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diff --git a/28530.txt b/28530.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff48a09 --- /dev/null +++ b/28530.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6468 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Kings in Exile, by Sir Charles George +Douglas Roberts + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Kings in Exile + + +Author: Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts + + + +Release Date: April 7, 2009 [eBook #28530] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KINGS IN EXILE*** + + +E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 28530-h.htm or 28530-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/5/3/28530/28530-h/28530-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/5/3/28530/28530-h.zip) + + + + + +KINGS IN EXILE + + * * * * * * + + +The MacMillan Company +New York . Boston . Chicago +Dallas . San Francisco + +MacMillan & Co., Limited +London . Bombay . Calcutta +Melbourne + +The MacMillan Co. Of Canada, Ltd. +Toronto + + * * * * * * + +[Illustration: "The Gray Master."] + + +KINGS IN EXILE + +by + +CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS + +Author of "The Backwoodsmen," Etc. + +Illustrated + + + + + + + +New York +The MacMillan Company +1912 + +All rights reserved + +Copyright by Perry, Mason & Co. (1907), The Curtis +Publishing Co. (1908-1909), The Associated Sunday +Magazines (1908), The Red Book Magazine (1908). + +Copyright, 1910, +By The MacMillan Company. + +Set up and electrotyped. Published February, 1910. Reprinted +June, 1910; July, December, 1912. + +Norwood Press + +J. S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. +Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. + + + + +CONTENTS + PAGE + + Last Bull 1 + + The King of the Flaming Hoops 25 + + The Monarch of Park Barren 70 + + The Gray Master 107 + + The Sun-Gazer 140 + + The Lord of the Glass House 177 + + Back to the Water World 196 + + Lone Wolf 243 + + The Bear's Face 276 + + The Duel on the Trail 297 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + FACING PAGE + + "The Gray Master." _Frontispiece_ + + "Last Bull, standing solitary and morose on a + little knoll in his pasture." 6 + + "Only to be hurled back again with a vigor that + brought him to his knees." 10 + + "When the grizzly saw her, his wicked little + dark eyes glowed suddenly red." 32 + + "Almost over his head, on a limb not six feet + distant, crouched, ready to spring, the biggest + puma he had ever seen." 64 + + "He reached the tree just in time to swing well + up among the branches." 72 + + "For perhaps thirty or forty yards the bull was + able to keep up this almost incredible pace." 90 + + "Then the second puma pounced." 134 + + "He launched himself on a long, splendid sweep + over the gulf." 144 + + "After this the eagle came regularly every three + or four hours with food for the prisoner." 160 + + "And the writhing tentacles composed themselves + once more to stillness upon the bottom, awaiting + the next careless passer-by." 176 + + "Without the slightest hesitation he whipped up + two writhing tentacles and seized him." 188 + + + + +LAST BULL + + + + +LAST BULL + + +That was what two grim old sachems of the Dacotahs had dubbed him; and +though his official title, on the lists of the Zoological Park, was +"Kaiser," the new and more significant name had promptly supplanted +it. The Park authorities--people of imagination and of sentiment, as +must all be who would deal successfully with wild animals--had felt at +once that the name aptly embodied the tragedies and the romantic +memories of his all-but-vanished race. They had felt, too, that the +two old braves who had been brought East to adorn a city pageant, and +who had stood gazing stoically for hours at the great bull buffalo +through the barrier of the steel-wire fence, were fitted, before all +others, to give him a name. Between him and them there was surely a +tragic bond, as they stood there islanded among the swelling tides of +civilization which had already engulfed their kindreds. "Last Bull" +they had called him, as he answered their gaze with little, sullen, +melancholy eyes from under his ponderous and shaggy front. "Last +Bull"--and the passing of his race was in the name. + +Here, in his fenced, protected range, with a space of grassy meadow, +half a dozen clumps of sheltering trees, two hundred yards of the run +of a clear, unfailing brook, and a warm shed for refuge against the +winter storms, the giant buffalo ruled his little herd of three tawny +cows, two yearlings, and one blundering, butting calf of the season. +He was a magnificent specimen of his race--surpassing, it was said, +the finest bull in the Yellowstone preserves or in the guarded +Canadian herd of the North. Little short of twelve feet in length, a +good five foot ten in height at the tip of his humped and huge +fore-shoulders, he seemed to justify the most extravagant tales of +pioneer and huntsman. His hind-quarters were trim and fine-lined, +built apparently for speed, smooth-haired, and of a grayish +lion-color. But his fore-shoulders, mounting to an enormous hump, were +of an elephantine massiveness, and clothed in a dense, curling, +golden-brown growth of matted hair. His mighty head was carried low, +almost to the level of his knees, on a neck of colossal strength, +which was draped, together with the forelegs down to the knees, in a +flowing brown mane tipped with black. His head, too, to the very +muzzle, wore the same luxuriant and sombre drapery, out of which +curved viciously the keen-tipped crescent of his horns. Dark, huge, +and ominous, he looked curiously out of place in the secure and +familiar tranquillity of his green pasture. + +For a distance of perhaps fifty yards, at the back of the pasture, the +range of the buffalo herd adjoined that of the moose, divided from it +by that same fence of heavy steel-wire mesh, supported by iron posts, +which surrounded the whole range. One sunny and tingling day in late +October--such a day as makes the blood race full red through all +healthy veins--a magnificent stranger was brought to the Park, and +turned into the moose-range. + +The newcomer was a New Brunswick bull moose, captured on the Tobique +during the previous spring when the snow was deep and soft, and +purchased for the Park by one of the big Eastern lumber-merchants. The +moose-herd had consisted, hitherto, of four lonely cows, and the +splendid bull was a prize which the Park had long been coveting. He +took lordly possession, forthwith, of the submissive little herd, and +led them off at once from the curious crowds about the gate to explore +the wild-looking thickets at the back of the pasture. But no sooner +had he fairly entered these thickets than he found his further +progress barred by the steel-meshed fence. This was a bitter +disappointment, for he had expected to go striding through miles of +alder swamp and dark spruce woods, fleeing the hated world of men and +bondage, before setting himself to get acquainted with his new +followers. His high-strung temper was badly jarred. He drew off, +shaking his vast antlers, and went shambling with spacious stride down +along the barrier towards the brook. The four cows, in single file, +hurried after him anxiously, afraid he might be snatched away from +them. + +Last Bull, standing solitary and morose on a little knoll in his +pasture, caught sight of the strange, dark figure of the running +moose. A spark leapt into his heavy eyes. He wheeled, pawed the sod, +put his muzzle to the ground, and bellowed a sonorous challenge. The +moose stopped short and stared about him, the stiff hair lifting +angrily along the ridge of his massive neck. Last Bull lowered his +head and tore up the sod with his horns. + +[Illustration: "Last Bull, standing solitary and morose on a little knoll +in his pasture."] + +This vehement action caught the eyes of the moose. At first he stared +in amazement, for he had never seen any creature that looked like Last +Bull. The two were only about fifty or sixty yards apart, across the +little valley of the bushy swamp. As he stared, his irritation +speedily overcame his amazement. The curious-looking creature over +there on the knoll was defying him, was challenging him. At this time +of year his blood was hot and quick for any challenge. He gave vent to +a short, harsh, explosive cry, more like a grumbling bleat than a +bellow, and as unlike the buffalo's challenge as could well be +imagined. Then he fell to thrashing the nearest bushes violently with +his antlers. This, for some reason unknown to the mere human +chronicler, seemed to be taken by Last Bull as a crowning insolence. +His long, tasselled tail went stiffly up into the air, and he charged +wrathfully down the knoll. The moose, with his heavy-muzzled head +stuck straight out scornfully before him, and his antlers laid flat +along his back, strode down to the encounter with a certain deadly +deliberation. He was going to fight. There was no doubt whatever on +that score. But he had not quite made up his wary mind as to how he +would deal with this unknown and novel adversary. + +They looked not so unequally matched, these two, the monarch of the +Western plains, and the monarch of the northeastern forests. Both had +something of the monstrous, the uncouth, about them, as if they +belonged not to this modern day, but to some prehistoric epoch when +Earth moulded her children on more lavish and less graceful lines. The +moose was like the buffalo in having his hind-quarters relatively +slight and low, and his back sloping upwards to a hump over the +immensely developed fore-shoulders. But he had much less length of +body, and much less bulk, though perhaps eight or ten inches more of +height at the tip of the shoulder. His hair was short, and darker than +that of his shaggy rival, being almost black except on legs and belly. +Instead of carrying his head low, like the buffalo, for feeding on the +level prairies, he bore it high, being in the main a tree-feeder. But +the greatest difference between the two champions was in their heads +and horns. The antlers of the moose formed a huge, fantastic, flatly +palmated or leaflike structure, separating into sharp prongs along the +edges, and spreading more than four feet from tip to tip. To compare +them with the short, polished crescent of the horns of Last Bull was +like comparing a two-handed broadsword to a bowie-knife. And his head, +instead of being short, broad, ponderous, and shaggy, like Last +Bull's, was long, close-haired, and massively horse-faced, with a +projecting upper lip heavy and grim. + +Had there been no impregnable steel barrier between them, it is hard +to say which would have triumphed in the end, the ponderous weight and +fury of Last Bull, or the ripping prongs and swift wrath of the moose. +The buffalo charged down the knoll at a thundering gallop; but just +before reaching the fence he checked himself violently. More than once +or twice before had those elastic but impenetrable meshes given him +his lesson, hurling him back with humiliating harshness when he dashed +his bulk against them. He had too lively a memory of past +discomfitures to risk a fresh one now in the face of this insolent +foe. His matted front came against the wire with a force so cunningly +moderated that he was not thrown back by the recoil. And the keen +points of his horns went through the meshes with a vehemence which +might indeed have done its work effectively had they come in contact +with the adversary. As it was, however, they but prodded empty air. + +The moose, meanwhile, had been in doubt whether to attack with his +antlers, as was his manner when encountering foes of his own kind, or +with his knife-edged fore-hoofs, which were the weapons he used +against bears, wolves, or other alien adversaries. Finally he seemed +to make up his mind that Last Bull, having horns and a most +redoubtable stature, must be some kind of moose. In that case, of +course, it became a question of antlers. Moreover, in his meetings +with rival bulls it had never been his wont to depend upon a blind, +irresistible