, 1922-11-15

down in the place where Bruce had
stood. But the maA had been pre-
pared for this very recoil. and he had
sprung aside just as the claws raked
past.
And the Killer would hunt no more
in Trails End. At the end of that
leap he fell, his great body ~quIvering
strangely in the snow. The lead had
gone straight home where it had been
aimed, and the charge itself had been
mostly muscular reflex. He lay still
at last, a gray mammoth figure that
was majestic even in death.
No more would the deer shudder
with terror at the sound Of his heavy
step in the thIcket. No more would
the herds fly into stampede at the
sight of his great shadow on the
moonlit grass. The ast of the Oregon
grizzlies had gone Lie way of all his
breed.
To Bruce and Linda, standing
breathless and awed in the snow
~iurries, his death imaged the passing
Of an old order-the last stand that
the forces Of the wild had made
against %conquering man. But there
was pathos in 1t, too. There was the
symbol of mighty breeds humbled and
destroyed.
But the pines were left. Those eter-
nal symbols Of the wilderness-and
of powers beyond the wilderness
still stood straight and grand and i'm
passive above them. While these two
lived, at least, they would still keep
their watch over the wilderness, they
would still stand erect and brave to
the buffeting Of the storm and snow.
and In their shade dwelt strength and
peace.
The cavern that was revealed to
them haN a rock floor and had been
followed out by running water in ages
past. Bruce built a fire at Its mouth
of some of the long tree roots that ex-
tended down into 1t, and the life-giv-
ing warmth was a b~enediction. Al
ready the drifting snow had begun to
cover the aperture.
"We ran wait here until the blizzard
is DONE" Bruce told Linda, as she sat
beside him in the soft glow of the
fire. 1--WE have a little food, and we
can cut more from the body of the
grizzly when we need 1t. There's dead
wood under the snow. And when the
storm Is over, we a get our bearings
and walk out"
She sat a long time without answer
ing. 'And after that?" she asked.
He smiled. "No one knows. It's ten
days before the thirtleth-the bliz-
yards up here never last over three or
four days. We've got plenty of time
to get the document down to the
courts. The law will deal with the
rest of the Turner's. We've won,
Linda"
His hands CROPPED for hers, and he
laid 1t against his lips. With her
other hand she stroked his snow-wet
hair. Her eyes were lustrous in the
freight.
"And after that-after all that is
settled? You Will come back to the
mountains?"
Gould l ever leave theml7 he ex-
claimed. "Of course. Linda. But 1
don't know what / can do up here
except maybe to establish my claim to
my fathers old farm. There's a hun
dred or so acres. 1 believe I'd like to
feel the handles of a pillow In my
palms."
ut was what you were made for,
Bruce" she told him. ITS born in
you. There's a hundred acres there
and three Observation-Disclosures else.
You've got new strength, Bruce. You
could take hold and make them yield
up their hay-and their crops-and
fill all these hills with the herds"
She stretched out her arms. Then all
Mt once she dropped them almost as IL
In supplication. But her voice had