The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1905-10-04
The PARIAH of GREYHORN
BY G. w. CARVER.
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a futile labor to the painting farmers
especially as their mongrel dogs had
lost the scent on the wind-washed
rock.
Andy had plenty of spare time at his
disposal at this season, and he and
Grip put pair of earnest heads to-
gether, and vowed to oust the pariah
from his lair. The boy soon gave up
trying to track the beast down out of
hand. He planned waiting game.
A great thrust of rock formed his OBJ
Servatory. From 1t he could command
at close range the side that Greyhorn
turned upon the village. With glass
and rife he spent many morning and
long afternoon curled up in the rift;
but somehow he never saw the quarry
although the continued mortality
among the Merlnos proved that the
sly beast still went and came.
The hours were not tedious. About
him the mountains rolled their vast
bulks, full of shifting shadow and
daily changes of color. The peak of
Greyhorn was particularly sensitive to
atmospheric conditions. At times il
sparkled like steel that had been par
tally rusted. Unsuspected giant like
nesses to human faces leaped into
sight One could trace cities OF rocks
In honeycomb clusters, with vein-like
roads radiating away from them.
When the sky was overcast the peak
was of softest lavender. At sunset it
caught ard held a rich spectrum of
colors.
One warm, MINDLESS afternoon Andy
saw the pariah for the first time. The
heat had been intense at the farm, but
a current Of air drew through the fun
nel-shaped valley below the roost and
the two watchers felt its invigorating
stir.
| The gray roofs of the farmhouses on
the distant slopes sparkled like flakes
of mica In the sun. Squares of bronzed
pasture land inlald the jade of the roll
ing mountains. In one of these opens,
not far from the roost, a flock of sheep
We're feeding to the listless accompani-
ment of an old wether's bell.
Suddenly the drowsy tinkling changed
to clamor of notes. The flock opened
like fan and ran. leaping, down the
slopes, while the bell changed madly
and chorus of frightened bleating
rippled in the air
A big black shape, close under the
trees of the forest. stood with one
paw on its victim, and grinned with
bloody jaws at the panic. Then with
a quick snap at the dead sheep, he
lifted it and trotted back into the
woods.
The pariah evidently supped heavily.
| He remained so long under cover that
Andy began to fear he had stolen away
by some other route, but at last he saw
a slouching figure come out of the up
per frs and slowly ascend the bare
buttresses of Grcyhorn.
With the glasses he followed its
course as it wound upward, now lost
in long cleft, now reappearing on
some open shelf. BY devious path
the bear ascended TO a black, ragged
face of rock, and against this blackness
vanished. Andy watched some mo-
ments longer to make sure. Then he
shut up the glasses and stretched his
cramped limbs. He knew now where
the pariah kept house.
After milking the cows the next
morning, Andy went straight to the
harness room and lifted the rifle from
its pegs. From long box where the
workmen engaged in excavating a cell
lar for the new barn kept their kits he
removed a small object which he
wrapped carefully in cotton batting
Then he sauntered with assumed in
difference into the driveway. He did
not wish to betray too much relish
for the business Of bear hunting while
the keen eye of his father was upon
him.
The air was chill, with premonition
of rain. In spite of rapid walking,
Andy did not feel very warm as he
came out on the activities of the
mountain.
The lank frs climbing above him
stood unusually black and forbidding,
like somber exclamation points. The
vast. uplift of rock had always seemed
TO Andy more mysterious and awe
inspiring than its wooded brothers. 1t
was in its grimmest mood now, its tip
shrouded in a gray sea Of storm clouds.
Half an hour of scrambling up the
low, broken lodges brought Andy to
the rocky face he had marked the day
before. A wide V-shaped fissure
yawned at its base. The rubble be-
fore it was trodden into sort of
macadam. The dry, gray rib-bone of
a lamb lay at one side, and Andy's
sharp eyes detected some coarse black
hairs clinging to the edges Of the open
ing.
He cooked the rifle, and STOPPING
somewhat, walked slowly into the
fissure. 1t ran back straight and grad.
ually increasing in dimensions for a
surprising distance. In the half-dark.
ness Andy made out several dim gal
leries leading into the main cave, but
investigation convinced him that the
bear had not passed through them.
Presently Grip, the silent, made Q
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