His name was Nikki, and he was a Malamute.
One-eighth wolf, the rest Mackenzie husky.
He was three months old.
The man was a fur trader, andre Dupas,
A kind man, and a good master.
And for his friendship, Nikki returned a steadfast devotion.
Hey, Nikki.
Have you heard Les Raftsmen?
Good.
Then I'm sure you will like this one.
The man was on a long journey to fur company headquarters
To order supplies for his trading post.
Here, at Little Thunder Falls, he would make a short portage and rest.
Don't get lost, Nikki.
Down below, we make camp for the night.
At every stopping place, Nikki found some new adventure.
But here, at Little Thunder, he was soon to begin the greatest adventure of all.
It wasn't far downstream that a she-bear had her hibernating den.
Her name was Noozak, and she was very old.
Her cub, Neewa, born in hibernation, would be her last.
This was Neewa's first time out of the den.
From now on, whenever the cub was in the open,
noozak would stand guard nearby.
Other than that, Neewa was on his own.
And he found out right away what a river was.
It was cold and wet, that's what it was.
Then he learned about Canada geese.
They're a combination of bravery and a bad disposition.
And the smaller they are, the shorter their tempers.
This was their beach.
No trespassers allowed.
Hey, what did you find, Nikki?
Well, pretty fresh tracks, hmm?
A bear and her cub.
Nikki!
Nikki, there is something you should learn about bears.
They will leave you alone, if you leave them alone.
You promise?
Well, maybe we better make sure.
Tomorrow we run Big Thunder rapids, Nikki.
Now, we take a good, long rest.
Just a few hundred yards above the beach,
noozak had settled down for a rest, too.
She spent most of her time napping, these days.
But if her life was nearing its close, neewa's was just beginning.
A whole forest world lay waiting to be explored.
It was to be a world filled with surprises.
The cub just wanted company.
The marmot had no use for bears, and said so.
But Neewa took it as an invitation to play.
It was a mistake that led to his first downfall.
For Neewa, the big adventure was over.
All he wanted now was Mother.
But, somehow, she'd managed to get herself lost.
Well, whenever you're in trouble, climb a tree.
It's a standard rule for bear cubs.
But, this didn't seem to accomplish very much.
A fine view of the forest, but where was Mother?
That big rock looked familiar.
Of course! There she was.
Although it looked like the right place,
It was certainly the wrong paw.
This was Makoos.
Old, mean,
And mad with the instinct of the adult male to kill all cubs.
Noozak.
The mother bear would give her life to save her cub.
Hey!
Nikki!
Nikki! Nikki!
Oh! Why you...
So, you have treed the ferocious bear.
Let me tell you, the mother will not like this.
Come on, Nikki. You've made enough trouble.
Oh!
This is bad.
He cannot live without his mother.
What can we do?
No, no, no, no, Nikki. We cannot take him with us.
All right.
But remember, it is your decision.
I will not hurt you.
Nikki, this was not a very good idea.
Now...
Now, at least, I can tie my troubles into one package.
There, Nikki, you asked for him.
Now I hope you will be very happy together.
By the next morning,
It was plain that Nikki and Neewa were far from happy together.
And from the looks of things, they never would be.
Nikki!
Stop it, you two. Stop it!
Nikki!
It was about half a mile below Big Thunder Falls
that they found slack water, and the first chance to try for shore.
Nikki supplied the power, Neewa set the course.
Nikki!
Nikki felt a keen sense of loss.
He understood that the man was leaving him,
But he couldn't know why.
Discouraged, confused,
For the moment he gave up, and let Neewa have his way.
But, as the day passed,
Nikki began to realize he would never find the man, unless he broke free.
Of course, Neewa was just as determined to find his mother.
By nightfall, they were both worn out,
And too tired to fight anymore.
But the truce didn't last.
Now, a difference in sleeping habits led to all-out war.
There was no solution to this.
Only compromise.
It wasn't exactly a restful night.
And when morning came, Nikki was so hungry he could eat a...
...Rabbit?
Nikki went hungry that day, and for the next two days after.
He knew by instinct that he must learn to hunt to survive.
But Neewa just wouldn't cooperate.
His food was right under foot.
Grass, roots and grubs.
Now, he found something even better, a patch of summer berries.
By now, Nikki was ready to try anything.
But these were called sour berries, and Nikki found out why.
A wood rat!
Now, this was more to his taste.
It was just no use.
Whenever Nikki tried to move in on a meal, Neewa moved out.
And so, the pup wisely decided that
If he had to live with a bear, he'd better learn to eat like one.
During the second week, nikki's diet included one field mouse,
a dozen grasshoppers, and several pounds of roots and grass.
And so, there was something to be said about going along peaceably, after all.
