El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-09-20
THE LAST FORAY
By F. st. Marris.

lar up the flank of the great blue
gray mountain, beyond the haunt
L of deer, rabbit and wild duck
| right away up in the clouds, with only
the mountain foxes, blue hares, ptar-
mingans and ravens for company-the
| big old wildcat lived. He had lived there
/ for many years, having been driven to
| this desolate abode by the ceaseless
! persecution of his foes. for he was an
outlaw with a price upon his head.
and every mans hand was against
him.
So exactly did the ''tabby'' of his fur
harmonic with the light which came
through the pine boughs above to
dappIe the floor of cones and needles,
that you would never have known the
grim cat was there at all. Yet he was
standing right in the open among the
gnarled trunks, not a bush or blade
of grass near him. He seemed to he
all alone, this gray and dark striped
beast, with his buShy tall not bit ike
domestic 'pussy's" tail, for, instead OF
tapering almost to a point, It was even
in thickness throughout Very fierce
| he looked, and very big, too, in that
! light, with his green-yenow eyes slit
with black. his broad head, and flat
tened torn ears He was, indeed, about
three and a half feet long and could
have eaten a household Tom"
Suddenly he flattened to the ground.
He had for some time been watching
red deer hind making her way up the
slope. The hind had Just turned, and
was coming straight towards him. His
enormously long whiskers told him
that the wind was blowing across
ways. She could not, therefore, smell
him He had little fear of her seeing
him.
She passed the cat within 10 yards
He knew too well the danger of the
terrible, cutting stroke of red does
front hoofs to leap at her then. More
over, he had another end in view.
Silently he watched her fade out
among the tree trunks, and waited
About an hour later she returned, and
passed out of sight down the noun
tain side into the mist Then the big
cat turned and followed the deer's
back track into the wood by scent.
The care of that trailing was won
derful- From tree to tree, flattened to
the ground, scarcely observable at all
he crept on And the end of that stalk
was what any animal of experience
might have expected mild-eyed
fawn. with legs delicate as peasticks.
lying in a natural nest OF leaves among
fern.
Then-well, then there was a thump.
a scurry, a whirling of leaves in the
dusk under the trees and silence No,
not quite silence, though, for from the
spot where the wild cats eyes shone
there came a low and continuous purr-
ing. Next time the hind visited her
fawn- there was no fawn, only a scent
Of murder that sent her leaping down
the slope in little shower Of loose
stones.
Now wild animals do not hunt for
fun, and they need as much sleep as
they can get. Therefore the cat sim
ply fed, returned to his lair, slept till
sunset on the following night, finished
the faWn then, and would again have
slept the clock round If something had
not happened.
Just about midday he awoke sudden
y, and in the same instant bounced to
his feet. Something big was passing
close 10. his lair. He peered out, blink
ing his cruel eyes in the suns glare.
and looked straight up at the red
flanks of stag standing not five
yards away.
The cat stood as still as a statue.
So did the stag. He was standing quite
Silk listening Then he stalked slowly
on, with that wonderful majestic walk
of his.
The cat waited for the stag to move
a little further off Suddenly. with
out any apparent reason, the stag gave
one mighty leap into the air as ii he
had been shot Then. in a succession
Of great bounds, he went off downhill
like 4 thing mad.
The cat knew what had happened.
The stag had crossed the scent OF man.
Nothing else would have made him
act after that fashion. Sometimes
old.
Instantly terror flashed into the eyes
of the cunning old cat He stood still
as 4 craven image, watching, and one
could see his fine long whiskers
twitching nervously as he tested the
air. Everything was quite still.
Suddenly the pupils of his eyes grew
large His fur lifted slightly His tail
grew bushy. Then, very slowly, he
sank almost into the earth, it seemed,
turned, and stealthily crawled away,
for he had seen the hand of a man
move behind tree not 40 yards away
had beheld the flash of the sun on
gun. or rifle, barrel.
The man was a keeper that guessed
that the fawn's slayer might be sleep
ing near. and at dusk wouldSshow him
self.
He never saw the slayer, though In
a very few minutes the cat was half a
mile away in an emergency retreat
high up the mountain.
That night long after every other
prowler of the darkness had gone a
hunting, the old wildcat stole down
hill. First he had cleaned himself;
then he sat just inside his lair for half
an hour watching, watching, watching,
before he would trust his striped hide
outside. When he did move he slid
very quickly across the open places,
and very slowly and carefully through
cover.
Just on the upper border of the
hSneSL pine WOODS ne turned dSlus
from the hare path he was following.
and. with fur bristling, made a detour.
There was a trap there He could
smell it. That is not so wonderful as
it sounds Most animals can smell, but
do not understand. the faint of steel
Even our duh smelling organs are
conscious of the peculiar odor of some
steel, such as knives, for instance.
A little farther on was a dead rab-
bit. This the old cat, after one delicate
sniff, also avoided. 1t was poisoned
He did not know that probably
though the poison may have smelt; he
merely knew that the rabbit had been
handled by a man-albeit a man with
seed-scented gloves on-andf he left
the mans works alone as a rule, espe-
cially if they were unusual. No, he
was not an easy beast to trick to his
death, that old wild TON" Most of
the gamekeepers in those lone parts
had been unsuccessfully trying to fin
ish him off for years.
The old brigand Of the mountains
knew where he was going. Straight
down through the still pine woods he
stole, across the open moor-all a
stretch of purple heather in the moon