charge,--thereby leaving it open to an alert opponent to +slip aside and rip him along the flank,--but rather to fence warily +for an advantage in the locking of antlers, and then bear down his foe +by the fury and speed of his pushing. It so happened, therefore, that +he, too, came not too violently against the barrier. Loudly his vast +spread of antlers clashed upon the steel meshes; and one short prong, +jutting low over his brow, pierced through and furrowed deeply the +matted forehead of the buffalo. + +As the blood streamed down over his nostrils, obscuring one eye, Last +Bull quite lost his head with rage. Drawing off, he hurled himself +blindly upon the barrier--only to be hurled back again with a vigor +that brought him to his knees. But at the same time the moose, on the +other side of the fence, got a huge surprise. Having his antlers +against the barrier when Last Bull charged, he was forced back +irresistibly upon his haunches, with a rudeness quite unlike anything +that he had ever before experienced. His massive neck felt as if a +pine tree had fallen upon it, and he came back to the charge quite +beside himself with bewilderment and rage. + +[Illustration: "Only to be hurled back again with a vigor that brought +him to his knees."] + +By this time, however, the keepers and Park attendants were arriving +on the scene, armed with pitchforks and other unpleasant executors of +authority. Snorting, and bellowing, and grunting, the monstrous +duellists were forced apart; and Last Bull, who had been taught +something of man's dominance, was driven off to his stable and +imprisoned. He was not let out again for two whole days. And by that +time another fence, parallel with the first and some five or six feet +distant from it, had been run up between his range and that of the +moose. Over this impassable zone of neutrality, for a few days, the +two rivals flung insult and futile defiance, till suddenly, becoming +tired of it all, they seemed to agree to ignore each other's +existence. + +After this, Last Bull's sullenness of temper appeared to grow upon +him. He was fond of drawing apart from the little herd, and taking up +his solitary post on the knoll, where he would stand for an hour at a +time motionless except for the switching of his long tail, and +staring steadily westward as if he knew where the great past of his +race had lain. In that direction a dense grove of chestnuts, maples, +and oaks bounded the range, cutting off the view of the city roofs, +the roar of the city traffic. Beyond the city were mountains and wide +waters which he could not see; but beyond the waters and the mountains +stretched the green, illimitable plains--which perhaps (who knows?) in +some faint vision inherited from the ancestors whose myriads had +possessed them, his sombre eyes, in some strange way, _could_ see. +Among the keepers and attendants generally it was said, with anxious +regret, that perhaps Last Bull was "going bad." But the head-keeper, +Payne, himself a son of the plains, repudiated the idea. _He_ declared +sympathetically that the great bull was merely homesick, pining for +the wind-swept levels of the open country (God's country, Payne called +it!) which his imprisoned hoofs had never trodden. + +Be this as it may, the fact could not be gainsaid that Last Bull was +growing more and more morose. The spectators, strolling along the wide +walk which skirted the front of his range, seemed to irritate him, and +sometimes, when a group had gathered to admire him, he would turn his +low-hung head and answer their staring eyes with a kind of heavy fury, +as if he burned to break forth upon them and seek vengeance for +incalculable wrongs. This smouldering indignation against humanity +extended equally, if not more violently, to all creatures who appeared +to him as servants or allies of humanity. The dogs whom he sometimes +saw passing, held in leash by their masters or mistresses, made him +paw the earth scornfully if he happened to be near the fence. The +patient horses who pulled the road-roller or the noisy lawn-mower made +his eyes redden savagely. And he hated with peculiar zest the roguish +little trick elephant, Bong, who would sometimes, his inquisitive +trunk swinging from side to side, go lurching lazily by with a load of +squealing children on his back. + +Bong, who was a favored character, amiable and trustworthy, was +allowed the freedom of the Park in the early morning, before visitors +began to arrive who might be alarmed at seeing an elephant at large. +He was addicted to minding his own business, and never paid the +slightest attention to any occupants of cage or enclosure. He was +quite unaware of the hostility which he had aroused in the perverse +and brooding heart of Last Bull. + +One crisp morning in late November, when all the grass in the Park had +been blackened by frost, and the pools were edged with silver rims of +ice, and mists were white and saffron about the scarce-risen sun, and +that autumn thrill was in the air which gives one such an appetite, +Bong chanced to be strolling past the front of Last Bull's range. He +did not see Last Bull, who was nothing to him. But, being just as +hungry as he ought to be on so stimulating a morning, he did see, and +note with interest, some bundles of fresh hay on the other side of the +fence. + +Now, Bong was no thief. But hay had always seemed to him a free +largess, like grass and water, and this looked like very good hay. So +clear a conscience had he on the subject that he never thought of +glancing around to see if any of the attendants were looking. +Innocently he lurched up to the fence, reached his lithe trunk +through, gathered a neat wisp of the hay, and stuffed it happily into +his curious, narrow, pointed mouth. Yes, he had not been mistaken. It +was good hay. With great satisfaction he reached in for another +mouthful. + +Last Bull, as it happened, was standing close by, but a little to one +side. He had been ignoring, so far, his morning ration. He was not +hungry. And, moreover, he rather disapproved of the hay because it had +the hostile man-smell strong upon it. Nevertheless, he recognized it +very clearly as his property, to be eaten when he should feel inclined +to eat it. His wrath, then, was only equalled by his amazement when he +saw the little elephant's presumptuous gray trunk reach in and coolly +help itself. For a moment he forgot to do anything whatever about it. +But when, a few seconds later, that long, curling trunk of Bong's +insinuated itself again and appropriated another bundle of the now +precious hay, the outraged owner bestirred himself. With a curt roar, +that was more of a cough or a grunt than a bellow, he lunged forward +and strove to pin the intruding trunk to the ground. + +With startled alacrity Bong withdrew his trunk, but just in time to +save it from being mangled. For an instant he stood with the member +held high in air, bewildered by what seemed to him such a gratuitous +attack. Then his twinkling little eyes began to blaze, and he +trumpeted shrilly with anger. The next moment, reaching over the +fence, he brought down the trunk on Last Bull's hump with such a +terrible flail-like blow that the great buffalo stumbled forward upon +his knees. + +He was up again in an instant and hurling himself madly against the +inexorable steel which separated him from his foe. Bong hesitated for +a second, then, reaching over the fence once more, clutched Last Bull +maliciously around the base of his horns and tried to twist his neck. +This enterprise, however, was too much even for the elephant's titanic +powers, for Last Bull's greatest strength lay in the muscles of his +ponderous and corded neck. Raving and bellowing, he plunged this way +and that, striving in vain to wrench himself free from that +incomprehensible, snake-like thing which had fastened upon him. Bong, +trumpeting savagely, braced himself with widespread pillars of legs, +and between them it seemed that the steel fence must go down under +such cataclysmic shocks as it was suffering. But the noisy violence of +the battle presently brought its own ending. An amused but angry squad +of attendants came up and stopped it, and Bong, who seemed plainly the +aggressor, was hustled off to his stall in deep disgrace. + +Last Bull was humiliated. In this encounter things had happened which +he could in no way comprehend; and though, beyond an aching in neck +and shoulders, he felt none the worse physically, he had nevertheless +a sense of having been worsted, of having been treated with ignominy, +in spite of the fact that it was his foe, and not he, who had retired +from the field. For several days he wore a subdued air and kept about +meekly with his docile cows. Then his old, bitter moodiness reasserted +itself, and he resumed his solitary broodings on the crest of the +knoll. + +When the winter storms came on, it had been Last Bull's custom to let +himself be housed luxuriously at nightfall, with the rest of the herd, +in the warm and ample buffalo-shed. But this winter he made such +difficulty about going in that at last Payne decreed that he should +have his own way and stay out. "It will do him no harm, and may cool +his peppery blood some!" had been the keeper's decision. So the door +was left open, and Last Bull entered or refrained, according to his +whim. It was noticed, however,--and this struck a chord of answering +sympathy in the plainsman's imaginative temperament,--that, though on +ordinary nights he might come in and stay with the herd under shelter, +on nights of driving storm, if the tempest blew from the west or +northwest, Last Bull was sure to be out on the naked knoll to face it. +When the fine sleet or stinging rain drove past him, filling his +nostrils with their cold, drenching his matted mane, and lashing his +narrowed eyes, what visions swept through his troubled, +half-comprehending brain, no one may know. But Payne, with +understanding born of sympathy and a common native soil, catching +sight of his dark bulk under the dark of the low sky, was wont to +declare that _he_ knew. He would say that Last Bull's eyes discerned, +black under the hurricane, but lit strangely with the flash of keen +horns and rolling eyes and frothed nostrils, the endless and +innumerable droves of the buffalo, with the plains wolf skulking on +their flanks, passing, passing, southward into the final dark. In the +roar of the wind, declared Payne, Last Bull, out there in the night, +listened to the trampling of all those vanished droves. And though the +other keepers insisted to each other, quite privately, that their +chief talked a lot of nonsense about "that there mean-tempered old +buffalo," they nevertheless came gradually to look upon Last Bull with +a kind of awe, and to regard his surly whims as privileged. + +It chanced that winter that men were driving a railway tunnel beneath +a corner of the Park. The tunnel ran for a short distance under the +front of Last Bull's range, and passed close by the picturesque +cottage occupied by Payne and two of his assistants. At this point the +level of the Park was low, and the shell of earth was thin above the +tunnel roof. + +There came a Sunday afternoon, after days of rain and penetrating +January thaw, when sun and air combined to cheat the earth with an +illusion of spring. The buds and the mould breathed of April, and gay +crowds flocked to the Park, to make the most of winter's temporary +repulse. Just when things were at their gayest, with children's voices +clamoring everywhere like starlings, and Bong, the little elephant, +swinging good-naturedly up the broad white track with all the load he +had room for on his back, there came an ominous jar and rumble, like +the first of an earthquake, which ran along the front of Last Bull's +range. + +With sure instinct, Bong turned tail and fled with his young charges +away across the grassland. The crowds, hardly knowing what they fled +from, with screams and cries and blanched faces, followed the +elephant's example. A moment later and, with a muffled crash, all +along the front of the range, the earth sank into the tunnel, carrying +with it half a dozen panels of