The Dolores star., 1921-05-27

his zoe fdll OleeuiuR Wueu thiS ooAAso
sound, only louder, spoke from Q
covert from which Bert Cranston had
poached her-and he left the lick In
one bound.
Terrified though he was by the rils
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 flock Of grouse exploded with
roar of wings from a thicket: but
they had been wakened by the first
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 to light
No owl or bat can see In absolute
darkness. 1t 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
n doe feeding on hillside. Its foot
fall was not so heavy as the sturdy
tramp Of buck. and besides, the
bucks would be higher on the ridges
this time of morning. He began a eau
tious advance toward 1t.
For the first fifty yards the hunt
was in his favor. He came up wind.
and the brush made perfect cover.
But the doe unfortunately was stand
ing full twenty yards farther. In an
open glade. Under ordinary circum-
stances, Whisperfoot would not have
made an attack. A cougar can run
swiftly. but deer is light itself. The
big cat would have preferred to linger,
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 q
success. He went fully half the dis
tance between them before the deer
perceived him. Then she leaped.
There seemed to be no interlude Of
time between the instant that she be
held the dim, tawny figure in the air
and that in which her long legs pushed
out in a 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 duck
hunter leads fast-hying duck-hop-
ing to intercept her leap. Even as her
feet left the ground she seemed to
whirl in the air. and the deadly talons
whipped down In vain. Then. cutting
back in front, she raced down wind.
1t is usually the most unmItigated
folly for n cougar to chase a deer
against which he has missed his
stroke; and It Is also quite fatal to his
dignity. And whoever doubts for a
minute that the larger creatures have
no dignity. and that 1t Is not very dear
to them, simply knows nothing about
the ways of animals. They cling to
1t to the death. But tonight one dis
appointment after another had crum-
bled, as the rains crumble leaves, the
last vestige OF Whisperfoots self-con-
troll. Snarling In fury he bounded
after the doe.
She was lost to sight at once In
the darkness. but for fully thirty yards
raced in her pursuit. If he had
stopped to think. It would have been
one of the really great surprises Of
his life to hear the sudden, unmis-
taxable stir and movement of large,
living creature not fifteen feet distant
in the thicket.
He didn't stop to think at all He
didn't puzzle on the extreme unlIkeli-
hood of doe halting in her flight from
a cougar. 1t is doubtful whether, In
the thickets, he had any perceptions
of the creature other than its move
ments. He was running down wind,
so 1t is CERTAIN that he didn't smell It.
II he saw it at all, 1t was just as a
shadow, sufficiently large to be that
of deer II was moving, crawling as
Woof the bear sometimes crawled,
seemingly TO get out Of his path. And
Whisperfoot leaped straight at 1t.
1t was n perfect shot. He landed
high on its shoulders. His head lashed
down. and the white teeth closed. All
the long life Of his race he had known
that pungent essence that flowed forth.
His senses perceived it. message
shot along his nerves to his brain. And
then he opened his mouth in high,
far-carrying squeal Of utter, abject
terror.
He sprang full fifteen feet back
into the thickets; then crouched. The
hair Cfnn1 SttII NJ lie, ,,hn