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22 - Kazan by James Oliver Curwood · Kazan

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty two Sandy's method, but Trigger dropped on his
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: knees in the sand. The look of exultation was gone
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: from his face. He twisted the collar about the dog's
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: limp neck until he came to the worn plate on
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: which he could make out the faintly engraved letters K
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: A Z A N. He spelled the letters out one
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: by one, and the look in his face was of
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: one who still disbelieved what he had seen and heard.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: A dog, he exclaimed again, A dog, Sandy mc trigger,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: and a beauty. He rose to his feet and looked
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: down on his victim. A pool of blood lay in
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: the white sand at the end of Kazan's nose. After
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: a moment, Sandy bent over to see where his bullet
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: had struck. His inspection filled him with a new and
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: greater interest. The heavy ball from the muzzle loader had
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: struck Kazan fairly on top of the head. It was
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: a glancing blow that had not even broken the skull,
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  Speaker 1: and like a flash, Sandy understood the quivering and twitching
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: of Kazan's shoulders and legs. He had thought that they
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: were the last muscular throes of death, but Kazan was
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  Speaker 1: not dying. He was only stunned and would be on
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  Speaker 1: his feet again in a few minutes. Sandy was a
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: connoisseur of dogs, of dogs that had worn sledge traces.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: He had lived among them two thirds of his life.
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  Speaker 1: He could tell their age, their value, and a part
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: of their history. At a glance in the snow, he
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: could tell the trail of a Mackenzie hound from that
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: of a malamute, and the track of an Eskimo dog
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: from that of a Yukon husky. He looked at Kazan's feet.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: They were wolf feet, and he chuckled. Kazan was part wild.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: He was big and powerful, and Sandy thought of the
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: coming winter and of the high prices that dogs would
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: bring at Red Gold City. He went to the canoe
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: and returned with a roll of stout moose hide Babish.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Then he sat down, cross legged in front of Kazan
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: and began making a muzzle. He did this by plaiting
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: babishs thongs in the same manner that one does in
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: making the web of a snow shoe. In ten minutes
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: he had the muzzle over Kazan's nose and fastened securely
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: about his neck to the dog's collar. He then fastened
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: a ten foot rope of babish. After that, he sat
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: back and waited for Kazan to come to life. When
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Kazan first lifted his head, he could not see. There
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: was a red film before his eyes, but this passed
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: away swiftly, and he saw the man. His first instinct
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: was to rise to his feet. Three times, he fell
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: back before he could stand up. Sandy was squatted six
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: feet from him, holding the end of the babbish and grinning.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Kazan's fangs gleamed back, he growled, and the crest along
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: his spine rose menacingly. Sandy jumped to his feet. Guess
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: I know what you're figure on, he said. I've had
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: your kind before. The damned wolves have turned you bad,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: and you need a whole lot of club before you're
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: right again. Now look here, Sandy had taken the precaution
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: of bringing a thick club along with the Babbish. He
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: picked it up from where he had dropped it in
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  Speaker 1: the sand. Kazan's strength had fairly returned to him. Now
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: he was no longer dizzy. The mist had cleared away
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: from his eyes. Before him, he saw once more his
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: old enemy, man, man, and the club. All the wild
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: ferocity of his nature was roused in an instant without reasoning.
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  Speaker 1: He knew that gray Wolf was gone, and that this
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: man was accountable for her going. He knew that this
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: man had also brought him his own hurt, and what
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  Speaker 1: he ascribed to the man he also attributed to the club.
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  Speaker 1: In his newer undertaking of things, born of freedom and
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: grey Wolf, Man and club were one and inseparable. With
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: a snarl, he leaped at Sandy. The man was not
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: expecting a direct assault, and before he could raise his
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: club or spring aside, Kazan had landed full on his chest.
