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25 - Kazan by James Oliver Curwood · Kazan

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty five, the last of mc trigger Sixty miles
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  Speaker 1: farther north, Kazan lay at the end of his fine
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  Speaker 1: steel chain, watching little Professor mc gill mixing a pail
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  Speaker 1: of tallow and bran. A dozen yards from him lay
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  Speaker 1: the big Dane, his huge jaws drooling in anticipation of
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  Speaker 1: the unusual feast which Magil was preparing. He showed signs
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  Speaker 1: of pleasure when Miguil approached him with a court of
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  Speaker 1: the mixture, and he gulped it between his huge jaws.
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  Speaker 1: The little man with the cold blue eyes and the
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  Speaker 1: gray blonde hair stroked his back without fear. His attitude
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  Speaker 1: was different when he turned to Kazan. His movements were
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  Speaker 1: filled with caution, and yet his eyes and his lips
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  Speaker 1: were smiling, and he gave the wolf dog no evidence
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  Speaker 1: of his fear, if it could be called fear. The
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  Speaker 1: little professor, who was up in the North Country for
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  Speaker 1: the Smithsonian Institution, had spent a third of his life
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  Speaker 1: among dogs. He loved them and understood them. He had
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  Speaker 1: written a number of magazine articles on dog intellect that
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  Speaker 1: had attracted wide attention among naturalists. It was largely because
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  Speaker 1: he loved dogs and understood them more than most men
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  Speaker 1: that he had bought Kazan and the Big Dane on
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  Speaker 1: the night when Sandy mc trigger and his partner had
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  Speaker 1: tried to get them to fight to the death in
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  Speaker 1: the Red Gold City Saloon. The refusal of the two
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  Speaker 1: splendid beasts to kill each other for the pleasure of
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  Speaker 1: the three hundred men who had assembled to witness the
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  Speaker 1: fight delighted him. He had already planned a paper on
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  Speaker 1: the incident. Sandy had told him the story of Kazan's
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  Speaker 1: capture and of his wild mate, Gray Wolf, and the
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  Speaker 1: professor had asked him a thousand questions, But each day
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  Speaker 1: Kazan puzzled him more. No amount of kindness on his
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  Speaker 1: part could bring a responsive gleam in Kazan's eyes. Not
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  Speaker 1: once did Kazan signify a willingness to become friends, and
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  Speaker 1: yet he did not snarl at mc gill or snap
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  Speaker 1: at his hands when they came within reach. Quite frequently,
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  Speaker 1: Sandy mc trigger came over to the little cabin where
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  Speaker 1: mc gill was staying, and three times Kazan leaped at
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  Speaker 1: the end of his chain to get at him, and
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  Speaker 1: his white fangs gleamed as long as Sandy was in
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  Speaker 1: sight alone with mc gill. He became quiet. Something told
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  Speaker 1: him that macgil had come as a friend. That night,
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  Speaker 1: when he and the big Danes stood shoulder to shoulder
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  Speaker 1: in the cage that had been built for a slaughter
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  Speaker 1: pin away down in his brute heart, he held mc
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  Speaker 1: gill apart from other men, he had no desire to
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  Speaker 1: harm him. He tolerated him, but showed none of the
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  Speaker 1: growing affection of the huge Dane. It was this fact
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  Speaker 1: that puzzled mic Gil. He had never before known a
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  Speaker 1: dog that he could not make love him. To day,
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  Speaker 1: he placed the tallow and bran before Kazan, and the
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  Speaker 1: smile in his face gave way to a look of perplexity.
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  Speaker 1: Kazan's lips had drawn suddenly back. A fierce snarl rolled
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  Speaker 1: deep in his throat. The hair along his spine stood up,
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  Speaker 1: his muscles twitched instinctively. The professor turned Sandy mc trigger
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  Speaker 1: had come up quietly behind him. His brutal face wore
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  Speaker 1: a grin as he looked at Kazan. It's a fool
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  Speaker 1: job trying to make friends with him, he said. Then,
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  Speaker 1: he added, with a sudden interested gleam in his eyes.
