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KAZAN by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD KAZAN SAVES THE LIFE OF HIS MISTRESS AND THEN DE CIDES TO BID HER FAREWELL FOREVER Kazan Is a huge and vicious Alaskan sledge dog, one-quarter gray wolf. He saves bis master’s life and Is taken along when the master goes to civilization to meet his bride and return with her to the fro zen country. Even the master is afraid to touch the dog, but Isobel, Kazan's new mistress, wins his devotion instantly. On the way northward MeCready, a dog-team driver. Joins the party and Kazan tries to attack him. Even Isobel finds It hard to quiet the dog. Knznn knows that McCrcudy Is bad all through. The others do not. CHAPTER lll.—Continued. Later, after Thorpe and his wife had gone into their tent, it began to snow, and the effect of the snow upon McCrendy puzzled Kazan. The man was restless, and he drank frequently from the flask that he had used the night before. In the firelight his face grew redder and redder, and Kazan could see the strange gleam of his teeth as he gazed at the tent in which . his mistress was sleeping. Again and again he went close to that tent, and listened. Twice he heard movement. The last time, it was the sound of Thorpe’s deep breathing. MeCready hurried back to the fire and turned his face straight up to the sky. The snow was falling so thickly that when he lowered his face he blinked and wiped < his eyes. Then he went into the gloom and bent low over the trail they had made a few hours before. It was al most obliterated by the falling snow. Another hour and there would be no trail —nothing the next day to tell who ever might pass thnt they had come this way. By morning it would cover everything, even the fire, if he allowed It to die down. McCrendy drank again, out in the darkness. Low words of an Insane Joy burst from his lips. His head was hot with a drunken fire. His heart beat madly, but scarcely more furiously than Kazan’s when the dog saw that MeCready was returning with a club! The club he placed on end against a tree. Then he took a lantern from the sledge und lighted It. lie approached Thorpe’s tent-ilup, the lantern In his hand. “Ho, Thorpe—Thorpe!” he called. There was no answer. He could hear Thorpe breathing. He drew the flap aside a little, und raised his voice. “Thorpe !*• Still there was no movement Inside, and he untied the flap strings and thrust in his lantern. The light flashed on Isobel's golden hbid, and MeCready stared at it, his eyes burning like red coals, uutll he saw that Thorpe was awakening. Quickly he dropped the flap and rustled it from the outside. “Ho, Thorpe—Thorpe I” he called aguin. This time Thorpe replied. ,r Hello, MeCready—ls that you?’* McCrendy drew the flap buck a lit tle, and spoke in a low voice. “Yes. Cun you come out u minute? Something's happening out in the woods. Don’t wake up your wife!” He drew back aud waited. A minute later Thorpe came quietly out of the tent. MeCready poiuted into the thick spruce. “I’ll swear there’s someone nosing around the camp,” he said. “I’m cer tain that I saw a man’out there u few minutes ago, when I went for a log. It’s a good night for stealing dogs. Here—you take the lantern! If 1 wasn’t clean fooled, we’ll tind u trail in the snow.’ He gave Thorpe the lantern and picked up the heavy club. A growl rose in Kazan’s throat, but he choked It back. He wunted to snarl forth his warning, to leap at the end of his leash, but he knew that If he did that, they would return and bent him. So he lay still, trembling und shivering, and whining softly. He watched them until they disappeared—and then wait ed—listened. At last he heard the crunch of snow. He was not surprised to Ree MeCready come bock alone. He had expected him to return alone. For tie knew what a club meuut! McCready’s face was terrible now. It was like u beast’s, lie was hutless. Kazan slunk deeper In his shadow ut the low horrible luugh that fell from his lips—for the mun still held the club In a moment he dropped that, and approached the tent, lie drew buck the flap aud peered in. Thorpe's wife wus sleeping, und us quietly us a cut he entered und hung the lantern on a nail In the tent-pole, ills movement did not uwuken her, und for a few mo ments he stood there, staring—staring. Kazan watched MeCready as he en tered, and suddenly the dog wus on his feet. Ills back tense and bristling, bis limbs rigid. He suw McCready's huge shadow on the cunvus, und u moment later there came u strange piercing cry. In the wild terror of that cry ho recog nized her voice—-aud he leaped toward the tent. The leaßh stopped him, choking the snarl In his throat, lie saw the aliudows struggling now, and there came cry after cry She was calling to bis master, and with his master's name Ac was calliug him! -Kazan—Kazan—” , He leopad again, and was thrown up on his back. A second and n third time he sprang the length of the leash into the night, and the bnblche cord about his neck cut Into his flesh like a knife. He stopped for an Instant, gasping for breath. The shadows were still fighting. Now they were upright! Now they were crumpling down I With a fierce