The Snowflake herald., 1922-12-08

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 fangs and claws. 1t 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 deiverance alto
gether. But the Turner's were men,
and they worked with knife blade and
bullet, not rending fang and claw. He
could face men bravely; but 1t was
hard to keep a strong heart in the face
of this ancient fear of beasts.
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
moving more cautiously than ever,
now Bruce could not hear the slight
est sound.
For an instant he had an exult-
ant hope that the bear would continue
on down the edge of the forest and
leave him; and his heart stood still
as the great beast paused, shifting.
But some smell in the air seemed to
reach him, and he came stealing back
In reality, the Killer was puzzled.
He had come to this place straight
through the forest with the eXpecta-
tion that food-aesh to tear with his
fangs-would be waiting for him. And
now, as he waited at the border of
the darkness, he knew that a strange
change had taken place And the
Killer did not like strangeness.
The smell that he had expected had
dimmed to such an extent that it pro-
noted no muscular impulse. Perhaps
it was only obliterated by stranger
smell-one that was vaguely familiar
and wakened a slow, brooding anger
in his great beasts heart.
He was not timid; yet he retained
some of his natural caution and re-
mained in the gloom while he made
his Investigations Probably it was a
ly up and down the border of moon
light and his anger seemed to grow
and deepen within him. He felt dimly
that he had been cheated out of his
meal And once before he had been
similarly cheated but there had been
singular triumph at the end of that
experience.
All at once a movement. far across
the pasture caught his attention. 1t
seemed that some one had come, taken
one glance at the drama at the edge
of the forest, and had departed.
Bruce himself had not seen the figure;
and perhaps it was the mercy of Fate
not usually merciful-that he did
not He might have been caused to
hope again, only 10 know deeper
despair when the man left him with
out giving aid. For the tall form had
been that of Simon coming, as Linda
had anticipated, for moments in
spection of his handiwork. And see
ing that it was good, he had depart
ed again.
The grizzly watched him go then
turned back to his questioning regard
of the strange. dark figure that lay
so prone in the grass in front The
darkness dropped over him as the
moon went behind heavy patch of
cloud.
And in that moment the Killer I'M
derstood. He remembered now Pos
sibly the upright form of Simon had
suggested it to him; possibly the wind
had only blown straighter and thus
permitted him to identify the troubling
smells. All at once memory flashed
over him-of a scene in a distant glen,
and similar tall figures that tried to
drive him from his food. He had
charged then, struck once. and one
of the forms had lain very still. He
remembered the pungent, maddening
odor that had reached him after his
blow had gone home. Most clearly of
all, he remembered how his claws had
struck and sunk.
He knew this strange shadow now.
1t was just another of that tall breed
he had learned to hate, and it was sim
ply lying prone as his foe had done
after the charge beside Little river. In
fact, the still-lying form recalled the
other occasion with particular vivid
ness. The excitement that he had felt
before returned to him now; he re-
membered his disappointment when
the whistling bullets from the hillside
above had driven him from dood