Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-01-09

pick up a young caribousor a left
over moose"
She dressed. and at breakfast
their exultation over their trip grew
painful to Harold's ears. He n
nounced his intention of going
along.
Bill took rather a new ours to-
day. He bent his steps toward a
stream hat he called Creek Despair
named for the fact that he had
once held high hopes of finding his
lost mine along its waters, only to
meet an utter and hopeless failure.
After proceeding a long distance
Bill glanced back in warning and
| pointed to an enhancing wilderness
picture. a hundred yards in front.
In a little glade n framed by
the forest stood a large bull caribou,
! flashing and incredibly vivid against
the snow.
incidentally he made a first-class
target-one that it seemed impossi-
BILE to miss.
I'll take him." Harold shouted.
Let me take him."
In a flash Harold realized that
here was his opportunity: in II
stroke, n easy shot, he could focus
| Virginia's admiration upon himself.
But it was not the way of sports
men, wandering in file in mountain
trails. to clamor for the first shot at
| game. Whatever is said is usually
in solicitation to a companion TO
shoot; and Virginia felt oddly en-
barrassed.
Harold's gun leaped to his Shout
der. The target looked too big to
miss, but his bullet flung up the
snow behind the animal.
nj -~x.l.@.. A@-,A ;-aIr
pushed out in a mighty leap. Fren-
zied. Harold shot again; but his
nerve was broken and his self-con-
troll blown to the four winds. The
animal had gained the shelter of
the thickets by now. e
MY sights are off" Harold shout
ed. They didn't shoot within
three feet of where l aimed. Damn
such a gun"
II think we'd better look for
something else said Bill drily.
Then L want You to carry my
gun awhile. and let me take yours.
It's all ready. and here's a handful
of extra shells. You ought to De
willing to do that, at least"
Harold had forgotten that this
mar was not his personal guide,
subject to his every wish. He held
out gun and shells; and, smiling,
Bill received them, giving his W
weapon in exchange.
But Harold's miss had not been
his greatest sin. The omission that
followed was by all the codes of the
hunting trails objectionable. He
supposed that he had reflled his
rifle magazine with shells before he
put it in Bills hands. In his con-
fusion and anger he had forgotten
- DO ~. ard fhn univ 1nnd fhof tho
| gun contained was that in the bar
rel, thrown in automatically when
the last empty shell was elected.
Several seasons before there had
been a fatality on the hillside above
| Creek Despair. An ancient spruce
tree had languished, withered and
died from sheer old age.
On the day hat Che three hunters
emerged on their snoWshoeS III
search of meat for their depleted
larder, the wind pressed gently
against it.. Because its trunk was
rotted away it swayed and fell
heavily.
The falling tree had made a
frightful crash just over the head
4 of a. great grizzly, alternating for
the winter. and even the deep coma
in which he lay was abruptly dis
solved.
He sprang up. ready to fight.
His little, fierce eyes burned and
smoldered with wrath, he grunted
deep in his throat. and he pushed
u savagely through the cavern
NAV. 1t was only a step farther
through the spruce thicket into the
sunlight.
Three figures, two abreast and
| nna hnhi,1 oanon rp1IChin0 fhrntIOh
the little pass where the creek
flowed. The grizzly recognized
them in an instant as his hereditary
foes.
His ears laid back, and he uttered
a deep grOWl.
AS he stepped, his forefeet swung
out, giving to his carriage an AFRO
gance and a swagger that would
have been amusing if it hadn't been
terrible. His wicked teeth cleaned
white in foam, and the hair stood
stiff at his shoulders.
Bills keen eyes saw the bear first.
1t was the last sight in the world
that Bill had expected.
There was no waiting this time to
offer the sporting opportunity to
Harold.
Virginia was not aware of a lapse
! Of time between the instant that Bill
caught sight of the bear and hat in
which his gun came leaping to his
shoulder.
He had full confidence in the
hard-hitting vicious bullet in Har-
old's thirty-five, and most of all he
relied on the four reserve shots that
he supposed lay in the rifle maya
zine.
The grizzly dies hard; he felt that
all four of them would be needed to
arrest the charge hat would likely
follow his arst shot.
He aimed for the great shoulder,
the region of the lungs and heart.
Bills bullet went straight home,
ripping through the lungs, tearing
the great arteries about the heart,
shivering even a portion of the heart
itself. And yet the grizzly sprang
like a demon through the deep
snow, straight toward him.
Virginia's Mortified eyes saw his
fingers race as he worked the lever
action of the gun. The bear seemed
almost upon him. And she scream
ed when she heard the impotent
click of the hammer against the
breech. Bill had fired the single
shot that was in the gun.
Before ever he heard the sound
Harold remembered. In one wave
of horror he recalled that he had
forgotten to refill the magazine with
Shells. Yet leaping fast-red and
deadlysupon the heels of his remorse
there came an emotion that scar
ed him like a wall of fire. He saw
Bills fate.
Here was his enemy. the man he
hated above all living creatures. and
the blood lust surged through him
like a madness. In one wave of