The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1921-03-18
CHAPTER IV-Contjnued.

room. anu naSteneO 10 the corral. Inc
mare whickered plaintively when he
took her from her food.
When Snowbird first heard the step
In the thickets beside her. she halted
bravely and held her lantern high. She
understood at last. The very extremity
Of the beams found q reflection in two
very curious circles Of %greenish fire:
a fire that was old upon the world be-
fore man ever rubbed two sticks to-
gether to strike q flame. OF course
the dim rays had simply been reflect
ed on the eyes OF some great beast Of
prey.
She identified II at once. Only the
eyes Of the f~elines. with vertical pu-
pills. have this identical greenish glare.
The eyes OF the wolves glow in the
darkness. but the circles are usually
gar.
She didn't cry out again. Realizing
at last the reality Of her peril, her
long training in the mountains came
to her aid. That did not mean she
vas no truly and terribly afraid. The
doubt this fact. Curiosity might make
a lion follow her. but 1t would never
beyet such a wild light Of madness In
his eyes as this she had just seen. She
simply clamped down all her moral
str ,ngth on her rising hysteria and
lot<Sd her situation in the face. Her
hand flew instinctive:y to her side,
and the pistol leaped in the lantern
light.
But the eyes had already blinked
out before she could raise the weapon.
She shot twice. The echoes roared
back, unbelieyahly loud in the silence.
and then abruptly died and the only
sound was a rustling Of leaves as the
cougar crouched. She sobbed once.
then hurried on.
She was afraid to listen at first. She
wanted to believe that her pistol fire
would brighten the animal from her
trail. She knew. under ordinary con-
ditions. that it would. II he still fol-
lowed. it could mean but one thing
that some unheard-of incident had &C.
Cured to destroy his fear OF men. 1t
would mean that he had knowingly set
upon her trail and was hunting her
with all the age-old remOrselessness
that is the code Of the mountains.
For a little while all was silence.
Then out Of the hush the thickets sud
denly crashed and shook IN the oppo-
site side Of the trail. She fired blind
ly into the thicket. Then she caught
herself with a sob. Blu: two shells
remained in her pistol. and they must
be saved for the test.
Whisperfoot the cougar. remember
ing the lessons OF his yOrth. turned
from the trail when he had rrst heard
s.nowhird's step. He had crouched
end let her pass. She wac walking
into the wind and as she was at the
CoseSt point q message had blown
Pack to him
The hair went straight on his shoul-
Gers and along his spine. His blood.
Thinning cold an instant before from
fear. made a great leap in his veins.
"A picture III III liz ddIh lAlh iliN
chase for a deer when the moon had
set. the stir of a living thing that
broke twigs in the thickets. am: the
leap he had made. There had Seen
blood, that night-the wildness n the
madness and the exultation Of the Kill.
Of course there had been terror fl st.
rat the terror had soon departed end
left something lying warm and sfll
i'm the thickets. 1t was the same raj e
that walked his trail in front-gam,
that died easily and yet, IN a vagut
way he did not understand. the
noblest game Of all. It was living
flesh, to rear with talon and fang.
All his training. all the instincts i'm
bued in him bv a thousand generations
of cougars who knew this greatest
fear. were simply obliterated by the
sudden violence Of his huntiag-mad-
ness. He had tasted this blood once.
and It could never be forgotten. The
flame leaped in his eyes. And than he
began the stalk.
A cougar. trying to creep silently
on its game. does not move quickly. It
simply steals, as a serpent steals
through the grass. Whisperfoot stall ed
for a period Of five minutes, to learn
t;,at the prey was farther away from
him at YER step.
He trotted forward until he came
close. ard again he stalked. Again he
found, after a few minutes of silenr
creeping through the thickets, that he
had lost distance. Evidently this
game did not feed slowly. like the
deer. IT. vas to be a chase. then.
Again he trotted within one hundred
feet Of the girl.
Three tines mor he tried to stalk
before he finally gave it up altogether.
This game was like the porcupine-
simply to be chased down and taken.
And in the case Of all animals that
hunt their game by overtaking it.
there was no longer any occasion for
going silently. The thing to do vas to
come close and spring from the trail