Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-06-02

clambercd up the remaining few feet The
shnle and stones slipped and slid under
him 1t was matter of sixty seconds be-
fore he pulled himself over the top
Thor was a hundred yards away. speediag
in a rolling, ball-like motion toward the
break. From the foot of the couee came
the sharp crack of Otto's rife. Langdon
squatted quickly, raising his left knee for
rest, and at n hundred and fifty yards
began firing.
Sometimes it happens that an hour-a
minute-chances the destiny Of man and
the ten seconds which followed swiftly
after that first shot from the foot Of the
coulee changed Thor. He had got his I'll
of the man-smell. lie had seen man. And
now he felt him.
It was as IL one Of the lightning flashes
he had often splitting the dark skieg
had descended upon him and had entered
his flesh like a red-hot knife, and with
that first burning agony Of pain came the
strange, echong roar of the rifles. He had
turned up the slope when the bullet struck
him in the fore-shoulder, mushrooming It's
deadly soft point against his tough hide,
and tearing hole through his hesh-but
without touching the bone. He was two
hundred yards from the ravine when II
! hit; he was nearer three hundred when
the stingng fire scared him again, this
| time in his flank.
Neither shot had staggered his huge bulk
| twenty such shots would not have killed
khim, But the second stopped him, and he
| turned with a roar of rage that was like
| the believing Of mad bull-a snarling,
| thunderous cry OF wrath that could have
| been heard a quarter Of a mile down the
| valley.
Brue heard it as he fred his sixth una
vailng shot at seven hundred yards. Land
| don was reloading. For fifteen seconds
| Thor offered himself openly, roaring his
| defiance, challenging the enemy he could no
| longer see; and then at Langdon's seventh
shot, a whipash of fire raked his back. and
| in strange dread of this lightning which
| he could not fight, Thor continued up over
| the break. He heard other rife shots which
were like a new kind of thunder. But he
was not hit again. Painfully he began the
| descent into the next valley.
He reached the bottoms and buried him
| self in the thick timber, and then, cross
| ing this timber he came to a creek. Per-
| haps a hundred times he had Travelled up
and down this creek. 1t was the main
trail that led from one half of his range
to the other.
Instinctively he always took this trail
when he was ready to den up for the winter
There was one chief reason for this; he
was born in the almost impenetrable fast
nesses at the head of the creek, and his
! cubhood had been spent amid its brambiee
of wild currants and soap berries and its
rich red ground carpets of kinnkinic II
| was home In II he was alone. II was the
one part of his domain that he held in.
| violate from all other bears. He tolerated
! other bears-blacks and grizzlies-on the
wider and SUMMER slopes of his range just
. | so long as they moved on when he ap-
, preached They might seek food there and
; | nap in the sunpools and live in quiet and
, | peace If they did not defy his suzerainty
Thor did not drive other bears from his
range except when II was necessary 10
: demonstrate again that he was High Mogul.
This happened occasionally, and there was
fight. And always after fight Thor
e came into this valley and went up the creek
TO cure his wounds
He made his way more slowly than usual
| today. There was a terrible pain in his
forcshoulder Now and then il hurt him so
= that his leg doubled up and he stumbled.
Several times he waded shoulder-deep into
| pools and let the cold water run over his
t wounds, Gradually they stopped bleeding.
But the pain grew worse.
Thors best friend in such an emergency
was a clay wallow. This was the second
reason why he always took this trail when
he was sick or hurt. 1t led to the clay
wallow. And the clay wallow was his
doctor.
! The sun was setting before he reached
r the wallow. His jaws hung open a little.
His great head dropped lower He had lost
| a great deal Cf blood. He was tired and his
/ shoulder hurt him so badly that he wanted
to tear with his teeth at the strange fire
| that was consuming II.
The clay wallow was twenty or thirty
5 feet in diameter and followed into little
2 pool in the center. 1t was a soft, cool.
golden-coored clay and Thor waded into
1t to his armpits. Then he relied over
} gently on his wounded side The clay
? touched his hurt like a cooling salve II
sealed the cut and Thor gave great heav-
ing gasp of relief. For long time he lay
In that soft bed of clay The sun went
down. darkness came and the wonderful
stars filled the sky, And still Thor lay
? there, nursing that first hurt of man.