Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1907-03-22

Mrs. Madders smiled family be-
hind the arm raised defensively be-
tween her face and the sizzling, pop
ping pan. With long two-pronged
fork she kept the browning slices cir
culating.
You got some years of bacon
ahead of you yet, Lucindy."
Yes, but not Jobs bacon, ma
"All the Jobs l ever knew came TO
the scalding kettle sooner or later"
said her mother.
Lucinda rolled out an uncompro-
missing red lower lip She had a
streak of obstinacy in her The braid
waved more slowly, and finally she
tossed it over her shoulder with an
air of decision
Il used to scratch his back-may-
be l scratched those very pieces.
They'd choke me. I'm going out to
get partridge for supper"
You'll likely find partridge meat
bitter" said Mrs. Madders. "The
deep SHOWS driven 'em to feed on
spruce tips"
Well it's not going to drive me
to eat Job, was Lucinda's response.
She began to array herself for the
tramp. AS she knotted the leather
thongs of her snow-shoes loosely but
securely about her ankles, Mrs. Mad
ders fidgeted uneasily.
sIt'll be dark pretty soon," she sug-
gested. "I'll fry up little mush if
you'd rather"
I'D rather have partridge" said
Lucinda, distinctly.
She rose and clattered to the door.
You're regular Madders," sighed
her mother, not without some ad-
miration for the traits she herself so
manifestly lacked. .'Wen, you'd
better hunt along the tote-road and
get ride back with father"
"All right. -
Lucinda swung the door to and
stepped out upon the snow. The
house stood in small clearing about
which the forest bent with a certain
threatening and begrudging air. The
sinking afternoon sun painted the
smooth open with faintest violet and
delicate pink, but the fluffy heaps of
snow held in the broad palms of the
pines cleaned clear and colorless,
and the rigid maple limbs were frost
ed with crystal to the tips of the
smallest twigs.
Lucinda scuff1ed lightly along on
the soft carpet a little to the right
of the tote-road. Two miles up the
bough-arched road her father was
at work in a hardwood run" cut
ting fuel. AS Mrs Madders had sug-
gested, Lucinda planned her hunt so
that she could meet him on his re-
turn for the night, and thus save her
self the fatigue of tramp back.
Puffy little chickadees drifted in
short flights before her as if they
took pleasure in her company. She
could see or hear no other living
creature, but the snow over which
she went was page whereon she
could read the print of many shy
woodland feet.
The dotted trail of the white-footed
mouse laced the edges of every open,
across which the holder rabbits had
spattered in profusion the broad
prints of their pads. A flock of jun
cos, husking the seeds of a sturdy
headed weed, had drawn down a soli-
tary crow. There was much of self
reliance and loneliness to be read in
his straight track. But Lucinda was
not interested. She had caught sight
of another set of indentations, not so
sharply defined, but more to her pur-
pose.
She followed them slowly and
cautiously, the gun held ready. They
led to a clUmp of barberry bushes,
where the bird had evidently paused
to feed, for the snow was splashed
with the juice of the acid berries
She circled the clump and saw that
the trail led through; but a few
yards farther on it ended abruptly
in pair of parenthesis, where the
old cocks wings had struck the snow
as he rose in fight.
Lucinda paused and scrutinized the
trees ahead. She was convinced that
the grouse had not been frightened,
and in consequence had not flown far
Moreover, the dusk that was sitting
through the forest would drive the
birds to roost. 1t was probable that
this one had had his supper and gone
to bed. But Lucinda concluded that
1t had passed over the belt of pines
Immediately ahead and alighted in
another just beyond, thick and ia
vorite roosting-place.
Between the two belts lay an old
clearing, dotted with young birches
that looked in their slim and silver
nakedness like waxen tapers. On the
further edge the forest hung a frown-
tory shadows before its dark aisles.
In one of these tall trees, not far
from the edge, Lucinda expected to
find the grouse. AS it happened.
however, the bird had not reached
their shelter. 1t had been struck
down just as it had set its wings to
thread the maze OF twigs, and hunter
and quarry had fallen upon the snow,
swhere one of the long shadows
stretched directly in Lucindas path.
A slight, quick movement drew the
young girls gaze downward, and she
found herself looking into the hard.
brilliant eyes of great snowy owl.
1t stood upon the crumpled and par
TALLY torn body of the grouse, its
claws buried in the still warm body.
Ravenously hungry, with the taste
of fresh blood on it's tongue, its first
emotion at being disturbed was of
anger rather than fear, and it opened
its beak and Kissed viciously, while
the yellow gaze of the eyes held a
catlike menace. The huge bird, with
its upright, muscular body, looked
fully able to defend its supper
Lucinda had never seen one of
these big owls before, and she stood
studying 1T at a respectful distance.
She noted with interest the snowy
plumage lightly aecked with black.