The Adair County news., 1922-11-21

lIC M dbtChlAOhs ~
seemed that sore enc had come, taken
one glance at the drama at the edge
Of the forest, and had departed.
Bruce himself had not seen the figure;
and perhaps it was the mercy of Fate
not usually merciful-that he did
not. He might have been caused to
hope again, only to know deeper
despair when the, man left him with
out giving aid. For the tall form had
been that of Simon coming, as Linda
had anticipated, for a moments in
spection of his handiwOrk. And see
ing that it was good, he had depart
ed again.
The grizzly watched him go, then
turned back TO his questioning regard
of the strange, dark figure that lay
so prone in the grass in front. The
darkness dropped over him as the
moon went behind heavy patch Of
cloud.
And in that moment the Killer I'M
derstOOd He remembered now, Pos
sibly the upright form of Simon had
suggested it to him; possibly the wind
had only blown Straighter and thus
permitted him to identify the troubling
smells All at once a memory flashed
over him-Of a scene in distant glen,
and similar tall figures that tried to
drive him from his food. He had
charged then, struck once, and one
of the forms had lain very still. He
remembered the pungent, maddening
odor that had reached him after his
blow had gone home. Most clearly of
all, he remembered how his claws had
struck and sunk.
He knew this strange shadow now.
1t was just another of that tall breed
he had learned to hate, and it was sim
ply lying prone as his foe had done
after the charge beside Little river. In
fact, the still-lying form recalled the
other occasion with particular vivid
ness. The excitement that he had felt
before returned to him now; he re-
membered his disappointment when
the whistling bullets from the hillside
above had driven him from his dead.
But there were no whistling bullets
have been further rapture beside that
stream; but he might have it now.
The old hunting madness came back
to him. 1t was fair game, this that
lay so still in the grass. just as the
body of the calf had been and just
as the warm body of Hudson in the
distant glen.
The wound at his side gave him a
twinge of pain. 1t served to make his
memories all the clearer. The lurid
lights grew in his eyes. Rage swept
over him.
But he didn't charge blindly. He re-
tanned enough Of his hunting caution
to know that TO stalk was the proper
course. He moved farther out from
the edge of the forest.
At that instant the moon came out
and revealed him, all too vividly, to
Bruce. The Killers great gray figure
In the silver light was creeping to-
ward him across the Silvered grass.
When Linda left her house. her first
realization was the need of caution. 1t
would not do to let Simon see her.
And she knew that only her long train
ing in the hills, her practice in climb
ing the winding trails, would enable
her to keep pace with the fast-walking
man without being seen.
In her concern for Bruce, Linda had
completely forgotten the events of the
earlier part of the evening. Wild and
stirring though they were they now
seemed to her as incidents Of remote
years, nothing to be remembered in
this hour of crisis. But she remem-
bered them vividly when, two hundred
yards from the house, she saw two
strange figures coming toward her be-
! tween the moOnlit tree trunks.
There was very little of reality
about either. The foremost figure
was bent and strange, but she knew
| that it could be no one but Elmira.
The second, -Obscured
behind her-Offered no Interpretation
Of outline at all at first. But at the
turn of the trail she saw both figures
| in vivid profile. Elmira was coming
hOmeward, bent over her cane, and
she led a saddled horse by its bride
rein.
Still keeping Simon in sight, Linda
ran swiftly toward her. She didn't
understand the deep awe that stole
over her-an emotion that even her
fear for Bruce could not transcend.
| There was a quality in Elmira's face
and posture that she had never seen
before. 1t was as if she were walking
in her sleep, she came with such a
strange heaviness and languor, her
cane creeping through the pine needles
of the trail in front. She did not
seem to be aware of Linda's approach
until the girl was only ten feet dis
tant. Then she looked up, and Linda
saw the moonlight on her face.
She saw something else too, but she
didn't know what it was. Her own
eyes widened. The thin lips were
dropping, the eyes looked as if she
were asleep. The face was a strange
net of wrinkles in the soft light. Ter
rible emotions had but recently died
and left their ashes upon it. But Linda
knew that this was no time to stop
and wonder and ask questions.