snarl he flung his whole weight once more at the end of the chain. There was a snap, as the thong about hie neck gave way. In half a dozen bounds Kazan made the tent and rushed under the flap. With a snarl he was at McCready’s throat. The first snap of his powerful Jaws was death, but he did not know that. He knew only that his mistress was there, and that he was fighting for her. There came one choking gasping cry that ended with a terrible sob; it was MeCready. The man sank from his knees upon his back, and Kazan thrust his fangs deeper Into his enemy’s throat; ho felt the warm Mood. The dog's mistress waa calling to him now. Bhe was pulling at hla shaggy neck. But he would not loose hla hold —not for a long time. When he did, his mistress looked down once upon the man and covered her face with her hnads. Then she sank down upon the blankets. She was very still. Her face and hands were cold, and Kazan muz zled them tenderly. Her eyes were closed. He snuggled up close against her, with his ready jaws turned toward the dead man. Why was she so still, he wondered? A long time passed, and then she moved. Her eyes opened. Her hand touched him. Then he heard a step outside. It was his master, and with that old thrill of fear —fear of the club—he went swiftly to the door. Yes, there was his master In the firelight—and In his" hand he held the club. He was coming slowly, almost falling nt each step, and his red with blood. But he hud the club! He would bent him again—beut him terribly for hurt ing McCrendy; so Kaznn slipped quiet ly under the tent-flap and stole off into tile shadows. From out the gloom of tlie thick spruce he looked buck, and a low wlilne of love and grief rose and died softly In Ills throat. They would beat him always now—after that. Even she would beut him. They would hunt him down, und beut him when they found him. From out of the glow of the fire he turned his wolfish head to the depths of the forest. There were no clubs or stinging lushes out in that gloom. They would never find him there. For another moment he wavered. And then, us silently ns one of the wild ereutures whose blood wus partly Ills, lie stole uwuy Into the blackness of the night. CHAPTER IV. Free From Bonds. There was a low inouning of the wind in tlie spruce tops ns Kazan slunk off into the blackness and mystery of the forest. For hours ho lay near the eump, his red and blistered eyes guz- Ing steadily at the tent wherein the ter rible tiling had huppened n little while before. He knew now whnt death was. lie could tell It farther tliaii man. lie could smell It in the air. And he knew that there was death all about hint, and that he wns the cause of It. Ho Iny on his belly In the deep snow and shivered, nmf tile three-quarters of him that wus dog whined In a grlef-strlcken wny, while the quarter that wus wolf still revealed Itself menacingly In Ills fangs, anil lu the vengeful glure of Ills eyes. Three times the man—llls master — came out of the tent, und shouted loud ly, “Kiizun—Kazan—Kazan I" Three times the woman came with him. 11l the firelight Kazan could sec her shining hair streaming about her, ns lie hud seen It lu the tent, when ho hud leuped up and killed the other man. In her blue eyes there was the ■ same wild terror, und her face wus i white as tlie snow. "Kuzan —Kazun— ' Kazan I”—nnd all thnt part of him that wus dog, and not wolf, trembled Joy . ously lit the sound of her voice, nnd he almost crept In to take Ills bentlng. But 1 fear of the club was the greater, nnd , lie held back, hour after hour, until ' now It wns silent ngnln In the tent, > and he could no longer see their Blind i owv, nnd the fire wns dying down. i Cautiously he crept oat from the thick gloom, working his way on his belly townrd the packed sledge, end • what remained of the burned logs. Be IHX GILPIN OBBEBVXR. yond that sledge, hidden In the dark ness of the trees, was the body of the maa he had killed, covered with a blanket Thorpe, his master, had dragged It there. He lay down, with his nose to the warm coals and his eyes leveled be tween his forepaws, straight at the closed tent-flap. He meant to keep awake, to watch, to be ready to Blink off Into the forest at the first move ment there. But a warmth was rising from out of the gray ash of the fire bed, and his eyes closed. Twice—three times —he fought himself back Into watchfulness; but the last time his eyes came only half open, and closed heavily again. In his sleep he was leaping again at tlie end of his chain. His Jaws snapped like castanets of steel —and the sound awakened him, and he sprang to his feet, his spine as stiff as a brush, and hhs snarling fangs bared like Ivory knives. He had awakened Just In time. There was movement in the tent His master was awake, and If he did not escape— He sped swiftly into the thick spiUce, and paused, flat and hidden, with only his head showing from behind a tree. He knew that his master would not spare him. Three times Thorpe hud beaten him for snapping at MeCready. The last time be would have shot him if the girl bad not saved him. And now he had torn McCready’s throat. He had taken the life from him, nnd his master would not