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18 - Kazan by James Oliver Curwood · Kazan

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  Speaker 1: Wilson, Chapter eighteen, The Education of Bahrie, robbed once of
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  Speaker 1: the joys of parenthood by the murder on the sun Rock.
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  Speaker 1: Both grey Wolf and Kazan were different from what they
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  Speaker 1: would have been had the big gray Lynx not come
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  Speaker 1: into their lives at that time. As if it were
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  Speaker 1: but yesterday. They remembered the moonlit night when the Lynx
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  Speaker 1: brought blindness to gray Wolf and destroyed her young, and
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  Speaker 1: when Kazan had avenged himself and his mate in his
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  Speaker 1: terrible fight to the death with their enemy. And now,
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  Speaker 1: with that soft little handful of life snuggling close up
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  Speaker 1: against her, gray Wolf saw through her blind eyes the
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  Speaker 1: tragic picture of that night more vividly than ever, and
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  Speaker 1: she quivered at every sound, ready to leap in the
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  Speaker 1: face of an unseen foe, to rend all flesh that
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  Speaker 1: was not the flesh of Kazan, and ceaselessly, the slightest
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  Speaker 1: bringing him to his feet. Kazan watched and guarded. He
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  Speaker 1: mistrusted the moving shadows. The snapping of a twig drew
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  Speaker 1: back his upper lip, his fangs gleamed menacingly. When the
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  Speaker 1: soft air brought a strange scent in him too. The
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  Speaker 1: memory of the sun rock, the death of their first young,
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  Speaker 1: and the blinding of gray Wolf had given birth to
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  Speaker 1: a new instinct. Not for an instant was he off
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  Speaker 1: his guard. As surely as one expects the sun to rise,
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  Speaker 1: so did he expect that sooner or later their deadly
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  Speaker 1: enemy would creep on them from out of the forest
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  Speaker 1: in another hour. Such as this, the Lynx had brought death,
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  Speaker 1: the Lynx had brought blindness, And so day and night
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  Speaker 1: he waited and watched for the Lynx to come again.
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  Speaker 1: And woe unto any other creature of flesh and blood
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  Speaker 1: that dared approach the Windfall in those first days of
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  Speaker 1: grey Wolf's motherhood. But peace had spread its wings of
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  Speaker 1: sunshine and plenty over the swamp. There were no intruders,
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  Speaker 1: unless the noisy whiskey jacks, the big eyed moose birds,
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  Speaker 1: the chattering bush sparrows, and the wood mice and ermine
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  Speaker 1: could be called such. After the first day or two,
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  Speaker 1: Kazan went more frequently into the Windfall, and though more
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  Speaker 1: than once he nosed searchingly about gray Wolf, he could
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  Speaker 1: find only the one little pup a little farther west.
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  Speaker 1: The dog Ribs would have called the pup Barrie for
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  Speaker 1: two reasons, because he had no brothers or sisters, and
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  Speaker 1: because he was a mixture of dog and wolf. He
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  Speaker 1: was a sleek and lively little fellow from the beginning,
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  Speaker 1: for there was no division of mother strength and attention.
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  Speaker 1: He developed with the true swiftness of the wolf whelp,
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  Speaker 1: and not with the slowness of the dog pup. For
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  Speaker 1: three days he was satisfied to cuddle close against his
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  Speaker 1: mother when he was hungry, sleeping a great deal, and
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  Speaker 1: preened and laundered almost constantly by Gray Wolf's affectionate tongue.
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  Speaker 1: From the fourth day, he grew busier and more inquisitive.
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  Speaker 1: With every hour he found his mother's blind face. With
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  Speaker 1: tremendous effort, he tumbled over her paws, and once he
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  Speaker 1: lost himself completely and sniffled for help when he rolled
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  Speaker 1: fifteen or eighteen inches away from her. It was not
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  Speaker 1: long after this that he began to recognize Kazan as
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  Speaker 1: a part of his mother, and he was tercely more
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  Speaker 1: than a week old when he rolled himself up contentedly
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  Speaker 1: between Kazan's forelegs and went to sleep. Kazan was puzzled,
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  Speaker 1: then with a deep sigh. Gray Wolf laid her head
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  Speaker 1: across one of her mate's forelegs, with her nose touching
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  Speaker 1: her runaway baby, and seemed vastly contented For half an hour,
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  Speaker 1: Kazan did not move. When he was ten days old,
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  Speaker 1: by he discovered there was great sport in tussling with
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  Speaker 1: a bit of rabbit fur. It was a little later
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  Speaker 1: when he made his second exciting discovery, light and sunshine.
