The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1926-08-06
Chapter .xII-Continued


with the shadows standing out as
clearly as living things. The third
idea came to Baree now. He was,
like all animals, largely Of one idea
at tiDie-a creature with whom all
lesser impulses were governed by a
single leading impulse. And this i'm
pulse, in the glow of the starlit night,
was to reach as quickly as possible
the first Of Pierrot's two cabins on
the trap-line. There he would find
Nepeese!
We won't call the process by which
Saree came to this conclusion a proc
ess Of reasoning; instinct or reason
ing, whatever it was, fixed and posi-
tive faith came to Baree just the same.
He began to miss the traps in his
haste to cover distance-to reach the
cabin.
1t was twenty-five miles from Pier
r0t's burned home to the first trap
cabin, and Baree had made ten of
these by nightfall. The remaining flf-
teen were the most difficult. In the
open spaces the snow was belly-deep
and soft; frequently he plunged
through drifts in which for few mo-
ments he was buried.
Three times during the early part
of the night Baree heard the savage
dirge of the wolves. Once 1t was a
wild paen Of triumph as the hunters
pulled down their kill less than half
mile away in the deep forest But
the voice no longer called to. him. 1t
was repellent-a voice Of hatred and
Of treachery. Each time that he heard
it he stopped In his tracks and snarled,
while his spine stiffened.
At midnight Baree came to the tiny
amphitheater In the forest where
Pierrot had cut the logs for the first
of his trap-line cabins. For at least
a minute Baree stood at the edge of
the clearing, his ears very alert, his
eyes bright with hope and expecta-
ton, while he shifted the air. There
was no smoke. no sound, no light in
the one window of the log shack. His
disappointment fell on him even as
he stood there; again he sensed the
fact of his aloneness, Of the barren
ness of his quest There was dis
heartened SLOUGH to his body as he
made his way through the snow to the
cabin door. He had Travelled twenty
five miles, and he was tired
The snow was drifted deep at the
doorway, and here Baree sat down and
1np t1,n
questing whine Of few hours ago.
Now it voiced hopelessness and deep
despair. For half an hour he sat shiv-
ering with his back to the door and
his face to the starllt wilderness, as
If there still remained the fleeting
hope that Nepeese might follow after
n him over the TRAIL Then he burrowed
himself hole deep in the snowdrift
! and passed the remainder of the night
in uneasy slumber.
With the first light Of day Baree re-
sumed the trail. He was not so alert
this morning. There was the discon-
ISOLATE droop to his tail which the In
dams call the Akoosewin-the sign of
the sick dog. And Baree was sick
not of body but of soul. The keenness
of his hope had died. and he no longer
expected to find the Willow. The
second cabin at the far end of the
trap-line drew him on, but 1t inspired
in him none of the enthusiasm with
which he had hurried to the first. He
travelled slowly and spasmodically, his
suspicious of the forests again replac-
ing the excitement of his quest. He
approached each of Pierrot's traps
and deadfalls cautiously, and twice he
showed his fangs-once at marten
that snapped at him from under a root
where it had dragged the trap in
which it was caught, and the second
time at big snowy owl that had
come to steal bait and was now a
prisoner at the emo VI q steel chain.
1t may be that Baree thought 1t was
Oohoomisew and that he still remem-
bered wildly the treacherous assault
and fierce battle Of that night when,
as puppy, he was dragging his sore
and wounded body through the mys-
terry and fear Of the big timber. For
he did more than to show his fangs.
He tore the owl into pieces
There were plenty Of rabbits in
Pierrot's traps, and Baree did not go
hungry. He reached the second trap
line cabin late In the afternoon, after
ten hours of travelling. He met with
no very great disappointment here,
for he had not anticipated very much.
The snow had banked this cabin even
higher than the other. It lay three
feet deep against the door. and the
window was white with thick coat
ing of frost At this place, which was
close to the edge of a big barren, and
unsheltered by the thick forests far
Their back, Pierrot had built shelter
for his f1rewood. and in this shelter
Baree made his temporary home. All
the next day he remained somewhere
near the end of the trap-line, skirting
the edge Of the barren and investigat-