Vernon Parish Democrat., 1921-08-11

describe, as the far-off reports of
rife. Just today Blacktail had seen
his doe fall bleeding when this same
sound, only louCer, spoke from Il
covert from which Bert Cranston had
poached her-ana he left the lick in
one bound.
Terrified though he was by the rifle
shot, still WhisperfOot sprang. But
the distance was too far. His out
stretched paw hummed down four
feet behind Blacktail's flank. Then
forgetting everything but his anger
and disappointment, the great cougar
opened his mouth and howled.
The long night was almost done
when he got sight of further game. |
Once flock of grouse exploded with
a roar Of wings from thicket; but |
they had been wakened by the first |
whisper of dawn in the wind and he
really had no chance at them. Soon
after this, the moon set.
The larger creatures of the forest
are almost as helpless in absolute
darkness as human beings. 1t is very
well to talk of seeing in the dark, but
from the nature Of things, even verti-
cal pupils may only respond to light.
No owl or bat can see in absolute
darkness. 1t became increasingly like
ly that Whisperfoot would have to re-
tire to his lair without any meal
whatever.
But still he remained, hoping
against hope. After a futile fifteen
minutes of watching a trail, he heard
a doe feeding on a hillside. Its foot
fall was not so heavy as the sturdy
tramp Of a buck, and besides, the
bucks would be higher on the ridges
this time Of morning. He began eau
tious advance toward it.
For the first fifty yards the hunt
was in his favor. He came up wind,
and the brush made a perfect cover.
But the doe unfortunately was stand
ing full twenty yards farther, in an
open glade. Under ordinary circum-
stances, Whisperfoot would not have
made an attack. A cougar can run
swiftly, but deer is light itself. The
big cat would have preferred to linger,
mOtiOnless thing in the thickets,
hoping some other member of the deer
herd to which the doe must have be-
longed would come into his ambush.
But the hunt was late, and Whisper
foot was very very angry, Too many
times this night he had missed his
kill. In desperation, he leaped from
the thicket and charged the deer.
In spite Of the preponderant odds
against him, the charge was almost a
success. He went fully half the dis
tance between them before the deer
perceived him. Then she leaped.
There seemed to be no interlude of
time between the instant that she be
held the dim, tawny figure in the air
and that in which her long legs pushed
out in a spring. But she didn't leap
straight ahead. She knew enough of
the cougars to know that the great
cat would certainly aim for her head
and neck in the same way that duck
hunter leads fast-flying duck-hop-
ing to intercept her leap. Even as her
feet left the ground she seemed to
whIrl in the air, and the deadly talons
whipped down in vain. Then. cutting
back in 'front.', she raced down wind.
It is usually the most unmitigated
folly for a cougar to chase deer
against which he has missed his
stroke; and it is also quite fatal to his
dignity. And whoever doubts for 9
minute that the larger creatures have
no dignity, and that it is not very deal
to them, simply knows nothing about
the ways of animals. They cling tC
it to the death. But tonight one dis
appointment after another had crum
bled, as the rains crumble leaves, th'
last vestige of WhisperfOOt's self-cOn
troll. Snarling in fury, he bounded
after the doe.
She was lost to sight at once il
the darkness, but for fully thirty yards
he raced in her pursuit. If he hat
stopped to think, it would have beer
one of the really great surprises o
his life to hear the sudden, unmis
| taxable stir and movement of large
living creature not fifteen feet distan
in the thicket.
He didn't stop to think at all. HI
didn't puzzle on the extreme unlikeli
hood of a doe halting in her fight frOr
cougar. It is doubtful whether, i
the thickets, he had any perception
Q Of the creature other than its move
6 ments. He was running down wint
: so It is certain that he didn't smell 1
Q If he saw 1t at all, 1t was just as
T shadow, sufficiently large to be tha
: Of a deer. It was moving, crawling a
WOof the bear sometimes crawle'
y seemingly to get out of his path. An
. Whisperfoot leaped straight at it.
. 1t was a perfect shot. He lande
o high on Its shoulders. His head lashe
! down, and the white teeth closed. A
!. the long life of his race he had know
>. that pungent essence that flowed fort
d His senses perceived it, a messag
. shot along his nerves to his brain. An