Last Bull's hated fence. + +Almost in a moment the panic of the crowd subsided. Every one realized +just what had happened. Moreover, thanks to Bong's timely alarm, every +one had got out of the way in good season. All fear of earthquake +being removed, the crowd flocked back eagerly to stare down into the +wrecked tunnel, which formed now a sort of gaping, chaotic ditch, with +sides at some points precipitous and at others brokenly sloping. The +throng was noisy with excited interest and with relief at having +escaped so cleanly. The break had run just beneath one corner of the +keepers' cottage, tearing away a portion of the foundation and +wrenching the structure slightly aside without overthrowing it. Payne, +who had been in the midst of his Sunday toilet, came out upon his +twisted porch, half undressed and with a shaving-brush covered with +lather in his hand. He gave one look at the damage which had been +wrought, then plunged indoors again to throw his clothes on, at the +same time sounding the hurry call for the attendants in other quarters +of the Park. + +Last Bull, who had been standing on his knoll, with his back to the +throngs, had wheeled in astonishment at the heavy sound of the +cave-in. For a few minutes he had stared sullenly, not grasping the +situation. Then very slowly it dawned on him that his prison walls +had fallen. Yes, surely, there at last lay his way to freedom, his +path to the great open spaces for which he dumbly and vaguely +hungered. With stately deliberation he marched down from his knoll to +investigate. + +But presently another idea came into his slow mind. He saw the +clamorous crowds flocking back and ranging themselves along the edge +of the chasm. These were his enemies. They were coming to balk him. A +terrible madness surged through all his veins. He bellowed savage +warning and came thundering down the field, nose to earth, dark, +mountainous, irresistible. + +The crowd yelled and shrank back. "He can't get across!" shouted some. +But others cried: "He can! He's coming! Save yourselves!" And with +shrieks they scattered wildly across the open, making for the kiosks, +the pavilions, the trees, anything that seemed to promise hiding or +shelter from that onrushing doom. + +At the edge of the chasm--at this point forming not an actual drop, +but a broken slide--Last Bull hardly paused. He plunged down, rolled +over in the debris, struggled to his feet again instantly, and went +ploughing and snorting up the opposite steep. As his colossal front, +matted with mud, loomed up over the brink, his little eyes rolling +and flaming, and the froth flying from his red nostrils, he formed a +very nightmare of horror to those fugitives who dared to look behind +them. + +Surmounting the brink, he paused. There were so many enemies, he knew +not which to pursue first. But straight ahead, in the very middle of +the open, and far from any shelter, he saw a huddled group of children +and nurses fleeing impotently and aimlessly. Shrill cries came from +the cluster, which danced with colors, scarlet and yellow and blue and +vivid pink. To the mad buffalo, these were the most conspicuous and +the loudest of his foes, and therefore the most dangerous. With a +bellow he flung his tail straight in the air, and charged after them. + +An appalling hush fell, for a few heart-beats, all over the field. +Then from different quarters appeared uniformed attendants, racing and +shouting frantically to divert the bull's attention. From fleeing +groups black-coated men leapt forth, armed only with their +walking-sticks, and rushed desperately to defend the flock of +children, who now, in the extremity of their terror, were tumbling as +they ran. Some of the nurses were fleeing far in front, while others, +the faithful ones, with eyes starting from their heads, grabbed up +their little charges and struggled on under the burden. + +Already Last Bull was halfway across the space which divided him from +his foes. The ground shook under his ponderous gallop. At this moment +Payne reappeared on the broken porch. + +One glance showed him that no one was near enough to intervene. With a +face stern and sorrowful he lifted the deadly .405 Winchester which he +had brought out with him. The spot he covered was just behind Last +Bull's mighty shoulder. + +The smokeless powder spoke with a small, venomous report, unlike the +black powder's noisy reverberation. Last Bull stumbled. But recovering +himself instantly, he rushed on. He was hurt, and he felt it was those +fleeing foes who had done it. A shade of perplexity darkened Payne's +face. He fired again. This time his aim was true. The heavy expanding +bullet tore straight through bone and muscle and heart, and Last Bull +lurched forward upon his head, ploughing up the turf for yards. As his +mad eyes softened and filmed, he saw once more, perhaps,--or so the +heavy-hearted keeper who had slain him would have us believe,--the +shadowy plains unrolling under the wild sky, and the hosts of his +vanished kindred drifting past into the dark. + + + + +THE KING OF THE FLAMING HOOPS + + + + +THE KING OF THE FLAMING HOOPS + +CHAPTER I + + +The white, scarred face of the mountain looked straight east, over a +vast basin of tumbled, lesser hills, dim black forests, and steel-blue +loops of a far-winding water. Here and there long, level strata of +pallid mist seemed to support themselves on the tree-tops, their edges +fading off into the startling transparency that comes upon the air +with the first of dawn. But that was in the lower world. Up on the +solitary summit of White Face the daybreak had arrived. The jagged +crest of the peak shot sudden radiances of flame-crimson, then bathed +itself in a flow of rose-pinks and thin, indescribable reds and +pulsating golds. Swiftly, as the far horizon leapt into blaze, the +aerial flood spread down the mountain-face, revealing and +transforming. It reached the mouth of a cave on a narrow ledge. As the +splendor poured into the dark opening, a tawny shape, long and lithe +and sinewy, came padding forth, noiseless as itself, as if to meet +and challenge it. + +Half emerging from the entrance upon the high rock-platform which +formed its threshold, the puma halted, head uplifted and forepaws +planted squarely to the front. With wide, palely bright eyes she +stared out across the tremendous and mysterious landscape. As the +colored glory rushed down the mountain, rolling back the blue-gray +transparency of shadow, those inscrutable eyes swept every suddenly +revealed glade, knoll, and waterside where deer or elk might by chance +be pasturing. + +She was a magnificent beast, this puma, massive of head and shoulder +almost as a lioness, and in her calm scrutiny of the spaces unrolling +before her gaze was a certain air of overlordship, as if her supremacy +had gone long unquestioned. Suddenly, however, her attitude changed. +Her eyes narrowed, her mighty muscles drew themselves together like +springs being upcoiled, she half crouched, and her head turned sharply +to the left, listening. Far down the narrow ledge which afforded the +trail to her den she had caught the sound of something approaching. + +As she listened, she crouched lower and lower, and her eyes began to +burn with a thin, green flame. Her ears would flatten back savagely, +then lift themselves again to interrogate the approaching sounds. Her +anger at the intrusion upon her private domain was mixed with some +apprehension, for behind her, in a warm corner of the den, curled up +in a soft and furry ball like kittens, were her two sleeping cubs. + +Her trail being well marked and with her scent strong upon it, she +knew it could be no ignorant blunderer that drew near. It was plainly +an enemy, and an arrogant enemy, since it made no attempt at stealth. +The steps were not those of any hunter, white man or Indian, of that +she presently assured herself. With this assurance, her anxiety +diminished and her anger increased. Her tail, long and thick, doubled +in thickness and began to jerk sharply from side to side. Crouching to +the belly, she crept all the way out upon the ledge and peered +cautiously around a jutting shoulder of rock. + +The intruder was not yet in sight, because the front of White Face, +though apparently a sheer and awful precipice when viewed from the +valley, was in fact wrinkled with gullies and buttresses and bucklings +of the tortured strata. But the sound of his coming was now quite +intelligible to her. That softly ponderous tread, that careless +displacing of stones, those undisguised sniffings and mumblings could +come only from a bear, and a bear frankly looking for trouble. Well, +he was going to find what he was looking for. With an antagonism +handed down to her by a thousand ancestors, the great puma hated +bears. + +Many miles north of White Face, on the other side of that ragged +mountain-ridge to which he formed an isolated and towering outpost, +there was a fertile valley which had just been invaded by settlers. On +every hand awoke the sharp barking of the axe. Rifle-shots startled +the echoes. Masterful voices and confident human laughter filled all +the wild inhabitants with wonder and dismay. The undisputed lord of +the range was an old silver-tip grizzly, of great size and evil +temper. Furious at the unexpected trespass on his sovereignty, yet +well aware of his powerlessness against the human creature that could +strike from very far off with lightning and thunder, he had made up +his mind at once to withdraw to some remoter range. Nevertheless, he +had lingered for some days, sullenly expecting he knew not what. These +formless expectations were most unpleasantly fulfilled when he came +upon a man in a canoe paddling close in by the steep shore of the +lake. He had hurled himself blindly down the bank, raging for +vengeance, but when he reached the water's edge, the man was far out +of reach. Then, while he stood there wavering, half minded to swim in +pursuit, the man had spoken with the lightning and the thunder, after +the terrifying fashion of his kind. The bear had felt himself stung +near the tip of the shoulder, as if by a million wasps at once, and +the fiery anguish had brought him to his senses. + +It was no use trying to fight man, so he had dashed away into the +thickets, and not halted till he had put miles between himself and the +inexplicable enemy. + +For two days, with occasional stops to forage or to sleep, the angry +grizzly had travelled southward, heading towards the lonely peak of +White Face. As the distance from his old haunts increased, his fears +diminished; but his anger grew under the ceaseless fretting of that +wound on his neck just where he could not reach to lick and soothe it. +The flies, however, could reach it very well, and did. As a +consequence, by the time he reached the upper slopes of White Face, he +was in a mood to fight anything. He would have charged a regiment, had +he suddenly found one in his path. + +When he turned up a stone for the grubs, beetles, and scorpions which +lurked beneath it, he would send it flying with a savage sweep of his +paw. When he caught a rabbit, he smashed it flat in sheer fury, as if +he cared more to mangle than to eat. + +At last he stumbled upon the trail of a puma. As he sniffed at it, he +became, if possible, more angry than ever. Pumas he had always hated. +He had never had a chance to satisfy his grudge, for never had one +dared to face his charge; but they had often snarled down defiance at +him from some limb of oak or pine beyond his reach. He flung himself +forward upon the trail with vengeful ardor. When he realized, from the +fact that it was a much-used trail and led up among the barren rocks, +that it was none other than the trail to the puma's lair, his +satisfaction increased. He would be sure to find either the puma at +home or the puma's young unguarded. + +[Illustration: "When the grizzly saw her, his wicked little dark eyes +glowed suddenly red."] + +When the puma, at last, saw him emerge around a curve of the trail, +and noted his enormous stature, she gave one longing, wistful look +back over her shoulder to the shadowed nook wherein her cubs lay +sleeping. Had