The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1923-02-01

turned out quite well for him, after
all. A wolf is ever SO much more fill
ing than any kind Of seasonal fawn;
and the old gray pack leader was IN
prisoned and helpless in one Of Hud-
sons traps.
.
In the first gray OF morning, Dave
Turner started back toward his home.
"Ill go with you to the forks in the
trail" Hudson told him. Il want to
take n look at some OF my traps, any
how"
AT the same hOur-as sOon as II was
light enough to see-Bruce was finish
ing his breakfast in preparation for
the last lap OF his journey. He lad
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
ii impossible for hin 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, II believe
I've got a coyote or a 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 mar might break a match In
his fingers. There was no living wolf.
Life had gone out of the gray body
many minutes before. The two men
saw all these things as a 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 half.leaning over his prey, his
head turned, his little red eyes full OF
hatred. He uttered one hOarse, saw
age note, a sound In which all his
hatred and his fury and his savage
power were made manifest, whirled
with incredible speed, and charged.
Hudson did not even have time to
turn. There was no defense; his gun
was strapped on his back, and even
II II had been In his hands, its bullet
would not have mattered the sting OF
a bee in honey-robbing. The only
possible chance Of breaking that dead
~ charge lay in the thirty-thirty deer
rifle In Dawes arms; but the craven
who held Ii did not ven fire. He was
standing just below the Outstretched
limb Of a tree. and the weapon fell
from his hands as he swung up into
the limb. The fact that Hudson stood
weaponless, ten feet away In the clear
ing, did no. deter him In the least.
No human flesh could stand against
that charge. The vast paw fell with
resistless force; and no need arose for
a second blow. The %trapper's body
was struck down as II felled by a
meteor. and the power Of the impact
forced it deep into the carpet of pine
needles. The savage creature turned,
the white fangs caught the light in the
open mouth. The head lunged toward
the mans shoulder.
No man may say what agony Hud-
son would have endured in the last
few seconds Of his life If the Killer
had been given time and opportunity.
His usual way was to linger long,
sharp fangs closing again and again
until all living likeness was destroyed.
The blood lust was upon him; there
would have been no mercy to the dy-
ing creature in the pine needles. Yet
1t transpired that HudsoE's flesh was
not to know those rending fangs a
second time.
On the hillside above. Il stranger to
this land had dropped to his knee In
the shrubbery, his rifle lifted to the
level of his eyes. 1t was Bruce, who
had come in time to see the charge
through a rift in the trees.
The bear was on Hudson, and the
man had gone down, before Bruce
ever interpreted him. Then it was
just a gray patch, a full three hundred
yards away. His instinct was To rnrow
the gun to his shoulder and fire with
out aiming; yet he conquered it Win
IN iron will. But he did move quick,
BE dropped to his knee the very sec
ond that he gun leaped to his shoul.
der. He seemed to know that from a
lower position the target would be
more clearly revealed. The finger
pressed back against the trigger.
The distance wal far; Bruce was
not a practiced rifle shot. and 1t Dor
1 AnunA an thu sot.n A.. n -