The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1921-06-09

In the wilderness at night. y wish
the pack would sound again." he said.
Il suppose 1t was hunting.
"Of course. And there Is no living
thing in these woods that can stand
against wolf pack in its full
strength"
Except man. Of course"
"A strong man, with an accurate
rifle, Of course, and except possibly
in the starving times in winter he'd
never have to fight them. All the
beasts Of prey are out tonight. You
see, Dan, when the moon shines, the
deer feed at night instead Of in the
twilights and the dawn. And Of
course the wolves and the cougars
hunt the deer. It may be that they
are running cattle, or even sheep"
But Dams Imagination was afire.
He wasn't content yet. 'They couldn't
be-hunting manr' he asked.
mo. If it was midwinter and the
pack was starving. we'd have to lis
ten better. 1t always looked to me as
II the wild creatures had a law
against killing men. just as humans
have. They've learned 1t doesn't pay
something the wolves and bears Of
Europe and Asia haven't found out.
The naturalists say that the reason Is
rather siInple-that the European
peasant. his soul scared out of him by
the government he lived under, has
always fed from wild beasts. They
were filters of the soil, and they car
ried hoes instead Of guns. They never
put the fear of God into the animals
and as result there are quite NUM-
Der Of true stories about tigers and
wolves that aren't pleasant to listen
to. But our own frontiersmen were
not men to stand any nonsense from
wolves or cougars. They had guns.
and they knew how to use them. And
they were preceded by as brave and
as warlike race as ever lived on the
earth-arlned with bows and arrows.
ANY animal that hunted men was inn
mediately killed, and the rest found
out It didn't pay.
"Just as human beings have found
out the same thing-that it doesn't
pay to hunt their fellow men. The
laws Of life as well as the laws of ma
tons are against it."
But the words sounded weak and
dim under the weight Of the throbbing
darkness: and Dan couldn't get away
from the idea that the codes of life by
which most men lived were forgotten
quickly in the shadows Of the pines.
Even as he spoke, man was hunting
man on the distant ridge where Whis-
perfoot the cougar had howled.
Bert Cranston. head Of the arson
ring that operated on the Umpqua d.
vide. was not only beyond the pale in
regard to the laws of the valleys. but
he could have learned valuable lessons
from the beasts in regard to keeping
the laws Of the hills. The moon looked
down to find him waiting on a certain
trail that wound down to the settle
ments. his rifle loaded and ready for
another kind of game than deer or
wolf. He was waiting for Landy Hil-
dreth; and the greeting he had for
him was to destroy all chances of the
prosecuting attorney in the valley be-
low learning certain names that he
particularly wanted to know.
There was no breath Of wind. The
great pines. tall and dark past belief.
stood absolutely motionless, like
strange pillars Of ebony. Bert Gram
ston knelt in brush covert. his rife
loaded and ready in his lean. dark
hands.
No wolf that ran the ridges, no
cougar that waited on the deer trails
Knew wilder passion. more terrible
blood-iust than he. It showed In his
eyes, narrow and never resting from
their watch of the trail: it was in his
posture; and it revealed itself unmis-
takably III the curl of his lips. Some
thing like hot steam was in his brain,
blurring bis sight and heating his
blood.
The pine needles hung wholly mo-
tionless above his head; but yet the
dead leaves on which he knelt crinkled
and rllstled under him. Only the keen
I est ear could have heard the sound !:
and possibly in his madness, Cranston
himself was not aware of it. And one
would have wondered long time as
to what caused 1t. 1t was simply that
he was shiyering all over with hate
and fury.
A twig cracked, far on the ridge
above him. He leaned forward. peer
Ing, aad the moonlight showed his
face in unsparing detail. It revealed
the deep lines. the terrible, drawn
lips. the ugly hair long over the dark
ears. His strong hands frightened
upon the breech of the rifle. His wiry
figure grew tense.
OF course it wouldn't do to let his
prey come too close. Landy Hildreth
was good shot too, young as Gran
ston, and of equal strength; and no
sporting chance could be taken in this
hunting. Cranston had no intention
Of giving his enemy even the slightest
chance to defend himself. If Hildreth
r,ot dn1up ipto Tho yoI1ov hic taSfi.