there been any chance to get them both safely away, she +would have shirked the fight, for their sakes. But she could not carry +them both in her mouth at once up the face of the mountain. She would +not desert either one. She hesitated a moment, as if doubtful whether +or not to await attack in the mouth of the cave. Then she crept +farther out, where the ledge was not three feet wide, and crouched +flat, silent, watchful, rigid, in the middle of the trail. + +When the grizzly saw her, his wicked little dark eyes glowed suddenly +red, and he came up with a lumbering rush. With his gigantic, furry +bulk, it looked as if he must instantly annihilate the slim, light +creature that opposed him. It was a dreadful place to give battle, on +that straight shelf of rock overhanging a sheer drop of perhaps a +thousand feet. But scorn and rage together blinded the sagacity of the +bear. With a grunt he charged. + +Not until he was within ten feet of her did the crouching puma stir. +Then she shot into the air, as if hurled up by the release of a mighty +spring. Quick as a flash the grizzly shrank backward upon his haunches +and swept up a huge black paw to parry the assault. But he was not +quite quick enough. The puma's spring overreached his guard. She +landed fairly upon his back, facing his tail; but in the fraction of +a second she had whirled about and was tearing at his throat with +teeth and claws, while the terrible talons of her hinder paws ripped +at his flanks. + +With a roar of pain and amazement the grizzly struggled to shake her +off, clutching and striking at her with paws that at one blow could +smash in the skull of the most powerful bull. But he could not reach +her. Then he reared up, and threw himself backwards against the face +of the rock, striving to crush her under his enormous weight. And in +this he almost succeeded. Just in time, she writhed around and +outward, but not quite far enough, for one paw was caught and ground +to a pulp. But at the next instant, thrust back from the rock by his +own effort, the bear toppled outward over the brink of the shelf. +Grappling madly to save himself, he caught only the bowed loins of the +puma, who now sank her teeth once more into his throat, while her +rending claws seemed to tear him everywhere at once. He crushed her in +his grip; and in a dreadful ball of screeching, roaring, biting, +mangling rage the two plunged downward into the dim abyss. Once, still +locked in the death-grip, they struck upon a jutting rock, and bounded +far out into space. Then, as the ball rolled over in falling, it came +apart; and separated now, though still very close together, the two +bodies fell sprawlingly, and vanished into the blue-shadowed deeps +which the dawn had not yet reached. + +Upon this sudden and terrible ending of the fight appeared a bearded +frontiersman who had been trailing the grizzly for half an hour and +waiting for light enough to secure a sure shot. With something like +awe in his face he came, and knelt down, with hands gripping +cautiously, and peered over the dreadful brink. "Gee! But that there +cat was game!" he muttered, drawing back and sweeping a comprehensive +gaze across the stupendous landscape, as if challenging denial of his +statement. Obviously the silences were of the same opinion, for there +came no suggestion of dissent. Carefully he rose to his feet and +pressed on towards the cave. + +Without hesitation he entered, for he knew that the puma's mate some +weeks before had been shot, far down in the valley. He found the +kittens asleep and began to fondle them. At his touch, and the smell +of him, they awoke, spitting and clawing with all their mother's +courage. Young as they were, their claws drew blood abundantly. +"Gritty little devils!" growled the man good-naturedly, snatching +back his hand and wiping the blood on his trouser-leg. Then he took +off his coat, threw it over the troublesome youngsters, rolled them in +it securely, so that not one protesting claw could get out, and +started back to the camp with the grumbling and uneasy bundle in his +arms. + +Three months later, the two puma cubs, sleek, fat, full of gayety as +two kittens of like age, and convinced by this time that man was the +source and origin of all good things, were sold to a travelling +collector. One, the female, was sent down to a zoological garden on +the Pacific coast. The other, the male, much the larger and at the +same time the more even-tempered and amenable to teaching, found its +way to the cages of an animal-trainer in the East. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +"King's kind of ugly to-night, seems to me; better keep yer eyes +peeled!" said Andy Hansen, the assistant trainer, the big, +yellow-haired Swede who knew not fear. Neither did he know impatience +or irritability; and so all the animals, as a rule, were on their good +behavior under his calm, masterful, blue eye. Yet he was tactful with +the beasts, and given to humoring their moods as far as convenient +without ever letting them guess it. + +"Oh, you go chase yourself, Andy!" replied Signor Tomaso, the trainer, +with a strong New England accent. "If I got to look out for King, I'd +better quit the business. Don't you go trying to make trouble between +friends, Andy." + +"Of course, Bill, I know he'd never try to maul _you_," explained +Hansen seriously, determined that he should not be misunderstood in +the smallest particular. "But he's acting curious. Look out he don't +get into a scrap with some of the other animals." + +"I reckon I kin keep 'em all straight," answered the trainer dryly, as +he turned away to get ready for the great performance which the +audience, dimly heard beyond the canvas walls, was breathlessly +awaiting. + +The trainer's name was William Sparks, and his birthplace Big +Chebeague, Maine; but his lean, swarthy face and piercing, green-brown +eyes, combined with the craving of his audiences for a touch of the +romantic, had led him to adopt the more sonorous pseudonym of "Signor +Tomaso." He maintained that if he went under his own name, nobody +would ever believe that what he did could be anything wonderful. +Except for this trifling matter of the name, there was no fake about +Signor Tomaso. He was a brilliant animal-trainer, as unacquainted with +fear as the Swede, as dominant of eye, and of immeasurably greater +experience. But being, at the same time, more emotional, more +temperamental than his phlegmatic assistant, his control was sometimes +less steady, and now and again he would have to assert his authority +with violence. He was keenly alive to the varying personalities of his +beasts, naturally, and hence had favorites among them. His especial +favorite, who heartily reciprocated the attachment, was the great +puma, King, the most intelligent and amiable of all the wild animals +that had ever come under his training whip. + +As Hansen's success with the animals, during the few months of his +experience as assistant, had been altogether phenomenal, his chief +felt a qualm of pique upon being warned against the big puma. He had +too just an appreciation of Hansen's judgment, however, to quite +disregard the warning, and he turned it over curiously in his mind as +he went to his dressing-room. Emerging a few minutes later in the +black-and-white of faultless evening dress, without a speck on his +varnished shoes, he moved down along the front of the cages, +addressing to the occupant of each, as he passed, a sharp, +authoritative word which brought it to attention. + +With the strange, savage smell of the cages in his nostrils, that +bitter, acrid pungency to which his senses never grew blunted, a new +spirit of understanding was wont to enter Tomaso's brain. He would +feel a sudden kinship with the wild creatures, such a direct and +instant comprehension as almost justified his fancy that in some +previous existence he had himself been a wild man of the jungle and +spoken in their tongue. As he looked keenly into each cage, he knew +that the animal whose eyes for that moment met his was in untroubled +mood. This, till he came to the cage containing the latest addition to +his troupe, a large cinnamon bear, which was rocking restlessly to +and fro and grumbling to itself. The bear was one which had been long +in captivity and well trained. Tomaso had found him docile, and clever +enough to be admitted at once to the performing troupe. But to-night +the beast's eyes were red with some ill-humor. Twice the trainer spoke +to him before he heeded; but then he assumed instantly an air of +mildest subservience. The expression of a new-weaned puppy is not more +innocently mild than the look which a bear can assume when it so +desires. + +"Ah, ha! old sport! So it's you that's got a grouch on to-night; I'll +keep an eye on you!" he muttered to himself. He snapped his heavy whip +once, and the bear obediently sat up on its haunches, its great paws +hanging meekly. Tomaso looked it sharply in the eye. "Don't forget, +now, and get funny!" he admonished. Then he returned to the first +cage, which contained the puma, and went up close to the bars. The +great cat came and rubbed against him, purring harshly. + +"There ain't nothing the matter with _you_, boy, I reckon," said +Tomaso, scratching him affectionately behind the ears. "Andy must have +wheels in his head if he thinks I've got to keep my eyes peeled on +_your_ account." + +Out beyond the iron-grilled passage, beyond the lighted canvas walls, +the sharp, metallic noises of the workmen setting up the great +performing-cage came to a stop. There was a burst of music from the +orchestra. That, too, ceased. The restless hum of the unseen masses +around the arena died away into an expectant hush. It was time to go +on. At the farther end of the passage, by the closed door leading to +the performing cage, Hansen appeared. Tomaso opened the puma's cage. +King dropped out with a soft thud of his great paws, and padded +swiftly down the passage, his master following. Hansen slid wide the +door, admitting a glare of light, a vast, intense rustle of +excitement; and King marched majestically out into it, eying calmly +the tier on climbing tier of eager faces. It was his customary +privilege, this, to make the entrance alone, a good half minute ahead +of the rest of the troupe; and he seemed to value it. Halfway around +the big cage he walked, then mounted his pedestal, sat up very +straight, and stared blandly at the audience. A salvo of clapping ran +smartly round the tiers--King's usual tribute, which he had so learned +to expect that any failure of it would have dispirited him for the +whole performance. + +Signor Tomaso had taken his stand, whip in hand, just inside the cage, +with Hansen opposite him, to see that the animals, on entry, went each +straight to his own bench or pedestal. Any mistake in this connection +was sure to lead to trouble, each beast being almost childishly +jealous of its rights. Inside the long passage an attendant was +opening one cage after another; and in a second more the animals began +to appear in procession, filing out between the immaculate Signor and +the roughly clad Swede. First came a majestic white Angora goat, +carrying high his horned and bearded head, and stepping most daintily +upon slim, black hoofs. Close behind, and looking just ready to pounce +upon him but for dread of the Signor's eye, came slinking stealthily a +spotted black-and-yellow leopard, ears back and tail twitching. He +seemed ripe for mischief, as he climbed reluctantly on to his pedestal +beside the goat; but he knew better than to even bare a claw. And as +for the white goat, with his big golden eyes superciliously half +closed, he ignored his dangerous neighbor completely, while his jaws +chewed nonchalantly on a bit of brown shoe-lace which he had picked up +in the passage. + +Close behind the leopard came a bored-looking lion, who marched with +listless dignity straight to his place. Then another lion, who paused +in the doorway and looked out doubtfully, blinking with distaste at +the strong light. Tomaso spoke sharply, like the snap of his whip, +whereupon the lion ran forward in haste. But he seemed