Williams news., 1921-04-29
CHAPTER I-Continued.

The squirrel was very close to him,
 and Dan seemed to know by instinct
 that the movement of a single muscle
 would give him away. So he sat as If
 he were posing before a photOgra-
 pher's camera. The fact that he was
 able to do it is in itself important. It
 is considerably easier to exercise
 with dumb-bells for five minutes than
 to sit absolutely without motion for
 the same length of time. Hunters
 and naturalists acquire the art with
 training It was therefore rather cu-
 rious that Dan succeeded so well the
 first time he tried 1t. He had sense
 enough to relax first, before he froze.
 Thus he didn't put such a severe
 strain on his muscIes.s
 The, squirrel, after ten seconds had
 elapsed, stood on his launches to see
 better. First he looked a long time |. with his left eye. Then he turned his head and looked very carefully with his right. Then he backed off a short distance and tried to get focus with both. Then he came some half-dOzen steps nearer.
 A moment before he had been cer- tain that a living creature-in fact one of the most terrible and powerful living creatures in the world-had been sitting on the park bench. Now his poor little brain was completely added. He was entirely ready to be- lieve that his eyes had deceived him.
 Bushy-tail drew off a little further, fully convinced at last that his hopes of a nut from a chi1d's hand were blasted. But he turned to look once more. The figure still sat utterly in ert. And all at once he forgot his de vouring hunger in the face of an over whelming curiosity.
 He came somewhat nearer and looked a long time. Then he made half-circle about the bench, turning his head as he moved. He was more puzzled than ever, but he was no longer afraid. His curiosity had be- come so intense that no room for fear was left. And then he sprang upon the park bench.
 Dan moved then. The movement consisted of sudden heightening of the light in his eyes But the squir- rel didn't see it. It takes a muscular response to be visible to the eyes of the wild things. The squirrel crept slowly along the bench. stopping to sniff, stopping to stare with one eye and another, just | osity. And then he 1eaped on Dams knee.
 He was quite convinced, by now, | that this warm perch on which he | stood was the most singular and in- | terestfng object of his young life. It i was true that he was faintly worried | by the smell that reached his nostrils. | But all it really did was further to in- | cite his curiosity. He followed the | leg up to the hip and then perched on | the elbow. And an instant more he | was pOking a cold nose into Dams | neck
 But if the squirrel was excited by | all these developments, its amazement | was nothing compared to Dams. It had been the most astounding incl dent in the mans life. He sat still, tingling with delight. And in a single flash of inspiration he knew he had come among his own people at last. He knew where he would spend his last six months of life.
 His own grandfather had been a hunter and trapper and frontiersman in a certain vast but little known Ore | gon forest. His son had moved to the eastern cities, but in Dams garret there used to be old mementoes and curios from these savage days-a few claws and teeth, and a fragment of an old diary. The call had come to him at last Tenderfoot though he was, Dan would go back to those forests, to spend his last six months of life among the wild creatures that made them their home.