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Speaker 1: Kish, son of Kish, by Jack London. Thus will I

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give six blankets, warm and double, six files large and hard,

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six Hudson bay knives, keen edged and long. Two canoes,

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the work of Mochum, the maker of things. Ten dogs,

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heavy shouldered and strong in the harness. And three guns.

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The trigger of one be broken, but it is a

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good gun and can doubtless be mended. Kish paused and

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swept his eyes over the circle of intent faces. It

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was the time of the great fishing, and he was

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bidding to nob for Sousu, his daughter. The place was

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the Saint George mission by the Yukon, and the tribes

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had gathered for many a hundred miles from north, south,

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east and west. They had come even from Tozikakat and

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far Tananah, and further o nab thou Art, chief of

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the Tananah, and I Ki, the son of Kish and

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chief of the Tlunget. Wherefore, when my seed springs from

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the loins of thy daughter, there shall be a friendship

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between the tribes, a great friendship, and Tanana and Thlung

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it shall be brothers of the blood. In the time

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to come. What I have said, I will do, that

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will I do and how is it with you, o, Nob,

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in this matter? Nob nodded his head gravely, his gnarled

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and age twisted face inscrutably masking the soul that dwelt behind.

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His narrow eyes burned like twin coals through their narrow

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slits as he piped in a high cracked voice. But

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that is not all? What more? Kish demanded? Have I

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not offered full measure? Was there ever yet a Tananau

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maiden who fetched so great a price? Then? Name her?

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An open snicker passed around the circle, and Kish knew

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that he stood in shame before these people. Nayn a

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good Kish, thou dost not understand? Nob made a soft

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stroking gesture. The price is fair. It is a good price.

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Nor do I question the broken trigger. But that is

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not all. What of the man? Aye? What of the man?

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The circle snarled? It is said Nob's shrill voice pipe.

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It is said that Kish does not walk in the

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way of his father's. It is said that he has

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wandered into the dark after strange gods, and that he

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has become afraid. The face of Kish went dark. It

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is a lie, he thundered. Kish is afraid of no man.

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It is said old nob piped On, that he has

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hearkened to the speech of the white man up at

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the big House, and that he bends head to the

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white man's God, and moreover, that blood is displeasing to

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the white man's god. Keish dropped his eyes and his

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hands clenched passionately. The savvage circle laughed derisively, and in

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the ear of nob whispered mad Wan, the Shammin, high

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priest of the tribe and maker of medicine. The Shumon

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poked among the shadows on the rim of the firelight

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and roused up a slender young boy, whom he brought

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face to face with Kish, And in the hand of

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Keish he thrust a knife. Nob leaned forward, Kish, O Keish,

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darest thou to kill a man. Behold, this is kittsnu

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a slave. Strike o' keish, strike with the strength of

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thy arm. The boy trembled and waited the stroke. Kish

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looked at him, and thoughts of mister Browne's higher morality

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floated through his mind, and strong upon him was a

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vision of the leaping flames of mister Brown's particular brand

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of hell fire. The knife fell to the ground, and

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the boy sighed and went out beyond the firelight with

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shaking knees. At the feet of Nob sprawled a wolf dog,

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which bared its gleaming teeth, then prepared to spring after

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the boy. But the shamin ground his foot into the

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brute's body, and so doing gave Nob an idea. And then,

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O kesh, what wouldst thou do should a man do

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this thing to you? As he spoke, Nob held a

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ribbon of salmon to white Fang, and when the animal

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attempted to take it, smote him sharply on the nose

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with a stick. And afterward, o'keesh wouldst thou do? Thus

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White Fang was cringing back on his belly and fawning

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to the hand of Nob. Listen, leaning on the arm

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of Madua, Nob had risen to his feet. I am

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very old, and because I am very old, I will

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tell thee things. Thy father Keish was a mighty man,

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and he did love the song of the bowstring and battle.

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And these eyes have beheld him cast a spear till

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the head stood out beyond a man's body. But thou

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art unlike, since thou left the raven to worship the wolf.

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Thou art become afraid of blood, and thou makest thy

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people afraid. This is not good. For Behold, when I

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was a boy, even as kits knew here, there was

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no white man in all the land. But they came

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one by one, these white men, till now they are many,

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and they are a restless breed, never content to rest

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by the fire with a full belly and let the

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morrow bring its own meat. A curse was laid upon them,

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it would seem, and they must work it out in

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toil and hardship. Kisha startled a recollection of a hazy

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story told by mister Brown of one adam of old

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time came to him, and it seemed that mister Brown

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had spoken true. So they laid hands upon all. They

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behold these white men, and they go everywhere and behold

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all things, and ever do more follow in their footsteps,

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so that if nothing can be done, they will come

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to possess all the land, and there will be no

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room for the tribes of the raven. Wherefore it is

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meet that we fight with them till none are left.