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  Speaker 1: The sun had now reached a point where, in the
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  Speaker 1: middle of the afternoon, a bright gleam of it found
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  Speaker 1: its way through an overhead opening in the windfall. At first,
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  Speaker 1: Bahri would only stare at the golden streak. Then came
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  Speaker 1: the time when he tried to play with it, as
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  Speaker 1: he played with the rabbit fur. Each day thereafter, he
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  Speaker 1: went a little nearer the opening through which Kazan passed
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  Speaker 1: from the windfall into the big world outside. Finally came
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  Speaker 1: the time when he reached the opening and crouched there,
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  Speaker 1: blinking and frightened at what he saw. And now gray
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  Speaker 1: Wolf no longer tried to hold him back, but went
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  Speaker 1: out into the sunshine and tried to call him to her.
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  Speaker 1: It was three days before his weak eyes had grown
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  Speaker 1: strong enough to permit his following her, And very quickly
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  Speaker 1: after that, Bai learned to love the sun, the warm air,
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  Speaker 1: and the sweetness of life, and to dread the darkness
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  Speaker 1: of the closed end den where he had been born.
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  Speaker 1: That this world was not altogether so nice as it
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  Speaker 1: first appeared. He was very soon to learn at the
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  Speaker 1: darkening signs of an approaching storm. One day, gray Wolf
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  Speaker 1: tried to lure him back under the windfall. It was
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  Speaker 1: her first warning to Barrie, and he did not understand.
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  Speaker 1: Where gray Wolf failed, Nature came to teach a first lesson.
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  Speaker 1: Barrie was caught in a sudden deluge of rain. It
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  Speaker 1: flattened him out in pure terror, and he was drenched
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  Speaker 1: and half drowned before gray Wolf caught him between her
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  Speaker 1: jaws and carried him into shelter. One by one, after this,
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  Speaker 1: the first strange experiences of life came to him, and
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  Speaker 1: one by one his instincts received their birth. Greatest for
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  Speaker 1: him of the days to follow was that on which
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  Speaker 1: his inquisitive nose touched the raw flesh of a freshly
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  Speaker 1: killed and bleeding rabbit. It was his first taste of blood.
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  Speaker 1: It was sweet, It filled him with strange excitement, and
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  Speaker 1: thereafter he knew what it meant. When Kazan brought in
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  Speaker 1: something between his jaws. He soon began to battle with
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  Speaker 1: sticks in place of the soft fur, and his teeth
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  Speaker 1: grew as hard and as sharp as little needles. The
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  Speaker 1: great mystery was bare to him at last, when Kazan
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  Speaker 1: brought in between his jaws a big rabbit that was
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  Speaker 1: still alive, but so badly crushed that it could not
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  Speaker 1: run when dropped to the ground. Bahrie had learned to
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  Speaker 1: know what rabbits and partridges meant, the sweet, warm blood
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  Speaker 1: that he loved better even than he had ever loved
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  Speaker 1: his mother's milk. But they had come to him dead.
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  Speaker 1: He had never seen one of the monsters alive, and
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  Speaker 1: now the rabbit that Kazan dropped to the ground, kicking
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  Speaker 1: and struggling with a broken back, sent Bahrie back appalled.
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  Speaker 1: For a few moments, he wonderingly watched the dying throes
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  Speaker 1: of Kazan's prey. Both Kazan and Gray Wolf seemed to
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  Speaker 1: understand that this was to be Barrie's first lesson in
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  Speaker 1: his education as a slaying and flesh eating creature, and
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  Speaker 1: they stood close over the rabbit, making no effort to
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  Speaker 1: end its struggles. Half a dozen times, gray Wolf sniffed
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  Speaker 1: at the rabbit and then turned her blind face toward Barrie.
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  Speaker 1: After the third or fourth time, Kazan stretched himself out
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  Speaker 1: on his belly a few feet away and watched the
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  Speaker 1: proceedings attentively. Each time that gray Wolf lowered her head
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  Speaker 1: to muscle the rabbit. Marie's little ears shot up expectantly.
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  Speaker 1: When he saw that nothing happened and that his mother
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  Speaker 1: was not hurt, he came a little nearer. Soon he
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  Speaker 1: could reach out, stiff legged and cautious, and touch the
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  Speaker 1: furry thing that was not yet dead. In a last
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  Speaker 1: spasmodic convulsion, the big rabbit doubled up its rear legs
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  Speaker 1: and gave a kick that sent Barrie sprawling back, yelping
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  Speaker 1: in terror. He regained his feet, and then, for the
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  Speaker 1: first time, anger and the desire to retaliate took possession
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  Speaker 1: of him. The kick had completed his first education. He
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  Speaker 1: came back with less caution, but stiffer legged, and a
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  Speaker 1: moment later had dug his tiny teeth in the rabbit's neck.
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  Speaker 1: He could feel the throb of life in the soft body.