to have +forgotten which was his proper pedestal, for he hopped upon the three +nearest in turn, only to hop down again with apologetic alacrity at +the order of the cracking whip. At last, obviously flustered, he +reached a pedestal on which he was allowed to remain. Here he sat, +blinking from side to side and apparently much mortified. + +The lion was followed by a running wolf, who had shown his teeth +savagely when the lion, for a moment, trespassed upon his pedestal. +This beast was intensely interested in the audience, and, as soon as +he was in his place, turned his head and glared with green, narrowed +eyes at the nearest spectators, as if trying to stare them out of +countenance. After the wolf come a beautiful Bengal tiger, its +black-and-golden stripes shining as if they had been oiled. He glided +straight to his stand, sniffed at it superciliously, and then lay down +before it. The whip snapped sharply three times, but the tiger only +shut his eyes tight. The audience grew hushed. Tomaso ran forward, +seized the beast by the back of the neck, and shook him roughly. +Whereupon the tiger half rose, opened his great red mouth like a +cavern, and roared in his master's face. The audience thrilled from +corner to corner, and a few cries came from frightened women. + +The trainer paused for an instant, to give full effect to the +situation. Then, stooping suddenly, he lifted the tiger's +hind-quarters and deposited them firmly on the pedestal, and left him +in that awkward position. + +"There," he said in a loud voice, "that's all the help you'll get from +me!" + +The audience roared with instant and delighted appreciation. The tiger +gathered up the rest of himself upon his pedestal, wiped his face with +his paw, like a cat, and settled down complacently with a pleased +assurance that he had done the trick well. + +At this moment the attention of the audience was drawn to the +entrance, where there seemed to be some hitch. Tomaso snapped his whip +sharply, and shouted savage orders, but nothing came forth. Then the +big Swede, with an agitated air, snatched up the trainer's pitchfork, +which stood close at hand in case of emergency, made swift passes at +the empty doorway, and jumped back. The audience was lifted fairly to +its feet with excitement. What monster could it be that was giving so +much trouble? The next moment, while Tomaso's whip hissed in vicious +circles over his head, a plump little drab-colored pug-dog marched +slowly out upon the stage, its head held arrogantly aloft. Volleys of +laughter crackled around the arena, and the delighted spectators +settled, tittering, back into their seats. + +The pug glanced searchingly around the cage, then selecting the +biggest of the lions as a worthy antagonist, flew at his pedestal, +barking furious challenge. The lion glanced down at him, looked bored +at the noise, and yawned. Apparently disappointed, the pug turned away +and sought another adversary. He saw King's big tail hanging down +beside his pedestal. Flinging himself upon it, he began to worry it as +if it were a rat. The next moment the tail threshed vigorously, and +the pug went rolling end over end across the stage. + +Picking himself up and shaking the sawdust from his coat, the pug +growled savagely and curled his little tail into a tighter screw. +Bristling with wrath, he tiptoed menacingly back toward the puma's +pedestal, determined to wipe out the indignity. This time his +challenge was accepted. Tomaso's whip snapped, but the audience was +too intent to hear it. The great puma slipped down from his pedestal, +ran forward a few steps, and crouched. + +With a shrill snarl the pug rushed in. At the same instant the puma +sprang, making a splendid tawny curve through the air, and alighted +ten feet behind his antagonist's tail. There he wheeled like lightning +and crouched. But the pug, enraged at being balked of his vengeance, +had also wheeled, and charged again in the same half second. In the +next, he had the puma by the throat. With a dreadful screech the great +beast rolled over on his side and stiffened out his legs. The pug drew +off, eyed him critically to make sure that he was quite dead, then +ran, barking shrill triumph, to take possession of the victim's place. +Then the whip cracked once more. Whereupon the puma got up, trotted +back to his pedestal, mounted it, and tucked the pug protectingly away +between his great forepaws. + +The applause had not quite died away when a towering, sandy-brown bulk +appeared in the entrance to the cage. Erect upon its hind legs, and +with a musket on its shoulder, it marched ponderously and slowly +around the circle, eying each of the sitting beasts--except the +wolf--suspiciously as it passed. The watchful eyes of both Signor +Tomaso and Hansen noted that it gave wider berth to the puma than to +any of the others, and also that the puma's ears, at the moment, were +ominously flattened. Instantly the long whip snapped its terse +admonition to good manners. Nothing happened, except that the pug, +from between the puma's legs, barked insolently. The sandy-brown bulk +reached its allotted pedestal,--which was quite absurdly too small for +it to mount,--dropped the musket with a clatter, fell upon all fours +with a loud _whoof_ of relief, and relapsed into a bear. + +The stage now set to his satisfaction, Signor Tomaso advanced to the +centre of it. He snapped his whip, and uttered a sharp cry which the +audience doubtless took for purest Italian. Immediately the animals +all descended from their pedestals, and circled solemnly around him in +a series of more or less intricate evolutions, all except the bear, +who, not having yet been initiated into this beast quadrille, kept his +place and looked scornful. At another signal the evolutions ceased, +and all the beasts, except one of the lions, hurried back to their +places. The lion, with the bashful air of a boy who gets up to "speak +his piece" at a school examination, lingered in the middle of the +stage. A rope was brought. The Swede took one end of it, the +attendant who had brought it took the other, and between them they +began to swing it, very slowly, as a great skipping-rope. At an +energetic command from Signor Tomaso the lion slipped into the +swinging circle, and began to skip in a ponderous and shamefaced +fashion. The house thundered applause. For perhaps half a minute the +strange performance continued, the whip snapping rhythmically with +every descent of the rope. Then all at once, as if he simply could not +endure it for another second, the lion bolted, head down, clambered +upon his pedestal, and shut his eyes hard as if expecting a whipping. +But as nothing happened except a roar of laughter from the seats, he +opened them again and glanced from side to side complacently, as if to +say, "Didn't I get out of that neatly?" + +The next act was a feat of teetering. A broad and massive teeter-board +was brought in, and balanced across a support about two feet high. The +sulky leopard, at a sign from Tomaso, slouched up to it, pulled one +end to the ground, and mounted. At the centre he balanced cautiously +for a moment till it tipped, then crept on to the other end, and +crouched there, holding it down as if his very life depended on it. +Immediately the white goat dropped from his pedestal, minced daintily +over, skipped up upon the centre of the board, and mounted to the +elevated end. His weight was not sufficient to lift, or even to +disturb, the leopard, who kept the other end anchored securely. But +the goat seemed to like his high and conspicuous position, for he +maintained it with composure and stared around with great +condescension upon the other beasts. + +The goat having been given time to demonstrate his unfitness for the +task he had undertaken, Tomaso's whip cracked again. Instantly King +descended from his pedestal, ran over to the teeter-board, and mounted +it at the centre. The goat, unwilling to be dispossessed of his high +place, stamped and butted at him indignantly, but with one scornful +sweep of his great paw the puma brushed him off to the sawdust, and +took his place at the end of the board. Snarling and clutching at the +cleats, the leopard was hoisted into the air, heavily outweighed. The +crowd applauded; but the performance, obviously, was not yet perfect. +Now came the white goat's opportunity. He hesitated a moment, till he +heard a word from Tomaso. Then he sprang once more upon the centre of +the board, faced King, and backed up inch by inch towards the leopard +till the latter began to descend. At this point of balance the white +goat had one forefoot just on the pivot of the board. With a dainty, +dancing motion, and a proud tossing of his head, he now threw his +weight slowly backward and forward. The great teeter worked to +perfection. Signor Tomaso was kept bowing to round after round of +applause while the leopard, the goat, and King returned proudly to +their places. + +After this, four of the red-and-yellow uniformed attendants ran in, +each carrying a large hoop. They stationed themselves at equal +distances around the circumference of the cage, holding the hoops out +before them at a height of about four feet from the ground. At the +command of Tomaso, the animals all formed in procession--though not +without much cracking of the whip and vehement command--and went +leaping one after the other through the hoops--all except the pug, who +tried in vain to jump so high, and the bear, who, not knowing how to +jump at all, simply marched around and pretended not to see that the +hoops were there. Then four other hoops, covered with white paper, +were brought in, and head first through them the puma led the way. +When it came to the bear's turn, the whip cracked a special signal. +Whereupon, instead of ignoring the hoop as he had done before, he +stuck his head through it and marched off with it hanging on his neck. +All four hoops he gathered up in this way, and, retiring with them to +his place, stood shuffling restlessly and grunting with impatience +until he was relieved of the awkward burden. + +A moment later four more hoops were handed to the attendants. They +looked like the first lot; but the attendants took them with hooked +handles of iron and held them out at arm's length. Touched with a +match, they burst instantly into leaping yellow flames; whereupon all +the beasts, except King, stirred uneasily on their pedestals. The whip +snapped with emphasis; and all the beasts--except King, who sat eying +the flames tranquilly, and the bear, who whined his disapproval, but +knew that he was not expected to take part in this act--formed again +in procession, and ran at the flaming hoops as if to jump through them +as before. But each, on arriving at a hoop, crouched flat and scurried +under it like a frightened cat--except the white goat, which pranced +aside and capered past derisively. Pretending to be much disappointed +in them, Signor Tomaso ordered them all back to their places, and, +folding his arms, stood with his head lowered as if wondering what to +do about it. Upon this, King descended proudly from his pedestal and +approached the blazing terrors. With easiest grace and nonchalance he +lifted his lithe body, and went bounding lightly through the hoops, +one after the other. The audience stormed its applause. Twice around +this terrifying circuit he went, as indifferent to the writhing flames +as if they had been so much grass waving in the wind. Then he stopped +abruptly, turned his head, and looked at Tomaso in expectation. The +latter came up, fondled his ears, and assured him that he had done +wonders. Then King returned to his place, elation bristling in his +whiskers. + +While the flaming hoops were being rushed from the ring and the +audience was settling down again to the quiet of unlimited +expectation, a particularly elaborate act was being prepared. A +massive wooden stand, with shelves and seats at various heights, was +brought in. Signor Tomaso, coiling the lash of his whip and holding +the heavy handle, with its loaded butt, as a sceptre, took his place +on a somewhat raised seat at the centre of the frame. Hansen, with his +pitchfork in one hand and a whip like Tomaso's in the other, drew +nearer; and the audience, with a thrill, realized that something more +than ordinarily dangerous was on the cards. The tiger came and +stretched itself at full length before Tomaso, who at once +appropriated him as a footstool. The bear and the biggest of the lions +posted themselves on either side of their master, rearing up like the +armorial supporters of some illustrious escutcheon, and resting their +mighty forepaws apparently on their master's shoulders, though in +reality on two narrow little shelves placed there for the purpose. +Another lion came and laid his huge head on Tomaso's knees, as if +doing obeisance. By this time all the other animals were prowling +about the stand, peering this way and that, as if trying to remember +their places; and the big Swede was cracking his whip briskly, with +curt, deep-toned commands, to sharpen up their memories. Only King +seemed quite clear as to what he had to do--which was to lay his tawny +body along the shelf immediately over the heads of the lion and the +bear; but as he mounted the stand from the rear, his ears went back +and he showed a curious reluctance to fulfil his part. Hansen's keen +eyes noted this at once, and his whip snapped emphatically in the air +just above the great puma's nose. Still King hesitated. The lion paid +no attention whatever, but the bear glanced up with reddening eyes and +a surly wagging of his head. It was all a slight matter, too slight to +catch the eye or the uncomprehending thoughts of the audience. But a +grave, well-dressed man, with copper-colored face, high cheek-bones +and straight, coal-black hair, who sat close to the front, turned to a +companion and said:-- + +"Those men are good trainers, but they don't know everything about +pumas. _We_ know that there is a hereditary feud between the pumas and +the bears, and that when they come together there's apt to be +trouble." + +The speaker was a full-blooded Sioux, and a graduate of one of the big +Eastern universities. He leaned forward with a curious fire in his +deep-set, piercing eyes, as King, unwillingly obeying the mandates of +the whip, dropped down and stretched out upon his shelf, his nervous +forepaws not more than a foot above the bear's head. His nostrils were +twitching as if they smelled something unutterably distasteful, and +his thick tail looked twice its usual size. The Sioux, who, alone of +all present, understood these signs, laid an involuntary hand of +warning upon his companion's knee. + +Just what positions the other animals were about to take will never be +known. King's sinews tightened. "Ha-ow!" grunted the Sioux, reverting +in his excitement to his ancient utterance. There was a lightning +sweep of King's paw, a shout from Hansen, a _wah_ of surprise and +pain from the bear. King leaped back to the top of the stand to avoid +the expected counter-stroke. But not against him did the bear's rage +turn. The maddened beast seemed to conclude that his master had +betrayed him. With a roar he struck at Tomaso with the full force of +his terrible forearm. Tomaso was in the very act of leaping forward +from his seat, when the blow caught him full on the shoulder, +shattering the bones, ripping the whole side out of his coat, and +hurling him senseless to the floor. + +The change in the scene was instantaneous and appalling. Most of the +animals, startled, and dreading immediate punishment, darted for their +pedestals,--_any_ pedestals that they found within reach,--and fought +savagely for the possession of the first they came to. The bear fell +furiously upon the body of Tomaso. Cries and shrieks arose from the +spectators. Hansen rushed to the rescue, his fork clutched in both +hands. Attendants, armed with forks or iron bars, seemed to spring up +from nowhere. But before any one could reach the spot, an appalling +screech tore across the uproar, and King's yellow body, launched from +the top of the stand, fell like a thunderbolt upon the bear's back. + +The shock rolled the bear clean over. While he was clawing about +wildly, in the effort to grapple with his assailant, Hansen dragged +aside the still unconscious Tomaso, and two attendants carried him +hurriedly from the stage. + +Audience and stage alike were now in a sort of frenzy. Animals were +fighting here and there in tangled groups; but for the moment all eyes +were riveted on the deadly struggle which occupied the centre of the +stage. + +For all that he had less than a quarter the weight and nothing like a +quarter the bulk of his gigantic adversary, the puma, through the +advantage of his attack, was having much the best of the fight. Hansen +had no time for sentiment, no time to concern himself as to whether +his chief was dead or alive. His business was to save valuable +property by preventing the beasts from destroying each other. It +mattered not to him, now, that King had come so effectively to +Tomaso's rescue. Prodding him mercilessly with his fork, and raining +savage blows upon his head, he strove, in a cold rage, to drive him +off; but in vain. But other keepers, meanwhile, had run in with ropes +and iron bars. A few moments more and both combatants were securely +lassoed. Then they were torn apart by main force, streaming with +blood. Blinded by blankets thrown over their heads, and hammered into +something like subjection, they were dragged off at a rush and slammed +unceremoniously into their dens. With them out of the way, it was a +quick matter to dispose of the other fights, though not till after the +white goat had been killed to satisfy that ancient grudge of the +leopard's, and the wolf had been cruelly mauled for having refused to +give up his pedestal to one of the excited lions. Only the pug had +come off unscathed, having had the presence of mind to dart under the +foundations of the frame at the first sign of trouble, and stay there. +When all the other animals had been brought to their senses and driven +off, one by one, to their cages, he came forth from his hiding and +followed dejectedly, the curl quite taken out of his confident tail. +Then word went round among the spectators that Tomaso was not +dead--that, though badly injured, he would recover; and straightway +they calmed down, with a complacent sense of having got the value of +their money. The great cage was taken apart and carried off. The stage +was speedily transformed. And two trick comedians, with slippers that +flapped a foot beyond their toes, undertook to wipe out the memory of +what had happened. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +The show was touring the larger towns of the Northwest. On the +following day it started, leaving Tomaso behind in hospital, with a +shattered shoulder and bitter wrath in his heart. At the next town, +Hansen took Tomaso's place, but, for two reasons, with a sadly maimed +performance. He had not yet acquired sufficient control of the animals +to dare all Tomaso's acts; and the troupe was lacking some of its most +important performers. The proud white goat was dead. The bear, the +wolf, and one of the lions were laid up with their wounds. And as for +the great puma, though _he_ had come off with comparatively little +hurt, his temper had apparently been quite transformed. Hansen could +do nothing with him. Whether it was that he was sick for Tomaso, whom +he adored, or that he stewed in a black rage over the blows and +pitchforkings, hitherto unknown to him, no one could surely say. He +would do nothing but crouch, brooding, sullen and dangerous, at the +back of his cage. Hansen noted the green light flickering fitfully +across his pale, wide eyes, and prudently refrained from pressing +matters. + +He was right. For, as a matter of fact, it was against the big Swede +exclusively, and not against man in general, that King was nursing his +grudge. In a dim way it had got into his brain that Hansen had taken +sides with the bear against him and Tomaso, and he thirsted for +vengeance. At the same time, he felt that Tomaso had deserted him. Day +by day, as he brooded, the desire for escape--a desire which he had +never known before--grew in his heart. Vaguely, perhaps, he dreamed +that he would go and find Tomaso. At any rate, he would go--somewhere, +anywhere, away from this world which had turned unfriendly to him. +When this feeling grew dominant, he would rise suddenly and go +prowling swiftly up and down behind the bars of his cage like a wild +creature just caught. + +Curiously enough--for it is seldom indeed that Fate responds to the +longing of such exiles from the wild--his opportunity came. Late at +night the show reached a little town among the foothills. The train +had been delayed for hours. The night was dark. Everything was in +confusion, and all nerves on edge. The short road from the station to +the field where the tents were to be set up was in bad repair, or had +never been really a road. It ran along the edge of a steep gully. In +the darkness one wheel of the van containing King's cage dropped to +the hub into a yawning rut. Under the violence of the jolt a section +of the edge of the bank gave way and crashed down to the bottom of the +gully, dragging with it the struggling and screaming horses. The cage +roof was completely smashed in. + +To King's eyes the darkness was but a twilight, pleasant and +convenient. He saw an opening big enough to squeeze through; and +beyond it, beyond the wild shouting and the flares of swung lanterns, +a thick wood dark beneath the paler sky. Before any one could get down +to the wreck, he was out and free and away. Crouching with belly to +the earth, he ran noiselessly, and gained the woods before any one +knew he had escaped. Straight on he ran, watchful but swift, heading +for the places where the silence lay heaviest. Within five minutes +Hansen had half the men of the show, with ropes, forks, and lanterns, +hot on the trail. Within fifteen minutes, half the male population of +the town was engaged in an enthusiastic puma hunt. But King was +already far away, and making progress that would have been impossible +to an ordinary wild puma. His life among men had taught him nothing +about trees, so he had no unfortunate instinct to climb one and hide +among the branches to see what his pursuers would be up to. His idea +of getting away--and, perhaps, of finding his vanished master--was to +keep right on. And this he did, though of course not at top speed, the +pumas not being a race of long-winded runners like the wolves. In an +hour or two he reached a rocky and precipitous ridge, quite impassable +to men except by day. This he scaled with ease, and at the top, in the +high solitude, felt safe enough to rest a little while. Then he made +his way down the long, ragged western slopes, and at daybreak came +into a wild valley of woods and brooks. + +By this time King was hungry. But game was plentiful. After two or +three humiliating failures with rabbits--owing to his inexperience in +stalking anything more elusive than a joint of dead mutton, he caught +a fat wood-chuck, and felt his self-respect return. Here he might have +been tempted to halt, although, to be sure, he saw no sign of Tomaso, +but beyond the valley, still westward, he saw mountains, which drew +him strangely. In particular, one uplifted peak, silver and sapphire +as the clear day, and soaring supreme over the jumble of lesser +summits, attracted him. He knew now that that was where he was going, +and thither he pressed on with singleness of purpose, delaying only +when absolutely necessary, to hunt or to sleep. The cage, the stage, +the whip, Hansen, the bear, even the proud excitement of the flaming +hoops, were swiftly fading to dimness in his mind, overwhelmed by the +inrush of new, wonderful impressions. At last, reaching the lower, +granite-ribbed flanks of old White Face itself, he began to feel +curiously content, and no longer under the imperative need of haste. + +Here it was good hunting. Yet, though well satisfied, he made no +effort to find himself a lair to serve as headquarters, but kept +gradually working his way onward up the mountain. The higher he went, +the more content he