The daily Alaskan., 1922-03-23
By EDISON MARSHALL
(COpyright, 1920, Little, Brown q Coapsnyl

m kDlkt LII llt NkNAANNA eAA'N
 against him, the charge was almost
 success. He went fully half the dis-
 tance between them before the deer
 perceived him. Then she leaped.
 There seemed to be no interlude of
 time between the Instant that she be-
 held the dim. tawny figure in the alr and that in which her long legs pushed
 out In a spring. But she didn't leap
 straight ahead. She knew enough Of
 the cougars to know that the great
 cat would certainly aim for her head and neck In the same way that duck hunter leads a fast-hying duck-hop-
 Ing to intercept her leap. Even as her
 feet left the ground she seemed to
 whIrl In the air. and the deadly talons , whipped down in vain. Then, cutting
 back In front, she raced down wind.
 It Is usually the most unmiugated
 folly for cougar to chase a deer against which he has missed his
 stroke; and It Is also quite fatal to his dignity. And whoever doubts for a minute that the larger creatures have no dignity. and that it is not very dear
 10 them, simply knows nothing about the ways of animals. They cling to if to the death. But tonight one dis appOlntment after another had crum- blad gS the rains Crumhle leaves, the
 last vestlCe of WhIspertOotS Self-con- trol. Snarllng in fury, he bounded after the doe.
 She was lost to sight at once in
 the darkness, but for fully thirty yards he raced in her pursuit, If he had stopped to think. 1t would have heen | one of the really great surprises of | his life 10 hear the sudden, unmis- takahle stir and movement Of a large, living creature not fifteen feet distant In the thiCEet.
 He didn't stop to think at al' He didn't puzzle on the extreme urlikeli- hood of a doe halt!ng in her flight from
 a cougar. II is doubtful whether, in ! the thfrEetS he had any perceptions of the creature other than its move
 mppfs He was running down wind. so if Is certain that he didn't smell it. If he saw lt al all. it was iuSr as a
 shadow. sufficiently large to he that l of a deer. IL was moving. crawling as Wnnf the hear sometimes crawlrd,
 seemingly 10 get out of his path. And WhiSpprfOot leaped straight at lt.
 It was a perfect shot. He landed high on It's shoulders. His head dashed ! down. and the white teeth closed. All the long life of hIs race he had known
 that pungent essence that flowed forth. ; His senses perCen ed lt. message | Shot along his nerves to his hrnin. And then he opened h's mouth In high.
 far,carrying squesl of utter, abject
 terror.
 He sprang a full fifteen feet back | into the thickets: then Crouched. The
 hair stood still al his shoulders his 1 claws were hared: he was prepared 1 to fight to the death. He didn't under i stand. He only knew the worst single | terror of his life. Tt was not doe that he had attacked in the darkness ( Ii was not CrSOn the porcupine. or even WoOf. It was that imperial mas i ter of an things. man himself, Un- i knowing he had attacked Landv H''-
 dreth. lying wounded from Cranston'S ' bullet beside the trall Word of the arson ring would never reach the set | dement's. after all.
 And as for WhiSDerfoot-the terror that chnknd hts heart with blood he gan % wear off In a little while. The man lay so still in the thIckets. Be 1 sides. there was a strange, wild smell ! Tn the air. WhiSperfoot's stroke had ! gone home so true there had not even been a fight. The darkness began to { lift around him. and a strange eNUlta- 1 tion. a rapture unknown before in all his hunting. began to creep into his ! wild blood. Then. as a shadow steals,
 he went creeping back 10 his dead. .
 Dan Failing had been studying na- ture on the high ridges; and he went home by a back trail that led to old 1 Bald mountain. The trail was iusl
 narrow serpent In the brush; and It had not been made by gangs Of ! laborers. working with shovelS and [ picks. Possibly half a dozen white
 men. ln all. had ever walked along It.
 It was Just the path of the wild crea. lures. worn down by hOOf and paw and cushion since the young days of l the world.
 Il was a roundabout trail home but yet it had It's advantages. II took him within two miles of SnOwhird's 1 lookout station. and al this hour of day he had been particularly fortunate
 in finding her at a certain spring on i the mountain side. It was rather sin | gular coincidence. Along about four | he would usually find himself wander. ing up that way. Strangely enough at the same time, 1t was true tha'
 she had an irresistible impulse to go down and sit in the green ferns beSid the same spring. They always seemed ! to be surprised to see one another. In reality, either of them would have l.ar, ,,prgI,r,bl,. ,,,,ra g,,-p-{g,R h,