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  Speaker 1: The muscles of the dying rabbit twitched convulsively under him,
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  Speaker 1: and he hung with his teeth until there was no
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  Speaker 1: longer a tremmur of life. In his first kill, gray
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  Speaker 1: Wolf was delighted. She caressed Barrie with her tongue, and
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  Speaker 1: even Kazan condescended to sniff approvingly of his son when
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  Speaker 1: he returned to the rabbit. And never before had warm,
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  Speaker 1: sweet blood tasted so good to Barie as it did
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  Speaker 1: to day. Swiftly Barie developed from a blood tasting into
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  Speaker 1: a flesh eating animal. One by one, the mysteries of
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  Speaker 1: life were unfolded to him. The mating night chortle of
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  Speaker 1: the gray owl, the crash of a falling tree, the
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  Speaker 1: roll of thunder, the rush of running water, the scream
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  Speaker 1: of a fisher cat, the mooing of the cow moose,
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  Speaker 1: and the distant call of his tribe. But chief of
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  Speaker 1: all these mysteries that were already becoming a part of
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  Speaker 1: his instinct, was the mystery of scent. One day, he
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  Speaker 1: wandered fifty yards away from the windfall, and his little
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  Speaker 1: nose touched the warm scent of a rabbit. Instantly, without
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  Speaker 1: reasoning or further process of education, he knew that to
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  Speaker 1: get at the sweet flesh and blood, which he loved.
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  Speaker 1: He must follow the scent. He wriggled slowly along the
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  Speaker 1: trail until he came to a big log over which
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  Speaker 1: the rabbit had vaulted in a long leap, and from
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  Speaker 1: this log he turned back. Each day after this he
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  Speaker 1: went on adventures of his own. At first, he was
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  Speaker 1: like a explorer without a compass in a vast and
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  Speaker 1: unknown world. Each day he encountered something new, always wonderful,
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  Speaker 1: frequently terrifying. But his terrors grew less and less, and
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  Speaker 1: his confidence correspondingly greater, as he found that none of
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  Speaker 1: the things he feared did him any harm. He became
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  Speaker 1: more and more bold in his investigations, and his appearance
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  Speaker 1: was changing as well as his view of things. His round,
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  Speaker 1: roly poly body was taking a different form. He became
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  Speaker 1: lithe and quick. The yellow of his coat darkened, and
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  Speaker 1: there was a whitish gray streak along his back, like
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  Speaker 1: that along Kazan's. He had his mother's under throat at
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  Speaker 1: her beautiful grace of head. Otherwise he was a true
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  Speaker 1: son of Kazan. His limbs gave signs of future strength
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  Speaker 1: and massiveness. He was broad across the chest, his eyes
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  Speaker 1: were wide apart with a little red in the lower corners.
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  Speaker 1: The forest people know what to expect of husky pups
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  Speaker 1: who early developed that drop of red. It is a
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  Speaker 1: warning that they are born of the wild, and that
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  Speaker 1: their mothers or fathers are of the savage hut packs.
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  Speaker 1: And Barrie, that tinge of red was so pronounced that
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  Speaker 1: it could mean but one thing. While he was almost
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  Speaker 1: half dog, the wild had claimed him forever. Not until
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  Speaker 1: the day of his first real battle with the living
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  Speaker 1: creature did Barrie come fully into his inheritance. He had
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  Speaker 1: gone farther than usual from the windfall, fully a hundred yards.
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  Speaker 1: Here he found a new wonder. It was the creek.
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  Speaker 1: He had heard it before, and he had looked down
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  Speaker 1: on it from afar, from a distance of fifty yards
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  Speaker 1: at least. But to day he ventured going to the
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  Speaker 1: edge of it, and there he stood for a long time,
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  Speaker 1: with the water rippling and singing at his feet, gazing
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  Speaker 1: across it into the new world that he saw. Then
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  Speaker 1: he moved cautiously along the stream. He had not gone
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  Speaker 1: a dozen steps when there was a furious fluttering close
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  Speaker 1: to him, and one of the fierce, big eyed jays
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  Speaker 1: of the Northland was directly in his path. It could
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  Speaker 1: not fly, one of its wings dragged, probably broken in
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  Speaker 1: a struggle with some one of the smaller preying beasts.
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  Speaker 1: But for an instant it was a most startling and
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  Speaker 1: defiant bit of life to Barrie. Then the grayish crest
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  Speaker 1: along his back stiffened, and he advanced. The wounded jay
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  Speaker 1: remained motionless until Barrie was within three feet of it.
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  Speaker 1: In short, quick hops. It began to retreat instantly. Barrie's
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  Speaker 1: indecision had flown to the four winds. With one sharp,
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  Speaker 1: excited yelp, he flew at the defiant bird. For a
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  Speaker 1: few moments, there was a thrilling race, and Barrie's sharp
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  Speaker 1: little teeth buried themselves in the jay's feathers. Swift as
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  Speaker 1: a flash, the bird's beak began to strike. The jay
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  Speaker 1: was the king of the smaller birds. In nesting season.
