The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1921-06-02
CHAPTER Iv-continued.

mare NiltkbTeu pldluliNcly WITH ue
took her from her food.
When SnowbIrd first heard the step
in the thickets beside her, she halted
bruyely and held her lantern high. She
understood at last. The very extremity
OF the beams found a 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 a fame. OF course
the dim rays had simply been reflect
ed on the eyes Of some great beast of
prey.
She Identified II at One Only the
eyes OF the felines, with vertical pu-
pills, have this identical greenish glare.
The eyes Of the wolves glow In the
darkness, but the circles are usually
bright points. or course II was a cou-
gar.
She didn't cry out again. Realizing
Mt last the reality Of her peril, her
long training in the mountains came
TO her aid. That did not meal she
was not truly and terribly afraid. The
beast was hunting her. She couldn't
doubt this fact. Curiosity might make
a lion follow her, but II would ever
beSet such a wild light OF madness in
his eyes as this she had just seen. She
simply clamped down all her moral
strength on her rising hysteria and
lodsed her situation In the face. Her
hand few instinctiveiy 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, unbellevably 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 IN.
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 1t would. If he still fol-
lowed, II could mean hut one thing
that some unheard-of incident had oc-
Cured to destroy his fear of men. It
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 on the opno-
site side OF the tran. She fred 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.
whlsperfoot the cougar. remember
ing the lessons of his yorth. turned
from the trail when he had frst heard
Snowbird's step. He had crouched
end let her pass. She was walking
lihto the wind; and as she was at the
Closest point a message had blown
Back to him.
The hair went straight or hiE shoul-
Gers and along his spine. His blood,
Tanning cold an instant before from
fear, made a great leap in his veins.
A picture came In his dark mini the
chase for a deer when the moon had
set. the stir OF a living thing that
broke twigs In the thickets, AMI the
leap he had made. There had been
blood, that night-the wildness and the
madness and the exultation of the kill.
or course there had been terror fist.
mt the terror had soon departed snd
left something lying warm and SCH
In the thickets. 1t was the same gan e
that walked his trail In front-ganne
that died easily and yet. in a vague
way he did not understand, the
,robiest game Of all. 1t was living
flesh. to tear with talon and fang.
All his training. all the instincts I'M
bued in him by a thousand generations
of ougar who knew this greatest
E were simply obliterated by the
sudden violence OF his hun~tiagSzisd-
ress. He had tasted this blood once,
and II could never be forgotten. The
fame leaped In his eyes. And then he
began the stalk.
A cougar. trying to creep silently
on It's game, does not move quickly. 1t
simply steals. as a serpent steals
through the grass. Whlsperfoot stalled
Tor a period OF FIVE minutes. to learn
mat the prey was farther away from
sim at every step.
He frotted forward until he came
closs and again he stalked. Again he
found. after a few minutes Of silent
creeping through the thickets, that he