The Jasper news. [volume] (Jasper, Missouri) 1898-1924, 1921-04-07

perfoof'n heart bounded when ho de
tecfed him. No human hunter could
nave laid MS plans with greater care
he had to cut up the side OF the ridge
mindful of the wind. Then there was
. long dense thlcket in which he
might approach within fifty feet Of
the lick, still with the wind IN his
face. Just beside the lick was another
deep thicket, from which he could
make his leap.
His body lowered. The tail dashed
back and forth, and now It had begun
to have a slight vertical motion that
trondersmen have learned to watch
for. He placed every paw with con-
summate grace, and few sets OF hu-
man nerves have sufficient control
over leg muscles to move with such
astonishing patience. BE scarcely
seemed to move at all.
But when scarcely ten feet re-
mained to stalk, a sudden sound
pricked through the darkness. II came
from afar, butrlt was no less terrible.
II was really two sounds, so close to
gether that they sounded as one.
Neither Blacktall nor Whisperfoot
had any delusions about them. They
recognized them at once, In strange
ways under the skin that no man may
describe. as the far-off reports Of a
rife. Just today Blacktall had seen
his doe fall bleeding when this same
sound, only louder, spoke from a
covert from which Bert Cranston had
pOached her-and he left the lick 10
one bound.
Terrified though he was by the rife
shot; still Whisperfoot sprang. But
the distance was too far. His out
stretched paw hummed down four
feet behind Blacktail's flank. Then
forgetting everything but his anger
and disappointment, the great cougar
opened his mouth and howled.
The long night was almost done
when he got sight of further game.
Once a flock Of grouse exploded with
a roar Of wings from a thicket; but
they had been wakened by the flrst
whisper Of dawn In the wind, and he
really had no chance at them. Soon
after this. the moon set.
The larger creatures Of the forest
are almost as helpless in absolute
darkness as human beings. 1t is very
well to talk Of seeing In the dark, but
from the nature OF things, even verti-
cal pupils may only respond 10 light.
No owl or bat can see in absolute
darkness. II became Increasingly like
ly that Whisperfoot would have to re-
tire to his lair without any meal
whatever.
But still he remained, hoping
against hope After futile fifteen
minutes Of watching a trail. he heard
a doe feeding on a hillside. Its foot.
fall was not so heavy as the sturdy
tramp Of a buck, and besides, the
bucks would be higher on the ridges
this time Of morning. He began a eau.
tious advance toward Il.
For the first fifty yards the hunt
was In his favor. He came up wind.
and the brush made a perfect cover.
But the doe unfortunately was stand.
ing a full twenty yards farther, In an
open glade. Under ordinary circum-
Stances, WnlSperfOOt would not have
made an attack. A cougar can run
swiftly, but deer is light itself. The
big cat would have preferred to Ilnger,
mOtiOnless thing In the thickets,
hoping some other member Of the deer
herd to which the doe must have be-
longed would come into his ambush.
But the hunt was late, and WhIsper-
foot was very, very angry. Too many
times this night he had missed his
kill In desperation. he leaped from
the thicket and charged the deer.
In spite Of the preponderant odds
against him, the charge was almost a
success. He went fully half the dis
tance between them before the deel'
perceived him. Then she leaped.
There seemed to be no interlude o.
time between the instant that she be-
held the dim, tawny figure in the al
and that in which her long legs pushed
out in spring. But she didn't leap
straight ahead. She knew enough Of
the cougars to know that the great
cat would certainly aim for her head
and neck in the same way that a duck
hunter leads a fast-dying duck-hop-