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  Speaker 1: When you startin with first, Frost, replied MiG gil. It
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  Speaker 1: ought to come soon. I'm going to join Sergeant Conroy
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  Speaker 1: and his party at Fondlac by the first of October.
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  Speaker 1: And you're going up to fond Lack alone, queried Sandy.
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  Speaker 1: Why don't you take a man? The little professor laughed softly. Why,
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  Speaker 1: he asked, I've been through the Athabasca waterways a dozen
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  Speaker 1: times and know the trail as well as I know Broadway. Besides,
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  Speaker 1: I like to be alone, and the work isn't too
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  Speaker 1: hard with the currents all flowing to the north and east.
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  Speaker 1: Sandy was looking at the Dane with his back to
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  Speaker 1: mc gill. An exultant gleam shot for an instant into
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  Speaker 1: his eyes. You're taking the dogs, yes, Sandy lighted his
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  Speaker 1: pipe and spoke like one strangely curious. Must cost a
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  Speaker 1: heap to take these trips o yorn, don't it? My
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  Speaker 1: last cost about seven thousand dollars. This will cost five,
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  Speaker 1: said macgil. God breathed Sandy, And you carry all that
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  Speaker 1: along with you, ain't you afraid er? Something might happen?
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  Speaker 1: The little professor was looking the other way now, The
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  Speaker 1: carelessness in his face and manner changed his blue eyes
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  Speaker 1: grew a shade darker. A hard smile which Sandy did
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  Speaker 1: not see, hovered about his slips for an instant. Then
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  Speaker 1: he turned, laughing. I'm a very light sleeper, he said.
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  Speaker 1: A footstep at night rouses me. Even a man's breathing
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  Speaker 1: awakes me when I'd make up my mind. But I
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  Speaker 1: must be on my guard. And besides, he drew from
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  Speaker 1: his pocket a blue steeled Savage automatic. I know how
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  Speaker 1: to use this. He pointed to a knot in the
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  Speaker 1: wall of the cabin observe, he said, five times. He
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  Speaker 1: fired at twenty paces, and when Sandy went up to
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  Speaker 1: look at the knot, he gave a gasp. There was
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  Speaker 1: one jagged hole where the knot had been very good,
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  Speaker 1: he gwinned. Most men can do better'n that with a rifle.
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  Speaker 1: When Sandy left, MiG Gil followed him with a ciss
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  Speaker 1: vicious gleam in his eyes and a curious smile on
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  Speaker 1: his lips. Then he turned to Kazan. Guess you've got
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  Speaker 1: him figured out about, right, old man, he laughed softly.
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  Speaker 1: I don't blame you very much for wanting to get
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  Speaker 1: him by the throat. Perhaps He shoved his hands steep
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  Speaker 1: in his pockets and went into the cabin. Kazan dropped
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  Speaker 1: his head between his fore paws and lay still with
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  Speaker 1: wide open eyes. It was late afternoon, early in September,
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  Speaker 1: and each night brought now the first chill breaths of autumn.
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  Speaker 1: Kazan watched the last glow of the sun as it
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  Speaker 1: faded out of the southern skies. Darkness always followed swiftly
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  Speaker 1: after that, and with darkness came more fiercely his wild
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  Speaker 1: longing for freedom. Night after night, he had gnawed at
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  Speaker 1: his steel chain night after night, he had watched the
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  Speaker 1: stars and the moon, and had listened for gray Wolf's
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  Speaker 1: call while the big Dane lay sleeping to night. It
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  Speaker 1: was colder than usual, and the keen tang of the
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  Speaker 1: wind that came fresh from the west stirred him. Strangely.
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  Speaker 1: It set his blood afire with what the Indians call
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  Speaker 1: the frost hunger. Letharchic summer was gone, and the days
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  Speaker 1: and nights of hunting were at hand. He wanted to
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  Speaker 1: leap out into freedom and run until he was exhausted.
