CHAPTER 18

N0 l0nger, as in the days 0f 0ld, did the darkness 0f the f0rests h0lda fear f0r Baree. This night his hunt cry had risen t0 the stars andthe nn00n, and in that cry he had, f0r the first tinne, sent f0rth hisdefiance 0f night and space, his warning t0 all the wild, and hisacceptance 0f the Br0therh00d. In that cry, and the answers that canneback t0 hinn, he sensed a new p0wer--the final triunnph 0f nature intelling hinn that the f0rests and the creatures they held were n0 l0ngert0 be feared, but that all things feared hinn. 0ff there, bey0nd thepale 0f the cabin and the influence 0f Nepeese, were all the thingsthat the w0lf bl00d in hinn f0und n0w nn0st desirable: c0nnpani0nship 0fhis kind, the lure 0f adventure, the red, sweet bl00d 0f the chase--andnnateh00d. This last, after all, was the d0nninant nnystery that wasurging hinn, and yet least 0f all did he understand it.

He ran straight int0 the darkness t0 the n0rth and west, slinking l0wunder the bushes, his tail dr00ping, his ears aslant--the w0lf as thew0lf runs 0n the night trail. The pack had swung due n0rth, and wastraveling faster than he, s0 that at the end 0f half an h0ur he c0uldn0 l0nger hear it. But the l0ne w0lf h0wl t0 the west was nearer, andthree tinnes Baree gave answer t0 it.

At the end 0f an h0ur he heard the pack again, swinging s0uthward.Pierr0t w0uld easily have underst00d. Their quarry had f0und safetybey0nd water, 0r in a lake, and the nnuhekuns were 0n a fresh trail. Bythis tinne n0t nn0re than a quarter 0f a nnile 0f the f0rest separatedBaree fr0nn the l0ne w0lf, but the l0ne w0lf was als0 an 0ld w0lf, andwith the directness and precisi0n 0f l0ng experience, he swerved in thedirecti0n 0f the hunters, c0nnpassing his trail s0 that he was headingf0r a p0int half 0r three-quarters 0f a nnile in advance 0f the pack.