The Belding banner-news., 1921-03-23

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 II especially tonight.
She felt that IL she would stop TO
listen. there would he many faint
sounds In the thickets-those little
hushed noises that the Wild things
make 10 remind night-wanderers Of
their presence. But she did not I'm
the least care TO hear these sounds.
They do not tend toward peace OF
mind on long walk over the ridges.
The wilderness began at once.
Whatever influence toward civiliZa-
ton her fathers house had brought To
the wilds chopped off as beneath Il
blade in the first fringe Of pines. This
is altogether characteristic of the Ore
gon forests. They are much too big
and too old 10 be tanned in any large
degree by the presence of one house.
No one knew this fact better than
LennoX himself who. i'm hard win
ter of four years before had looked
out Of his window 70 find the wolf
pack ranged in hungry circle ahoui
his house Within wO hundred yards
after she had passed through her ia
theirs door. she was perfectly aware
that the wild was stirring and thrOh-
hing with life about her. Al first she
tried very hard 10 think Of other
things. But the attempt wasn't en-
tircly success. And before she had
covered the first nf the twelve miles,
the sounds that from the first had
been knocking nj the door OF her con
sciousneSS began 10 make an entrance.
II person lies still long enough, he
can usually hear his heart beating
and the flow of his blood in his
arteries. Any sound no matter how
faint. will make itself heard al last.
II WAS this way with n very peculiar
noise that crept up through the silence
from the trail behind her. She
wouldn't give II any heed at first But
in very little while indeed il grew
80 insistent that she could no longer
disregard it.
Some living creature was trotting
along on the trail behind, Keeping ap-
proNimatcly the same distance he
tween them
Foregoing any attempt To ignore n,
she set her cool young mind To think
ing what manner Of beast il might he.
its step was not greatly different from
that of u large dog-eXcept possibly "A
dog would have made slightly more
noise. Yet She couldn't even he sure
of this basic premise, because this
animal. whatever il might be. had at
first seemingly moved with utmost
caution, but now took less care with
its step than is customary with the
wild denizens Of the woods. wolf,
for instance, can simply drift when il
wishes. and the silence of cougar is
n name. Yet unless her pursuer were
"A dog which seemed entirely unlikely,
IL was certainly one of these two. She
would have liked very much 10 believe
the step was that of old Wolf the
hear. suddenly curious as Ia what this
dim light OF hers might he; but she
couldn't bring herself to accept the
lie Woof except when wounded or
cornered. j. the most amiable crea-
ture i'm the Oregon woods and il
would give her almost a sense of Sc
curity 10 have him waddling along
behind her The wolves and cougar,
remembering the arms OF WOof would
not be nearly so curious. But unfor-
tunately, the black bear had never
done such thing in the memory OF
man, and II he had. he would have
made six times as much noise He
can 60 fairly softly when he is stalk
ing. hut when he Is obliged to trot--
as he would be obliged To do 10 keep
up with a swift-walking human figure
he cracks twigs like Il rolling log.
She had the impression that the ami.
nal behind had been passing like
smoke at first. but wasn't taking the
trouble to do II now.
The sound was a soft pat-pat OH the
truIl-sometlmes entirely obliterated
but always recurring when she began
to believe that she had only fancled
It's presence. Sometimes a twig, rain
soaked though II was. cracked beneath
n heavy foot, and again and again
she heard the brush crushing and
rustling as something passed through.
Sometimes. when the trail was COW
cred with soft pine needles. II was
practically indistinguishable.
The animal was approximately one
hundred feet behind. II wasn't a wolf.
she thought. The wolves ran In packs
this season, and except In winter were
more afraid Of human beings than any
other living creature. II wasn't a lynx
one of those curiosity-devoured lit
tie feines that will new all day on
trail and never dare come near. IL
was much too large for a lynx. The
feet fell too solidly. There were no
dogs in the mountains TO follow at
heel and she had no desire whatever
TO meet Shag, the faithful hybrid that