The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1920-02-26


the spoor was harder to follow--in
tact, II was much easier. for through
the jungle Of stunted sapling no man
could pass save where an elephant
had plowed a way-but that now every
Indication of the games progress had
to be read. studied and accurately val
ued. Here began the exercise of that
finished science which M'sungo had
placed so high, giving due credit to
those forerunners who had marked Its
stages with their life's blood.
The state Of a parted vine. or a half
masticated leaf, bore some message
upon the true reading of which hung
the delicate balance Of success or fail
ure. Slower and slower fell the pace
and In measured proportion silence
was born and seemed TO grow and
spread and throb till ii hung in the
air like some sitting all-perineating
mist. Beneath 1t the heart bent with
an irregular r~at-tat-tat and breath
came in hurried gasps. In spite of the
men before her, Andrea felt alone,
adrift on a sea of unseen but lowering
perils. She looked over her shoulder.
Only Bathtub was in sight behind her.
tense, one foot in air, waiting for her
to take her next step before he placed
his foot. His naked oody, exposed to
the merciless sun, streamed with
sweat.
Andrea's shoulders ached from
holding her arms before her face to
ward off the unfortunately ~encroaching
vines and branches that seemed to OPP
pose the way, but invariably parted at
her touch. Her tongue was parched,
all her clothing laid hands on her every
motion with a clammy grio and her
body quivered on the fine edge of ex-
haustion, but she hung on her eyes
above dark shadows casting agonized
glances at M'sungo. If only he would
reach for the big gun! II only he
would really stop for ven q fleeing
rest.
The next moment she found herself
crowded into the hating group In
front. They stood in the sparse shade
Of a big tree. their eyes sweeping the
ground beneath their feet and rising
to meet each others gaze with swift
intelligence and swifter understand
ing. Here was a great reading, the
anttclimax of suspense, the pregnant
moment of final premonition. The
three elephants had come together,
they had milled beneath this tree, they
were w now individually beneath the
next they had encountered-for when
a feeding elephant walks In a circle
for no apparent reason 1t Is because
his thoughts are entirely fixed on TAX
ing his MONDAY nap promptly.
The tracker stood unbelievably
erect. heels off the ground. 1t was as
though by an effort of will he had SIS
pended himself In air. so still was he,
so wholly was his body consecrated to
the act Of listening. Suddenly his
wide nostrils 0uivered with n visible
fiuttering and distended till their out
er rims showed white. A look of
sensual and ineffable content spread
over his face as he drew down into
his lungs that breath of tainted breeze.
He smelled the prey; the wind was
right.
Presently Andrea caught the odor
and her whole body trembled as from
al oyermastering physical contact.
This smell was unlike all others; the
mind gave II color and substance. 1t
crept through the forest like a dark
cloud, an ominous warning to all frail
creatures to get out of the way. She
felt suddenly cold and glanced over
her shoulder with a half-formed notion
Of retreat; then her eyes fell on
M'sungo and she forgot all else In an
absorption that was above fear.
He had become filled with an es-
sence of youth. al though years of life
had rushed from past and future to fill
to overlooking the cup of this one
transcendent moment. His face was
tense but allght and his ordinarily
gray eyes had attained to an unfathom-
able blue that seemed to deny meas
ure to the depth of his emotion. His
thin lips were drawn in the crooked
line of q fixed smile-a smile that
struggled on the verge of an infinite
solemnity. When he moved he gave
an indefinite impression Of disem-
bodied action as IL spirit alone passed
on, leaving flesh behind. Like q black
monitor the tracker went before him.
Andrea was suddenly aware that
M'sungo carried the big gun. Its dead
weight Of eleven pounds lay In his
hands lightly as though 1t also were
sustained by a spiritual force. She had
not seen him take 1t and there was
something ghostly In the mere fact of
his possession of 1t. Her mind was In
q turmoil; she knew hat upon the
taking over of the big gun had hung
some vital instruction to herself but In
that primal moment of suspense. men,
DRY was an agonlzing blank and moth
ing more. She followed blindly In the
cautiously pausing footsteps of the
single g%unbearer that crept before her.
close on the heels of his master.
Infinity seemed to come and go be-
fore they had advanced twenty PAGES.
She came to the bare trunk Of d big
tree whose top had been feiied by
lightning and at that moment M'sungo