The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1917-09-27

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Sandy came he looked over the crude
collection of shacks, gambling houses
and saloons in the new town, and made
up his mind that the time was not ripe
for any of his inside schemes just
yet. He gambled a little, and won suf-
ficient to buy himself grub and half an
outfit. A feature of this outfit was an
old Misunderstanding rifle. Sandy, who
always carried the latest Savage on the
market, laughed ut it. But it was the
best his finances would allow of. He
started South-up the McFarlane. Be
yond a certain point on the river pros
pectors had found no gold. Sandy
pushed confidently beyond this point.
Not until he was in new country did he
begin his search. Slowly he worked
his way up Il small tributary whose
headwaterS were fifty or sixty miles to
the south and east. Here and there he
found fairly good placer gold. He
might have PANIED six or eight dollars
worth Il day. With this much he was
disguised. Week after week he con
tinued to work his way upstream. and
the farther he went the poorer his pans
became. At last only occasionally did
he find colorS. After such disgusting
weeks as these Sandy was dangerous
when in the company of others. Alone
he was harmless.
One afternoon he ran his canoe
ashore on II white strip of sand. This
was at a bend, where the stream had
widcned, and gave promise of al least
a few colorS. He had bent down close
To the edge of the water when some
thing caught his attention on the wet
sand. What he saw were the footprints
Of animals. Two had come down to
drink. They had stood side by side.
And the footprints were frcsh-made
not more than an hour or two before.
A CLEAN Of interest shot into Sandy's
eyes. He looked behind him, and up
and down the stream.
evolves" he grunted. "Wish | could
"a shot at 'em with that old minute-gun
back there. Gawd-listen to that And
In broad daylight, tool"
He jumped to his feet, staring of
into the bush.
a quarter of n mile away Gray Wolf
had caught the dreaded scent of man
In the wind, and vas giving voice to
her warning. 1t was a long wailing
howl, and not until it's last echoes had
died away did Sandy McTrigger move.
Then he returned to the canoe, took
out his old gun, put a fresh cap on the
nipple and disappeared quickly over
the edge Of the bank.
For Il week Kazan and Gray Wolf
had been wandering about the headwa-
terS of the McFarlane and this was the
first time since the preceding winter
that Gray Wolf had caught the scent of
man in the air. When the wind brought
the dangcr-signal to her she was alone.
Two or three minutes before the scent
rame to her kazan had left her side in
swift pursuit of a snow-shOe rabbit,
and she lay fiat on her belly under a
bush waiting for him. In these mo-
ments when she was alone Gray Wolf
was constantly shifting the air. Blind
ness had developed her scent and
htUI IlIS ulilit IIltN WtIc HtAL " II
fallible. First she had heard the rattle
of Sandy McTrigger's paddle against
the side of his canoe Il quarter of a
mile away. Scent had followed swift
ly. Five minutes after her warning
howl kazan stood at her side, his head
flung up, his jaws open and painting.
Sandy had hunted Arctic foxes, and he
was using the Eskimo tactics now,
swinging in a half-circle until he should
come up in the face Of the wind. ka-
Zan caught a single Whit of the man
tainted air and his spine grew stiff.
But blind Gray Wolf was keener than
the little red-eyed fox of the north. Her
pointed nose slowly followed Sandy's
progress. She heard a dry stick crack
under his feet three hundred yards
away. She caught the metallic click Of
his gun-barrel as it struck q birch sap
ling. The moment she lost Sandy in
the wind she whined and rubbed her
self against Kazan and trotted a few
steps to the southwest.
At times such as this KaZan seldom
refused to take guidance from her.
They trOtted away side by side and by
the time Sandy was creeping up snake
like with the wind in his face, KaZan
was peering from the fringe Of river
brush down upon the canoe on the
white strip Of sand. When Sandy re-
turned, after an hour Of futile stalking,
two fresh tracks led straight down TO
the He looked at them in amaze
ment and then a sinister grin wrinkled
his ugly face. He chuckled as he went
to his kit and dug out a small rubber
bag. From this he drew a tightly
corked bottle, filed with gelatin cap
sules. In each little capsule were five
grains of strychnine. There were dark
hints that once upon a time Sandy Nc
Trigger had tried one Of these capsules
by dropping 1t In a cup Of coffee and
giving 1t to a man, but the police had
never proved it.. He was expert in the
use Of poison. Probably he had killed
a thousand foxes In his time, and he
chuckled again as he counted out a
dozen Of the capsules and thought how