The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1921-02-09

and perhaps just penny-winiing deal
of their own. suppose you know
about Landy HHdreth-how he's prom
ised to turn states evidence that will
send about a dozen of these vipers tc
the penitentiary?'
"Snowbird told me something about
IT,"
Hes got Il cabin over toward the
marshes, and II has come 10 me that
he's going To start tomorrow, or maybe
has already started today, down into
the valley 10 give his evidence. Oh
course, that Is deeply confidential be
tween you and me- If the gang knew
about il, he'd never get through the
thickets alive"
But Dan was hardly listening His
attention was caught by the hnShed
Intermittent sounds that are always 10
be heard, II one listens keenly enough
In the wilderness nj night. 81 wish
the pack would sound again" he said.
IL suppose il was hunting
"Of course. And there Is no living
thing I'm these woods that can stand
against a 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 ut night instead of in the
twilightS and the dawn. And OF
course the wolves and the cougars
hunt the deer. 1t may he that they
are running cattle. or even sheep
But Dams imagination was afire.
He wasn't content yet. They couldn't
! be-hunting man, he asked
mo. If II was midwinter and the
pack was starving. we'd have TO lis
ten better. II always looked 10 me as
II the wild creatures had law
against killing men, just rs humans
have. They've learned it doesn't pay
something the wolves and bears OF
| Europe and Asia haven't found out.
I The naturalists say that the reason Is
rather simple-that the European
! peasant. his soul scared out of him by
the government he lived under, has
1 always fled from wild beasts. They
were tiIlers of the soil and TREY car
ried hoes instead of guns. They never
/ put the fear Of God into the animals
| and as a result there are quite num-
| Der OF true stories about tigers and
wolves that aren't pleasant 10 listen
| 10. But our own frontiersmen were
not men 10 stand amy nonsense from
wolves or cougars. They had guns.
I and they knew how To use them. And
they were preceded by as brave and
as warlike race as ever lived on the
I earth-armed with bows and arrows.
Any animal that hunted men was i'm
mediately killed. and the rest found
out 1t didn't pay
Just as human beings have found
| out the same thing-that II doesn't
pay TO hunt their fellow men. The
laws OF life as well as the laws Of ma
. tions are against IT,"
But the words sounded weak and
| dim under the weight of the throbbine
| darkness; and Dan couldn't get away
| from the idea that the codes of life 10y
which most men lived were forgotten
| quickly I'm the shadows of the pines
Even as he spoke, man was hunting
man on the distant ridge where Wits
perfoot the cougar had howled
i
Bert Cranston. head of the arson
| ring that operated on the Umpqua di'
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 10 keeping
| the laws of the hills. The moon looked
| down TO find him waiting on certain
trail that wound down to the settle
ments. his rifle loaded and ready foT
another kind of game than deer oil
wolf. He was waiting for Landy Hill
dreth; and the greeting he had fol-
him was to destroy all chances of the
prosecuting attorney in the valley be
low learning certain names that hs
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 Gran
ston knelt in brush covert, his rife
loaded and ready in his lean. dart
1 hands.
| No wolf that ran the ridges, ne
1 cougar that waited on the deer trails
knew wilder passion. more terrible
blood-lust than he. 1t showed In hi:
eyes, narrow and never resting from
their watch of the trail; Il was In hi:
| posture; and II revealed itself unmis
takably In the curl OF his lips. Some
thing like hot steam was In his brain
blurring his sight and heating his
blood.
The pine needles hung wholly mo
tionless above his head: but yet thu
dead leaves on which he knelt crinklet
and rustled under him. Only the keen
| est ear ~ouId have hoard the sound