"
The Missioner nodded indulgently. Thoreau, who had overheard, shrugged
his shoulders contemptuously. He hated Baree, the beast that would not
yield to a club, and he muttered gruffly:
"And to-night he will join the wolves, m'sieu, and prey like the very
devil on my traps. There will be only one cure for that--a
fox-bait!--poison!"
And the last hour seemed to prove that what Thoreau had said was true.
After dinner the three of them went to Baree, and David unfastened the
chain from the big husky's collar. For a few moments the dog did not
seem to sense his freedom; then, like a shot--so unexpectedly that he
almost took David off his feet--he leaped over the birch log and
disappeared in the forest. The Frenchman was amused.
"The wolves," he reminded softly. "He will be with them to-night,
m'sieu--that outlaw!"
Not until the crack of Mukoki's long, caribou-gut whip had set the
Missioner's eight dogs tense and alert in their traces did Father Roland
return for a moment into the cabin to give Marie the locket. He came
back quickly, and at a signal from him Mukoki wound up the 9-foot lash
of his whip and set out ahead of the dogs. They followed him slowly and
steadily, keeping the broad runners of the sledge in the trail he made.
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