Part 10 (1/2)

Miki, no longer fighting the trap, was eyeing them as they advanced In this moment of peril he felt no fear of themadness The truth leapt upon hi These tere his ene on his foot--the man-beast, and Netah, The Killer He remembered--as if it were yesterday This was not the first time he had seen a man with a club in his hand And Le Beau held a club But he was not afraid His steady eyes watched Netah Unleashed by his s a dozen feet away, the wiry crest along his spine erect, his muscles tense

Miki heard the man-beast's voice

”Go to, you devil! GO TO!”

Miki waited, without the quiver of a muscle Thus much he had learned of his hard lessons in the wilderness--to wait, and watch, and use his cunning He was flat on his belly, his nose between his forepaws His lips were drawn back a little, just a little; but he made no sound, and his eyes were as steady as two points of flame Le Beau stared He felt suddenly a new thrill, and it was not the thrill of his desire for vengeance Never had he seen a lynx or a fox or a wolf in a trap like that Never had he seen a dog with eyes like the eyes that were on Netah For a moment he held his breath

Foot by foot, and then alht, six--and all that time Miki made no er, Netah came at hi that Jacques Le Beau had ever seen So swiftly that his eyes could scarcely follow the movement, Miki had passed like a flash under the belly of Netah, and turning then at the end of his trap chain he was at The Killer's throat before Le Beau could have counted ten They were down, and The Brute gripped the club in his hand and stared like one fascinated He heard the grinding crunch of jaws, and he knew they were the Wild Dog's jaws; he heard a snarl choking slowly into a wheezing sob of agony, and he knew that the sound came from The Eller The blood rose into his face

The red fire in his eyes grew livid--a blaze of exultation, of triu the life out of Netah!” he gasped

”NON, I have never seen a dog like that I will keep hiht Durant's POOS over at Post Fort O' God! By the belly of Saint Gris, I say--”

The Killer was as good as dead if left another minute With upraised club Le Beau advanced As he sank his fangs deeper into Netah's throat Miki saw the new danger out of the corner of his eye He loosed his jaws and swung himself free of The Killer as the club descended He only partly evaded the sht him on the shoulder and knocked hied at Le Beau The Frenchman was a master with the club All his life he had used it, and he brought it around in a sudden side-swing that landed with terrific force against Miki's head The blood spurted from his ain, and the club caught him once more He heard Le Beau's ferocious cry of joy A third, a fourth, and a fifth tihed, but swung his weapon with a look that was half fear in his eyes The sixth tiainst The Brute's chest, ripping away the thick coat and shi+rt as if they had been of paper, and leaving on Le Beau's skin a bleeding gash Ten inches more--a little better vision in his blood-direat cry rose out of Le Beau For an instant he felt the appalling nearness of death

”Netah! Netah!” he cried, and swung the club wildly

Netah did not respond It may be that in this moment he sensed the fact that it was his master who hadits doors of freedo away, dripping blood as he went--and this was the last that Le Beau saw of him Probably he joined the wolves, for The Killer was a quarter-strain wild

Le Beau got no liain, a clean miss; and this tiht, and Miki fell back when his hot breath was alular He fell upon his side Before he could recover hi his head into the snow

The world grew black He no longer had the power to , exultant voice of the h his heart was, could not keep back a prayerful cry of thankfulness that he was victor--and had h by a space no wider than the link of a chain

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Nanette, the woe of the ti on the snow behind hiun to talk about hi Long before the last baby had coiven her the only real affection she had known in the company of The Brute, and with barbarous cruelty Le Beau had driven it froed it to seek freedoht his Therefore she had prayed that the wild dog of the trapline ht escape

As Le Beau came nearer she saw that what he drew after hiths of sapling, and when, a ave a little cry of horror

Miki's four feet were tied so fir that he could not move A cord about his neck was fastened to one of the crossbars, and over his jaws Le Beau had i He had done all this before Miki regained consciousness after the clubbing The woman stared, and there was a sudden catch in her breath after the little cry that had fallen fros, but never had she seen one clubbed like this Miki's head and shoulders were a mass of frozen blood And then she saw his eyes They were looking straight up at her She turned, fearing that Jacques ed his burden straight into the cabin, and then stood back and rubbed his hands as he looked at Miki on the floor Nanette saw that he was in a strangely good humour, and waited

”By the Blessed Saints, but you should have seen him kill Netah--almost,” he exulted ”OUI; he had him down by the throat quicker than you could flash your eye, and twice he ithin an inch of ht hi when they er that he kills hioes round twice He is splendid! Watch hio make a corral for him alone If I put him in with the pack he will kill them all”

Miki's eyes followed hih the cabin door Then he looked swiftly back to Nanette She had drawn nearer Her eyes were shi+ning as she bent over him A snarl rose in Miki's throat, and died there For the first ti upon WOMAN He sensed, all at once, a difference as vast as the world itself In his bruised and broken body his heart stood still Nanette spoke to him Never in his life had he heard a voice like hers--soft and gentle, with a breaking sob in it; and then--miracle of miracles--she had dropped on her knees and her hands were at his head!

In that instant his spirit leapt back through the generations--back beyond his father, and his father's father; back to that far day when the blood in the veins of his race was ”just dog,” and he romped with children, and listened to the call of woman, and worshi+pped at the shrine of humankind And now the woain with a dish of ater and a soft cloth, and was bathing his head, talking to hi voice of pity and of love He closed his eyes--no longer afraid A great sigh heaved out of his body He wanted to put out his tongue and lick the sli hi of all happened In the crib the baby sat up and began to prattle It was a new note to Miki, a new song of Life's spring-tide to hi else in all the world had ever thrilled hih of joy--new and strange even to herself--came into the woman's voice, and she ran to the crib and returned with the baby in her arain, and the baby, at sight of this strange plaything on the floor, thrust out its little arhed and squiret a little nearer that he ot his pain He no longer sensed the agony of his bruised and beaten jaws He did not feel the nus Every instinct in him was centred in these two

And the woentle heart throbbed in her bosoloith the soft radiance of stars Into her pale cheeks came a sweet flush She sat the baby down, and with the cloth and ater continued to bathe Miki's head Le Beau, had he been human, must have worshi+pped her then as she knelt there, all that was pure and beautiful in el of etfulness of HIM And Le Beau DID enter--and see her--so quietly that for a space she did not realize his presence; and with hih and half sob, and the baby kicked and prattled and flung out its little ar ly leer, and he gave a savage curse Nanette flinched as if struck a blow