Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-06-21
CHAPTER xvmI-(ContinueO


A FTEK killing his last dog at dusk of that |
~ fatal day when they had pursued him
over the mountain Thor had done just what
Bruce thought the he would do, and In
stead of continuing southwark had made
wider dctour toward the north, and the
third night after the fight and the loss OF
Musllwa he found Isllwao again. In the
twilight Of that same evening Pipoonaskoos
had died, and Thor had heard the sharp
cracking Of Bruces automatic. All that
night and the next day and the night that
followed he spent with Isllwao, and then he
left her once more A third time no was
seeking her when he found Langdon in the
tran on the ledge. and he had not yet got
wind Of her when he first heard the baying
of the dogs on his trail
He was travelling southwark, which
brought him nearer the hunters camp lie
was keeping to the high slopes where there
were little dips and meadows, broken by
patches of shale, deep coulees, and OCCASION
ally wild upheavals OF rock. He was Keep
ing the wind straight ahead so that he
would not fail to catch the smell OF lskwao
when he came near her, and with the paying
of the dogs he caught no scent OF the pur-
suing beasts, or of the two men VINO were
riding behind them
At another time he would have played his
favorite trick of detouring so that tle
danger would be ahead of him, with the
wind in his favor.
Caution had now become secondary 10
his desire to find his mate. The dogs were
less than half a mile away when he stopped
suddenly, shifted the air for moment and
then went on swiftly until he was halted
| by a narrow ravine.
JTp that ravine Iskwao was coming from
| a dip lower down the mountain ana Sle
| was running. The yeplng Of the pack was
fierce and close when Thor scrambled down
| In time to meet her as she rushed upward
| IslIwao paused for a single moment
| smelIed noses with Thor, and then went on
| her ears laid back fiat and sullen and her
| throat filed with growing menace
Thor followed her and he also growled'
| He knew that his mate was heeing from
| the dogs and again that deadly ana Slowly
| Increasing wrath swept through him as ne
| climbed after her higher up the mountain
| In such an hour as this Thor was at his
worst He was a fighter when pursued as
! tbe dogs had pursued him a weeS eore-
but he was a demon, terrible ana without
mercy. when danger threatened his mate
He fell farther and farther behind IslI-
! wac. and twice he turned, his fangs gleam-
| ing under drawn lips and his defiance roll
ing back upon his enemies in low thunder
When he came up out of the coulee he
| had already disappeared in her skyward
scramble Where she had gone was wild
| chaos of rock-slide and the plled-up debris
| of fallen and shattered masses of SANDSTONE
| crag The skyline was not more than 5uo
| Yards above him. lie looked up. Iskwao
was among the rocks and here was the
Mace to fight The dogs were close upon
| him now They were coming up the last
| stretch Of the coulee baying loudly. Thor
| turned about and waited for them
Half mile to the south looking through
| his glasses. Langdon saw Thor, and at al
| most the same instant the dogs appeared
| over the edge of the coulee. He had ridden
| halfway up the mountain; from that point
| he had climbed higher and was following
| a well-beaten sheep trail at about the same
| altitude as Thor, From where he stood
the valley lay under his glasses for miles
| He did not have far to look to discover
| Bruce and the Indian
They were dismounting at the foot of
| the coulee, and as he gazed they ran quick
| ly into it and disappeared.
| Again Langdon swung back to Thor.
| The dogs were holding him now, and he
| knew there was no chance OF the grizzly
| killing them in that open space, Then
| he saw movement among the rocks higher
| I'm and a low cry Of understanding broke
| from his lips as he made out lskwao climb
| ing steadily toward the ragged peak, He
| Lney that this second bear was a female,
| T,ba big grizzly-her mate-had stopped to
| 6ght And there was no hope for him
| if the dogs succeeded in holding him for
| a matter of ten or fifteen minutes. Bruce
and Metoosn would appear in that time
| over the rim of the coulee at a range Of
| less than a hundred yards!
Iangdon thrust his binoculars in their
| ease and started at run along the sheep
trail. For two hundred yards his prog
ress was easy, and then the patch broke
| into a thousand individual tracks ON a
| sIone Of soft and slippery shale and IT
took him five minutes to make the next fifty
yards.
The trail hardened again. He ran on
| pantingly, and for another five minutes
| the shoulder Of a ridge hid Thor and the
| dops from him. When he came over that
ridge and ran fifty yards, down the farther
| side OF II. he stopped short Further prog
| ress was barred by a steep ravine. He
was Ave hundred yards from where Thor
stood with his back to the rocks and his
huge head 20 the pack.
Even as he looked. struggling to get
breath enough 10 shout, Langdon expected
10 see Bruce and Metoosin appear out OF
the coulee II flashed upon him then that
| even II he could make them hear Il would
he impossible for them to understand him
Bruce would not guess that he wanted fo