Cheyenne Wells record., 1922-12-07
CHAPTER xxili

The shadow that Bruce saw at the
edge Of the forest could not be mis-
taken as to identity. The hopes that
he had held before-that this stalking
figure might be that OF deer or an
elk-could no longer be entertained.
Men, as a rule, do not love the wild
and wailing sobs Of a coyote, as he
looks down upon a camp fire from the
ridge above. Sleep does not come cas-
lily when a gaunt wolf walks In slow,
inquisltive circle about the pallet.
scarcely leaf rustling beneath his
feet And a few times, In the history
Of the frontier, men have had queer
tinglings and creepings In the scalp
when they have happened to glance
over their shoulders and see the eyes
| Of a great, tawny puma glowing an
odd blue In the freight. Yet, Bruce
would have had any one Of these. or
all three together. In preference to the
Killer.
The reason was extremely simple.
No words have ever been capable Of
expressing the depths Of cowartlice of
which q coyote is capable. He will
whine md weep about q camp, like n
soul lost between two worlds, but If
he is in his right mind he would have
each one of his gray hairs plucked out.
one by one, rather than attack man.
The cunning breed to which he belongs
has found out that 1t doesn't pay. The
wolf is sometimes disluietingly brave
when he is fortified by his pack breth-
rea In the winter. bnt in such season
as this he Is particularly careful to
keep out OF the sight of man. And the
Tnwny One himself, whIte-fanged and
long-ciawed and powerful as he Is.
never gets farther than certain dread
full, speculative dreams.
But none of these was true Of the
Killer He had already shown his
scorn of men. His very stride showed
that he feared no living creature that
shared the forest with him. In fact.
he considered himself the forest mas
ter. The benr Is never particularly
timid animal. and whatever timidity
the Killer possessed was as utterly
gone as yesterdays daylight.
Bruce watched him with unwinking
l Eyes. ~ bC tlut tAC "poiN
fail to discern his outline. Bruce had
no conscious knowledge, as yet, that
1t Is movement rather than form to
which the eyes of the wild creatures
are most receptive. But he acted up
on that fact now MS II by instinct. He
was not lying In quite the exact spot
where the Killer had left his dead the
preceding night, md possibly his out
line was not enough like 1t to attract
the grizzly's attention. Besides. In the
Intermittent light, 1t wns wholly pos
sible that the grizzly would try to find
the remains Of his feast by smell
alone; and II this were lacking, and
Bruce made no movements to attract
his attention. he might wander away
In search of other game.
For the first time in his life. Bruce
knew Fear as 1t really was. 1t is n
knowledge that few dwellers In cities
can possibly have; and so few times has
It really been experienced In these days
Of civilization that men have mostly
forgotten what 1t is like. II they ex-
perience 1t at all. 1t Is usually only in
dream that arises from the germ
plasm-a nightmare to paralyze the
muscles and chill the heart and freeze
q man in his bed. The moon was
strange and white as It slipped In and
out of the clouds, and the forest, mys-
terious MS Death itself, lightened and
darkened alternately with a strange
effect of unreality; but for all that
Bruce could not make himself believe
that this was just dream. The
dreadful reality remained that the
Killer, whose name and works he
knew, was even now investigating him
from the shadows one hundred feet
| away.
| The fear that came to him was that
| Of the young world-fear without rec
ompense, direct and primitive fear
that grew on him like sickness. 1t
was the fear that the deer knew as
they crept down their dusky trails at
night; 1t was the fear Of darkness
and silence and pain and heaven
knows what cruelty that would be WIS.,
tied upon him by those terrible rend-
ing fanSs and claws. It was the fear
that can be heard in the pack song in
| the dreadful winter season, and that
can be felt In strange overtones In the
sobbing wall Of despair that the coyote
utters in the half-darkness. He had
been afraid for his life every moment
| he was In the hands of the Turner's
He knew that If he survived this night,
he would have to face death again.
He had no hopes of deliverance alto
l 49,
and they worked with knife blade and
bullet, not rending fang and claw. He
could face men bravely; but 1t was
hard to keep strong heart in the face
of this ancient fear of bensts.
The Killer seemed disturbed and
moved slowly along the edge Of the
moonlight. Bruce could trace his
movements by the irregularity In the
line Of shadows. He seemed to be
..~sr~ vv,ora ro,,<tousVv than ovor