The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1921-03-11
CHAPTER ".
ID

SnOwbird felt very glad OF her init
mate, accurate knowledge Of the
whole region Of the Divide. In her in
fancy the winding trails had been her
playground. and long ago she had ac-
quired the mOuntaineer's sixth sense
for traversing them at night. She had
need OF that knowledge now. She
slipped into her free. swinging stride:
and the last beams from the windows
OF the house were o lost In the
pines behind her. 1t was one Of those
silent. GREATNESS nights with which
no mOuntaineer is entirely ~unacquaint-
eel and for a long time the only sound
she could hear was her own soft
tramp In the pine needles. The trees
themselves were mOtionless. That
peculiar sound. not greatly different
from that Of running water which the
wind often makes in the pine tops,
was entirely lacking. Not that she
could be deceived by it-as stories
tell that ce tain tenderfeet. dying of
thirst in the barren hills. have been.
But she always liked the sound; and
She missed II especially tonight.
She felt that If she would stop to
listen. there would b. many faint
sounds n the thH.ket-tbose little
hushed noises that the wild things
make to remind night-wanderers of
their presence. But she diI not in
the leas' care to near these sounds.
The, 90 not tend toward peace OF
mind or 9 long walk over the ridges.
The wilderness began at once.
Whatever influence toward "iviliza-
ton her fs-her's house ha! brought to
the willis chopped off as beneath a
blade In tie first fringe Of pines. This
H. altogether characteristic of the Ore
gOn forests. They are much too big
and tOO old to be tanned III anY large
degree by the presence of one house.
No one knew this fact better than
LennOx himself who. in 4 hard win
out Of hts window to fird the wolf
pack ranged in a hungry circle about
his house Within two hundred Yards
after she had passed through her ia
theirs dool. she was perfectly aware
that the wild was stirring and throb-
bling with life about her. At irst she
tried very hard to think of other
things. But the attempt wasn't IN
tirely q success. And before she had
covered the first of the twelve miles,
the sounds that from the first had
been knocking at the door Of her cos
sci0usness hogan to make an entrance.
II q persen lies still long enough. he
can usually hear his heart beating
and the flow Of his blood In his
arteries. Any sound. no matter how
fart. will make itself heard Mt last.
1t was this way with a very peculiar
noise that crept up through the silence
from the trail behind her. She
wouldn't give it any heed u, first. But
In a very little while indeed. it grew
20 insistens that she could no longer
3isregard II.
Some living atu was trotting
along on tho trail behind. keeping ap-
vrOximately the same distance be-
tween them.
Foregoing any attempt to iglore II,
abe set her coob young mind to think.
Ing what manner Of beast 1t might be.
! its step was NOT greatly different from
that of q large d0g-except possibly q
dog would have made slightly more
noiae. Yet she couldn't even be sure
Of this basic p,emise. because this
animal. whatever 1t might be. had at
Arst seemingly moved with utmost
caution, but now took less care with
ita step than Is customary witk the
Wild denizens Of the woods. A wolf.
tor instance. can amply drift when It
wishes, and the silence Of a couger Is
1 name. Yet unless her pursuer were
+ dog. which seemed entirely unlikely.
Il was certainly one of these two. She
would have liked very much to believe
the step was that OF Old Wolf ,he
bear. suddenly curious as to what this
dim light Of hers night be: hut she
couldn't bring herself to accept the
lie. Wool. except when wounded or
cornered. II the most amiable crea.
ture In the Oregon woods. and 1t
would give her almost q sense Of se-
curity to have him waddling along
behind her. The wolves and cougar.
remembering the arms of Wool, would
cot he nearly 50 curious. But unfor-
tunateiy. the black bear bad never
done such ! thing In the memory Of
man, and II he had. he would have
made six times as much noise. He
.an 20 fairly softly when he Is stalk
Ing. but when he Is obliged to trot-
g H. would be obliged to do. to keep
70 With 1 swift-walking human figure
he cracks twigs like = rolling log.
she had the Impression that the AMI
nal behind had been passing like
xnOke At 0SAv. bat wasn't taking the
pousJs 70 d L now.
~. sound was ! soft pat-pat on the
roil-sOmetirnes entirely ~obliterated
III always recurring when she began
5 believe that she had only fancied
- nrnnanrA. SOmetifnea = fWig. rain.