After a while, he laid his head on the ground and fell asleep. Azor was chained up and wasn't with him.
He awoke to a stinging pain. Jozef Wapielnik was standing beside his horse and whipping him. Jurek leaped to his feet. The cows were grazing in a field of carrots. Before Jurek could run toward them the farmer seized him and bound his hands with the whip. He was unsteady on his feet and stank of alcohol. Twice he tried mounting his horse and fell off. The third time he succeeded, dragging Jurek after him. Jurek's knapsack and jacket, all the property he owned in the world, remained in the meadow.
"Pan Jozef, the cows!" Jurek shouted. But the farmer paid him no attention. He simply mumbled to himself and uttered a string of curses. When they reached the farmyard, he dismounted, or rather, fell off his horse, freed Jurek's hands, grabbed him by the hair, and began to beat him with the handle of the whip. Jurek screamed. Azor fought to come to the rescue. On his third leap he broke the chain and pounced on the farmer. Pan Wapielnik let go of Jurek and tumbled to the ground, trying to protect himself with the whip.
"Azor, come!" Jurek called in a fright, afraid the dog would murder the man. He began to run. Azor left Pan Wapielnik and ran after him.
He returned to the meadow, gathered his things, and headed for the forest. As soon as he entered the dark cover of the trees, he felt like someone returning to a hometown whose streets and lanes he knew by heart. And now he had a friend with him.
The first night, Jurek reverted to his old custom of sleeping in a tree. But Azor soon began to whimper and he climbed down and lay beside him on a mattress of pine needles. His thoughts turned to Yosele and his knife. Had Yosele also run away because Pan Wapielnik beat him? He would never know.
He fell asleep and dreamed that something was rolling on him and choking him. He wanted to ask his brother to help him but couldn't remember his name. Although it was on the tip of his tongue he couldn't think of it. And when he shouted, his brother didn't recognize his voice and walked away. He knew he would come to him if called by name, but the name continued to escape him. He woke up breathing heavily.
Azor was lying on his chest, licking him. Jurek sat up and stroked the dog's head. It was wet. Jurek licked his lips. He was thirsty.
"Did you find water?" he asked.
Azor wagged his tail. Jurek listened to the forest. There was a sound of running water. He went to look for the brook that was making it. It made him think of his first day in the forest with the Jewish boys. How long ago had that been? He tried to calculate. Since then a whole winter and spring had gone by and it was almost summer again.
He went to pick berries for his breakfast. Azor didn't know what to make of them. He ate some and spit out others. Jurek burst out laughing and hugged him. "You'd rather have meat, wouldn't you?" he said.
Azor cocked his head as though deliberating. Jurek took out his slingshot and strode off purposefully through the trees. A bird took off from a branch, sensing danger. But practice had made perfect and he brought the wood pigeon down. It fell to the ground with a broken wing and made for the bushes. Azor pounced on it.
"Fetch, Azor!" he ordered as he had done in their games.
The dog gave him a sly look.
He raised his voice. "Azor!"
The dog obeyed and brought him the bird. There was not enough meat on it for the two of them.
"Still," he said to Azor, giving him the innards and bones, "it's better than nothing."
They were still eating when he spied another wood pigeon, perhaps the first one's mate. He downed it too. Now they could eat to their hearts' content.
The next day Azor disappeared in the undergrowth, came back, and was gone again. Jurek listened and heard an odd sound, as if of branches being shaken. Following Azor, he discovered a rabbit dangling by its foot from a slipknot. Opening the knot, he removed it from the rabbit's foot. The animal screeched horridly. Jurek was afraid the sound might bring the forester or the trapper, if not worse. The rabbit had to be killed quickly. He did it with his eyes shut and moved away through the forest to be safe. This time, he waited until nighttime to make a fire. He cut the rabbit into pieces and roasted them on a spit. Azor ate too. It was a royal feast and there was enough left over for the next day.
Jurek became a good hunter. He bagged a small rabbit, a squirrel, and once, after several misses, a large duck swimming in a reed-encircled pond.
"Azor, fetch!" he called.
The dog jumped into the water at once and fetched the duck. There was enough meat for three days.
Another time, Jurek killed and cooked a blue jay. But its meat was inedible. It was tough and had a bad smell. He gave it to Azor, who didn't think much of it either.