The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1923-02-08
CHAPTER XIII

The shadow that Bruce saw at the
edge of the forest could not be mis-
taken as to identity. The hopes that
he had held before-that this stalking
figure might be that OF a deer or an
elk-could no longer be entertained.
Men, as a rule, do not love the wild
and wailing sobs of a coyote, as he
looks down upon a camp fire from the
ridge above. Sleep does not come cas-
lily when a gaunt wolf walks in a slow,
inquisitive circle about the pallet,
scarcely q leaf rustling beneath his
feet. And a few times, in the history
of the frontier, men have had queer
tinglings and creepings In the scalp
when they have happened to glance
over their shoulders and see the eyes
of a great, tawny puma glowing m
odd blue i'm the freight. Yet. bruce
would have had any one Of these, or
all three together, in preference TO the
Killer.
The reason vas 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 a camp. like a
soul lost between two worlds. but If
he is in his right mind he would have
each one of his gray hairs plucked out.
one by one. rather than attack a man.
The cunning breed to which he belongs
has found out that it doesn't pay. The
wolf is sometimes disGuietingly 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
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
timid ANNUAL, 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 if 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 1t 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
alone; and If 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. Bruce
knew Fear as II sreally was. II Is a
knowledge that few jewellers In cities
can possibly have; and so few times has
il really been experienced in these days
of civilization that men have mostly
forgotten what 1t Is like. If they ex-
perience IL at all, 1t Is usually only in
a dream that arises from the germ
plasm-a nightmare to p~aralyze the
muscles and chill fine heart and freeze
a man in his bed. The moon was
strange and white as it slipped in and
out of the clouds, and the forest, mys.
terious as Death itself. lightened and
darkened alternately with a strange
effect of unreality: but for all that.
Bruce could not make himself believe
that this was just a dream. The
dreadful reality remained that the
Killer, whose name and works he
knew, was even now investigating him
from the shadows one hundred feet
away.
The fear that came to hin was that
Of the young world-fear without rec
ompense, direct and primitive fear
that grew on him like a sickness. II
was the fear that the deer knew as
they crept down their dusky trails at
night: 1t was the fear Of darkness
and silence and pain and heaven
knows what cruelty that would be Wis
HE'D upon him by those terrible rend-
ing fangs and claws. II was the fear
that can he heard in the pack song in
the dreadful winter season, and that
can he felt in strange overtones. In the
sObbing wall of despair that the coyote
utters in the half darkness. He had
been afraid for his life every momen
he was in the hands Of the Turner's.
He knew that IL he survived this night.
he would have TO face death again.
He had no hopes of deliverance alto.
gether. But the Turner's were men.
and they worked with knife blade and
bullet, moi rending fang and claw. He
could face men bravely hut II was
hard 10 keep a strong hear In the face
IF rhis ancient fear Of beas;s.
The Killer seemed disturbed and
moved slowly along the edge of the
moonlight. Bruce could trace his
movements by he irregularity In the
line Of shadows He seemed to be
moving more cautiously than ever.
now. Bruce could not hear the slight
est sound.
For an instant he had an exult-