And then, one day,
an ominous sound filled the air.
And for Nikki, there was peace no more.
Neewa had never seen a bee-tree before.
But his nose told him that here was a real treat.
About the same time, something told Nikki
It was a treat reserved for bears only.
The more Neewa warmed to his work,
The hotter things got for Nikki.
This time, Nikki took charge.
And no bear could hold him now.
It was late afternoon at the end of their third week together,
That a turning point came in the lives of Nikki and Neewa.
At the river's edge, Nikki caught the man scent.
It revived a surge of hope and joy.
Of course, on Neewa, it had just the opposite effect.
Neewa fled from the hated man scent, back to the forest.
But Nikki was drawn by it.
It was a long trail, but soon after dark, he came to trail's end.
Here, he would learn for the first time,
That all men are not alike.
He could see this man was not his master, and caution made him wait.
Makoki.
Makoki!
Uh...
Make some food.
Get more wood. It will be cold tonight.
Le Beau.
Long time now, makoki cook,
Make camp, break trail.
Le Beau do nothing.
Why this?
Why?
Because you are an Indian.
Maybe Indian not partner, like you say.
Maybe just for work.
Soon we come my country.
I show you good trapline. What then?
What do you mean, what then? We trap. You crazy?
Share furs?
You'll get share.
Even share?
Now, look.
My traps.
Without these, you catch nothing.
Without Makoki, you do not find trapline.
All right, all right.
Even share.
Wolf.
For Nikki, an image of kindness had been shattered.
By a harsh voice, and a whining bullet.
All he wanted was a place to hide.
Rejected by man, he belonged to the wilderness now.
But nature was ready and willing to continue his education.
Timber wolves. Masters of the hunt.
The pack was on the scent of a lone bull elk.
For Nikki, it was an object lesson in survival.
And yet, the pup was much too miserable to profit by it.
All he really wanted was a friend.
Well, that could be provided, too.
Yes, it was Neewa.
He'd been searching for Nikki all night.
For he was just as lost and lonely as the pup.
And so past differences were forgotten,
And they would find in friendship,
A tie far stronger than a leather thong.
It was late morning when Nikki and Neewa awoke
To begin their new life together.
But, there would be a small delay,
While Neewa disposed of one last link with the past.
Now, they were really free.
For Nikki, freedom meant learning to be a dog again.
A diet of roots and grubs was fine for Neewa,
But nature had decreed that a growing dog must have meat.
And for this, she had given him the hunting instinct.
Although it was Neewa that gave him the first chance to use it.
Neewa was much impressed.
But the hunting rights here had already been claimed by others.
The lynx had made his kill, and was inclined to overlook the matter.
But the wolverine never overlooked anything.
It was over in seconds,
And Nikki was lucky,
he was only nipped on the foreleg.
It was no disgrace either, losing a battle
to the deadliest fighter in the forest.
This is nature's way for the wolverine.
Feared by all, born to the wild,
he is himself fearless, and an insatiable glutton.
If the lynx had a bigger prize, then he would take it.
The killer was at a safe distance now.
And Neewa, released from fear, moved out to claim the leftovers.
This was an old habit with the cub.
Finding food and sharing it with Nikki.
But the dog had learned much today.
From now on, he would be well able to provide for himself.
With the coming of late summer,
Nikki reached the fullness of his strength.
A Malamute is a king of dogs,
but the wilderness life had shaped Nikki
into a dog such as the North had never seen before.
He weighed 125 pounds, a giant of his breed.
Neewa was less than half-grown, but already brute strong.
And yet, these two born enemies, even in the roughest play,
would never hurt each other.
It was on one of these carefree days,
that a heedless moment led to a strange consequence.
And for Neewa, the renewal of an old acquaintance.
Makoos.
And time had not improved his temper.
For the moment, Neewa was safe.
Makoos wasn't much of a tree climber.
But Nikki didn't know that.
He had to rescue his friend.
It was risky, but it worked.
Lure Makoos away from the tree.
Give Neewa a chance to get away.
For the perfect ending,
one finishing touch.
He had to take it out on something.
Until now, Nikki and Neewa had hardly noticed the change of seasons.
But winter came as a wonderful surprise,
and put a new zest in their rough-and-tumble games.
For several weeks now, Neewa had felt
a deep inner need, common to all bears.
It was time to hibernate.
And so, it was not by accident that one day
the dog and the cub found their way back to a familiar place.
Neewa had been drawn here by instinct,
but now he knew where he must go and what he must do.
Generations of bears had hibernated here,
and here, Neewa, too, would slumber out the winter weeks,
His body nourished by his own fat.
To Nikki, it was still early.
They should be out hunting.
This was certainly no time to go to sleep.
