The Adair County news., 1922-11-21
Copyrieht by LIttIe. Brown 3 q.

COpyright By Little. Brown Co.
not luscious nuts and roots, were In
store for them. There would be many
days of hunger once the snow came
oyer the land. The black bear saw
Che signs and began a desperate effort
TO lay up as many extra pounds of
fat as possible before the SHOWS broke.
BE would have need of the extra flesh.
T11e time was coming when all sources
Sf food would be cut off by the SHOWS,
and he would have to seek the security
Of hibernation. He had already chOs-
en an underground abode for himself
and there he could doze away in the
eeid-trance through the winter months,
1kDsisting on the supplies of fat that
he had stored next. to his furry hide.
The greatest of all the bears, the
Killer, knew that some such fate
GHaited him also. But he looked for
ward to it with wretched spirit. He
was master of the forest, and perhaps
he did not like to yield even to the
spirit of winter. His savagery grew
Hpon him every day, and his dislike
for men had turned to a veritable
hatred But he had found them out.
When he crossed their trails again.
apt TO slip away from him in this case
and sting him numerically with bull
lets. The thing to do was charge
quickly and strike with all his power.
The three minor wounds he had re-
ceived-twO from pistol bullets and
one from Bruce's rifie-had not lessened
bis strength at all. They did, how
ever, serve to keep his blOOd-heat at
de explosive stage most of the day
ana night.
The flowers and the grasses were dy-
ing; the moths that paid calls on the
flowers had laid their eggs and had
Rerished, and winter lurked-ready to
nounce forth-just beyond the distant
ntDmtains There is nothing so
fhOrengfiy unreliable as the mountain
autumn. II may linger in enhancing
Colds and browns month after month,
until if is almost time for spring to
come again; and again it may make
enc short bow and usher in the winter
TO Bruce and Linda, in the old Fol
per home in Trails End, these fall
days offered the last hope of success
a their war against the Turner's.
The adventure In the pasture with
Ehe KILLER had handicapped them to
Rn aIRlooked-for degree. Bruce's
muscles had been severely strained
by the bonds; several days had
elapsed before he regained their full
BSe- Linda was a mountain girl,
hardy as a deer, yet her nerves had
suffered a greater shock by the ex-
rer1ence than either of them had
guessed The wild ride, the fear and
the stress, and most of all the base
bt6E that Simon had dealt her had
been 100 much even for her strong
eonstifItion; and she had been obliged
10 go to bed for few days of rest.
Old Elmira worked about the house
The same as ever. but strange, new
Fights we're in her eyes. For reasons
diat ven; down to the roots Of things,
neither Truce Ror Linda questioned
her as to her scene with Dave Turner
IN the cOverts; and what thoughts
dwelt in her aged mind neither of
them could guess.
The truah was that in these short
weeks Of trial and danger whatever
dreadful events had come to pass in
tt1at meeting were worth neither
thought nor words. Both Bruce and
LINDA were down TO essentials. 1t is
q descent that most human beings
Gome time In their lives-find they are
&ble 10 make; and there was no room
for sentimentality or hysteria in this
grim household. The ideas, the soft
nesses, the laws of the valleys were
far away from them; they were face
to face with realities. Their code had
Become the basic code of life: to kill
for self-prOtection without mercy OF
FemOrSe.
They did not know when the Turner's
would attack. 1t was the dark of the
moon, and the men would be able to
approach the hodse without present
Da6 dS Aol SClC LOl DAuNC >
rifle. The danger was not a thing on
which to conjecture and forget; ii
was an ever-present reality. Never
they stepped out of the door, never
they crossed a lighted window, never
q pane ratified in the wind but that
the wings Of Death might have been
towering over them. The days were
passing, the date when the chance fol-
victory would utterly vanish was al
fnest at hand, and they were haunted
BY the ghastly fact that their whole
defense lay in single thirty-thirty
Fihe and five cartridges. Bruce's owl
gun had been taken from him in Si
MONS house; Linda had emptied hel
Pistol at the Killer.
HWe'Ve got to get more shells,
Bruce told Linda. 1.-THE Turner'S won
be such fools as to wait until we hav'
the moon again, to attack. l can
understand why they haven't alread,
Come. OF course, they don't knoy
f6a condition of our ammunition sun