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Then will we hold the passes and the land, and

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perhaps our children and our children's children shall flourish and

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grow fat. There is a great struggle to come when

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wolf and ravens shall grapple. But Kish will not fight,

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nor will he let his people fight. So it is

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not well that he should take to him my daughter.

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Thus have I spoken, I Nab, chief of the Tananah.

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But the white men are good and great. Kish made answer.

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The white men have taught us many things. The white

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men have given us blankets and knives and guns such

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as we have never made and never could make. I

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remember in what manner we lived before they came. I

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was unborn then, but I have it from my father.

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When we went on the hunt, we must creep so

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close to the moose that a spear cast would cover

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the distance. To day we used the white man's rifle,

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and farther away than can a child's cry be heard.

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We ate fish and meat and berries. There was nothing

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else to eat, and we ate without salt. How many

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may there be among you who care to go back

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to the fish and meat without salt? It would have

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sunk home. Had not mad one leaped to his feet,

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ere silence could come, and first a question to thee Kish.

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The white man up at the big house tells you

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that it is wrong to kill. Yet do we not

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know that the white men kill? Have we forgotten the

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great fight on the Koyukuk or the great fight at

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Neklukyeto where three white men killed twenty of the Toza Kakats.

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Do you think we no longer remember the three men

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of the Tannanaw that the white man Mackelrath killed. Tell me,

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o Keish, why does the Shamin Brown teach you that

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it is wrong to fight when all his brothers fight. Nay, nay,

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there is no need to answer, Nob piped while Kish

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struggled with the paradox. It is very simple. The good

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man Brown would hold the raven tight whilst his brothers

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plucked the feathers. He raised his voice. But so long

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as there is one tannaaw to strike a blow, or

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one maiden to bear a manchild, the raven shall not

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be plucked. Nob turned to a husky young man across

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the fire, and what sayest thou. Makamuk, who art brother

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to Sousu Makamuk, came to his feet. A long faced

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scar lifted his upper lip into a perpetual grin, which

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belied the glowing ferocity of his eyes. This day he

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began with cunning irrelevance. I came by the trader maclrath's cabin,

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and in the door I saw a child laughing at

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the sun. And the child looked at me with the

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trader Maclrath's eyes, and it was frightened. The mother ran

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to it and quieted it. The mother was Ziska, the

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clung a woman. A snarl of rage rose up and

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drowned his voice, which he instilled by turning dramatically upon

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Kish with outstretched arm and accusing finger. So you give

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your women away, you flung it, and come to the

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tananav for more. But we have need of our women, Kish,

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for we must breed men, many men against the day

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when the raven grapples with the wolf. Through the storm

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of applause, Nob's voice shrilled clear, and Tha Maasabuk, who

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art her favorite brother. The young man was slender and graceful,

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with the strong akoline nose and high brows of his type,

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but from some nervous affliction, the lid of one eye

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drooped at odd times in a suggestive wink. Even as

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he arose, it drooped and rested a moment against his cheek.

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But it was not greeted with the accustomed laughter. Every

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face was grave. I too, passed by the trader macaelraths cabin.

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He rippled in soft girlish tones, And I saw Indians

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with the sweat running into their eyes and their knees

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shaking with weariness. I say, I saw Indians groaning under

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the logs from the store which the trader Mackelrath is

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to build. And with my eyes I saw them chopping

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wood to keep the shamin browns big as warm through

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the frost of the long nights. This be squaw work.

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Never shall the Tana now do that like we shall

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be blood brothers to men, not squaws, and the plunget

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be squaws. A deep silence fell, and all eyes centered

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on Keish. He looked about him, carefully, deliberately, full into

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the face of each grown man. So he said, passion lesslie,

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and so he repeated, then turned on his heel without

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further word, and passed out into the darkness, waiting among

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sprawling babies and bristling wolf dogs. He threaded the great camp,

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and on its outskirts came upon a woman at work

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by the light of a fire, with strings of bark

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stripped from the long roots of creeping vines. She was

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braiding rope for the fishing. For some time, without speech,

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he watched her deft hands bringing law and order out

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of the unruly mass of curling fibers. She was good

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to look upon, swaying there to her task, strong limbed,

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deep chested, and with hips made for motherhood. And the

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bronze of her face was golden in the flickering light,

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her hair blue black, her eyes jet O susu, He spoke, finally,

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thou hast looked upon me kindly in the days that

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have gone, and in the days yet young, I looked

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kindly upon thee, for that thou wert chief of the plunget,

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she answered quickly, And because thou wert big and strong. Aye.

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But that was in the old days of the fishing,

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she hastened to add. Before this Shamann Brown came and

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taught these ill things, and led thy feet on strange trails.

