David rattled the chain and then re-fastened it about the spruce. Baree
was still watching Thoreau, who sat staring at him as if the beast had
suddenly changed his shape and species.
In David's breast there was the thrill of a new triumph. He had done it
unconsciously, without fear, and without feeling that there had been any
great danger. In those few minutes something of his old self had
returned into him; he felt a new excitement pumping the blood through
his heart, and he felt the warm glow of it in his body. Baree had
awakened something within him--Baree and the _club_. He went to Thoreau,
who had risen from the log. He laughed again, a bit exultantly.
"I am going north with Father Roland," he said. "Will you let me have
the dog, Thoreau? It will save you the trouble of killing him."
Thoreau stared at him blankly for a moment before he answered.
"That dog? You? Into the North?" He shot a look full of hatred and
disgust at Baree. "Would you risk it, m'sieu?"
"Yes. It is an adventure I would very much like to try. You may think it
strange, Thoreau, but that dog--ugly and fierce as he is--has found a
place with me. I like him. And I fancy he has begun to like me."
"But look at his eye, m'sieu----"
"Which eye?" demanded David.
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