grew, till even his craving for his master was +forgotten. Latent instincts began to spring into life, and he lapsed +into the movements and customs of the wild puma. Only when he came +upon a long, massive footprint in the damp earth by a spring, or a +wisp of pungent-smelling fur on the rubbed and clawed bark of a tree, +memory would rush back upon him fiercely. His ears would flatten +down, his eyes would gleam green, his tail would twitch, and crouching +to earth he would glare into every near-by thicket for a sight of his +mortal foe. He had not yet learned to discriminate perfectly between +an old scent and a new. + +About this time a hunter from the East, who had his camp a little +farther down the valley, was climbing White Face on the trail of a +large grizzly. He was lithe of frame, with a lean, dark, eager face, +and he followed the perilous trail with a lack of prudence which +showed a very inadequate appreciation of grizzlies. The trail ran +along a narrow ledge cresting an abrupt but bushy steep. At the foot +of the steep, crouched along a massive branch and watching for game of +some sort to pass by, lay the big puma. Attracted by a noise above his +head he glanced up, and saw the hunter. It was certainly not Tomaso, +but it looked like him; and the puma's piercing eyes grew almost +benevolent. He had no ill-feeling to any man but the Swede. + +Other ears than those of the puma had heard the unwary hunter's +footsteps. The grizzly had caught them and stopped to listen. Yes, he +was being followed. In a rage he wheeled about and ran back +noiselessly to see who it was that could dare such presumption. +Turning a shoulder of rock, he came face to face with the hunter, and +at once, with a deep, throaty grunt, he charged. + +The hunter had not even time to get his heavy rifle to his shoulder. +He fired once, point blank, from the hip. The shot took effect +somewhere, but in no vital spot evidently, for it failed to check, +even for one second, that terrific charge. To meet the charge was to +be blasted out of being instantly. There was but one way open. The +hunter sprang straight out from the ledge with a lightning vision of +thick, soft-looking bushes far below him. The slope was steep, but by +no means perpendicular, and he struck in a thicket which broke the +full shock of the fall. His rifle flew far out of his hands. He +rebounded, clutching at the bushes; but he could not check himself. +Rolling over and over, his eyes and mouth choked with dust and leaves, +he bumped on down the slope, and brought up at last, dazed but +conscious, in a swampy hole under the roots of a huge over-leaning +tree. + +[Illustration: "Almost over his head, on a limb not six feet distant, +crouched, ready to spring, the biggest puma he had ever +seen."] + +Striving to clear his eyes and mouth, his first realization was that +he could not lift his left arm. The next, that he seemed to have +jumped from the frying-pan into the fire. His jaws set themselves +desperately, as he drew the long hunting-knife from his belt and +struggled up to one knee, resolved to at least make his last fight a +good one. Almost over his head, on a limb not six feet distant, +crouched, ready to spring, the biggest puma he had ever seen. At this +new confronting of doom his brain cleared, and his sinews seemed to +stretch with fresh courage. It was hopeless, of course, as he knew, +but his heart refused to recognize the fact. Then he noted with wonder +that not at him at all was the puma looking, but far over his head. He +followed that look, and again his heart sank, this time quite beyond +the reach of hope. There was the grizzly coming headlong down the +slope, foam slavering from his red jaws. + +Bewildered, and feeling like a rat in a hole, the hunter tried to slip +around the base of the tree, desperately hoping to gain some post of +vantage whence to get home at least two or three good blows before the +end. But the moment he moved, the grizzly fairly hurled himself +downwards. The hunter jumped aside and wheeled, with his knife lifted, +his disabled left arm against the tree trunk. But in that same +instant, a miracle! Noiselessly the puma's tawny length shot out +overhead and fell upon the bear in the very mid-rush of the charge. + +At once it seemed as if some cataclysmic upheaval were in progress. +The air, as it were, went mad with screeches, yells, snarls, and +enormous thick gruntings. The bushes went down on every side. Now the +bear was on top, now the puma. They writhed over and over, and for +some seconds the hunter stared with stupefaction. Then he recovered +his wits. He saw that the puma, for some inexplicable reason, had come +to his help. But he saw, also, that the gigantic grizzly must win. +Instead of slipping off and leaving his ally to destruction, he ran +up, waited a moment for the perfect opportunity, and drove his knife +to the hilt into the very centre of the back of the bear's neck, just +where it joined the skull. Then he sprang aside. + +Strangely the noise died away. The huge bulk of the grizzly sank +slowly into a heap, the puma still raking it with the eviscerating +weapons of his hinder claws. A moment more and he seemed to realize +that he had achieved a sudden triumph. Bleeding, hideously mangled, +but still, apparently, full of fighting vigor, he disengaged himself +from the unresisting mass and looked around him proudly. His wild +eyes met those of the hunter, and the hunter had an anxious moment. +But the great beast looked away again at once, and seemed, in fact, to +forget all about the man's existence. He lay down and commenced +licking assiduously at his wounds. Filled with astonishment, and just +now beginning to realize the anguish in his broken arm, the hunter +stole discreetly away. + +After an hour or two the puma arose, rather feebly, passed the body of +his slain foe without a glance, and clambered up the slope to the +ledge. He wanted a place of refuge now, a retreat that would be safe +and cool and dark. Up and up he followed the winding of that narrow +trail, and came out at last upon a rocky platform before a +black-mouthed cave. He knew well enough that he had killed the owner +of the cave, so he entered without hesitation. + +Here, for two days, he lay in concealment, licking his wounds. He had +no desire to eat; but two or three times, because the wounds fevered +him, he came forth and descended the trail a little way to where he +had seen a cold spring bubbling from the rocks. His clean blood, in +that high, clean air, quickly set itself to the healing of the hurts, +and strength flowed back swiftly into his torn sinews. At dawn of the +third day he felt himself suddenly hungry, and realizing that he must +seek some small game, even though not yet ready for any difficult +hunting, he crept forth, just as the first thin glory of rose light +came washing into the cave. But before he started down the trail he +paused, and stood staring, with some dim half memory, out across the +transparent, hollow spaces, the jumbled hilltops, misty, gray-green +forests, and steel-bright loops of water to which he had at last come +home. + + + + +THE MONARCH OF PARK BARREN + + + + +THE MONARCH OF PARK BARREN + +CHAPTER I + + +From the cold spring lakes and sombre deeps of spruce forest, over +which the bald granite peak of Old Saugamauk kept endless guard, came +reports of a moose of more than royal stature, whose antlers beggared +all records for symmetry and spread. From a home-coming lumber cruiser +here, a wandering Indian there, the word came straggling in, till the +settlements about the lower reaches of the river began to believe +there might be some truth behind the wild tales. Then--for it was +autumn, the season of gold and crimson falling leaves, and battles on +the lake-shores under the white full moon--there followed stories of +other moose seen fleeing in terror, with torn flanks and bleeding +shoulders; and it was realized that the prowess of the great moose +bull was worthy of his stature and his adornment. Apparently he was +driving all the other bulls off the Saugamauk ranges. + +By this time the matter became of interest to the guides. The stories +gathered in from different quarters, so it was hard to guess just +where the gigantic stranger was most likely to be found. To north and +northeast of the mountain went the two Armstrongs, seeking the +stranger's trail; while to south and southeastward explored the +Crimmins boys. If real, the giant bull had to be located; if a myth, +he had to be exploded before raising impossible hopes in the hearts of +visiting sportsmen. + +Then suddenly arrived corroboration of all the stories. It came from +Charley Crimmins. He was able to testify with conviction that the +giant bull was no figment of Indian's imagination or lumberman's +inventive humor. For it was he whose search had been successful. + +In fact, he might have been content to have it just a shade less +overwhelmingly successful. That there is such a thing as an +embarrassment of success was borne in upon him when he found himself +jumping madly for the nearest tree, with a moose that seemed to have +the stature of an elephant crashing through the thickets close behind +him. He reached the tree just in time to swing well up among its +branches. Then the tree quivered as the furious animal flung his bulk +against it. Crimmins had lost his rifle in the flight. He could do +nothing but sit shivering on his branch, making remarks so +uncomplimentary that the great bull, if he could have appreciated +them, would probably have established himself under that tree till +vengeance was accomplished. But not knowing that he had been insulted, +he presently grew tired of snorting at his captive, and wandered off +through the woods in search of more exciting occupation. Then, +indignant beyond words, Charley descended from his retreat, and took +his authoritative report in to the Settlements. + +[Illustration: "He reached the tree just in time to swing well up among +the branches."] + +At first it was thought that there would be great hunting around Old +Saugamauk, till those tremendous antlers should fall a prize to some +huntsman not only lucky but rich. For no one who could not pay right +handsomely for the chance might hope to be guided to the range where +such an unequalled trophy was to be won. But when the matter, in all +its authenticated details, came to the ears of Uncle Adam, dean of the +guides of that region, he said "_No_" with an emphasis that left no +room for argument. There should be no hunting around the slopes of +Saugamauk for several seasons. If the great bull was the terror they +made him out to be, then he had driven all the other bulls from his +range, and there was nothing to be hunted but his royal self. "Well," +decreed the far-seeing old guide, "we'll let him be for a bit, till +his youngsters begin to grow up like him. Then there'll be no heads in +all the rest of New Brunswick like them that comes from Old +Saugamauk." This decree was accepted, the New Brunswick guides being +among those who are wise enough to cherish the golden-egged goose. + +In the course of that season the giant moose was seen several times by +guides and woodsmen--but usually from a distance, as the inconsiderate +impetuosity of his temper was not favorable to close or calm +observation. The only people who really knew him were those who, like +Charley Crimmins, had looked down upon his grunting wrath from the +branches of a substantial tree. + +Upon certain important details, however, all observers agreed. The +stranger (for it was held that, driven by some southward wandering +instinct, he had come down from the wild solitudes of the Gaspe +Peninsula) was reckoned to be a good eight inches taller at the +shoulders than any other moose of New Brunswick record, and several +hundredweight heavier. His antlers, whose symmetry and palmation +seemed perfect, were estimated to have a spread of sixty inches at +least. That was the conservative estimate of Uncle Adam, who had made +his observations with remarkable composure from a tree somewhat less +lofty and sturdy than he would have chosen had he had the time for +choice. + +In