Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1921-09-15

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He hurried on, four miles farther.
The trail entered the heavy thickets,
and he had to ride slowly. It was as
wild a section as could be found on
the whole Divide And just as he
came to a little cleared space, three
strange. dark birds flung up on wide
spreading wings.
He knew them at once All noun
taineers come to know them before
their days are done. They were the
buzzards, the followers Of the dead.
And what they were doing In the
thicket just beside the trail, Dan did
not dare to think
OF course they might be feeding on
the body of a deer, MORALLY wounded
by some hunter. He resolved to ride
by without investigating. He glanced
up. The buzzards were lowering in
the sky, evidently waiting for him to
pass. Then, mostly to relieve curl
GUS sense Of discomfort in his own
mind, he stopped his horse and dis
mounted.
The twilight had started to fall, and
already its first grayness had begun
10 soften the harder lines Of forest
and hill. And after his first glance at
The curious white heap beside the
trail, he was extremely glad that it
had. But there was no chance to mis-
take the thing. The elements and
much more terrible agents had each
wrought their change, vet there was
grisly evidence in plenty to show what
had occurred. Dan didn't doubt for
an instant but that it was the skele-
ton of Landy Hildreth.
He forced himself to go nearer. The
buzzards were almost done, and one
white bone from the shoulder gave I'M
mistakable evidence of the passage Of
a bullet. What had happened there
after, he could only guess.
He got back quickly on his horse.
He understood, now, why nothing had
been heard of the evidence that Landy
Hildreth was to turn over to the
courts as to the activities of the arson
ring. Some one-probably Bert Gran
ston himself-had been waiting on the
trail. Others had come thereafter.
And his lips set in his resolve to let
! this murder measure in the debt he
had to pay Cranston.
The Lennox house seemed very si-
lent when, almost an hour later, he
turned his horse into the corral. He
had rather hoped that Snowbird would
be at the door to meet him. The dark
ness had just fallen, and all the lamps
were lighted. He strobe into the liv-
ing room, warming his hands an in
slant beside the fireplace. The fire
needed fuel It had evidently been
neglected for nearly an hour.
Then he called Snowbird. His voice
echoed in the silent room, unanswered.
He called again, then went to look for
her. At the door of the dining room
he found the note that she had left
for him.
It told, very simply and plainly, that
her father lay injured in his bed, and
he was to remain and do what he
could for him. She had gone for help
to the ranger station.
He leaped through the rooms to Len
nox's door, then went in on tiptoe.
And the first thing he saw when he
opened the door was the grizzled
mans gray face on the pillow.
you're home early, Dan," he said.
Elbow many did you get?"
It was entirely characteristic.
Shaggy old Wool is too proud to howl
over the wounds that lay him low, and
this gray old bear on the bed had par
taken Of his spirit.
"Good Lord" Dan answered. "How
badly are you hurt?"
mot so bad but that I'm sorry that
Snowblrd has gone drifting twelve
miles over the hills for help. It's
dark as pitch"
And It was. Dan could scarcely
make out the outline of the somber
ridges against the sky.
They talked on, and their subjec:
was whether Dan should remain to
take care Of Lennox, or whether he
should attempt to overtake Snowbird
with the horse. OF course the girl
had ordered him to stay. Lennox, on
the other hand, said that Dan could
not help him in the least, and desired
him to follow the girl.
"rm not often anxious about her."
he said slowly. 'But 1t is a long walk
through the. widest part of the Di-
vide. Some way-I can't bar accidents
tonight. I don't like to think of her
on those mountains alone"
And remembering what had lain be-
side the trail, Dan felt the same. He
had heard, long ago. that any animal
that once tasted human flesh loses its
fear of men and is never to be trusted
again. Some wild animal that still
hunted the ridges had, in the last
month, done just that thing, He left
the room and walked softly to the
door.