Evening star., 1934-04-29

the thunder Of charging cavalry.
hundred men might have been gall
Looping down the winding trail But
; beyond the canyon, where Lucky
Greek flowed out upon wide, hr-boroered nat,
the echoes abruptly ceased, and only Pete
Rodweu charged out desperately upon spent
horse.
The young man was not unlike his mount
In that he too was tall, raw-boned and dark
ened by sweat and dirt. There was. as well.
caked blood on the horses left thigh, and a
black, duSt-covered stain under the riders LETT
armpit, though neither animal nor man seemed
to be crippled
At the edge of the fat the horse stopped SO
abruptly that dust cloud-like from its
dancing hoofs. The brown bear which sat un-
concernedly in the very center of the fat was
enough of a menace to frighten any horse, SO
that there was a struggle before RodWeu sue
ceeded in gentling his mount.
It was not until then that the young man
heard babble of sound that seemed to be
saying over and over something like, please,
please please!" He stared at the bear as If
miracle had happened
please don't run away. Oh, pleaSe!
A womans voice in that lonely wilderness OF
hills was no less miraculous than the imposSi-
bility of talking bear. Rodwell gaped un-
believingly until finally he found her, gray
shape by giant fir. where she clutched the
tree-trunk if it were something human to
save her. Evidently she had tried to scramble
up the tree, fallen and was now clinging des-
peratey to refuge that had failed her.
"Coming!" He already out of the sad
die. You. Pride, stand still. confound you
The lady'u think you never saw bear be-
fore. Quit trying to climb that tree, ma'an
That bear won't hurt you bit; honest he
won't"
| JEAVY boots and long spurs made running
! through the tall grasses of the fiat some
hfT1cy nf toSG Tha fnn wa co QY
hauSted that he started off staggerngly; yet he
laughed as he ran, and his begrimed face
glowed with such a zestful interest in life that
even high cheek-bones, diversified nose and
wide mouth could not make him look either
homely or dangerous. There were hostered
revolvers at his hips, but he made attempt
to draw them. Instead as he ran he stopped
to catch up a handful of gravel
The bear, undismayed by this menacing ap-
proach, turned lazy head opened a red mouth
as II grinning welcome, and then calmly
reared his massive body upright
"Scat" Rodwell threw the gravel, clapped
his hands, and finally took of his wide
brimmed hat and waved it. Peanuts you old
beggar can't you you're soaring the lady?
Get out of here!"
The bear shook his head, came down to all
fours and shifted the thrown gravel disapprov-
ingly, then turned contemptuous shoulder to
his annoyer.
The wide hat slapped down upon fur "Go
~,
the hat vigorously welded Bruin shook his
head again, looked back over a shaggy shoul-
der, and then obedently trotted toward the
woods
Rodwel followed, yipping like a COW w-puncher,
slapping his hat, and occasionally breaking
into shout Of youthful laughter, as If he did
not have a trouble or a danger in all the
world. When he turned back the girl had
come half a dozen PAGES toward him, to stand,
shaking from the reaction of her terror, while
she stared in fascinated admiration.
"But," she stammered, "but that was awful
1y brave. don't know how to thank you. I
thought was done for. It was worse than
the crack-up."
It was Rodwell,s turn to stare She was
dressed in what had recently been a trim,
brown suit of flying togs. She had leather
helmet and she wore leather gantlets on her
hands, but her goggles were gone her breeches
and jacket were torn and stained and scratches
disfigured her face. For all that admiration
succeeded amazement in the young mans eyes.
"Gosh," he said, family. Then: "Shucks,
that wasn't anything but Old Peanuts. He
comes over here from the National Park some
times Say, you didn't feed him peppermints,
did you? They make him roaring mad Where's
your camp?"
Her laughter was shaky "On1y Old Pea
nuts" she echoed. Harmless as a squirrel If
you don't feed him peppermints He's like
all the rest Of this wilderness, suppose? Like
you, too?"
CHE had eyed the holstered revolvers with
- disfavor, but now her gaze fell upon the
stained shirt that chung wetly under his left
arm. "You look as If you'd been hurt"
"You and me both. We're something of a
pair The glow of admiration that was on