Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1922-11-10
CHAPTER XIII

edge OF the forest could not be mi
II taken as to Identity. The hopes tn
he had held before--that this stalklr
figure might be that of deer or &
elk-could no longer be entertaIne
III Men, as rule, do not love the VII
and wailing sobA of q coyote, as
looks down upon = camp fire from tn
II ridge above. Sleep does not come en-!
Il lily when gaunt wolf walks In a SLOW
inquisitive circle about the pale
scarcely 4 leaf rustling beneath hi
II feet. And q few times, In the hfstor
Il OF the frontier. men have had Quee
tinglings and creepings In the seal
when they have happened to glance
over their shoulders and see the eye,
of great, tnwny puma glowing al
odd blue In the freight. Yet, Bruce
would have had any one Of these, OF
all three together, In preference to the
Killer.
The reason was extremely simple
No words have ever been capable of
expressing the depths Of cowardice OF
which a coyote is capable He will
whine and weep about camp, like n
soul lost between two worlds, but II
he Is in his right mind he would have
each one OF his gray hairs plucked out,
one By one, rather than attack man.
The cunning breed to which he belongs
has found out that 1t doesn't pay. The
wolf Ii sometimes disquietingly brave
when he Is fortified by his pack breth-
rem In the winter, but In such a season
as this he is particularly careful to
keep out OF the sight of man. And the
Tawny One himself, white-fanged and
long-clawed and powerful as he Is,
never gets farther than certain dread
full speculative dreams.
But none of these was true OF the
Killer. He had already shown his
scorn Of men. His very stride showed
that he feared no living creature that
shared the forest with him. In fact.
he considered himself the forest mas
ter. The bear is never a particularly
hmid animal. and whatever timidity |
the Killer possessed was as utterly |
gone as yesterdays daylight.
Bruce watched him with unwinking
eyes. 1t might be that the Killer would |
fail to discern his outline. Bruce had |
no conscious knowledge, as yet, that |
Ii Is movement rather than form TO |
which the eyes Of the wild creatures
are most receptive. But he acted up
on that fact now as II by instinct. He
was not lying In quite the exact spot
where the Killer had left his dead the
preceding night, and possibly HIS out
line was not enough like it to attract
the grizzly's attention. Besides, in the
Intermittent light, 1t was wholly pos
sible that the grizzly would try to find
the remains OF his feast by smell
aloneS and IL this were lacking, and
Bruce made no movements to attract
his attention, he might wander away
In search of other game.
For the first time In his life. Rruce
knew Fear as 1t really was. 1t Is a
that few dwellers In cities
,an possibly have; and so few times has
i really been experienced In these DAYS
of civilization that men have mostly
forgotten what 1t is like. II they ex-
perience II at all. 1t is usually only in
dream that arises from the germ
,lasm-a nightmare to paralyze the
muscles and chill the heart and freeze
| man In his bed. The moon was
strange and white as 1t slipped In and
nut OF the clouds, and the forest, mys-
erious MS Death itself. lightened and
alternately with strange
fleet OF unrealty; but for all that,
truce could not make himself believe
hat this was just dream. The
rendful reality remained that the
Niller, whose name and works he
new. was even now investigating him
rom the shadows one hundred feet
way.
The fear that came to him was that
the young world-fear without rec
mpense. direct and primitive fear
iat grew on him like . sickness. II
as the fear that the deer knew ms
icy crept down their dns.sy trails at
ght; II was the fear OF darkness
nd silence and pam and heaven
rows what cruelty that would be Wis
I'd upon him by those terrible rend.
4 fsDgs and claws II was the fear =,
90 can be heard In the pack song In
e dreadful winter season. and that
u bs felt In strange osertones. In the IA
bling wall OF tSspair that the coyote OF
tsrs IN the half darkness He bsd ns
~ sfraid for bis iifs every moment be-
sss IN the bands Of fbs Turner'S IA.
knew thai II hs survived this night 3D.
would hSsS 60 face death sgaiu. ab
had 40 hapss % dslisefsnes alto Ba
'hsr Bur tbs Iv5usss we're men. 10
. thss sosssd siih splfs blade ana hs
|isi. ~ fendsss fang ana CLAW. lie sis
40 Dee mtD bssssIy boz "a MAS
- " sssp strung hear 10 the faes 10
fi'ss pne'epi fssf ~ benslf lay
ne Killer semsd dlsfusbeo aud ho'
,sd flerls along lhe edge " me as
pnlishi Nfnlf could 1ace b. dla
'flnfnif hl lAf UffsplRlll} NJ ~
~ 4l.alIIlIa Az ....t...I a. H.. f.|