St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1914-11-28
CHAPTER XVI.
The Coronation Of Winnie.

The Coronation Of Winnie.
With the assistance Of the shepherd
Kathlyn went down the rope agilely
and safely. Once firmly on her feet.
she turned to thank the wild-eyed hill.
man. But her best Hindustani land
she was able to speak and understand
quite little BY now) fell on ears
which heard but did not sense what
she said. The man, mild and harmless
enough, for all his wild eyes, shrank
back, for no woman Of his kind had
ever looked like this. Kathlyn. with a
deal OF foreboding. repeated the phrase
and asked the way back to the hun
ter's rest house. He shok his head;
he understood nothing.
But there is one language which In
universal the world over, and that IL
sign language. Kathlyn quickly
stopped and drew in the dust the shape
Of the rest house. Then she pointed
In the direction from whence she had
come. He smiled and nodded excited
~. He understood now. Next, being
unarmed. she felt the need of some
sort Of weapon. So she drew the shape
Of rife In the dust, then produced
four rupees, all she had. The shop
herd gurgled delightedly, ran into the
hut and returned with q rife Of mod
ern make and q belt Of cartridges.
With gesture he signided that 1t was
useless to him because he did not
know how to use 1t.
He took the rupees and Kathlyn
took the rife. vaguely wondering how
It came into the possession of this
poverty stricken hillman. OF one
thing she was certain; it had become
his either through violence Of his own
or Of others. She examined the breech
and found a dead shell. which she cast
out. The rifle carried six cartridges.
and she loaded skilfully. much to the
establishment Of the hillman. Then
she swung the butt to her shoulder
and fired up at the ledge where the
panthers had last been seen.
The hillman cried out In alarm and
scuttled away to his hut. When he
peered forth again Kathlyn made q
friendly gesture and he approached
Once more she pointed to the
dust. at the picture Of the rest house:
and then. by many stabs Of his finger
In the air; he succeeded in making the
way back sufficiently clear to Kathlyn,
who smiled, shouldered the rife and
strobe confidently down the winding
path; but also she was alert and
watchful.
There was not bit Of rust on the
rife, and the fact that one bullet had
sped smoothly convinced her that the
weapon was serviceable. Some careful
hunter had once possessed 1t, for It
was abundantly oiled. To whom had
Il belonged? It was Of German make;
but that signined nothing. It might
have belonged to IN EnSlis.man. q
Freedman, or q Russian; more likely |
the latter, since this Was one Of the
localities where they crossed and re-
crossed with their note books to be
utilized against that day when the
Bear dropped down from the north and
tackled the Lion.
Kathlyn had to 60 down to the very |
bottom Of the ravine. She must fol. |
low the goat path. no matter where It
wound, for this ultimately would lead
her to the rest house. A she started
NJ the final incline, through the cedars
md pines, she heard the bark Of the
wolf. the red wolf who hunted in
packs Of twenty or thirty. IN realty
Iar moro menacing than q tiger or Z +
panther, since no hunter could kill .
Whole pack
TO this wolf, whsn hunting his XII.
- figE Eays Md -1afth ~ kaaE