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23 - Kazan by James Oliver Curwood · Kazan

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three, Professor mc gill, red Gold City was
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  Speaker 1: ripe for a night of relaxation. There had been some gambling,
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  Speaker 1: a few fights, and enough liquor to create excitement now
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  Speaker 1: and then, but the presence of the mounted police had
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  Speaker 1: served to keep things unusually tame compared with events a
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  Speaker 1: few hundred miles farther north in the Dawson Country. The
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  Speaker 1: entertainment proposed by Sandy mc trigger and Jan Harker met
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  Speaker 1: with excited favor. The news spread for twenty miles about
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  Speaker 1: red Gold City, and there had never been greater excitement
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  Speaker 1: in the town than on the afternoon and night of
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  Speaker 1: the big fight. This was largely because Kazan and the
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  Speaker 1: huge Dane had been placed on exhibition, each dog in
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  Speaker 1: a specially made cage of his own, and a fever
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  Speaker 1: of betting began. Three hundred men, each of whom was
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  Speaker 1: paying five dollars to see the battle viewed the gladiators
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  Speaker 1: through the bars of their cages. Harker's dog was a
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  Speaker 1: combination of great Dane and mastiff, born in the North
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  Speaker 1: and bred to the traces. Betting favored him by the
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  Speaker 1: odds of two to one. Occasionally it ran three to one.
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  Speaker 1: At these odds. There was plenty of Kazan money. Those
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  Speaker 1: who were risking their money on him were the older
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  Speaker 1: wilderness men, men who had spent their lives among dogs.
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  Speaker 1: And you knew what the red glint in Kazan's eyes meant.
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  Speaker 1: An old Kutenet miner spoke low in another's ear. I'd
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  Speaker 1: bet on him even, I'd give odds if I had to.
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  Speaker 1: He'll fight all round the Dane. The Dane won't have
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  Speaker 1: no method, but he's got the weight, said the other, dubiously.
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  Speaker 1: Look at his jaws, at his shoulders, and his big feet,
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  Speaker 1: and his soft throat, and the clumsy thickness of his belly,
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  Speaker 1: interrupted the Kutene man. For Gaud's sake, man, take my
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  Speaker 1: word for it, and don't put your money on the Dane.
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  Speaker 1: Others thrust themselves between them. At first Kazan had snarled
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  Speaker 1: at all these faces about him, But now he lay
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  Speaker 1: back against the boarded side of the cage and eyed
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  Speaker 1: them sullenly from between his forepaws. The fight was to
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  Speaker 1: be pulled off in Barker's place, a combination of saloon
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  Speaker 1: and cafe. The benches and tables had been cleared out
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  Speaker 1: and in the center of the one big room, a
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  Speaker 1: cage ten feet square rested on a platform three and
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  Speaker 1: a half feet from the floor. Seats for the three
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  Speaker 1: hundred spectators were drawn closely around this. Suspended just above
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  Speaker 1: the open top of the cage were two big oil
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  Speaker 1: lamps with glass reflectors. It was eight o'clock when Harker
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  Speaker 1: mc trigger and two other men bore Kazan to the
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  Speaker 1: arena by means of the wooden bars that projected from
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  Speaker 1: the bottom of his cage. The big Dane was already
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  Speaker 1: in the fighting cage. He stood, blinking his eyes in
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  Speaker 1: the brilliant light of the reflecting lamps. He pricked up
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  Speaker 1: his ears when he saw Kazan. Kazan did not show
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  Speaker 1: his fangs, neither revealed the expected animosity. It was the
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  Speaker 1: first they had seen of each other, and a murmur
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  Speaker 1: of disappointment swept the ranks of the three hundred men.
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  Speaker 1: The Dane remained as motionless as a rock. When Kazan
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  Speaker 1: was prodded from his own cage and to the fighting cage.
