The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1921-01-06


calling to him, waAening fnsa nets
long smothered in cities, but sure and
true as ever. It was the beginning
of regeneration. Voices of the long
past were speaking to him, and the
Failings once more had begun to run
true to form. Inherited tendencie',
were in moment changing this weak
diseased youth into a frontiersmaH
and wilderness inha bitant such as his
ancestors had been before him.
They were slipping along over the
pine needles, their eyes intent on the
trail ahead. And then LennOx saw a
curious thing. He beheld Dan Sud
denly stop in the trail and turn his
eyes toward a heavy thicket that Jay
perhaps one hundred yards to their
| right. For an instant he looked al
most like wild creature himself. His
head was lowered, as if he were lis
tening. His muscles were set and
| ready.
Lennox had prided himself tlRt he
had retained all the powers Of hin five
senses, and that few men in the n oun-
tains had keener ears than he. Yet
it was truth that at first he only anew
| the silence, and the stir and pulse of
his own blood. He assumed then that
Dan was watching something that
| from his position, twenty feet behind,
! he could not see. He tried to probe
the thickets with his eyes.
Then Dan whispered. Ever so soft
sound, but yet distinct in the 81
1ence. There's something living in
| that thicket"
Then Lennox heard it, too. AS they
stood STILL the sound became ever
clearer and more pronounced. Some
living creature was advancing toward
them; and twigs we're cracking be-
meath its feet. The sounds were rath-
err subdued, and yet, as the animal ap-
preached, both Of them instinceively
knew that they were extremely lond
for the usual footsteps Of any OF the
wild creatures.
"What is it?" Dan asked quietly.
LennOx was so intrigued by the
sounds that he was not even observ-
ant of the peculiar, subdued quality
in Dams voice. Otherwise, he would
have wondered at 1t. ''Tm fl re to
confess I don't know" he said. cts
booming right toward us, like most
animals don't care to do. Of course
it may be human being. You must
watch out for that"
They waited. The sound ended
They stood straining for long mo-
ment without speech.
'That was the dunIdest thing"
LennOx went on. "Of course it might
have been a bear-you never know
what they're going to do. 1t might
have got. sight of us and turned off.
But I can't believe that it was just
deer"
But then his words chopped square
~ off in his throat The plodding ad-
vance commenced again. And the
next instant gray form revealed it.
self at the edge Of the thicket.
1t was Graycoat the coyote, half
blind with his madness, aud des-
perate in his agony.
There was no more deadly thing In
all the hills than he. Even the bite
of a rattlesnake would have been well
coined beside his. He stood a long
instant, and all his instincts and re-
1exes that would have ordinarily
made him flee in abject terror were
thwarted and twisted by the fever Of
his madness. He stared a moment at
the two figures, and his red eyes could
not interpret them. They were simply
foes, for it was true that when this
racking agony was upon him, even
lifeleSS trees seemed foes sometimes.
He seemed eerie and unreal as he
gazed at them out Of his burning eyes;
and the white foam gathered at his
fangs. And then, wholly without
warning, he charged down at them.
He came with unbelievable speed.
The elder Lennox cried once IN warn
ing and cursed himself for ventur-
ing forth on the ridge without a gun.
He was fully twenty feet distant from
Dan; yet he saw in an Instant his |
only course This was no time to
trust their lives to the craftsmanship |
of an amateur. He sprang toward |
Dan, intending to wrench the weapon |
from his hand.
But he didn't achieve his purposs.
At the first step his foot caught in a
projecting root, and he was shot to
his face on the trail. But q long life
In the wilderness had developed Len
nOx's ref1exes to an abnormal degree;
many crises had taught him muscle
and nerve control; and only for
fraction of an instant, a period Of
time that few instruments are fine
enough to measure, did he lie supinely
upon the ground. He rolled on. into
position of defense. But he knew
now he could not reach the younger
man before the mad coyote would be
upon them. The matter was out of
his hands. Everything depended on
the aim and self-control nf the tender.
foot