Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1904-10-26
CHAPTER II.
A CURIOUS FOOTPRINT.


The morning concert of song birds.
always heard in the wilderness in Nav
and June, was in full force when Mar
tin crept out of the~tent next morning.
The sun was just peeping through the
spruce tops, film of thin gray fog coy
cred the placid lake, and Levi had inst
started fire. Then came the usual
wash in clear, cold water, the gathering
around the bright fire to watch the
guides cooking, the keen appetite for
the simple breakfast of fried trout.
ham, eggs, and coffee, eaten while sit
ting cross-legged on moss-covered
log, the packing Of their belongings,
the launching and loading of canoes.
and so the day began.
I'VE have an easy day ahead of us.
observed Martin, when they were ready
to start, "a good twenty miles up the
Moosehorn, which enters this lake close
by, with no quick water or carries.
We can reach the North Branch in
ample time to make camp tonight and
catch some trout there for supper" 1t
was an attractive programme, almost
unvarying for all such days in the will
AOA AOoot anu 0O pICdSdAI ludI the I'M
press of the previous nights caller.
creeping close to the tent, had almost
vanished from Martins mind. But it
was soon recalled in an unexpected
way, for Levi, always last to leave each
camping spot, was about to enter his
canoe and push off, when he paused,
and stepping to one side of the bit of
beach, stopped over, looking at some
thing.
What is it?" queried Martin, from
the canoe.
81 dunno; you better come and see,"
answered Levi.
Martin stepped out of the canoe and
to where his guide stood, to be as much
astonished, for there in the hard damp
sand, close to the bank, was a queer
footprint 1t was no longer than one
made by human foot, with the deeply
indented claw marks of a panther.
Only these showed distinctly, for the
heel mark was scarcely visible It
looked as if the creature making it had
come out of the water and up on to the
harder bank, where no track would
show.
well" said Martin again, after a
long examination, what is it?"
cts more'n / can tell" replied Levi.
shaking his head and measuring the
claw prints with twig eff he's a pam
Their, he had longer claws'n ever saw,
n l never knew one to have a heel
mark like that, or step in the water if
he could help it. 1t beats me-"
What have you found" called the
| doctor from his canoe out in the lake.
'Oh, nothing" answered Martin;
''only the track of an OTTER" and he
stepped into his canoe again and they
padded away.
Then he told Levi about the night
visitor, creeping about the tent.
81 do not think it wise to tell the doc
tor or JEAN" he said in conclusion, cor
| speak of this queer track. It's the doc
tors first trip into the woods, and
such things will alarm him unduly and
spoil his enjoyment" And so the sim
gular footprint and it's possible connec-
ton with the creature who had crept
up to their tent at midnight was left
| behind.
Usually two sportsmen, in canoeing
upstream especially, will keep along
together, but somehow that day it hap
pened that DR.. Sol and Jean were first
to reach the junction of the North
Branch with the broad and slow-run-
ming Moosehorn, and the lowering sun
bad left it's valley in shadow ere Jean
pushed his canoe ashore and the doctor
stepped out. 1t was as Martin had
0Ood cDo& Gov
trance to an old tote-road furnished a
clear space, an endless procession of
| foam fecks on the Branch emerged
| from the shadow of it's overhang and
wheeled into the broader stream, while
the music of little cascade just back
in the woods suggested trout
'You may jis' so well go fish," said
Jean, turning to the canoe and taking
| from it small axe, Ear be one YER
nice hole up re stream few rod" and
| he pointed where bush-ch oked open
ing showed that tote-road had once
| been cut alongside the Branch.
DR.. Sol eyed it suspiciously. mo
bears or panthers up there, Jean?" he
| queried.
If you see him, he see you fust, an
you no see him." came the paradox
ical answer, as Jean began cutting away
the underground with his hunting
knife, preparatory to the erection of a
tent.
DR.. Sol reached for his rod, jointed
1T, still glancing furtively into the SOM
bre wilderness, and then down the
| stream again. 81 wish Frisbie would
keep up" he said, half to himself. "I
want trout for supper, but I'm not just
anxious to go into the woods alone
after them
But the floating foam f1ecks, the call
OF the running waters, and the love of
sport conquered the forbidding forest,
and with one more glance down the
Moosehorn he started up the almost in
visible path.
From the sound, the little cascade he