The Ely miner., 1940-03-07
Prologue bHope Y4;;ss y:4;a:s !;

writhing, kicking, screaming bod
les. A few had escaped and were
struggling up the steep bank, bleat-
ing dementedly, their oblique, crazy
eyes aglare.
In the thick Of the struggle, fail
ing out with both arms and sobbing
frantically, Clancy Shane bobbed
about, with hideous righteousness,
like a cork. Jarvis yelled to him
and plunged down the embankment,
hurting out of his way the few half
stunned animals that rushed up at
him. With all the strength Of his
powerful frame he fought his way
to the boy, lifted him bodily above
the descending stream Of gray
forms, and flung him free.
As he did so, a dozen grizzled
shapes came down upon him and
Jarvis fell back among them.
Bruce Landor was driving home
from town. On a sharp decline In
the road where it approached the
Dean place, his gaze was arrested
by wild figure that rushed fren-
ziedly toward him, apparently from
nowhere. Bruce drew to the side OF
the road and stopped his car. The
madman was young Clancy Shane.
The boy collapsed against the run
ming board, his breath a raucous
wheeze. Bruce leaped from his car
and lifted him to a sitting position.
What's wrong, Clancy?" he de-
manded.
The boy flung out an arm toward
the pasture. ''Over yonderi" he
gasped. 1.-The master-in the gullyl
Go quick!"
With only a swift glance of hor-
ror into the blood-stained face Of
the youth, Bruce sped away.
The sight that met his eyes in the
arroyo froze his veins. There was
scattering of sheep, running and
bleating idiotically still, with the dog
valiantly struggling to bring them
together. But across the gap in the
earth there had risen a solid 18TH
mus of dead or dying bodies. Of
Jarvis Dean himself there was no
sign. Bruce stood In stony horror.
The sheep lay In the arroyo, ten
deep.
Two men came running from the
direction of the Dean place.
A strange quiet seemed to have
fallen upon that land, when-it
seemed to Bruce an eternity later
the western sky drew down an en-
erald curtain upon the glory that
had been there. Three men stood
back from their work, their bodies
wet, and lowered their heads. The
battered, still form of Jarvis Dean
lay where they had placed it on the
ground at their feet.
Clancy Shane had told them the
brief and tragic story Of what had
occurred. An eagle had flown down
on the flock and terrorized a few
stragglers that had wandered a
short distance from the others. They
had raced back and spread the con-
tagion Of fear IN the flock. The rest
of the story they could read for
themselves In the havoc that had
been wrought during the brief mo-
ments of the hopeless struggle.
Hannah, in the kitchen of the Cas-
tie, lifted her tear-drenched face
from her hands. "You will have to
go and fetch her, Bruce" she
sobbed. "She is stopping the night
with the PARIS at their lodge. You
know the placer"
Bruce looked down at her. Eyes
! know where it is" he replied.
''Wil1 you go, them"
His lips frightened. 'Tn CO." he
said.
In few moments he was on his
way, the dusk thickening about him
as he sped along the winding trail
that led southwark into the noun
tains. Two hours later he climbed
up out of the troublous dark heat of
the valley into the sheer, cool star
light of the hills. Now the road be-
came narrow and capricious, and the
black spires Of the dense pines made
a cathedral oninousness against the
sky. How like Autumn, Bruce
thought with frowning admiration,
to have driven over this road alonei
One false swerve of the wheel and
she would have been at the mercy of
this solitary wilderness until some
one found her and brought her out.
He strove to keep his mind on the
deviousness of the way so that he
might be possessed of measure of
composure for the difficult task that
lay before him. He was glad, with
a self-effacing bleakness, that her
friends were with her-Linda Parr
and Florian. They would be able to
offer her comfort, as he himself was
not qualified to do.
He had telephoned to Hector Car
digan from the Dean place. It had
seemed proper that Hector should
be the first to be informed of the
tragedy-and, If possible, to break
the news to Autumn. Bruce would
have given much to have had the
old friend of the family with him on
this sorry mission, but Hector had
not been at home and Hannah had
urged that the tragic news should
be carried to Autumn without delay.
The road began to steepen treach-
erously as Bruce approached the
comparatively open shelf on the
mountain where the Parr Lodge
stood. From somewhere In the
shrouded darkness far above him
came the sinister, feral wall of a
cougar, trailing sound of wounded
malevolence. Closer at hand an owl
hooted as though in mockery of that
other more menacing cry Of the
wild
A gleam Of light through the dark
weft of the pines. and Bruce was