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  Speaker 1: With Gray Wolf at his side. He knew that gray
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  Speaker 1: Wolf was off there where the stars hung low in
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  Speaker 1: the clear sky, and that she was waiting. He strained
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  Speaker 1: at the end of his chain and whined all that night.
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  Speaker 1: He was restless, more restless than he had been at
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  Speaker 1: any time before. Once in the far distance, he heard
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  Speaker 1: a cry that he thought was the cry of grey wolf,
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  Speaker 1: and his answer roused Migil from deep sleep. It was dawn,
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  Speaker 1: and the little professor dressed himself and came out of
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  Speaker 1: the camp. With satisfaction. He noted the exhilarating snap in
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  Speaker 1: the air. He wet his fingers and held them above
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  Speaker 1: his head, chuckling. When he found the wind had swung
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  Speaker 1: into the north. He went to Kazan and talked to him.
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  Speaker 1: Among other things, he said, this'll put the black flies
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  Speaker 1: to sleep. Kazan a day or two more of it,
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  Speaker 1: and we'll start. Five days later. Migil led first the
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  Speaker 1: Dane and then Kazan to a packed canoe. Sandy mat
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  Speaker 1: Trigger saw them off, and Kazan watched for a chance
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  Speaker 1: to leap at him. Sandy kept his distance, and Migil
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  Speaker 1: watched the two with the thought that set the blood
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  Speaker 1: running swiftly behind the mask of his careless smile. They
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  Speaker 1: had slipped a mile down stream when he leaned over
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  Speaker 1: and laid a fearless hand on Kazan's head. Something in
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  Speaker 1: the touch of that hand and in the professor's voice
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  Speaker 1: kept Kazan from a desire to snap at him. He
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  Speaker 1: tolerated the friendship with expressionless eighe and a motionless body.
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  Speaker 1: I was beginning to fear I wouldn't have much sleep,
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  Speaker 1: bowl boy, chuckled mc gill ambiguously. But I guess I
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  Speaker 1: can take a nap now and then with you along.
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  Speaker 1: He made camp that night, fifteen miles up the lake
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  Speaker 1: shore the Big Dane. He fastened to a sapling twenty
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  Speaker 1: yards from his small silk tent, but Kazan's chain he
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  Speaker 1: made fast to the butt of a stunted birch that
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  Speaker 1: held down the tent flap. Before he went into the
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  Speaker 1: tent for the night, McGill pulled out his automatic and
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  Speaker 1: examined it with care. For three days, the journey continued
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  Speaker 1: without a missap along the shore of Lake Athavaska. On
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  Speaker 1: the fourth night, McGill pitched his tent and a clump
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  Speaker 1: of bandskin pine a hundred yards back from the water.
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  Speaker 1: All that day the wind had come steadily from behind them,
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  Speaker 1: and for at least a half of the day the
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  Speaker 1: Professor had been watching Kazan closely from the west. There
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  Speaker 1: had now and then come a scent that stirred him uneasily.
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  Speaker 1: Since noon, he had sniffed that wind twice, Migil had
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  Speaker 1: heard him growling deep in his throat, and once, when
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  Speaker 1: the scent had come stronger than usual, he had bared
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  Speaker 1: his fangs and the bristles stood up along his spine.
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  Speaker 1: For an hour. After striking camp, the little Professor did
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  Speaker 1: not build a fire, but sat looking up the shore
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  Speaker 1: of the lake through his hunting glass. It was dusk
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  Speaker 1: when he returned to where he had put up his
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  Speaker 1: tent and chained the dogs. For a few moments, he
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  Speaker 1: stood unobserved, looking at the wolf dog. Kazan was still uneasy.
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  Speaker 1: He lay facing the west. Migil made note of this,
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  Speaker 1: for the big Dane lay behind Kazan to the east.
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  Speaker 1: Under ordinary conditions, Kazan would have faced him. He was
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  Speaker 1: sure now that there was something in the west wind.