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  Speaker 1: The muzzle about Kazan's jaws saved him. Fangs that would
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  Speaker 1: have torn his throat open snapped harmlessly under the weight
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  Speaker 1: of the dog's body. He fell back as if struck
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: down by a catapult. As quick as a cat he
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: was on his feet again, with the end of the
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  Speaker 1: Babish twisted several times about his hand. Kazan leaped again,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: and this time he was met by a furious swing
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  Speaker 1: of the club. It smashed against his shoulder and sent
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  Speaker 1: him down in the sand. Before he could recover, Sandy
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  Speaker 1: was upon him with all the fury of a man
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  Speaker 1: gone mad. He shortened the Babish by twisting it again
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  Speaker 1: and again about his hand, and the club rose and
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  Speaker 1: fell with the skill and strength of one long accustomed
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  Speaker 1: to its use. The first blows served only to add
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: to Kazan's hatred of man and the ferocity and fearlessness
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  Speaker 1: of his attacks. Again and again he leaped in, and
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: each time the club fell upon him with a force
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: that threatened to break his bones. There was a tense,
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  Speaker 1: hard look about Sandy's cruel mouth. He had never known
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  Speaker 1: a dog like this before, and he was a bit nervous.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Even with Kazan muzzled three times, Kazan's fangs would have
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  Speaker 1: sunk deep in his flesh had it not been for
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  Speaker 1: the Babish, and if the thongs about his jaws should
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  Speaker 1: slip or break. Sandy followed up the thought with a
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  Speaker 1: smashing blow that landed on Kazan's head, and once more
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  Speaker 1: the old battler fell limp upon the sand. Mc Trigger's
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: breath was coming in quick gasps. He was almost winded.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Not until the club slipped from his hand did he
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  Speaker 1: realize how desperate the fight had been. Before Kazan recovered
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: from the blow that had stunned him. Sandy examined the
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: muzzle and strengthened it by adding another Babish thong. Then
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: he dragged Kazan to a log that high water had
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: thrown up on the shore a few yards away and
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: made the end of the babi shrope fast to a
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: dead snag. After that, he pulled his canoe higher up
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: on the sand and began to prepare camp for the night.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: For some minutes, after Kazan's stunned senses had become normal,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: he lay motionless watching Sandy mc trigg. Every bone in
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: his body gave him pain. His jaws were sore and bleeding.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: His upper lip was smashed where the club had fallen.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: One eye was almost closed. Several times. Sandy came near
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  Speaker 1: much pleased at what he regarded as the good results
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: of the beating. Each time he brought the club. The
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: third time, he prodded Kazan with it, and the dog
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: snarled and snapped savagely at the end of it. That
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  Speaker 1: was what Sandy wanted. It was an old trick of
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: the dog's slaver. Instantly he was using the club again,
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  Speaker 1: until with a whining cry, Kazan slunk under the protection
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  Speaker 1: of the snag to which he was fastened. He could
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: scarcely drag himself. His right forepaw was smashed, his hind
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: quarters sank under him for a time. After the second beating.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: He could not have escaped had he been free. Sandy
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  Speaker 1: was in unusually good humor. Take a devil out of you,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: all right, he told Kazan for the twentieth time. There's
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: nothing like beatens to make dogs and women live up
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  Speaker 1: to the mark. A month from now, you be worth
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: two hundred dollars, or I'll skin you alive. Three or
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: four times before dusk, Sandy worked to rouse Kazan's animosity,
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  Speaker 1: but there was no longer any desire left in Kazan
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  Speaker 1: to fight. His two terrific beatings, and the crushing blow
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  Speaker 1: of the bullet against his skull had made him sick.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: He lay with his head between his forepaws, his eyes closed,
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  Speaker 1: and did not seem a trigger. He paid no attention
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  Speaker 1: to the meat that was thrown under his nose. He
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: did not know when the last of the sun sank
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: behind the western forests or when the darkness came, But
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: at last something roused him from his stupor. To his
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: dazed and sickened brain. It came like a call from
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  Speaker 1: out of the far past, and he raised his head
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: and listened. Out on the sand, mc trigger had built
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: a fire, and the man stood in the red glow
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  Speaker 1: of it, now facing the dark shadows beyond the shore line.
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  Speaker 1: He too was listening. What had roused Kazan came again, now,
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  Speaker 1: the lost morning cry of gray Wolf, far out on
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  Speaker 1: the plain with a wine. Kashan was on his feet,
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  Speaker 1: tugging at the babish sandy, snatched up his club and
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: leaped toward him. Down, you, brute, he commanded. In the firelight.
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  Speaker 1: The club rose and fell with ferocious quickness. When mc
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: trigger returned to the fire, he was breathing hard again.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: He tossed his club beside the blankets he had spread
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  Speaker 1: out for a bed. It was a different looking club
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  Speaker 1: now it was covered with blood and hair. Guess that'll
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  Speaker 1: take the spirit out of him, he chuckled. He'll do
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  Speaker 1: that or kill him. Several times at night Kazan heard
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Gray Wolf's call. He whined softly in response. Fearing the club.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: He watched the fire until the last embers of it
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  Speaker 1: died out, and then cautiously dragged himself from under the
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: snag two or three times. He tried to stand on
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  Speaker 1: his feet, but fell back each time. His legs were
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: not broken, but the pain of standing on them was excruciating.