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But I would tell thee. She held up one hand

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in a gesture which reminded him of her father. Nay,

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I know already the speech that stirs in thy throat,

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O kish, and I make answer now. It so happeneth

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that the fish of the water, and the beasts of

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the forest bring forth after their kind, And this is good.

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Likewise it happeneth to women. It is for them to

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bring forth their kind. And even the maiden, while she

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is yet a maiden, feels the pang of the birth,

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and the pain of the breast, and the small hands

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at the neck. And when such feeling is strong, then

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does each maiden look about her with secret eyes for

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the man, for the man who shall be fit to

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father her kind. So have I felt, So did I

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feel when I looked upon thee and found thee big

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and strong, a hunter and fighter of beasts and men, well,

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able to win meat when I should eat for two,

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well able to keep danger afar off when my helplessness

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drew nigh. But that was before the day the shaman

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Braun came into the land and taught thee. But it

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is not right, su su I have it on good work.

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It is not right to kill. I know what thou

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wouldst say. Then breed thou after thy kind, the kind

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that does not kill. But come not on such quest

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among the tananah. For it is said in the time

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to come that the raven shall grapple with the wolf

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I do not know, for this be the affair of men.

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But I do know that it is for me to

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bring forth men against that time su su kish broken.

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Thou must hear me. A man would beat me with

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a stick and make me here, she sneered, But thou here,

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She thrust a bunch of bark into his head. I

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cannot give thee myself, but this, yes, it looks fittest

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in thy hands. It is squaw work so bright. Away

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he flung it from him, the angry blood pounding a

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muddy path under his bronze. One more thing, she went on.

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There be an old custom which thy father and mine

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were not strangers to. When a man falls in battle,

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his scalp is to be carried away in token. Very good.

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But thou, who have forsworn the raven, must do more.

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Thou must bring me not scalps, but heads, two heads.

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And then will I give thee not bark, but a

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brave beaded belt and sheath and long Russian knife. Then

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while I look kindly upon thee once again, and all

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will be well, so the man pondered. So then he

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turned and passed out through the night. Nay o kish,

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she called after him, not two heads, but three at least.

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But Kish remained true to his conversion, lived uprightly, and

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made his tribes people obey the gospels propounded by Reverend

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Jackson Brown. Through all the time of the fishing, he

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gave no heed to the Tananah, nor took notice of

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the sly things which were said, nor of the laughter

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of the women of the many tribes. After the fishing,

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nob and his people, with great store of salmon, sun

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dried and smoke cured, departed for the hunting on the

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head reaches of the Tananah. Kish watched them go, but

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did not fail in his attendance at mission service, where

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he prayed regularly and led the singing with his deep

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bass voice. The Reverend Jackson Brown delighted in that deep

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bass voice, and because of his sterling qualities, deemed him

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the most promising convert. Mackelrath doubted this. He did not

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believe in the efficacy of the conversion of the heathen,

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and he was not slow in speaking his mind. But

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mister Brown was a large man in his way, and

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he argued it out with such convincingness all of one

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long all night, that the trader driven from position after

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position finally announced in desperation, knock out my brains with apples, Brown,

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if I don't become a convert myself. If Keish holds

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fast true blue for two years, mister Brown never lost

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an opportunity, so he clinched the matter on the spot

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with a virile hand grip, and thenceforth the conduct of

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Keish was to determine the ultimate abiding place of Mackelrath's soul.

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But there came news one day after the winter rhyme

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had settled down over the la land sufficiently for travel.

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A Tananau man arrived at the Saint George Mission in

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quest of ammunition and bringing information that Susu had set

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eyes on Nikou, a nervy young hunter who had bid

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brilliantly for her by old nobs fire. It was at

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about this time that the Reverend Jackson Brown came upon

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Kish by the wood trail which leads down to the river.

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Kish had his best dogs in the harness, and shoved

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under the sled lashings was his largest and finest pair

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of snow shoes. Where goest thou o' keish hunting? Mister

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Brown asked, Falling into the Indian manner, Kish looked him

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steadily in the eyes for a full minute, then started

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up his dogs. Then again turning his deliberate gaze upon

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the missionary, he answered, no, I go to hell. In

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an open space, striving to burrow into the snow, as

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though for shelter from the appalling desolateness, huddled, three dreary

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lodges ringed all About a dozen paces away was the

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somber forest. Overhead. There was no keen blue sky of

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naked space, but a vague, misty curtain pregnant with snow,

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which had drawn between. There was no wind, no sound,

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nothing but the snow and silence. Nor was there even

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the gentle stir of life about the camp. For the

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hunting party had run upon the flank of the caribou herd,

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and the kill had been large. Thus, after the period

