his trails.
The lynx had multiplied. The moose
and caribou had gone unlimited by
man. The beaver had built .<thelr
homes undisturbed. The trad cf NE
black bear were as ;. ick as FeNtrac4S
Of the deer farther south. And where
once the deadfalls and poison-baIts of
Tusoo had kept the wolves thinned
down, there was no longer a menace
for these mohekuns of the wilderness.
Following the sun Of this first Won
derful day came the moon and the
stars of Baree's first real night. II
was a splendid night, and with 1t
full red moon sailed up over the for
ests, flooding the earth with a new
kind of light, softer and more beauti.
full to Baree. The wolf was strong In
him, and he was restless. He had
slept that day In the warmth of the
sun, but he could not sleep in this
glow Of the moon. He nosed uneasily
about Gray Wolf who lay fiat on her
belly, her beautiful head alert, listen
ing yearningly to the night sounds.
and for the torg1lng Of Kazan, who
had gone like a shadow to the hunt.
Half a dozen times, as Baree wan
dered about near the windfall, he
heard soft whlr over his head, and
once or twice he saw gray shadows
floating swiftly through the air. They
we're the big northern owls swooping
down to investigate him, and II he had
been rabbit instead Of wolf-dog
whelp, his first night under the moon
and stars would have been his last;
for unlike Wapoos, the rabbit, he was
not cautious. Gray Wolf did not watch
him closely. Instinct told her that In
these forests there was no great dan
ger for Baree except at the hands Of
man. In his veins ran the blood Of
the wolf. He was hunter Of all other
wild creatures. but no other creature,
either winged or fanged, hunted him.