Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1904-11-16

TITS mere'n can TELL" replied Low.
shaking his head and measuring the
claw prints with twig. IF he's pam
Their, he had longer claws'n I ever saw,
n l never knew one to have q heel
mark like that, or step In the water II
he could help it. It 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
Il 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 do:-
tors first trip into the woods, and
such things will alarm him unduly and
spoil his enjoyment" And so the sim
grlar 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
to reach the junction Of the North
Branch with the broad and slow-run-
ming Moosehorn, and the lowering sun
bad left its valley in shadow ere Jean
pushed his canoe ashore and the doctor
stepped out It was as Martin had
stated, a good camping spot, for the en-
trance to an old tote-road furnished a
clear space, an endless procession of
foam aecks 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 a bush-ch oked opell-
ing showed that tote-road had once
been cut alongside the Branch.
DR.. Sol eyed it suspiciously. "No
bears or panthers up there. Jean?" he
queried.
IF you see him, he sec 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 eI ection of a
tent.
DR.. Sol reached for his rod, jointed
it. still glancing furtively into the SOM
bre wilderness, and then down the
stream again. II wish Frisbie would
keep up" he said, half to himself. Il
want trout for supper, but I'm not just
anxious to go into the woods alone
after Them
But the floating foam fecks, 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
could hear must be scarce ten rods in,
but as he followed the old log road,
now close beside the stream, and then
bending away, while he pushed aside
the underground taller than himself,
it seemed ever little beyond. Just as
his courage had nearly ebbed, the faint
path turned down beside the stream
once more, and here its current, merely
fretted by hidden ledge, was making
the music that had lured him in. Like
q boy now, in his eagerness, he ad-
justed his tackle. and with a short cast
lightly threw the gaudy flies into the
pool below, and let them float down. In
an instant came leap and splash as
a pound trout took the tempting NOR
sci, and the sport began. One after
another the little doctor reeled in, OH
livious now to bears, painters, or the
solemn stiffness Of the wilderness. and
happy as only true sportsman can l,a.
A dozen had been tossed in rapid su.,-
cession behind rotting stump, when,
the trees back of him, he
hooked one limb hard and fast. To
climb such spruce, with branches so
thick a squirrel only could do it, was
impossible, and with muttered impre-
cation, the doctor pulled on his line
until the delicate leader broke, and then
sat down to repair damages. He had
just done so and arisen. when the faint
sound of a breaking twig caught his
attention. With quick glance across
the stream, where a rocky and BUSH
hid bank faced him, he saw, in the
darkening twilight, just above brown.
moss-covered boulder, q hideous, hairy:
human face!
Only one instant he saw It, the next
1t had vanished.
For moment Dr.. Sol, never coura-
geous man, stood still, while it seemed
that icy water was leaping through
every vein; the next instant he turned
and ran down the bush-choked path as
If pursued by demons. Each moment,
as he dove under bending boughs or
leaped over fallen trees, he felt that q
hairy human monster was just about
to seize him.
When the campfire was reached,
Martin had arrived and was cutting
boughs with hunting-knife, while
Jean and Levi were just entering the
tent. A fire had been started, a black
ened pail had been hung from stick
over the flame, and preparations for a
night In the woods were we'll under
way. Into this little group leaped the
terrified doctor, breathless. with face
scratched and bleeding.
Pack up, quick! he exclaimed in a
husky voice; we've got to get out Of
here at once! There's q wild man back
up In the woods, and I wouldn't stay
here for a million dollars!"
Martin and Levi exchanged quick
glances, and a halt came In the camp
ing work. For moment the two
hooked at one another, and then, as II
racQ11inY that cllrfOna f0OfNrinf than