Nomads of the North: A Story of Romance and Adventure under the Open Stars

e fled across the creek bottom, Neewa felt very much like an old and seasoned warrior instead

Neewa sat down on his chubby bottom, perked his funny ears forward, and eyed his mother with round and glistening eyes that were filled with uneasy speculation. With a wheezing groan Noozak turned and made her way slowly toward the big rock alongside which she had been sle

inal groan, and looked

and upset that old viper's temper this wo

the moon even more than the sun, for by birth and instinct he was more a prowler in darkness than a hunter of the day. The moon rose out of the east in a glory of golden fire. The spruce and balsam forests stood out like islands in a yellow sea of light, and the creek shimmered and

at another fight would do her up entirely, in which event Makoos would make a breakfast of Neewa. So she urged herself down the other side of the ridge, across a new valley, and through a cut that opened like a wide door into a rolling plain that was made up of meadow

he had difficulty in climbing the spruce up which his mother sent him to take a

as his first meal of fish, and for a week thereafter he lived in a paradise of fish. He ate them morning, noon, and night, and when he was too full to eat he rolled in them. And Noozak stuffed herself until it seemed her hide would burst. Wherever they moved they carried with them a fishy smell that

that part of the northland. Food was no longer a problem for her. In the creek, penned up in the pools, were unlimited quantities of it, and she had encountered no other bear to challenge her possessi

miles down the creek. His sleeves were rolled up, baring his brown arms halfway to the shoulders and he wore no hat, so that th

e keenest interest, one of the homeliest and yet one of the most companionable-looking d

s head was three sizes too big for his body, and accident had assisted Nature in the perfection of her masterpiece by robbing him of a half of one of his ears. As he watched his master this half of an ear stood up like a galvanized stub, while the other-twice as long-was perked forwa

nd Miki wiggled from stem to stern in appreciation of the

eek old, Miki," he said. "And if I know anythin

few moments the last rays of the sun lit up his face. It was a strong, hopeful face. In it was the joy of life. And now

hed gem of good nature and beauty-and for those two things I know she'll love you

s pail of water in the direction of a th

s heels fol

the sunset it would have spoken volumes to a man with an eye trained to the wear and the turmoil of the forests. It was the outfit of a man who had gone unfearing to the rough edge of the world. And now what was left of it was returning with him. To Challoner there was somethin

his heels, and close to the heat was a battered and mended reflector in which a bannock of flou

ey followed Challoner's final preparatory movements, were as bright as garnets, and every third or fourth breath he licked his chops, and swallowed hungrily. T

d the bannock, and Challoner had lighted hi

going after tha

gave his tail a club-like thump in evid

up with the cub, and ti

his tail hard

he seeme

ne. Eh, won't you like that? You don't know what she's like, you homely little devil, or you wouldn't sit there staring at me like a totem-pole pup! And it isn't in your stupid head to im

lf. His muscles cracked. He felt l

moment, rose on his overgrown legs and

Another rope of similar length Challoner tied to the corners of a grub sack so that it could be carried over his shoulder like a game bag. With the first rose-flush of the sun he was ready for the trail of Neewa and his mother. Miki set up a

sess a cub along with Miki. He needed meat, and bear pork thus early in the season would be exceedingly good; and above al

Challoner was elated. He was sure that he would find the pair along the creek, and not far distant. The wind was in his favour, and he began to advance with greater caution, his rifle ready for the anticipated moment. For an hour he trav

world had never looked more beautiful to Neewa. The sun made the soft hair on his back fluff up like that of a purring cat. He liked the plash of wet sand under his feet and the singing gush of water against his legs. He liked the sound tha

Noozak caught the first whiff of danger. It came to

t same smell of the one enemy she feared. For three summers she had not caught the taint in her nostrils and she had alm

rom Challoner he stood a motionless blotch of jet against the white of the sand about him, his eyes

mething that was almost like thunder and yet unlike it; and he saw his mo

WHOOF in her voice that was new to him

for the near-by shelter of the timber. Noozak followed. A second shot came, and close over her head there sped a purring, terrible sound. But Noozak did not hurry. She kept behind

a deep and appalling shadow, something that was beginning to cloud her vision so that she could not see, and she knew that at last she had come to the uttermost end of her trail. With twenty years of life behind her, she struggled now for

, until at last she sank down with a great sigh, barring the trail of their enemy. For a space, it may be, she saw once more the golden moons and the blazing suns of those twenty years that were gone; it may b

er came up s

reason. It was by no miracle of mental process that he knew something terrible had happened, and that this tall, two-legged creature was the cause of it. His little eyes were blazing, just over the level of the crotch. He wondered why his mother did not get up and fight when this

meat that would carry him all the rest of the way to the southland. He leaned his rifle against a tree and began looking about for th

ssible during the search. At the end of half an hour Challoner disappointedly gave up his quest

He went to her and stood beside her motionless head, sniffing the man-tainted air. Then he muzzled her jowl, butted his nose under her neck, and at last nipped her ear-always his last resort in the awakening process. He

d to grip hold of his heart suddenly, and choke him. He had h

He had killed many things in his time, for it was his business to kill, and to barter in the pelts of creatures

ed softly, "you poor l

d with the wind and stole up behind. He was within a dozen feet of Neewa before the cub suspected danger. Then it was too late. In a s

ting blood of old Soominitik, his father. He clawed and bit and kicked and snarled. In those five minutes he was five little devils all rolled into one, and by

In it he rolled the meat and fats, and with babiche thong bound the whole into a pack around which he belted the dunnage ends of his shoulder straps. Weighted under the burden of sixty pounds of pelt an

no movement of protest. All smells were alike to him now, and of sounds he made no distinction. Challoner was nearl

the limp sack as he loaded his pipe for the first

. In that hour Neewa was willing to accept a truce so far as Challoner was concerned. But it was not Challoner that his half-blinded eyes saw first as he

invitation to fight? He judged so. Anyway, here was something of his size, and like a flash he was at the end of his rope and on the pup. Miki, a moment before bubbling over with friendship and good

th from the pup's loose hide. Again he saw the man-beast. Instinct, keener than a clumsy reasoning, held him for a few moments without movement, his beady eyes on Challoner. In midair Miki wagged his paws; he whined softly; his hard tail thumped the ground as he pleaded for

ce, Challoner drew back into the tent a

sters unborn-the comradeship of babyhood, the play of children. And Miki must have sensed the change in the furry little black creature who a moment ago was his enemy. His tail thumped

he slit in the canvas, Challoner