The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1923-01-11

were the steps OF deer-but not OF the
great, wary elk this time. Instead IL
was just a fawn, or a yearling doe at
least, such a creature as had not yet
learned TO suspect every turn in the
trail. The forest gods had been good
to him, after all.
He peered through the thickets, and
in a more he had a glimpse OF
the spotted skin. 1t was almost too
easy. But even as the Killer watched,
the prize was simply taken out of his
mouth. A gray VOLTA savage old
male that also had just finished an
unsuccessful hunt-had been stealing
through the thickets in search of a
lair, and he came out on the trail not
fifty Get distant, halfway between the
hear and the fawn. The one was al
most as surprised as the other. The
fawn turned with a frightened hleat
and darted away the wolf swung into
pursuit.
The bear lunged forward with a
howl of rage. He leaped into the trail
mouth, then ran as fast as he could
| III pun suit vi u tuiililiS Will ~
was too enraged to stop to think that
il grizzly bear has never yet been BILE
10 overtake Il wolf, once the trim legs
got well into action. At first he
couldn't think about anything he had
been cheated too many times. His
first impulse was one of tremendous
and overpowering wrath-a fury that
meant death TO the first living crea-
ture that he met.
But in a single, second he realized
that this wild chase was fairly good
tactics, after all. The chances for a
meal were still rather good. The
fawn and the wolf were in the open
now, and 1t was wholly evident that
the gray hunter would overtake the
quarry In another moment. II was
true that the Killer would miss the
pleasure of Staying his own game
the ecstatic blow. to the shoulder and
the bite 10 the throat that followed it.
In this case, the wolf would do that
part of the work for him. II was just
a simple matter of driving the crea-
ture way from his dead.
But at that instant fate took a hand
in the merry little chase. To the
fawn, ii was nothing but a sharp clang
shrek of pain-sounds that in its
' terror il heard but dimly. But il was
an unloOked-for and tragic reality to
the wolf. His leap was suddenly ar
rested in mid-air, and he was hurled
to the ground with stunning force.
Cruel metal teeth had seized his leg,
and a strong chain held him when he
tried to escape. He fought it with
desperate ~savagery. The fawn leaped
on to safety.
But there was no need of the grizzly
continuing its pursuit. Everything had
turned out quite well for him, after
all. A wolf is ever 50 much more fill.
ing than any kind of seasonal fawn
and the old gray pack leader was i'm
prisoned and helpless in one of Hud-
sons traps.
In the first gray of morning, Dave
Turner started back toward his home,
I'll go with you to the forks in the
trail" Hudson told him. II want to
take a look at some of my traps, any
how"
At the same hour-as soon as IL was
light enough to see-Bruce was finish
ing his breakfast in preparation for
the last lap of his journey. He had
passed the night by a spring on a long
ridge almost in eye range of Hudson's
camp. Now he was preparing TO dip
down into the Killers glen.
Turner and Hudson followed up the
little creek.
The first of Hudson's sets proved
empty. The second was about a turn
in the creek, and q wall of brush made
it impossible for him TO tell at a dis
lance whether or not he had made a
catch. But when still a quarter of a
mile distant, Hudson heard a sound
that he thought he recognized. 1t was
a high, sharp, agonized bark that
dimmed into a low whine, Il believe
I've got a coyote or q wolf up there"
he said. They FASTENED their steps.
The whole picture doomed suddenly
before their eyes. There was no wolf
in the trap. The steel had sprung
certainly, but only a hideous fragment
of a foot remained between the jaws.
The bone had been broken sharply
off, as a man might break a match in
his fingers. There was no living wolf.
Life had gone cut OF the gray body
many minutes before. The two men
saw all these things as o background
only dim details about the central
figure. But the thing that froze them
IN their tracks with terror was the
great, gray form Of the Killer, not
twenty feet distant, beside the man
gled body OF the wolf.
The events that followed thereafter
came in such quick succession as TO
seem simultaneous. For one fraction
of an instant all three figures stood
motionless, the two men staring, the
grizzly i~,aif-i-ahiny over his prey, mis-
mead turned, his little red eyes full Of
hatred. He uttered one hoarse, saw
age note, a sound in which all his
hitred and his fury n his savage
power were made manifest, whirled
with Incredible speed, and charged.
Hudson did not even have time to
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