Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1921-02-05

| influence upon him. The wild was
calling TO him, Weakening instincts
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
Faillngs once more had begun to run
true to form. Inherited tendencies
were In a moment changing this weak.
| diseased youth into frontiersmah
and wilderness inhabltant such as bis
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 lay
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 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
II was truth that at first he only knew
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 ST.
lence. "'rhere's something living In
that thlcket."
Then Lennox heard 1t, 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 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 Dfu's voice. Otherwise he would
have wondered Mt 1t. I'm free to
confess | don't know" he said. TITS
booming right toward us, like most
animals don't care to do. or course
1t 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 dumdest thingl"
Lennox went on. "0f course 1t might
have been bear-you never know
what they're going to do. It might
have got sight Of us and turned OF,
But can't believe that 1t was just
! deer"
But then his words chopped square
ly off in his throat. The plodding adj
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, and des-
peratc In his agony,
There was no more deadly thing In
all the hills than he Even the bite
Of n rattlesnake would have been wei.
coined beside his. He stood long
instant, and all his instincts and re,
flexes that would have ordinarily
made him flee in abject terror were
thwarted and twisted by the fever OF
his madness He stared q moment al
the two figures, and his red eyes could
not interpret them. They were simply
foes, for Il was true that when ths
racklng 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 purpose
At the first step his foot caught In a
projecting root, and he was shot TO
his face on the trail. But long life
in the wilderness had developed Len.
nox's refexes to an abnormal degree;
many crises had taught him muscle
and nerve control; and only for a
fraction Of an instant, a period OF
time that few instruments are fine
enough TO measure, did he lie suplnely'
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 he
upon them. The matter was ont of
his hands. Everything depended on
the aim and self-contr0l Of the tender.
foot