The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1915-03-18

al COFC1 Ch6h ohAOh6 bhO DC
: ried, rank rushes beside II
river. Though no fisher
spite of his senseless name--his pa
ate loved fish all the same. Therefor
was he lounging in the shadows wit
his hands in his pockets, SO to speal
waiting for something to turn up.
From where he crouched he coul
hear the flip and fall back of tn
Spring run" salmon negotiating
handy waterfall, could see the spread
! ing rings on the water as some sur
face feeding salmon was, in spite o.
all that learned men say, sucking
down meal
Presently loud, futelike whistle
was heard, flinging from bank to
bank, and audible far up and down
stream. He caught fieeting glimpse
of an erect form--it might have been
water god, if it had not been an
otter-on a lonely rock in the moon
light, which form vanished as soon as
seen.
Then, quite suddenly, nice young
salmon, a silver bar it appeared, shot
into the air about 20 yards away. 1t
fell back, and with lightning rush
ran aground at full speed, and tapped
about helplessly and distressed under
the fisher-marten's nose.
Pekan knew that salmon do not do
this kind of thing for fun. Nor did
he stop to inquire why or wherefore
he knew. He just seized
the fish and removed up the bank in
a hurry, conscious Of something
sounded almost like a trap-which
closed with a resounding snap not too
far behind his tail.
Once on dry ground he spun upon
agility was marvel
just in time to meet that which came
behind.
Jaw met jaw. Cleaning, dagger
ike fang met fang, and Pekan,
Trusting hard, leaped aside just in
line to let a shining body, wet anG
'eeking of fish, go by. 1t was a ma
ure dog otter, angry beyond words,
Who would very much have liked to
NOW where his salmon had vanished
o.
Pekan did not enlighten him. He
nay or may not have been able to
ace the consequences. He had cour |
ge enough for anything, but so also l
ad the otter; he came from the same I
lucky tribe, you see. Instead, Pc 6
an vamoosed with his salmon up the t
'unk of an alder tree hard by and |
hereafter Knocked at the otter, as he a
y at his ease along Dough, and g
ned luxuriously.
For long time after the otter had t
me one way and the fish another Pc
N sat on. He was listening to the n
nguage of the night, which is even h
ore interesting than the language of W
e day. h
Faint sounds meant many things to re
ears. There might be comedy in ia
, rustic among the grass; tragedy al
the splash of a fish; hope and love, w
;pair, revenge and death wrapped hs
behind the sudden, swift-passing
ter of unknown feet, and a whole nc
} history written in a grouping of af
Idows. flu
Above him pheasant was dreaming or
corn. He could hear the scratch of
claws on bark. Had he chosen, TIL
t pheasant would have dreamed no tr,
re. up
elow, a long shadow detached He
n the deeper gloom of the wood. sa,
ore it swept wave of silence, like wa
silence that falls when an object fro
Ible stranger enters room full of too
nds. AS it passed beneath him wo
urned into a keeper, and drop the
n the fisher martens quickly it,
ID lavering fangs fell an inch I
nd the mans ears. Had that ear dir;
sharp enough-sharp as the ears evo
he wild folk-the keeper would ing
heard it, death would have been tina
lat drop. wit
deed, the man was Donald, and he not
locking for Pekan. He had rea- 7
seven of them-patches of ten
hers, crumpled heaps of grouse, thrc
or even quarter consumed and reas
in the open. They were an in stuff
it reminder to any whom it might N
ern that Pekan, the one and only, he
passed that way. the
hen the man had gone, cropping he &
way as if blindfolded, seeking ten
he did not know, Pekan came melt
/. There was an odd light in ing,
,yes. Those strong jaws reveal Nor
lmost a grin. him
followed in the tracks of the 1t
He visited each of line of mac
!, that Donald set-for him. He Scot
,ed earth and twigs over them, the
alked all round them, but he was nam