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  Speaker 1: It killed the brush sparrows, the bild eyed moose birds,
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  Speaker 1: and the tree sappers. Again and again it struck Barrie
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  Speaker 1: with its powerful beak, But the son of Kazan had
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  Speaker 1: now reached the age of battle, and the pain of
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  Speaker 1: the blows only made his own teeth sink deeper. At last,
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  Speaker 1: he found the flesh, and a puppyish snarl rose in
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  Speaker 1: his throat. Fortunately, he had gained a hold under the wing,
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  Speaker 1: and after the first dozen blows, the jay's resistance grew weaker.
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  Speaker 1: Five minutes later, Brie loosened his teeth and drew back
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  Speaker 1: a step to look at the crumpled and motionless creature
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  Speaker 1: before him. The jay was dead. He had won his
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  Speaker 1: first battle, and with victory came the wonderful dawning of
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  Speaker 1: that greatest instinct of all, which told him that no
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  Speaker 1: longer was he had drown in the marvelous mechanism of
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  Speaker 1: wilderness life, but a part of it from this time forth,
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  Speaker 1: For he had killed. Half an hour later, gray Wolf
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  Speaker 1: came down over his trail. The jay was torn into bits,
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  Speaker 1: its feathers were scattered about, and Barrie's little nose was bloody.
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  Speaker 1: Barrie was lying in triumph beside his victim. Swiftly gray
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  Speaker 1: Wolf understood and caressed him joyously. When they returned to
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  Speaker 1: the windfall, Brie carried in his jaws what was left
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  Speaker 1: of the jay. From that hour of his first kill,
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  Speaker 1: hunting became the chief passion of Barrie's life. When he
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  Speaker 1: was not sleeping in the sun or under the windfall
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  Speaker 1: at night, he was seeking life that he could destroy.
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  Speaker 1: He slaughtered an entire family of wood mice. Moose birds
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  Speaker 1: were at first the easiest for him to stalk, and
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  Speaker 1: he killed three. Then he encountered an ermine, and the
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  Speaker 1: fierce little wide outlaw of the forests gave him hiss
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  Speaker 1: first defeat. Defeat cooled his ardor for a few days,
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  Speaker 1: but taught him the great lesson that there were other
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  Speaker 1: fanged and flesh eating animals besides himself, and that nature
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  Speaker 1: had so schemed things that fang must not prey upon
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  Speaker 1: fang for food. Many things had been born in him. Instinctively,
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  Speaker 1: he shunned the porcupine without experiencing the torture of its quills.
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  Speaker 1: He came face to face with a fisher cat one day,
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  Speaker 1: a fortnight after his fight with the ermine. Both were
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  Speaker 1: seeking food, and as there was no food between them
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  Speaker 1: to fight over, each went his own way, farther and farther.
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  Speaker 1: Barrie ventured from the windfall, always following the creek. Sometimes
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  Speaker 1: he was gone for hours. At first, gray Wolf was
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  Speaker 1: restless when he was away, but she seldom went with him,
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  Speaker 1: and after a time her restlessness left her nature was
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  Speaker 1: working swiftly. It was Kazan who was restless. Now moonlight
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  Speaker 1: nights had come, and the wanderlust was growing more and
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  Speaker 1: more insistent in his veins. And gray Wolf too was
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  Speaker 1: filled with a strange longing to roam at large, out
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  Speaker 1: into the big world. Came then the afternoon, when Barrie
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  Speaker 1: went on his longest hunt. Half a mile away, he
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  Speaker 1: killed his first rabbit. He remained beside it until dusk.
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  Speaker 1: The moon rose, big and golden, flooding the forests and
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  Speaker 1: plains and ridges with a light almost like that of day.
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  Speaker 1: It was a glorious night, and Barrie found the moon
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  Speaker 1: and left his kill, And the direction in which he
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  Speaker 1: traveled was away from the Windfall. All that night gray
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  Speaker 1: Wolf watched and waited, and when at last the moon
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  Speaker 1: was sinking into the south and west, she settled back
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  Speaker 1: on her haunches, turned her blind face to the sky,
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  Speaker 1: and sent forth her first howl. Since the day Barrie
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  Speaker 1: was born, nature had come into her own far away.
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  Speaker 1: Barrie heard, but he did not answer. A new world
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  Speaker 1: was his. He had said good bye to the Windfall
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  Speaker 1: and home. End of Chapter eighteen of Kazan by James
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  Speaker 1: Oliver Kirkwood recording by Leonard Wilson of Springfield, Ohio,