spare him. Even the woman could not save him. Kazan was sorry that his master had returned, dazed and bleeding, after he had torn McCready’s Jugular. Then he would have had her always. She would have loved him. She did love him. And he would huve followed her, and fought for her always, and died for her when the time came. But Thorpe had come In from the forest again, and Kazan had slunk away quickly—for Thorpe meant to him what all men meant to him now: the dub, the whip and the strange things that spat fire and death. And now— Thorpe had come out from the tent. It was approaching dawn, and in his hand he held a rifle. A moment later the girl came out, and her hand caught the man's arm. They looked toward it Was Kazan’s Farewell to the Woman, the thing covered by the blanket. Then she spoke to Thorpe and he suddenly straightened and threw buck Ills head. “11-o-o-o-o Kazan Kazan Ka zan 1" he called. A shiver ran through Kazan. The mun wus trying to Inveigle him back. He Imd in his hand the thing that killed. “Kaznn—Kazan—Ku-n-a-a-zun 1” he shouted agutn. Knznn sneuked cautiously back from the tree. He knew thnt distance meant nothing to the cold thing of death that Thorpe held In his hand. lie turned his head once, and whined soft ly. nnd for an instant u great longing filled his reddened eyes us lie suw the lust of the girl. He knew, now, that he was leaving her forever, nml there was nil ache In his heart that had never been there be fore, a pain that wns not of tlie club or whip, of cold or hunger, hut which wns greater than them nil, and which filled him with a desire to throw hack his lieiul mid cry out Ills loneliness to the gray emptiness of the sky. Bnck In the cump the girl's voice quivered. "He la gone.” The man's strong voice choked a lit tle. "Yes, ho Is gone. He knew—and I didn’t. I'd give—u year of my life—lf ] hadn't whipped him yesterday and last Ulght. lie won't come buck.” Isobel Thorpe's hand tightened on Ills arm. "He will I" she cried. "He won’t leuve me. He loved me, If he wns sav age nnd terrible. And lie knows that I love him. He'll come hack—” "Listen 1” From deep In the forest there came ■ long walling howl, filled with a plain tive sadness. It was Kazan's farewell to the woman. Kazan’* real Ilf* itery begin* with the next Installment. Just a* the qood and bad In man ara constantly In conflict, so the dog and wolf strains ar* con stantly In conflict In Kazan. (TO BB OOMTUTOBOJ Beneath the Mistletoe The origin of this Christmas custom,much in favor among tht lovelorn, goes back to dim past aria is lost in traditions of the Druids " (By IDA M. BRUCE In Utica Globe.) HEN a young man at a Christmas party leads, with an attempt at non chalance, some charming young lady beneath a bough of mistletoe In or der to win a “mistletoe kiss” he Is of the opinion W that he Is Inring the young lady Into a situation where, by the decree of an ancient custom, she must forfeit the aforesaid kiss. Frankness compels me to confess that tlie luring Is done by the young lady. For their Christmas parties they secure and suspend the mistletoe and she Is Indeed a most sedate and rather chilling young person who will not, during the festivities, allow herself to be “lured" beneath the mistletoe. And all this Is quite within her rights. It Is n custom she Inherited from ances tors who dwelt In. Britain or Scandi navia. centuries ago. Today the mis tletoe and the mistletoe kiss are as sociated only with Christmas. But, In truth, mistletoe had its significance centuries before the birth In Beth lehem which gave us Christmas. Scandinavians claim that mistletoe customs originated with them, but there Is an English legend antedating those of Scandinavia, which tells how the girls of semlbarbaric Britain, In the golden age of the Druids, did them selves hang up boughs of mistletoe and lure young men Into their em brace. According to this legend Chelm, an ancient high priest, had a great temple In the forest where he taught young men- to become priests. So popular did this temple become that half the young men of the countryside were leaving their homes and people, and becoming Druid priests. There was great need of the young men In the camps to hunt nnd fish and to plant, and, above all, there were so many more maidens than young men left that they decided something must be done to reclaim them. The girls sought an ancient witch and asked her help. "Pick yonder mistletoe that grows without roots upon the trees, go to the edge of the forest round about the tree temple of Chelm nnd hang It there nil around and about the forest. Stand In waiting there, well hidden, until the young men coming forth from the forest each night to bring food to the temple, nre under the mistletoe, then step forth. They will clasp you and kiss you whereupon do you screnm right lustily and the young men shall be yours.” How the Qlrls Won Back the Men. The maidens followed thlß advice and hung the mistletoe In festoons about the edge of the forest. Stand ing under It, the young men felt Im pelled to kiss the maidens who stepped forth to greet them. The maidens, as Instructed, screamed lustily and Chelm nnd other of the old Druid