American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1921-04-15

dog would have made slightly more
noise. Yet she couldn't oven be sure
Of this basic premise. because this
animal. whatever II might be, had at
first seemingly moved with utmost
caution, but now took less care with
its step than is customary with h
wild denlxeus OF the woods, A wolf,
for instance. can simply drift when II
wishes, and the silence Of n cougar Is
n name. Yet unless her pursuer were
n 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
bear. suddenly curious as to what his
dim light of hers might be; but she
couldn't bring herself to accept the
lie, Wool, except when wounded or
cornered. Is the most amiahle crea
ture In the Oregon woods, and It
would give her almost u sense OF Sc
curity TO have him waddling along
behind her. The wolves and cougar,
remembering the arms OF Wool, would
not be nearly so curious. But unfor'
! tunately, the black bear had never
done such a 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 trot-
ms he would be obliged to do to keep
up with q swift-walking human figure
he cracks twigs like a rolling log,
She had the impression that the ami
NAL behind had beer passing like
smoke at first, but wasn't taking the
trouble to do II now.
The sound was a soft pat-pat on the
trail-sometimes entirely obliterated
but always recurring when she began
70 believe that she had only fancieo
Its presence. Sometimes n twig, rain
soaked though II was, cracked beneath
a heavy foot, and again and agar
she heard the brush crushing an6
rustling ms something passed through
Sometimes, when the trail was GOV
cred with soft pine needles, II wal
practically indistinguishable.
The animal was approximately on
hundred feet behind. II wasn't a wolf
she thought. The wolves ran In pack
this season, and except In winter wer
more ufraid of human beings than an
other living creature. 1t wasn't a lyn
-one of those curioslty-devoured III
; tie felines that will new all day on
trail and never dare come near.
was much too large for a lynx. tn
feet fell too solidly. There were n
dogs In the mountains 10 follow I
! heel and she had no desire whatev'
TO meet Shag, the faithful hybrid TIN
used to be her guardian in the hill
. For Shag had gone to his WELD
! served rest several seasons befor
Two other possibilities remained. Oh
was that this follower was a hunt
being, the other that 1t was a cougar
Ordinarily n human being Is mu'
i, more potentially dangerous to a woi
= an In the hills Mt night than a cougi
% A cougar is an abject coward n
! some men are not. But Snowbird Il
- herself entirely capable of handll
= any human foes. They would have
80 advantage over her; they would ha
" no purpose In killing from ambus
10 and she trusted to her own mari
., manship implicitly. While II Ia an
70 tremely difficult thing to shoot at
cougar leaping from the thicket, a
% man standing on n trail presents
easy target. Besides. she had a vag
" sense of discomfort that If this amin
were a cougar, he wasn't acting II
~ TO form, He was altogether o DO
The animal on the trail behind J
a. was taking no care ut all to go sile
ly. He was simply ~pit-patting alo
wholly at his ease. He acted as II
20 fem that men have instilled In
ne breed was somehow missing. a
20 that is why she instlnctively tried
hurry on the trail.
"a The step kept pace. For a IL
mile, up a barren ridge, she heI
every step II made. Then, as
~, brush closed deeper around her,
49, couldn't hear II at all.
She hurried on. stroining to
IN silence. No, the sound was stopT
in Could II be that the animal, fearful
do last, had turned from her trailf
az then for the first time a gasp {
- was no greatly different from a
zee.
WHTT WYTfITDI0IHY