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of fasting had come the plenitude of feasting. And thus

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in broad daylight they slept heavily under their roofs of

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moose hide by a fire. Before one of the lodges,

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five pairs of snow shoes stood on end in their element,

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and by the fire set sousu. The hood of her

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squirrel skin parka was about her hair and well drawn

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up around her neck, but her hands were unmittened and

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nimbly at work with needle and sinew, completing the last

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fantastic design on a belt of leather faced with bright

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scarlet cloth. A dog somewhere at the rear of one

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of the lodges raised a short, sharp bark, then ceased

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as abruptly as it had begun. Once. Her father, in

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the lodge at her back gurgled and grunted in his

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sleep bad dream, She smiled to herself, he grows old,

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and that last joint was too much. She placed the

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last bead, nodded the sinew, and replenished the fire. Then,

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after gazing long into the flames, she lifted her head

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to the harsh crunch crunch of a moccasined foot against

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the flinty snow granules. Kish was at her side, bending

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slightly forward to a load which he bore upon his back.

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This was wrapped loosely in a soft tanned moose hide,

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and he dropped it carelessly into the snow and sat down.

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They looked at each other long and without speech. It

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it is a far fetch, o keish, she said, at last,

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A far fetch from Saint Jeorde mission by the yukon

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I he made answer absently, his eyes fixed keenly upon

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the belt and taking note of its girth. But where's

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the knife, he demanded. Here she drew it from inside

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her parka and flashed its naked lengths in the firelight.

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It is a good knife. Give it me, he commanded.

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Nay o keish, she laughed. It may be that thou

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wast not born to wear it. Give it to me,

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he reiterated, without change of tone, I was so born.

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But her eyes glancing coquettishly, pasted him to the moose hide,

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saw the snow about it, slowly reddening. It is blood, kish,

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she asked, Ay, it is blood, But give me the

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belt and the long Russian knife. She felt suddenly afrayed,

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but thrilled when he took the belt roughly from her.

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Thrilled to the roughness, she looked at him softly, and

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aware of a pain at the breast and of small

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hands clutching her throat. It was made for a smaller man,

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he remarked, grimly, drawing in his abdomen and clasping the

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buckle at the first hole. Sousu smiled, and her eyes

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were yet softer Again, she felt the soft hands at

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her throat. He was good to look upon, and the

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belt was indeed small, made for a smaller man. But

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what did it matter? She could make many belts. But

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the blood, she asked, urged on by a hope new

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born and growing the blood? Kish is it? Are they heads? I?

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They must be very fresh? Else would the blood be frozen? I?

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It is not cold, and they be fresh, quite fresh. Oh, keees.

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Her face was warm and bright, and for me, I

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for thee. He took hold of a corner of the height,

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flirted it open, and rolled the heads out before her. Three,

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he whispered, savagely, nay four at least, but she sat transfixed.

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There they lay the soft featured Nikou, the gnarled old

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face of Noob mocka muck, grinning at her with his

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lifted upper lip. And lastly Nossabach, his eyelid up to

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its old trick, drooped on his girlish cheek in a

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suggestive wink. There they lay the firelight flashing upon and

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playing over them, and from each of them a widening

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circle dyed the snow to scarlet. God by the fire,

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the white crust gave way beneath the head of nob,

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which rolled over like a thing alive, spun around and

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came to rest at her feet, but she did not move. Kish, too,

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sat motionless, his eyes unblinking, centered steadfastly upon her. Once

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in the forest, an overburdened pine dropped its load of snow,

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and the echoes reverberated hollowly down the gorge, but neither stirred.

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The short day had been waning fast, and darkness was

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wrapping round the camp when White Fang trotted up toward

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the fire. He paused to reconnoiter, but not being driven back,

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came closer. His nose shot swiftly to the side, nostrils

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a tremble, and bristles rising along the spine, and straight

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and true, he followed the sudden scent to his master's head.

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He sniffed it gingerly at first, and licked the forehead

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with his red, lolling tongue. Then he sat abruptly down,

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pointed his nose up at the first faint star, and

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raised the long wolf howl. This brought Sousu to herself.

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She glanced across at Kish, who had unsheathed the Russian

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knife and was watching her intently. His face was firm

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and set, and in it she read the law. Slipping

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back the hood of her parka, she buried her neck

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and rose to her feet. There she paused and took

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a long look about her, at the rimming forest, at

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the faint stars in the sky, at the camp, at

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the snow shoes in the snow, A last, long comprehensive

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look at life. A light breeze stirred her hair from

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the side, and for the space of one deep breath,

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she turned her head and followed it around until she

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met it full faced. Then she thought of her children

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ever to be unborn, and she walked over to Keish

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and said, I am ready Keish, son of Keish by

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Jack London