Although nature had released the bear
From all the problems of survival,
For the dog, she had decreed a time of hunger and hardship.
For weeks, she had been blotting out every scent and sign of game
With biting cold and heavy snow.
But Nikki was quick to adapt himself and learn new hunting methods.
And now, he was about to get a lesson on
How to catch a muskrat.
The muskrat is a fierce little fighter.
Unless the blue fox used perfect timing,
He might lose the rat...
And a piece of his nose, too.
But this fox knew his business.
Nikki could see that.
Of course, the easy way was to steal his dinner.
But apparently, the fox wasn't going to stand still for that.
No matter. He'd seen how it was done.
He'd catch his own rat.
This wasn't as easy as it looked.
Maybe there was another one down there,
Not so full of fight.
Well, all he got out of that was a new respect for muskrats.
And so, he tried his luck down by the river.
He found the signs of an old rabbit run,
But he didn't find any rabbits.
By late afternoon, nikki's search for game
Had taken him far from the den, deep into strange territory.
And by now, he was so hungry he could eat...
An elk?
In all his life, he'd never brought down anything bigger than a rabbit.
Well, nothing ventured...
At least his wolf blood told him how to begin,
Cut one off and run it down.
But if Nikki had been more wolf, and less dog,
He'd have known that wolves always hunt in packs,
And have the strength of numbers.
So far, though, everything was going fine.
The elk was tiring, and Nikki sensed it.
He was confident.
Then, the elk turned at bay,
And now that Nikki had him, he didn't know what to do with him.
Well, when in doubt, bark.
Oops!
Well, now he had a new respect for elk.
So, back to the search.
And this time, he'd look for smaller game.
Now, there was something.
A little smaller than he had in mind, but better than nothing at all.
Baffled by muskrats, battered by a bull elk,
and now, mocked by a mouse.
For Nikki, it was a very humiliating day.
But the days and nights that followed were to be worse, much worse.
He had lived with hunger before, but never anything like this.
And then, one night, he caught a distant sound.
It stirred the dog.
Awakened a deep and dormant instinct.
The wolves had been on the trail of a winter starved deer.
And now, they found the half-frozen carcass.
The biggest and strongest claimed first share.
It was natural for the wolf in Nikki
to answer the call of the pack.
Beyond his need for food, he had a deeper need for companionship.
And he was sure he would find it here
with the brothers of his blood.
He came in friendship and was met with fury.
When the wolves turned on each other,
Nikki saw his chance and got away.
Nikki didn't rest at all that night.
And the next morning, lonelier than ever and aching with hunger,
he came quite suddenly upon the man scent again.
The trail was new, but the memories it aroused were very old.
Almost forgotten.
And so, it was not the scent of man that Nikki followed.
It was something else. Compelling, unmistakable,
the smell of fresh meat.
To the hungry dog, it was only a mouthful.
The trail had brought food once,
maybe it would again.
This time, he'd be more careful.
There was something in there guarding the meat.
He would cover it up.
It didn't work quite that way.
Instead, he learned that the snap of steel
meant it was safe to take the bait.
By the time he'd robbed half a dozen traps, he was full.
But, when food is plentiful, it must not be wasted.
He would store this away for the future.
Not far up stream, he found an ideal place beside a windfall
which he could use for shelter.
Now, as far as Nikki was concerned,
all his troubles were over.
He couldn't know that with his invasion of man's domain,
a chapter in his life had come to a close,
and a new chapter had already begun.
It was an ominous beginning.
Diable Another one.
Ah.
Now I see how he does it.
Of course. The snow.
He throws it on the trap.
With a trick like this, pretty soon he will rob every set on the line.
Give me the moose fat.
I am going to prepare something very special for this wolf.
Not wolf. Dog.
Huh? Ah, you crazy. Poison.
Wolf smell man,
circle trap many times.
Dog smell man, go straight trap.
This dog.
Ah, dog, wolf, no matter.
One little taste of this, he will die just the same.
Early next morning, Nikki headed straight for the trap line and food.
He did not eat enough.
Maybe enough.
Dog make crazy track.
Huh?
One little taste.
Of course. I told you.
Do not lose the trail.
Nikki had suffered a slight paralysis,
but he had taken so very little poison,
it soon began to wear off.
It was his instinct now to find his windfall.
Dog sick here.
But where is he now?
Left good trail. I find him.
Give me that.
Now you come out.
You stupid Indian. What you do?
Catch for eat.
Eat? We lost him.
Dog live here. Come back, sure.
Yeah. Come back, sure.
Give me rabbit.
The traps. All the big ones, spread them here.
When Nikki was sure the men had gone,
he did come back.
But it was plain he'd have to find another place to live.
