Williams news., 1921-07-22
CHAPTER W.

SHOWDlTU I0IC very SlaQ or ueE
 mate, accurate knowledge of the
 whole region of the Divide. In her fn-
 fancy the winding trails had been her
 playground, and long ago she had ac-
 quired the mountaineer's sixth sense
 for traversfng them at night. She had
 need of that knowledge now. She
 slipped into her free, swinging stride :;
 and the last beams from the windows
 of the house were soon lost in the
 pines behind her. It was one of those
 silent, breathless nights with which
 no mountaineer is entirely unacquaint-
 ed, and for long time the only sound
 she could hear was her own soft
 tramp in the pine needles. The trees
 themselves were motiOnleSS. That
 peculiar sound, not greatly different
 from that of running water which the
 wind often makes in the pine tops,
 was entirely lacking. Not that she
 could be deceived by it-as stories tell that certain tenderfeet, dying of thirst in the barren hills, have been. But she always liked the sound; and she missed it especially tonight.
 She felt that if she would stop to listen, there would be many faint sounds in the thickets-those little hushed noises that the wild things make to remind night-wanderers of their presence. But she did not in the least care to hear these sounds. They do not tend toward peace of mind on a long walk over the ridges.
 The wilderness began at once. Whatever influence toward civiliza- ton her fathers house had brought to the wflds chopped off as beneath a blade in the first fringe of pines. This is altogether characteristic of the Ore 1f,~ and too old to be tanned in any large degree by the presence of one house. No one knew this fact better than Lennox himself who, in a hard win ter of four years before, had looked out of his window to find the wolf pack ranged in q hungry circle about his house. Within two hundred yards after she had passed through her fla ther's door. she was perfectly aware that the wild was stirring and throb- ping with life about her. At first she tried very hard to think of other things. But the attempt wasn't en- tirely a success. And before she had | covered the first of the twelve miles, the sounds that from the first had | been knocking at the door of her con- | sciousness began to make an entrance. l
 If a persen lies still long enough, he |
  and the flow of his blood in bts | arteries. Any sound, no matter how faint, will make itself heard at last. | It was this way with very peculiar noise that crept up through the silence from the trail behind her. She give it any heed at first. But in very little while indeed. it grew so insistent that she could no longer disregard it.
 Some living creature wan trotting along on the trail behind, keeping ap- the same distance be- tween them.
 Foregoing any attempt to ignore 1t, she set her cool young mind to think Ing what manner of beast it might be. It's step was not greatly different from that of large dog-except possibly log would have made slightly more noise. Yet she couldn't even be sure of this basic premise, because this animal, whatever it might be- had at 1rst seemingly moved with utmost caution, but now took less care with ts step than is customary with the wild deniZens of the woods. A wolf, 'or instance, can simply drift when 1t wishes, and the silence of a cougar is name. Yet unless her pursuer were dog, which seemed entirely unlikely, l t was certainly one of these two She would have liked very much to believe he step was that of Old Wolf the ,ear, suddenly curious as to what this linn light of hers might be; but she couldn't bring herself to accept the ie. Woof, except when wounded or 'ornered. is the most amiable crea- ure fin the Oregon woods, and it would give her almost a sense of se- .urity to have him waddling along ,ehind her. The wolves and cougar | the arms of Woof. would lot be nearly so curious. But unfor- unately. the black bear had never lone such a thing in the memory of nan, and # he had, he would have made six times as much noise. He an go fairly softly when he Is stalk ng, but when he is obliged to trot- IS he would be obliged to do to keep 1 ID with a swift-walking human figure { he cracks twigs like rolling log. I 1 She had the impression that the ami nal behind had been passing like moke at first. but wasn't taking the roubie to do 1t now. The sound was a soft pat-pat on the raH-sometfmes entirely obliterated ut always recurring when she began o believe that she had only fancied 1 { ts presence. Sometimes a twig, rain 1 ru fhnnob if crocHo6 horoofB, ! '