prleßts rushed forth, fearing their young men were being murdered. When the good old Druids saw the young men embracing the maidens they drove them away, for they would have no one nmong them who had ought to do with women. And so. through the peculiar Influ ence of the mistletoe, the maidens won hack the young men, but the cus tom of hanging up mistletoe was kept up. Later after the Introduction of Christianity, the custom was added to the Christinas festivities. Christmas Festivities. From Scandinavian mythology comes the weird hut Interesting story of the origin of mistletoe, thnt pale-berrled parasite of the forest. One of the bear of these legends Is that of Baldur, son of Wodln, In the duys when those strange goda nre said to have walked and talked with the mortals on earth, as did Jupiter and Apollo and Diana and Latonln nnd tho other gods and goddesses of Olympus. Baldur wns the Scandinavian god of sunshine and summer and was nat urally beloved liy all except Lokl, the god of hearth fires. For, while the people rushed out of doors to see Bal dur when he brought the summer sun, they had no use for Lokl until the next winter, consequently Lokl dis liked Baldur. Nonna, goddess of the blossoms and wife of Baldur, dreamed terrible dreams of the death of Baldur, and she went to the great god Wodln, her father-in-law, and told him and he was greatly troubled. But messengers ware sent forth throughout the world ODDS AND ENDS Now tongs for sugar or candy ar* monnted at the end of a tubular han dle and are operated by a spring con trolled plunger. The Philippine Islands have about (0,000 square miles of virgin forest tnd about 20.000 square miles of see rad growth timber. Scientific experiments have damon- Itrated that the yellow color of cream ind butter Is not necessarily an Indl •aUon of their richness. and had everything swear T”"" to do Baldur no barm. Ev erything animate and In- | ■ animate, the animals and men and fish and birds, H* the water and earth and rocks and trees, the winds and clouds and rain and snow, all agreed never to harm Baldur. “Go forth and weep no more, daugh ter,” said Wodln to Nanna, “no harm can now come to your husband, my son,” and Nanna went forth happy. After that all the gods used to amuse themselves hurling stones nnd axes and spears at Baldur and he stood and laughed at them, because neither wood nor petal nor anything could harm him. It was great sport for everyone. One dny while at this sport an old woman asked Nanna why they were trying to kill Baldur. “Everything has promised never to harm him,” she explained. "Everything?” queried the old wom an. “Except the mistletoe, what can that little shrub do?” Nanna laughed scorn fully. The old woman hurried away. Of course It was Lokl in disguise. She got a twig of mistletoe and hardened It by charring the outside before the Are, fitted the point to a lance and hurled it at Baldur, whereupon It pierced his heart and he fell dead. Dedicated to Love and Affection. As a peace offering the gods dedi cated the mistletoe to love and affec tion and peace Just so long as It never touched Lokl'B territory, the ground. Ever since then the mistletoe has grown without roots, far away from the ground, and even to this day it Is used by suspending It above the-floor or ground. And so It Is that both nnclent Brit ain and Scandinavia lay their clntm to mistletoe customs and the origin of suspending a branch of it beneath which youth may kiss. There Is little doubt but what the custom was In use a thousand years before the origin of Christmas. While the etory of the maidens who lured back to their camps, and to themselves, the young men who were about to become Druid priests, gives good account of our cus tom of kissing beneath the mistletoe today, to Scandinavia also belongs much credit. When those brave nnd romnntic Scandinavians looked for ward to Valhnlln as their heaven, and worshiped the gods Thor nnd Wodln on Thor’s day and Wodin's dny (which Is where we get our Thursday nnd Wednesday), they used to have cer tain great feast days for their gods. It became the custom, on observing Thor's day, to build great fires. These were called “Juul” fires. As everyone knows, the Scandinavian “J” Is pro nounced quite like our pronunciation of the letter “Y," consequently those fires were spoken of ns “Yule” fires. The brighter the fires, the higher the Unmet towered through the for ests where the Scandinavians used to gather to pay honor to tlie grent god Thor, the greater pleased wns Thor, nnd so It became necessary to pick out the best of wood tc burn. Then men would go Into the forest looklug for “Juul” logs, and they soon learned that the trees upon which much mistletoe clung would give Ac brightest fires. They did not know the reason for this, and believed that It was due to the work of the great Thor himself who caused the mistle toe to grow on those trees without roots solely as a means of letting his people know which trees were best for burning In his honor. And so whenever anyone met under tlie mistletoe In the great forests, no matter how great enemies they were, thsy dropped their weapons and greet ed each other kindly, nor