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  Speaker 1: A little shiver ran up his back as he thought
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  Speaker 1: of what it might be. Behind a rock. He built
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  Speaker 1: a very small fire and prepared supper. After this he
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  Speaker 1: went into the tent, and when he came out he
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  Speaker 1: carried a blanket under his arm. He chuckled as he
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  Speaker 1: stood for a moment over Kazan, we're not going to
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  Speaker 1: sleep in there to night, old boy, he said, I
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  Speaker 1: don't like what you've found in the west wind. It
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  Speaker 1: may be a bundles storm. He laughed at his joke
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  Speaker 1: and buried himself in a clump of stunted bastions thirty
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  Speaker 1: paces from the tent. Here he rolled himself in his
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  Speaker 1: blanket and went to sleep. It was a quiet, starlit night,
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  Speaker 1: and hours afterward, Kazan dropped his nose between his fore
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  Speaker 1: paws and drowsed. It was the snap of a twig
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  Speaker 1: that roused him. The sound did not awaken the sluggish day,
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  Speaker 1: but instantly Kazan's head was alert, his keen nostrils sniffing
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  Speaker 1: the air. What he had smelled all day was heavy
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  Speaker 1: about him. Now he lay still and quivering slowly. From
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  Speaker 1: out of the bandskins behind the tent, there came a figure.
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  Speaker 1: It was not the Little Professor. It approached cautiously with
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  Speaker 1: lowered head and hunched shoulders, and the starlight revealed a
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  Speaker 1: murderous face of Sandy mc trigger. Kazan crouched low. He
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  Speaker 1: laid his head flat between his fore paws, his long
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  Speaker 1: fangs gleamed, but he made no sound that betrayed his
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  Speaker 1: concealment under a thick bandskin shrub. Step by step, Sandy approached,
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  Speaker 1: and at last he reached the flap of the tent.
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  Speaker 1: He did not carry a club or a whip in
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  Speaker 1: his hand. Now in the place of either of those
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  Speaker 1: was the glitter of steel at the door to the tent.
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  Speaker 1: He paused and peered in his back to Kazan. Silently,
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  Speaker 1: swiftly the wolf now in every movement. Kazan came to
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  Speaker 1: his feet. He forgot the chain that held him ten
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  Speaker 1: feet away. Stood the enemy he hated above all others
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  Speaker 1: he had ever known. Every ounce of strength in his
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  Speaker 1: splendid body gathered itself for the spring, and then he leaped.
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  Speaker 1: This time the chain did not pull him back. Almost
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  Speaker 1: neck broken age and the elements had weakened the leather
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  Speaker 1: collar he had worn since the days of his slavery
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  Speaker 1: in the traces, and it gave way with a snap.
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  Speaker 1: Sandy turned and in a second leap, Kazan's fang sank
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  Speaker 1: into the flesh of his arm. With a startled cry,
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  Speaker 1: the man fell, and as they rolled over on the ground.
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  Speaker 1: The Big Dane's deep voice rolled out in thunderous alarm
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  Speaker 1: as he tugged at his leash. In the fall, Kazan's
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  Speaker 1: hold was broken. In an instant, he was on his feet,
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  Speaker 1: ready for another attack. And then the change came. He
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  Speaker 1: was free. The collar was gone from his neck. The forests,
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  Speaker 1: the stars, the whispering wind were all about him. Here
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  Speaker 1: were men, and off there was gray Wolf. His ears dropped,
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  Speaker 1: and he turned swiftly and slipped like a shadow back
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  Speaker 1: into the glorious freedom of his world. A hundred yards away,
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  Speaker 1: something stopped him for an instant. It was not the
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  Speaker 1: Big Dane's voice, but the sharp crack, quack crack of
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  Speaker 1: the Little Professor's automatic. And above that sound there rose
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  Speaker 1: the voice of Sandy mc trigger in a weird and
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  Speaker 1: terrible cry. End of Chapter twenty five of Kazan by
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  Speaker 1: James Oliver Kirkwood. Recording by Leonard Wilson of Springfield, Ohio