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  Speaker 1: He was hot and feverish all that night. He had
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: craved a drink of water. When Sandy crawled out from
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: between his blankets in the early dawn, he gave him
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  Speaker 1: both meat and water. Kazan drank the water but would
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: not touch the meat. Sandy regarded the change in him
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  Speaker 1: with satisfaction. By the time the sun was up, he
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: had finished his breakfast and was ready to leave. He
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: approached Kazan fearlessly, now without the club on tying the babish,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: he dragged the dog to the canoe. Kazan slunk in
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  Speaker 1: the sand while his captor fastened the end of the
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: hide rope to the stern of the canoe. Sandy grinned
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  Speaker 1: what was about to happen would be fun for him.
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  Speaker 1: In the Yukon, he had learned how to take the
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  Speaker 1: spirit out of dogs. He pushed off bow foremost, bracing
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  Speaker 1: himself with his paddle. He then began to pull Kazan
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  Speaker 1: toward the water. In a few moments, Kazan stood with
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: his fore feet planted in the damp sand at the
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: edge of the stream. For a brief interval, Sandy allowed
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: the Babish to fall slack, Then, with a sudden, powerful pull,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: he jerked Kazan out into the water. Instantly, he sent
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: the canoe into mid stream, swung it quickly down with
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: the current, and began to paddle enough to keep the
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  Speaker 1: Babish taut about his victim's neck. In spite of his
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: sickness and injuries, Kazan was now compelled to swim to
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  Speaker 1: keep his head above water in the wash of the anew,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: and with Sandy's strokes growing steadily stronger, his position became
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  Speaker 1: each moment one of increasing torture. At times, his shaggy
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: head was pulled completely under water. At other times Sandy
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: would wait until he had drifted alongside and then thrust
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  Speaker 1: him under with the end of his paddle. He grew weaker.
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  Speaker 1: At the end of a half mile, he was drowning.
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  Speaker 1: Not until then did Sandy pull him alongside and drag
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: him into the canoe. The dog fell limp and gasping
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: in the bottom. Brutal. Though Sandy's methods had been they
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: had worked his purpose in Kazan. There was no longer
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: a desire to fight. He no longer struggled for freedom.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: He knew that this man was his master, and for
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: the time his spirit was gone. All he desired now
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: was to be allowed to lie in the bottom of
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: the canoe, out of reach of the club and safe
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: from the water. The club lay between him and the man.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: The end of it was within a foot or two
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: of his nose, and what he smelled was his own blood.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: For five days and five nights, the journey downstream continued,
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  Speaker 1: and mc trigger's process of civilizing Kazan was continued in
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: three more beatings with the club and another resort to
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: the water torture. On the morning of the sixth day,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: they reached Red Gold City and mc trigger put up
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: his tent close to the river. Somewhere he obtained a
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: chain for Kazan, and after fastening the dog securely back
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: of the tent, he cut off the Babish mussel. You
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: can't put on meat in a mussel, he told his prisoner,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: and I want you to get strong and fierce as hell.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: I've got an id. It's an id. You can lick
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: your weight in wild cats we'll pull off a stunt
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: pretty soon that'll fill our pockets with us. I've done
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: it afore, and we can do it here wolf and
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: dog selp be god, but it'll be a drawn card.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Twice a day after this, he brought fresh raw meat
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: to Kazan. Quickly, Kazan's spirit and courage returned to him.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: The soreness left his limbs, his battered jaws healed, and
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: after the fourth day, each time that Sandy came with meat,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: he greeted him with the challenge of his snarling fangs.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: The trigger did not beat him. Now. He gave him
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: no fish, no tallow and meal, nothing but raw meat.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: He traveled five miles up the river to bring in
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: the fresh entrail of a cariboo that had been killed.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: One day, Sandy brought another man with him, and when
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: the stranger came a step too near, Kazan made a sudden,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: swift lunge at him. The man jumped back with a
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: startled oath ill do he growled. He's lighter by ten
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: a fip ten pounds and the dane, but he's got
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: the teeth and the quickness, and he'll give a good
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: show before he goes under I'll make you a better
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: twenty five percent of my share that he don't go under,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: offered Sandy. None said the other. How long before he'll
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: be ready? Sandy thought a moment. Another week, he said,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: he won't have his weight before. Then a week from
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: to day. We'll say next Tuesday night. Does that suit you, Harker.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Harker nodded, Next Tuesday night, he agreed. Then he added,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: I'll make it be half of my share that the
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Dane kills your wolf dog. Sandy took a long look
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: at Kazan. I'll just take you on that, he said, then,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: as he shook Harker's hand, I don't believe there's a
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: dog between here and the Yukon that can kill the wolf.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter twenty two of Kazan by James Oliver Kerwood.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: Recording by Leonard Wilson of Springfield, Ohio.