The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1926-04-02
BAREE, Son Of Kazan

| water OF the stream Shimmering in q
| glow almost as bright as day. Dl.
rectly In front of him, running to the
waters edge, was broad carpet OF
white sand. Across this sand, half an
hour later, came huge black bear.
Until Baree had seen the offers al
play in the creek, his conceptions of
the forests had not gone beyond his
own kind, and such creatures as owls
and rabbits and small feathered
things. The offers had not frightened
him, because he still measured things
by size, and Nekik was not half as
big as Kazan. But the bear was a
monster beside which Kazan would
have stood a mere pigmy. If nature
was taking this way of introducing
Baree to the fact that there were more
important creatures in the forests
than dogs and wolves and owls and
crayfish. she was driving the point
emphasis. For Wakayoo, the bear,
weighed six hundred pounds If he
weighed an ounce. He was fat and
sleek from months feasting on fish.
His shiny coat was like black velvet
in the moonlight, and he walked with
curious rolling motion with his head
hung low The horror grew when he
stopped broadside in the carpet of
sand not more than ten feet from the
rock under which Baree was shivering
as if he had the ague.
1t was quite evident that Wakayoo
had caught lscent of him in the air.
Baree could hear him sniff-could hear
his breathing-caught the starlight
flashing in his reddlsh-brown eyes as
they swung suspiciously toward the
big boulder. If Baree could have
known then that he-his insignificant
little self-was making that monster
actually nervous and uneasy, he would
have given yelp of joy. For Waka-
700. in spite of his size, was somewhat
of a coward when it came to wolves.
And Baree carried the wolf-scent. 1t
grew stronger in Wakayoo's nose; and
just then, as if to increase whatever
nervousness was growing in him, there
| came from out Of the forest behind
him long wailing howl.
With an audible grunt, Wakayoo
moved on. Wolves were pests. he ar
gued. They wouldn't stand up and
fight. They'd snap and zap at ones
heels for hours at a time, and were
! always out of the way quicker than a
wink when one turned on them. What
was the use Of hanging around where
| there were wolves on beautiful night
like this? He numbered on decisively.
Baree could hear him splashing heav-
lily through the water of the creek.
Not until then did the wolf-dog draw
full breath. 1t was almost gasp.
But the excitement was not over for
the night. BARGE had chosen his bed
| at q place where the animals came
| down to drink, and where they crossed
from one Of the creek forests to the
other. Not long after the bear had
disappeared he heard heavy crunch
| ing in the sand, and hoofs rafting
| against stones, and bull moose with
| a lluSC SWCCp Va AANACAo RNSoC0 lAIOuSA
the open space in the moonlight.
Baree stared with popping eyes, for If
Wakayoo had weighed six hundred
pounds, this gigantic creature whose
legs were so long that it seemed to be
walking on stills weighed at least
| twice as much. A cow moose followed.
| and then a calf The calf seemed all
legs. 1t was too much for Baree, and
he showed himself farther and farther
back under the rock until he lay
wedged in like sardine in a box And
there he lay until morning.
When Baree ventured forth from
under his rock at the beginning of the
| next day, he was much older puppy
than when he met Papayuchisew, the
young owl, in his path near the old
J wlndfall. If experience can be made
to take the place of age, he had aged
| great deal in the last forty-eight
hours. intact, he had passed almost
out of puppyhood. He awoke with a
new and much broader conception OF
the world 1t was big place. 1t
was filled with many things, of which
Kazan and Gray Wolf were not the
most important The monsters he had
seen on the moonlit plot of sand had
reused in him new kind Of caution.
and the one greatest instinct Of beasts
the primal understanding that it is
the strong that prey upon the weak
was Weakening swiftly In him. AS yet
he quite naturally measured brute
force and the menace of things by size
alone. Thus the bear was more ter
rible than Kazan. and the moose was
more terrible than the bear.