The state herald., 1921-01-11

mat lIC Nttu Wuo SktLihS
bling with life about her. AT first she
tried very hard to think Of Other,
things. But the attempt wasn't en-,
tlrely n 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
sclousness began to make an entrance.
If 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 at last
1t was this wny with very peculiar
noise that crept up through the silence
from the trail behind her. She
wouldn't give 1t any heed ut first. But
In very little while indeed, It grew
so insistent that she could no longer
disregard 1t.
Some living creature was trottIng
along on the trail behind. keeping ap-
proximately the same distance be.
tween them.
Foregoing any attempt to Ignore X,
she set her cool young mind to think.
Ing what manner of beaat It might be.
its step was not greatly different from
that of large dog-except possibly
dog would have made slightly more
noise. Yet she couldn't even be sure
of this basic premise, because this
animal, whatever 1t 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. A wolf,
for instance. can simply drift when II
wishes, and the silence of a cougar Is
a name. Yet unless her pursuer were
a dog, which seemed entirely unlikely,
II was certainly one of these two. She
would have liked very much TO believe
the step was that Of Old Wolf the
dim light Of hers might be; but she
couldn't bring herself to accept the
lie. Woof. except when wounded OF
cornered. is the most amiable crea.
ture In the Oregon woods, and II
would give her almost sense of Sc
curity to have him waddllng 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 go fairly softly when he Is stalk.
ing, but when he Is Obliged TO lr0t-
ms he would he obliged to do TO keep
up with swlft-walklng human figure
he cracks twigs like rolling log.
She had the impression that the AMI.
mai behInc had been passing Hike
smoke nj first, bur wasn't taking the
trouble 10 do II now.
The sound was a soft pat.pai on the
trail--sometimes entirely obliteratcd
but always recurring when she begu,:
TO believe that she had only fancied
Its presence. Sometimes n twlg. rain
soaked though II was, cracked beneath
n heavy foot, and again and again
she heard the brush crushing and
rustllne as something passed through.
Sometimes, when the trail was COW
Sred with soft pine needles. II was
practically lndlstlnguIslablc.
The animal was approximately one
hundred feet behind. II wasn't 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 n lynx
one of those curloslty.dcyoured lit
tie fellnes that Will new all day on
trail and never dare come near. II
was much TOO large for a lynx. The
feet fell TOO solidly. There were no
dogs In the mountains 10 follow nj
heel aud she had no desire whatever
to meet Stag, the faithful hybrid that
used TO be her guardian IN the hills
For Shag had gone 10 Ills well-de.
served rest several seasons before.
Two other possibilities remained. One
was that this follower WAS human
being, the other that II was cougar.
Ordinarily human being Is much
more potentially dangerous to won.
an In the hills Mt night than cougar.
A cougar Is nm nbject coward and
SONG men are not. But Snowblrd felt
herself entirely capable Of handling
any human foes. They would have no
advantage over her; they would have
no purpose In killing from ambush;
and She trusted 10 her own marks
manshlp implicitly. While II Is mn ex.
iremely difficult thing 20 shoot nt u
cougar lcaplng from the thictet; n tall
mnn standing on TRAN presents nm
easy target. Besides, she had vague
sense of discomfort that II THIS animal