It was a rabbit, but why didn't it run?
Something was wrong.
Dog not die this way.
Indian.
What could you do with a dog of such strength?
Make good sled dog. Put in harness.
Harness.
That dog belongs in a fighting pit.
At the trading post, he will win more furs for me than a man could ever trap.
Ah, but he has a weakness.
The club. Club?
The club.
Dog friend.
See?
No, no, no, no!
Just what I don't want.
A fighting dog must hate.
When I get through with this dog,
he will hate even his own shadow.
What is going on here?
Why has not the dog fighting begun?
There will be no dog fighting.
What?
See for yourself.
The new factor has made a rule.
What does this mean?
Just what it says.
No more dog fighting.
But why?
I'll tell him, i'll tell him. Taisez-vous.
You won't believe this, Le Beau,
but this little sport we make, this fighting of dogs, yes.
It is cruel, savage, uh, not human, blood-thirsty.
The new factor, he said so himself, not 10 minutes ago.
We all heard him.
What? The man is crazy.
Still, he made the law.
And I break it!
I say there will be fighting.
Hi, Durand. How much?
Your wolf dog against my Malamute.
But what about the factor?
Forget about the factor. I will take care of him.
Come on, come on, come on. How much? What do you say?
I say 20 beaver on my wolf dog.
Done.
All right. Who else likes the wolf dog?
All set over there?
Are you ready, Durand?
Ready.
Are you ready, Le Beau?
A minute. A minute!
Now.
All right.
Malamute! Turn, Malamute! Turn!
Turn!
All right, Le Beau. You win. Call him off. Call him off!
Call him off, you win! Call him off!
Hiya, Malamute. Hiya!
Hey, Durand, if you want your dog alive, get him out of there.
Bring him here.
Look out, Durand!
Hey, hey. Now we fight two dogs.
Who's next?
There won't be any next.
Let me through.
I told you no dog fighting while I am factor, and I meant it.
So, you men...
all of you and your dogs, i want you to be out of here by daybreak.
Who owns that Malamute?
Me.
Jacques Le Beau. I own him.
What of it?
Well, take care of him. Don't you see the dog is hurt?
I have a better idea, monsieur l'agent.
I will let the dog take care of you.
Steady now.
Easy, boy.
Don't move now.
Easy, now.
No, no, no.
There, boy, that is better now.
For a minute, i thought you were going to bite my leg off.
What made you change your mind?
You thought you knew me, huh?
No, i don't know you.
You could not be...
Nikki?
All right, all right, i believe you.
Hey, Le Beau, is this your killer?
He looks more like a lap dog.
No wonder I did not recognize you.
When I left you, you were a little pup.
Oh, let's wash off some of that blood, huh?
Le Beau!
Fight him with your feet.
Come on, Le Beau, come on. Come on, Le Beau, come on.
Five beaver on the factor.
Done.
Look out, andy!
Nikki!
No, Nikki, no. Nikki!
Steady, steady.
Somebody help him, he's hurt.
He's dead.
Dead? That dog's the killer.
The Malamute killed him.
Shoot that dog.
Durand, here.
Factor, stand aside.
Now wait a minute, you cannot do that.
Factor, you don't give orders now.
The dog has killed a man. You know the rule.
Go ahead, Durand.
Wait.
Dog not kill. Le Beau try kill factor.
Fall on own knife.
The Indian is right. He killed himself.
Somebody give me a hand down here.
Another spring, and another trip downriver for supplies.
Makoki had found not only a friend in Andre,
but a permanent place at the trading post.
And, of course, Nikki had arranged it all.
He knows the place.
It was just below I lost him.
Oh, it was Neewa, all right.
Just a lot more of him.
He was almost full grown now.
But Nikki didn't notice the change.
He was much too excited and happy.
Of course, the next thing was to bring his old friend and the man together.
But something was wrong.
Neewa didn't seem to understand.
It was really Nikki that didn't understand.
The bear's memory was not as keen as his,
and the dog was heavy with the scent of man.
And yet, it seemed for a moment that the old friendship
might be renewed.
But, the moment passed.
Now, Nikki faced a great decision.
Nikki. Nikki.
Still, it was not too hard to make.
The call of the wilderness was fainter now.
The call of the man was loud and clear.
Hey, Nikki!
Ah, there you are.
Maybe you look for another bear cub, huh?
Allez, vite, vite.
Get in.
Maybe you did not learn your lesson about bears.
But, i did.
When I see the way you two fight,
i know these are two that can never be friends.
A bear and a dog.
Is it not so, makoki?
Is so.
Of course, only Nikki knew what was really so.
And though he would live in the world of man,
He would long remember Neewa
and the time of great adventure in the wilderness.