would they take up arms against each other until the eunrlse of another day. This was their tribute In memory of Thor. A Fetish of flood Luck. They began to tuke bits of the mis tletoe Into tlielr homes and hang It over the doorways, nnd If any enemies came, they could not enter the houses beneutli the mistletoe without becom ing friends to the people Inside so long as they remained there. From this came the habit of greeting people who stepped under the mistletoe with an ombrace or a Mss, and ut great Indoor feasts the mistletoe was hung up In the room and the people greeted each other with kisses. Later this mistletoe hanging at feasts came to be put In use only at the Christmas feaat and from that grew the custom of hanging up the An expedition of Norwegian scien tists is studying the native flora und fauna of almost unknown regions of Northern and Central Asia. Experiments In the Philippines in crossing native and Connecticut tobac co have produced a variety selling for more than twice the price of the na tive. Por producing decorative light ef fects rubber balloons have been In vented Into which electric lamps can be Inserted and the balloons dlstsodsd with air. mistletoe In order thnt any standing beneath It might be kissed by tha first person who caught her there. Few If any growing things are tha subject of as many ancient legends, customs and beliefs as the mistletoe. The fact that the ancient Celts in their druldlcal religion had two great festi vals, one in June and the other tn De cember, the latter being equivalent to our Christmas. In botfl of these great festivals the gathering of the mistle toe was a sacred rite. Pliny in his Natural History de scribes the ceremony. Speaking of the Druids’ worship of the oak, he says: "They believe that whatever grows on these trees Is sent from heaven and Is a sign that the tree has been chosen by the Ood himself. The mistletoe Is very rarely to be met with, but when It Is found they gather It with solemn ceremony. This they do especially on the sixth day of the moon, because by the sixth day the moon has plenty of vigor and has not run half Its course. “After the preparations have been made for a sacrifice and a feast under the tree they hall It as the universal healer and bring to the spot two white bulls whose horns have never bees bound before. A priest, clad In a white robe, climbs the tree and with a golden sickle cuts the mistletoe, which Is caught In a white cloth. Then they sacrifice the victims, praying that Ood may make his own gift to prosper with those upon whom he has bestowed It. “They believe that a potion pre-' pared from mistletoe will Increase their flocks and that the plant Is e remedy against all poison.” It was believed to be a remedy for many ills nnd this belief is still to be found In many remote places In Eu rope. In Holstein, for example, the mistletoe Is regarded as a healing rem edy for wounds und In Lncnune, France, It Is ulways administered by the native people as an antidote for poison. They apply the plant to the stomach of the patient and give him a solution of It to drink as well. The Gaelic word for mistletoe Is “an t’nll loc,” which means “nil healer,” and this Is probably what the Druids called It In ancient times. In the northeast of Scotland people used to cut withes of mistletoe at the March full moon; these they bent In circles and kept for a your to cure hec tic fevers aud other troubles. In some parts of Germany the mistletoe Is especially esteemed as a remedy foi the ailments of children, who some times wear It hung around the neck as an amulet. In Sweden on midsummer eve mis tletoe is diligently sought after, tht people believing It to be possessed of many mystic quulltles, and that If s sprig of It Is uttuched to the celling of the dwelling house, the horse’s stall or cow’s crib, the “trolls" or evil spirits will then be powerless to Injure elthoi muu or beast. Brunches of the plant nre commonly seen In farmhouses hanging from the celling to protect the dwellings from all harm, but es pecially from fire, and persons a fillet ed with the falling sickness think thsy can ward off all attacks of the malady by carrying about with them a knlfs which has a handle of mistletoe. A Swedish remedy for other com plaints Is to bang u sprig of mlstletos round the sufferer's neck or to maks him wear on hla finger a ring mads from the plant. Moreover they fash ion divining rods of mistletoe or of four different kinds of wood, one ai which must be mistletoe. The treas ure seeker places the rod on ths ground after (uudown and when It rests directly over the treasure ths rod begins to move as If It were alive. Like their Swedish neighbors, many German peasants oonslder the mistle toe a powerful charm against evil spir- Experimenting with simple appara tus, a California doctor has sent wire less messages through the ground far distances up to (0 miles. Worn deflated under the coat, a French Inventor's life preserver la In flated and made ready for use by In serting a capsule of highly compressed Patent* have been granted a Chica go woman for candy made and wrapped In the form of artificial flow ta\^L C,D * *•*“ aft " “"H*