The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-05-11
NATHLYNA AND HER FATHER WERE FORCED TO WITNESS THE EVENT. DRESSED IN NArWE COSTUME.
THEIR FACES TANED;ANo THEIR HEARTS SWELLING WITH WNpoTENr ANGER AND DESPAIR.

Kathlyn had to go down to the very bottom of the
raVine. She must follow the goat path, no matter where
it wound, for this ultimately would cad her to the rest
house. AS she started up the final incline, through the
cedars and pines, she heard the bark of the wolf, the red
wolf who hunted in packs of twenty or thirty, in reality
far more menacing than a tiger or a panther, since no
hunter could kill a whole pack.
To this wolf, when hunting his kill, the tiger gave wide
berth the bear took to his cave, and all fleet footed things
of the jungles fed in panic.
Kathlyn climbed as rapidly as she could. She dared
not mount a tree, for the red wolf would outwit her.
She must go on. The bark, or yelp, had been a signal;
but now there came to her ears the long howl. She had
heard it often in the great forests at home. 1t was the
call Of the pack that there was to be a kill. She might
shoot half a dozen Of them, and the living rend the
dead, but the main pack would follow on and overtake
her.
She swung on upward, catching a sapling here, a limb
turned and fred a chance shot in the direction of the
bowling. Far away came the roar of one OF the noun
tain lions; and the pack of red wolves became suddenly
and magically silent. Kathlyn made good use Of this
interval. But presently the pack raised its howl again,
and she knew that the grim struggle was about to begin.
She reached the door of the rest house just as the pack,
a large one, came into view, heads down, tails streaming.
Pundita, who was at the Gre preparing the noon meal,
seized Kathlyn by the arm and hurried her into the
house, barricading the door. The wolves, arriving, flung
themselves against it savagely. But the door was stout,
and only a battering ram in human hands could have
made it yield.
unfortunately, there was no knowing when the men
folk would return from their chase of the horses, nor
how long the wolves would lay siege. The two women
tried shooting, though Pundita was the veriest tyro,
being more frightened at the weapon in her hands than
at the bowling animals outside. They did little or no
damage to the wolves, for the available cracks were not
at sufficiently good angles. An houP want hv KnthJvu
could hear the wolves as they crowded against the door,
shifting the sill.
The Colonel, Bruce, Ramabai, and Ahmed had found
the horses half a dozen miles away; and they had
thrashed the thiev1ng natives sounGly and instilled the
right kind OF fear in their breasts. At rifle point they
had forced the natives back to the rest house. The crack
Of their rifles soon announced to Kathlyn that the dread
of wolves was a thing of the past. She wisely refrained
from recounting her experiences. The men had worry
enough.
After a hasty meal the journey toward the seaport
began in earnest. Umballa's attack had thrown them
far out of the regular track. They were now compelled
to make a wide detour. Where the journey might have
been made In three days, they would be lucky now If they
reached the sea under five. The men took turns in stand
Ing watch whenever they made camp, and neither Kath-
iyn nor Pundita had time for idleness. They had learned
their lesson; no more carelessness, nothing but the sharp
eFt vigilance from now on.
III udy, ID IL pony caravan made a turn round q
ragged promontory, they suddenly paused. Perhaps
twenty miles to the west lay the emerald tinted Persian
gulf. The Colonel slipped off his horse, dragged Kathlyn
from hers, and began to execute a hornpipe. he was like
a boy. t"s
1.-The sea, Kit, the seal Home and Winnie; ont Of
this DEVILS caldron! You will come along with us.
BruceT' "
al haven't anything else to do" Bruce smiled back,
Then he gazed at kathryn, who found herself sud
denly filed with strange embarrassment. In times Of
danger sham and subterfuge have no place. Heretofore
she had met Bruce as a man, to whom a. glance from
her eyes had told her secret. Now that the door to
civilization lay but a few miles away, the old conven-
tons dropped their obscuring nantes over her, and she
felt ashamed. And there was not a little doubt. Per.
haps she had mistaken the look in his eyes, back there
in the desert, back in the first day when they had fled
together from the ordeals. And yet.
On his part, Bruce did not particularly welcome the
sea. There might be another man somewhere. No
woman 80 beautiful as Kathlyn could possibly be with
out suitors. And when the journey down to the sea was
resumed he became taciturn and moody and Kathlyn's
heart correspondingly heavy.
The Colonel was quite oblivious to this change. He
swung his legs free of the primitive stirrups and whistled
the airs which had been popular in America at the time
OF his departure.
There was no ~lghtness In the expressions of Ramabai
and Pundita. They were about to lose these white
people forever, and they had grown to love, nay, worship
them. More, they must return to face they knew not
what.
As for Ahmed, he displayed his orientalism by appear