Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1921-06-04
CHAPTER ~.
d

Nhole region Of the Divide In her in
Fancy the winding trails had been her
playground, and long ago she had ac-
hurried the mountaineer's sixth sense
FOR traversing them al night. She had
need Of that knowledge now She
slipped into her free. swinging stride
Ind the last beams from the windows
Of the house were soon lost in the
pines behind her. 1t was one of those
silent, breathless nights with which
DO mountaineer is entirely unacquaint-
ed, and for long time the cHiy sound
she could hear was her own soft
tramp in the pine needles. The trees
themselves were moti0nless. 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 certain tenderfeet dying Of
thirst In the barren hills have been.
M But she always liked the sound; and
81 she missed 1t especially tonight.
She felt that if she would stop to
listen, there would be many faint
sounds in the thickets-those little
b hushed noises that the wild things
81 make to remind night-wanderers of
N their presence. But she did not in
q che least care to hear these sounds.
81 They do not tend toward peace of
mind on a long walk over the ridges.
The wilderness began at once.
81 Whatever influence toward civiliza-
81 tion her fathers house had brought to
the wlldS chopped off as beneath a
a blade in the first fringe of pines This
a IS altogether characteristic of the Ore
n g0n forests They are much too big
u and too old to be tanned in any large
~ degree by the presence of one house.
VI No one knew this fact better than
M LennoX himself who, In a hard win
ter Of four years before had looked
81 ont Of his window to find the wolf
A pack ranged in a hungry circle about
u bis house. Within two hundred yards
ID after she had passed through her ia
theirs door, she was perfectly aware
81 chat the wild was stirring and throb-
tried very hard to think of other
things. But the attempt wasn't en-
81 lireiy a success. And before she had
q covered the first of the twelve miles,
The sounds that from the first had
q been knocking at the door of her CON
q sciousness began to make an entrance.
If a person 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
faint will make itself heard at last.
y was this way with very peculiar
noise that crept up through the silence
from the trail behind her. She
wouldn't give it any heed ut first. But
IN very little while indeed, it grew
80 insisrent that she could no longer
disregard 1t.
Some living creature was trotting
along on the trail behind, keeping APP
1roEmately the same distance be-
tween them.
foregoing any attempt to ignore it,
she set her cool young mind to think
ING what manner of beast it might be.
Its step was not greatly different from
that of large dog-except possibly a
Hos would have made slightly more
noise. Yet she couldn't even be sure
OF this basic premise. because this
animal, whatever it might be. had at
A9sl seemingly moved with utmost
caution, but now took less care with
JUS step than is customary with the
via denizens of the woods. A wolf,
1or instance, can simply drift when it
WISHES. and the silence Of a cougar Is
name Yet unless her pursuer were
ms which seemed entirely unlikely,
cefsainly one Of these two. She
would have liked very much to believe
ae step was that of Old Wolf the
suddenly curious as to what this
light Of hers might be; but she
couldn't bring herself TO accept the
Hoof, except when wounded or
aTe4 IS the most amiable crea-
IN the Oregon woods. and fl
give her almost q sense Of Sc
To have him waddling along
her. The wolves and cougar.
aeTiBg the arms Of W0of would
Ire nearly so curious But unfor-
a.T the black bear had never
such a thing in the memory. Of
a1c il he had, he would have
SIX times as much noise. He
2o fairly softly when he is stalk
when he is obliged TO tr0t-
alI3 he obliged to Id ID keep
szTift-walking human figure
CRACKS twigs Ike q rolling log.
the impression that the ami
eaad had been passing like
first. bur wasn't taking the
e 70 10 Il now.
md was soft pat-pat on the
iaetimeS entirely obliterated
recurring when she began
that she had only fancied
9ee. Sometimes a twig. rain
- = though It was. cracked beneath