The Adair County news., 1922-10-24

their starting place,
of Used to Be. 1t
Present Time at all.
as never grown old
When a man passes the last outpost
of civilization, and the shadows of the
unbrOken woods drop over him, he Is
likely to forget that the year is nine
teen hundred and twenty, and that
the day before yesterday he had seen
an airplane passing over his house.
The world seems to have kicked off
It's thousand-thousand years as
warm man at night kicks Off covers;
and all things are just as they used
to be. 1t Is the Young WOrld-a
world of beasts rather than men, a
world where the hand Of man has not
yet been felt.
On this particular early September
day, the age-old drama of the wilder
ness was in progress. 1t was drama
of untamed passions and bloOdshed,
strife and carnage and lust and rap
Inc; and 1t didn't, unfortunately, have
a particularly happy ending. The
players were beasts, not men. The
only human being anywhere in the
near vicinity was the old trapper,
Hudson, following down his trap line
on the creek margin on the way to
his camp. 1t is true that two other
men, with a rather astounding SINH
larity of purpose, were at present COM
ing down two of the long trails that
led to the region; but as yet the
drama was hidden from their eyes.
One of the two was Bruce, coming
from Linda's cabin. One was Dave
Turner, approaching from the direc-
tiOn of the Ross estates. Turner was
much the nearer. CuriOusly, both had
business with the trapper Hudson.
The action of the play was calm at
first. Mostly the forest creatures
were still in their afternoon sleep.
The does and their little spotted
fawnS were sleeping; the blacktail
deer had not yet sought the feeding
grounds on the ridges. The cougar
yawned in his lair, the wolf dOzed in
his covert, even the pOisOn-peOple lay
like long shadows on the hot rocks.
An old raccOOn wakened from his
place on high limb, stretched him
self, scratched at his fur, then began
to steal down the limb. He had long
way to go before dark Hunting was
getting poor in this part of the woods
He believed he would wander down
toward Hudson's camp and look for
crayfish in the water. A coyote is
usually listed among the larger forest
creatures, but early though the hour
was--early, that is, for hunters to be
oUt-he was stalking a fawn in
covert.
All the~h were progressing ia
mously when there came curious in
terruptiOn. 1t was a peculiar growl,
quite low at first. 1t lasted a long
| time, then died away. There was no
opposition to it. The forest creatures
had paused in their tracks at its first
note, and now they stood as if the
winter had come down upon them sud
denly and frozen them solid. All the
other sounds of the forest-the little
whispering noises of gliding bodies
and fluttering feet, and perhaps a
birds call in shrub-were suddenly
| Stilled. There was a moment of
breathless suspense. Then the sound
commenced again
1t was louder this time. 1t rose and
gathered volume until it was almost
roar. 1t carried through the silences
in great waves of sound. And in it
was sense of resistless power; no
creature in the forest but what knew
| this fact.
'The Gray King" one could imagine
| them saying among themselves. The
effect was instantaneous. The little
raccoOn halted in his descent, then
erept out to the end of a limb. The
coyote, an instant before crawling
with body close to the earth, whipped
about as if he had some strange kind
of circular spring inside of him. He
snarled once in the general direction
of the Gray King Then he lowered
HIS head and skuIked off deeper into
the coverts.
The blacktail deer, the gray wolf.
even the stately Tawny One, stretched
in grace in his lair, wakened from
sleep The, languor died quickly in
the latter's eyes, leaving only fear.
These were braver ethan the Little
People They waited until the thick
brush, not far distant from where the
bull elk slept began to break down