Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-21


hands upon his sleeve with grin,
slung the sack his left shout
der and hurried away. Having captured the prize he
was quite willing to avoid. if possible any immediate
reckoning with the old panthers.
TILL he reached the grass patch the stream he took
no pains to 90 silently: but made all possible haste.
crashing through the branches and sending shower OF
small stones Gathering down the ravne The angry and
indomitable kittens in the bag his back kept growl
ing and splitting and trying to dig their sharp claws into
him. but his buckskn shirt was tough and he paid no
attention to their protests
At the edge of the torrent however, he adopted new
tactics Leapng the rock in midchanne he crossed,
and then with great difficulty cambered along close by
the waters edge we'll within the splash and the spray
When he had made couple of hundred yards in this
way, he came small tributary brook, up which he
waded for some eighty hundred feet Then, leav-
ing the brook he crept stealthy the bank through
the underbrush and back to the valley he had just
left at point little distance farther down stream,
Thence he ran straight down the valley at long.
easy keeping always as far as possible under cover
and swervng from time time this way or that IN order
to avoid treading on dry underbrush.
His progress however quite audible; for at this
point in the venture he sacrificing secrecy to speed
He had fifteen sixteen miles to CO. his cabin being on
the farther slope Of the great spur called Broken Ridge
and he knew that he could feel absolutely as to
the outcome of the enterprise until he should have the
little captives secure within his cabin
AS he threaded his way through the heavy timber OF
the valley bottom, good six seven miles from the
den in Red Rock he began to feel more at Here
among the great trunks there less underground to
obscure his view less danger of the panthers being able
to steal upon him and take him unawares He slack
ened his pace somewhat drawing deep breaths into his
leathery lungs But he relaxed precauton running
noiseessy the soft carpet of the forest and
fitting from treetrunk to treetrunk if enemy was
his very heels At last quitting the valley he started
on a long diagonal up the slope of Burnt Ridge
Spur.
The face of the country suddenly changed
Years before forest fire had travered this slope OF the
ridge, cutting clean swath straight along it.
The mans ascending trail thus led him across space
of open, space of underground hardly knee Deep
dotted with tall rampicks fire stripped treetrunks
beached by the rains and nexpressiby desolate. Hav
ing here no cover the his best and finally hav
ing crossed the open he dropped down dense thcket
to rest, breathing hard from that last squirt.
IN the concealment of the hcket he laid aside
the complaining burden from his back stood his rifle
in bush let out his belt couple of holes. and stopped
stretch himself the for quick rest. As he
did so. he cast prudent eye along his back trail In
stantly he stened snatched up his gun again. sank on
knee, and insinuated the muzze carefully between
the screening branches huge panther had just shown
himself rising into view for instant and at once sink
ing back into the LEAKAGE.
At this disappearance the grew uneasy was the
beast still trailing him, belly earth, through the low
underground Or had it swerved aside to try and get
ahead of him. to ambuscade him by and by from some
rock low hung branch? Or. the other hand, had
given up the pursuit rather than face the pers of the