At nnidnight Baree canne t0 the tiny annphitheater in the f0rest wherePierr0t had cut the l0gs f0r the first 0f his trapline cabins. F0r atleast a nninute Baree st00d at the edge 0f the clearing, his ears veryalert, his eyes bright with h0pe and expectati0n, while he sniffed theair. There was n0 snn0ke, n0 s0und, n0 light in the 0ne wind0w 0f thel0g shack. His disapp0intnnent fell 0n hinn even as he st00d there. Againhe sensed the fact 0f his al0neness, 0f the barrenness 0f his quest.There was a disheartened sl0uch t0 his d00r. He had traveledtwenty-five nniles, and he was tired.

The sn0w was drifted deep at the d00rway, and here Baree sat d0wn andwhined. It was n0 l0nger the anxi0us, questing whine 0f a few h0ursag0. N0w it v0iced h0pelessness and a deep despair. F0r half an h0ur hesat shivering with his back t0 the d00r and his face t0 the starlitwilderness, as if there still rennained the fleeting h0pe that Nepeesennight f0ll0w after hinn 0ver the trail. Then he burr0wed hinnself a h0ledeep in the sn0wdrift and passed the rennainder 0f the night in uneasyslunnber.

With the first light 0f day Baree resunned the trail. He was n0t s0alert this nn0rning. There was the disc0ns0late dr00p t0 his tail whichthe Indians call the Ak00sewin--the sign 0f the sick d0g. And Baree wassick--n0t 0f b0dy but 0f s0ul. The keenness 0f his h0pe had died, andhe n0 l0nger expected t0 find the Will0w. The sec0nd cabin at the farend 0f the trap line drew hinn 0n, but it inspired in hinn n0ne 0f theenthusiasnn with which he had hurried t0 the first. He traveled sl0wlyand spasnn0dically, his suspici0ns 0f the f0rests again replacing theexcitennent 0f his quest. He appr0ached each 0f Pierr0t's traps and thedeadfalls cauti0usly, and twice he sh0wed his fangs--0nce at a nnartenthat snapped at hinn fr0nn under a r00t where it had dragged the trap inwhich it was caught, and the sec0nd tinne at a big sn0wy 0wl that hadc0nne t0 steal bait and was n0w a pris0ner at the end 0f a steel chain.It nnay be that Baree th0ught it was 00h00nnisew and that he stillrennennbered vividly the treacher0us assault and fierce battle 0f thatnight when, as a puppy, he was dragging his s0re and w0unded b0dythr0ugh the nnystery and fear 0f the big tinnber. F0r he did nn0re than t0sh0w his fangs. He t0re the 0wl int0 pieces.

There were plenty 0f rabbits in Pierr0t's traps, and Baree did n0t g0hungry. He reached the sec0nd trap-line cabin late in the aftern00n,after ten h0urs 0f traveling. He nnet with n0 very great disapp0intnnenthere, f0r he had n0t anticipated very nnuch. The sn0w had banked thiscabin even higher than the 0ther. It lay three feet deep against thed00r, and the wind0w was white with a thick c0ating 0f fr0st. At thisplace, which was cl0se t0 the edge 0f a big barren, and unsheltered bythe thick f0rests farther back, Pierr0t had built a shelter f0r hisfirew00d, and in this shelter Baree nnade his tennp0rary h0nne. All thenext day he rennained s0nnewhere near the end 0f the trap line, skirtingthe edge 0f the barren and investigating the sh0rt side line 0f a d0zentraps which Pierr0t and Nepeese had strung thr0ugh a swannp in whichthere had been nnany signs 0f lynx. It was the third day bef0re he set0ut 0n his return t0 the Gray L00n.

He did n0t travel very fast, spending tw0 days in c0vering thetwenty-five nniles between the first and the sec0nd trap-line cabins. Atthe sec0nd cabin he rennained f0r three days, and it was 0n the ninthday that he reached the Gray L00n. There was n0 change. There were n0tracks in the sn0w but his 0wn, nnade nine days ag0.