Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1921-04-09


long smothered in cities, but sure and
true as ever. 1t 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 tendencies
were in moment changing this weak,
diseased youth into a frontiersman
and wilderness inhabitant 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 I.ennox saw
denly stop in the trail and turn his
eyes toward a heavy thicket that lay
perhaps one hundred yards TO their
right. For an instant he looked al
most like a wild creature himself. His
head was lowered as If he were lis
tenlng. His muscles were set and
ready
Lennox had prided himself that he
had retained all the powers of his five
senses, and that few men in the noun
tainS had keener ears than he. Yet
it was truth that at first he only knew
the silence, and the stir and pulse of
his own blood. He assumed tSen that
Dan was watching something that
from his position, twenty feet behind,
he could not see. He tried to probe
the thickets with hrs eyes
Then Dan whispered Ever so soft
a sound but yet distinct In the ST.
lence 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 were cracking be-
meath its feet. The sounds were rath.
er subdued and yet. as the animal APP
preached both of them instinctlveiy
knew that they were extremely lord
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 it, TIN free to
confess l don't know" he said ITS
booming right toward us. like most
animals don't care to do. OF course
1t may be human being. You must
watch out for that"
They waited The sound ended.
They stood strainng for a long mo-
ment without speech.
THAT was the dumdest thingr"
Lennox went on. "Of course 1t might
have been a bear-you nerer know
what they're going to do. 1t might
have got sight of us and turned off.
But ! can't believe that it was just a
deer"
But then his words chopped square
ly off in his throat. The ploddng ad-
vance commenced again. And the
next instant a gray form revealed It.
self at the edge of the thicket.
1t was Graycoat the coyote half
blind with his madness and des-
perate in his agony
There was no more deadly thing In
Of rattlesnake would have been well
coined beside his. He stood a lonY
instant, and all his instincts and re-
fleXeS that would have ordinarily
made him flee in abiect terror were
thwarted and twisted by the fever Of
his madness. He stared a moment Mt
the two figures. and his red eyes could
not interpret them. They were simply
foes, for it was frue 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 mt them.
He CO ne with unbelievable speed.
The elder Lennon cried once in warn
ing and cursed himself for .vennIr-
ing forth on the ridge without a gun.
He was fully twenty feet distant from
Dan; vet 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 purpose.
At the first step his foot caught in a
projecting root, and he was shot TO
his face on the trail But a long life
in the wilderness had developed Len
noX's refleXes to an abnormal degree
many crises had taught him muscle
and nerve cntrol; 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
a position Of defense. But he knew
now he could not reach the younger
man before the mad coyote would he
upon them. The matter was out of
his hands. Everything depended on
the aim and self-control of the tender