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  Speaker 1: He did not leap or snarl. He regarded Kazan with
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  Speaker 1: a dubious, questioning poise to his splendid head and then
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  Speaker 1: looked again to the expectant and excited faces of the
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  Speaker 1: waiting men. For a few moments, Kazan stood stiff legged
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  Speaker 1: facing the Dane. Then his shoulders dropped, and he too
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  Speaker 1: coolly faced the crowd that had expected to fight to
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  Speaker 1: the death. A laugh of derision swept through the closely
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  Speaker 1: seated rose. Cat Calls, jeering taunts flung at mc trigger
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  Speaker 1: and Harker, and angry voices demanding their money back mingled
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  Speaker 1: with a tumult of growing discontent. Sandy's face was red
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  Speaker 1: with mortification and rage. The blue veins and Barker's forehead
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  Speaker 1: had swollen twice their normal size. He shook his fist
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  Speaker 1: in the face of the crowd and shouted, wait, give
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  Speaker 1: him a chance, you damn fools. At his words, every
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  Speaker 1: voice was still. Kazan had turned. He was facing the
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  Speaker 1: huge Dane, and the Dane had turned his eyes to Kazan, cautiously,
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  Speaker 1: prepared for a lunge or a side step. Kazan advanced
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  Speaker 1: a little. The Dane's shoulders bristled. He too, advanced upon Kazan,
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  Speaker 1: four feet apart. They stood rigid. One could have heard
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  Speaker 1: a whisper in the room now Sandy and Harker, standing
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  Speaker 1: close to the cage, scarcely breathed, splendid in every limb
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  Speaker 1: and muscle, warriors of a hundred fights, and fearless to
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  Speaker 1: the point of death. The two half wolf victims of
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  Speaker 1: man stood facing each other. None could see the questioning
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  Speaker 1: look and their brute eyes. None knew that in this
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  Speaker 1: thrilling moment, the unseen hand of the wonderful spirit God
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  Speaker 1: of the wilderness hovered between them, and that one of
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  Speaker 1: its miracles was descending upon them. It was understanding meeting
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  Speaker 1: in the open rivals, in the traces they would have
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  Speaker 1: been rolling in the throes of terrific battle. But here
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  Speaker 1: came that mute appeal of brotherhood. In the final moment,
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  Speaker 1: when only a step separated them, and when men expected
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  Speaker 1: to see the first mad lunge, the splendid Danes slowly
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  Speaker 1: raised his head and looked over Kazan's back through the
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  Speaker 1: glare of the lights. Harker trembled, and under his breath
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  Speaker 1: he cursed. The Dane's throat was opened to Kazan, but
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  Speaker 1: between the beasts had passed the voiceless pledge of peace.
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  Speaker 1: Kazan did not leap. He turned and shoulder to shoulder,
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  Speaker 1: splendid in their contempt of man. They stood and looked
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  Speaker 1: through the bars of their prison into the one of
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  Speaker 1: human faces. A roar burst from the crowd, a roar
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  Speaker 1: of anger, of demand, a threat. In his rage, Harker
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  Speaker 1: drew a revolver and leveled it at the Dane. Above
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  Speaker 1: the tumult of the crowd, A single voice stopped him. Hold,
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  Speaker 1: it demanded, hold at the name of the law. For
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  Speaker 1: a moment there was silence. Every face turned in the
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  Speaker 1: direction of the voice. Two men stood on chairs behind
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  Speaker 1: the last row. One was Sergeant Brokeaw of the Royal Northwest. Mounted.
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  Speaker 1: It was he who had spoken. He was holding up
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  Speaker 1: a hand, commanding silence and attention. On the chair beside
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  Speaker 1: him stood another man. He was thin, with drooping shoulders
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  Speaker 1: and a pale, smooth face, a little man whose physique
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  Speaker 1: and hollow cheeks told nothing of the years he had
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  Speaker 1: spent close up along the raw edge of the Arctic.
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  Speaker 1: It was he who spoke now, while the sergeant held
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  Speaker 1: up his hand. His voice was low and quiet. I'll
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  Speaker 1: give the owners five hundred dollars for those dolls, he said.
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  Speaker 1: Every man in the room heard the offer. Harker looked
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  Speaker 1: at Sandy for an instant. Their heads were close together.
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  Speaker 1: They won't fight, and they'll make good team mates. The
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  Speaker 1: little Man went on, I'll give the owners five hundred dollars.
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  Speaker 1: Harker raised a hand, make it six. He said, make
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  Speaker 1: it six, and they're yours. The little Man hesitated, then
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  Speaker 1: he nodded, I'll give you six hundred. He agreed. Murmurs
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  Speaker 1: of discontent rose throughout the crowd. Harker climbed to the
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  Speaker 1: edge of the platform. We ain't to blame because they
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  Speaker 1: won't fight, he shouted. But if there's any of you
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  Speaker 1: small enough to want your money back, you can get
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  Speaker 1: it as you go out. The dogs laid down on us,
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  Speaker 1: that's all. We ain't to blame. The little Man was
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  Speaker 1: edging his way between the chairs, accompanied by the sergeant
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  Speaker 1: of police, with his pale face close to the sapling
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  Speaker 1: bars of the cage. He looked at Kazan and the
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  Speaker 1: big Dane. I guess we'll be good friends, he said,
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  Speaker 1: and he spoke so low that only the dogs hurt
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  Speaker 1: his voice. It's the big price, but we'll charge it
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  Speaker 1: to the Smithsonian. Lads, I'm going to need a couple
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  Speaker 1: of four footed friends of your moral caliber, and no
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  Speaker 1: one knew why. Kazan and the Dane drew nearer to
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  Speaker 1: the little scientist's side of the cage as he pulled
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  Speaker 1: out a big roll of bills and counted out six
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  Speaker 1: hundred dollars for Harker and Sandy mc trigger. End of
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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three of Kazan by James Oliver Kirkwood. Recording
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  Speaker 1: by Leonard Wilson of Springfield, Ohio.