BOOKS BY
NICHOLAS KALASHNIKOFF
The Defender
Toyon: A Dog of the North and His People
Jumper: The Life of a Siberian Horse
They That Take the Sword
[Illustration]
THE DEFENDER
by Nicholas Kalashnikoff
illustrated by
Claire and George Louden, jr.
New York 1951
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
COPYRIGHT, 1951, BY
NICHOLAS KALASHNIKOFF
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS BOOK
MAY BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT
THE PERMISSION OF CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
[Illustration]
TO
MY DAUGHTER
AUTHOR’S FOREWORD
_“Everywhere there is life, and everywhere there are warm human
hearts.” These words, spoken by a school-teacher, I remember from many
years ago when I was a boy in Siberia. The teacher, Ivan Pavin, was a
man who took joy in his work and passed joy on to his pupils. The world
was a more wonderful place for discovering it with him. Best of all, he
delighted to tell us about people--all kinds of people--but especially
those of northern Siberia who lived in never-ending conflict with a
harsh land._
_When I grew up and left the village, I spent several years in the Far
North, where I had many occasions to test the truth of this saying.
Yes--I found warm hearts in plenty, but none warmer than that of Tim,
who was of the Yakut tribe. Tim’s full name was Timofey. He was greatly
respected by people among whom he lived, not only because he was honest
and brave but because he had powerful fists to match his courage. When
words failed to convince, his fists often could. One thing about him
interested me in particular. He was a self-appointed champion of the_
chubuku, _or wild mountain rams, and took every opportunity to plead
with hunters to spare these rare animals who were fast disappearing
from the region._
_“Why?” I asked him one day, upon hearing him threaten to punish a
hunter who dared kill a ram in that neighborhood. “Why do you put
yourself out to befriend these creatures? Are they so precious to you?”_
_“Why?” he repeated my question. “That is simple. My step-father,
Turgen, who was a Lamut, loved the mountain rams, and I made him a
promise to protect them after he was gone. He is dead now--a fine man,
as anyone will tell you. Perhaps you would like to hear about him.”_
_I assured him that I would...._
CHAPTER 1
[Illustration]
This is the story of the Lamut, Turgen, who lived alone high in the
hills of northeastern Siberia and had for friends a herd of mountain
rams.
Turgen, whose name means “fleet-of-foot” in the Lamut tongue, was a
lonely man. It had not always been so. When he was younger he had had
a wife and a son whom he loved. But both had died of an illness that
burned like fire, and rested now in a single grave under the larch tree
outside his door. He had also had the liking and trust of the Yakuts
who were his neighbors in the valley below. Among them he was famed for
his knowledge of medicine. Knowing him for a kindly, generous man, they
came to him for healing grasses, and were never refused. He, in turn,
visited them and sat by their _komeleks_, or fire-places, to exchange
the latest news.
All this was in the past. Turgen no longer received callers or went
into the valley, except to take fish to the widow Marfa and receive
milk for his own use. Marfa and her two children, a son Tim and a
daughter Aksa, were Turgen’s only friends. For the most part he stayed
close to his _yurta_, a simple hut perched between two cliffs above a
mountain stream. On sunny days, when he was not hunting or fishing, he
loved to sit on a rough bench under a great larch tree and smoke his
pipe while watching the activity in the valley below. The mountains
were full of mystery and peace. Because of them he could think of the
past without regret.
You wonder why the people of the valley shunned Turgen. The reason, you
will say, was no reason at all. Word had spread among them that he was
friendly with the wild rams who lived in the mountains. “Who ever heard
of friendship between a man and mountain rams?” the Yakuts asked. It
was impossible. And if it was impossible, then Turgen was a sorcerer--a
partner of the devil.