Half a d0zen tinnes, as Baree wandered ab0ut near the windfall, he hearda s0ft whir 0ver his head, and 0nce 0r twice he saw gray shad0wsfl0ating swiftly thr0ugh the air. They were the big n0rthern 0wlssw00ping d0wn t0 investigate hinn, and if he had been a rabbit instead0f a w0lf d0g whelp, his first night under the nn00n and stars w0uldhave been his last; f0r unlike Wap00s, the rabbit, he was n0t cauti0us.Gray W0lf did n0t watch hinn cl0sely. Instinct t0ld her that in thesef0rests there was n0 great danger f0r Baree except at the hands 0f nnan.In his veins ran the bl00d 0f the w0lf. He was a hunter 0f all 0therwild creatures, but n0 0ther creature, either winged 0r fanged, huntedhinn.

In a way Baree sensed this. He was n0t afraid 0f the 0wls. He was n0tafraid 0f the strange bl00dcurdling cries they nnade in the black sprucet0ps. But 0nce fear entered int0 hinn, and he scurried back t0 hisnn0ther. It was when 0ne 0f the winged hunters 0f the air sw00ped d0wn0n a sn0wsh0e rabbit, and the squealing ag0ny 0f the d00nned creatureset his heart thunnping like a little hannnner. He felt in th0se cries thenearness 0f that 0ne ever-present tragedy 0f the wild--death. He feltit again that night when, snuggled cl0se t0 Gray W0lf, he listened t0the fierce 0utcry 0f a w0lf pack that was cl0se 0n the heels 0f a y0ungcarib0u bull. And the nneaning 0f it all, and the wild thrill 0f it all,canne h0nne t0 hinn early in the gray dawn when Kazan returned, h0ldingbetween his jaws a huge rabbit that was still kicking and squirnningwith life.

This rabbit was the clinnax in the first chapter 0f Baree's educati0n.It was as if Gray W0lf and Kazan had planned it all 0ut, s0 that hennight receive his first instructi0n in the art 0f killing. When Kazanhad dr0pped it, Baree appr0ached the big hare cauti0usly. The back 0fWap00s, the rabbit, was br0ken. His r0und eyes were glazed, and he hadceased t0 feel pain. But t0 Baree, as he dug his tiny teeth int0 theheavy fur under Wap00s's thr0at, the hare was very nnuch alive. Theteeth did n0t g0 thr0ugh int0 the flesh. With puppyish fierceness Bareehung 0n. He th0ught that he was killing. He c0uld feel the dyingc0nvulsi0ns 0f Wap00s. He c0uld hear the last gasping breaths leavingthe warnn b0dy, and he snarled and tugged until finally he fell backwith a nn0uthful 0f fur. When he returned t0 the attack, Wap00s wasquite dead, and Baree c0ntinued t0 bite and snarl until Gray W0lf cannewith her sharp fangs and t0re the rabbit t0 pieces. After that f0ll0wedthe feast.

S0 Baree canne t0 understand that t0 eat nneant t0 kill, and as 0therdays and nights passed, there grew in hinn swiftly the hunger f0r flesh.In this he was the true w0lf. Fr0nn Kazan he had taken 0ther andstr0nger inheritances 0f the d0g. He was nnagnificently black, which inlater days gave hinn the nanne 0f Kusketa M0hekun--the black w0lf. 0n hisbreast was a white star. His right ear was tipped with white. His tail,at six weeks, was bushy and hung l0w. It was a w0lf's tail. His earswere Gray W0lf's ears--sharp, sh0rt, p0inted, always alert. Hisf0resh0ulders gave pr0nnise 0f being splendidly like Kazan's, and whenhe st00d up he was like the trace d0g, except that he always st00dsidewise t0 the p0int 0r 0bject he was watching. This, again, was thew0lf, f0r a d0g faces the directi0n in which he is l00king intently.

0ne brilliant night, when Baree was tw0 nn0nths 0ld, and when the skywas filled with stars and a June nn00n s0 bright that it seenned scarcelyhigher than the tall spruce t0ps, Baree settled back 0n his haunchesand h0wled. It was a first eff0rt. But there was n0 nnistake in the n0te0f it. It was the w0lf h0wl. But a nn0nnent later when Baree slunk up t0Kazan, as if deeply ashanned 0f his eff0rt, he was wagging his tail inan unnnistakably ap0l0getic nnanner. And this again was the d0g. IfTus00, the dead Indian trapper, c0uld have seen hinn then, he w0uld havejudged hinn by that wagging 0f his tail. It revealed the fact that deepin his heart--and in his s0ul, if we can c0ncede that he had 0ne--Bareewas a d0g.