color the giant was so dark that his back and flanks looked black +except in the strongest sunlight. His mighty head, with long, deeply +overhanging muzzle, was of a rich brown; while the under parts of his +body, and the inner surfaces of his long, straight legs, were of a +rusty fawn color. His "bell"--as the shaggy appendix that hangs from +the neck of a bull moose, a little below the throat, is called--was of +unusual development, and the coarse hair adorning it peculiarly +glossy. To bring down such a magnificent prize, and to carry off such +a trophy as that unmatched head and antlers, the greatest sportsmen of +America would have begrudged no effort or expense. But though the fame +of the wonderful animal was cunningly allowed to spread to the ears of +all sportsmen, its habitat seemed miraculously elusive. It was heard +of on the Upsalquitch, the Nipisiguit, the Dungarvan, the Little +Sou'west, but never, by some strange chance, in the country around Old +Saugamauk. Visiting sportsmen hunted, spent money, dreamed dreams, +followed great trails and brought down splendid heads, all over the +Province; but no stranger with a rifle was allowed to see the proud +antlers of the monarch of Saugamauk. + +The right of the splendid moose to be called the Monarch of Saugamauk +was settled beyond all question one moonlight night when the surly old +bear who lived in a crevasse far up under the stony crest of the +mountain came down and attempted to dispute it. The wild kindreds, as +a rule, are most averse to unnecessary quarrels. Unless their food or +their mates are at stake, they will fight only under extreme +provocation, or when driven to bay. They are not ashamed to run away, +rather than press matters too far and towards a doubtful issue. A bull +moose and a bear are apt to give each other a wide berth, respecting +each other's prowess. But there are exceptions to all rules, +especially where bears, the most individual of our wild cousins, are +concerned. And this bear was in a particularly savage mood. Just in +the mating season he had lost his mate, who had been shot by an +Indian. The old bear did not know what had happened to her, but he was +ready to avenge her upon any one who might cross his path. + +Unluckily for him, it was the great moose who crossed his path; and +the luck was all Charley Crimmins's, who chanced to be the spectator +of what happened there beside the moonlit lake. + +Charley was on his way over to the head of the Nipisiguit, when it +occurred to him that he would like to get another glimpse of the great +beast who had so ignominiously discomfited him. Peeling a sheet of +bark from the nearest white birch, he twisted himself a "moose-call," +then climbed into the branches of a willow which spread out over the +edge of the shining lake. From this concealment he began to utter +persuasively the long, uncouth, melancholy call by which the moose cow +summons her mate. + +Sometimes these vast northern solitudes seem, for hours together, as +if they were empty of all life. It is as if a wave of distrust had +passed simultaneously over all the creatures of the wild. At other +times the lightest occasion suffices to call life out of the +stillness. Crimmins had not sounded more than twice his deceptive +call, when the bushes behind the strip of beech crackled sharply. But +it was not the great bull that stepped forth into the moonlight. It +was a cow moose. She came out with no effort at concealment, and +walked up and down the beach, angrily looking for her imagined rival. + +When the uneasy animal's back was towards him, Crimmins called again, +a short, soft call. The cow jumped around as if she had been struck, +and the stiff hair along her neck stood up with jealous rage. But +there was no rival anywhere in sight, and she stood completely +mystified, shaking her ungainly head, peering into the dark +undergrowth, and snorting tempestuously as if challenging the +invisible rival to appear. Then suddenly her angry ridge of hair sank +down, she seemed to shrink together upon herself, and with a +convulsive bound she sprang away from the dark undergrowth, landing +with a splash in the shallow water along shore. At the same instant +the black branches were burst apart, and a huge bear, forepaws +upraised and jaws wide open, launched himself forth into the open. + +Disappointed at missing his first spring, the bear rushed furiously +upon his intended victim, but the cow, for all her apparent +awkwardness, was as agile as a deer. Barely eluding his rush, she went +shambling up the shore at a terrific pace, plunged into the woods, and +vanished. The bear checked himself at the water's edge, and turned, +holding his nose high in the air, as if disdaining to acknowledge that +he had been foiled. + +Crimmins hesitatingly raised his rifle. Should he bag this bear, or +should he wait and sound his call again a little later, in the hope of +yet summoning the great bull? As he hesitated, and the burly black +shape in the moonlight also stood hesitating, the thickets rustled and +parted almost beneath him, and the mysterious bull strode forth with +his head held high. + +He had come in answer to what he thought was the summons of his mate; +but when he saw the bear, his rage broke all bounds. He doubtless +concluded that the bear had driven his mate away. With a bawling roar +he thundered down upon the intruder. + +The bear, as we have seen, was in no mood to give way. His small eyes +glowed suddenly red with vengeful fury, as he wheeled and gathered +himself, half crouching upon his haunches, to meet the tremendous +attack. In this attitude all his vast strength was perfectly poised, +ready for use in any direction. The moose, had he been attacking a +rival of his own kind, would have charged with antlers down, but +against all other enemies the weapons he relied upon were his gigantic +hoofs, edged like chisels. As he reached his sullenly waiting +antagonist he reared on his hind-legs, towering like a black rock +about to fall and crush whatever was in its path. Like pile-drivers +his fore-hoofs struck downwards, one closely following the other. + +The bear swung aside as lightly as a weasel, and eluded, but only by a +hair's breadth, that destructive stroke. As he wheeled he delivered a +terrific, swinging blow, with his armed forepaw, upon his assailant's +shoulder. + +The blow was a fair one. Any ordinary moose bull would have gone down +beneath it, with his shoulder-joint shattered to splinters. But this +great bull merely staggered, and stood for a second in amazement. Then +he whipped about and darted upon the bear with a sort of hoarse +scream, his eyes flashing with a veritable madness. He neither reared +to strike, nor lowered his antlers to gore, but seemed intent upon +tearing the foe with his teeth, as a mad horse might. At the sight of +such resistless fury Crimmins involuntarily tightened his grip on his +branch and muttered: "That ain't no _moose_! It's a--" But before he +could finish his comparison, astonishment stopped him. The bear, +unable with all his strength and weight to withstand the shock of that +straight and incredibly swift charge, had been rolled over and over +down the gentle slope of the beach. At the same moment the moose, +blinded by his rage and unable to check himself, had tripped over a +log that lay hidden in the bushes, and fallen headlong on his nose. + +Utterly cowed by the overwhelming completeness of this overthrow, the +bear was on his feet again before his conqueror, and scurrying to +refuge like a frightened rat. He made for the nearest tree, and that +nearest tree, to Crimmins's dismay, was Crimmins's. The startled guide +swung himself hastily to a higher branch which stretched well out over +the water. + +Before the great bull could recover his footing, the fugitive had +gained a good start. But desperately swift though he was, the doom +that thundered behind him was swifter, and caught him just as he was +scrambling into the tree. Those implacable antlers ploughed his +hind-quarters remorselessly, till he squealed with pain and terror. +His convulsive scrambling raised him, the next instant, beyond reach +of that punishment; but immediately the great bull reared, and struck +him again and again with his terrible hoofs, almost crushing the +victim's maimed haunches. The bear bawled again, but maintained his +clutch of desperation, and finally drew himself up to a safe height, +where he crouched on a branch, whimpering pitifully, while the victor +raged below. + +At this moment the bear caught sight of Crimmins eying him steadily. +To the cowed beast this was a new peril menacing him. With a +frightened glance he crawled out on another branch, as far as it could +be trusted to support his weight. And there he clung, huddled and +shivering like a beaten puppy, looking from the man to the moose, from +the moose to the man, as if he feared they might both jump at him +together. + +But the sympathies of Crimmins were now entirely with the unfortunate +bear, his fellow-prisoner, and he looked down at the arrogant tyrant +below with a sincere desire to humble his pride with a rifle-bullet. +But he was too far-seeing a guide for that. He contented himself with +climbing a little lower till he attracted the giant's attention to +himself, and then dropping half a handful of tobacco, dry and powdery, +into those snorting red nostrils. + +It was done with nice precision, just as the giant drew in his breath. +He got the fullest benefit of the pungent dose; and such trivial +matters as bears and men were instantly forgotten in the paroxysms +which seized him. His roaring sneezes seemed as if they would rend +his mighty bulk asunder. He fairly stood upon his head, burrowing his +muzzle into the moist leafage, as he strove to purge the exasperating +torment from his nostrils. Crimmins laughed till he nearly fell out of +the tree, while the bear forgot to whimper as he stared in terrified +bewilderment. At last the moose stuck his muzzle up in the air and +began backing blindly over stones and bushes, as if trying to get away +from his own nose. Plump into four or five feet of icy water he +backed. The shock seemed to give him an idea. He plunged his head +under, and fell to wallowing and snorting and raising such a +prodigious disturbance that all the lake shores rang with it. Then he +bounced out upon the beach again, and dashed off through the woods as +if a million hornets were at his ears. + +Weak with laughter, Crimmins climbed down out of his refuge, waved an +amiable farewell to the stupefied bear, and resumed the trail for the +Nipisiguit. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +For the next two years the fame of the great moose kept growing, +adding to itself various wonders and extravagances till it assumed +almost the dimensions of a myth. Sportsmen came from all over the +world in the hope of bagging those unparalleled antlers. They shot +moose, caribou, deer, and bear, and went away disappointed only in one +regard. But at last they began to swear that the giant was a mere +fiction of the New Brunswick guides, designed to lure the hunters. The +guides, therefore, began to think it was time to make good and show +their proofs. Even Uncle Adam was coming around to this view, when +suddenly word came from the Crown Land Department at Fredericton that +the renowned moose must not be allowed to fall to any rifle. A special +permit had been issued for his capture and shipment out of the +country, that he might be the ornament of a famous Zoological Park and +a lively proclamation of what the New Brunswick forests could +produce. + +The idea of taking the King of Saugamauk alive seemed amusing to the +guides, and to Crimmins particularly. But Uncle Adam, whose colossal +frame and giant strength seemed to put him peculiarly in sympathy with +the great moose bull, declared that it could and should be done, for +he would do it. Upon this, scepticism vanished, even from the smile of +Charley Crimmins, who voiced the general sentiment when he said,-- + +"Uncle Adam ain't the man to bite off any more than he can chew!" + +But Uncle Adam was in no hurry. He had such a respect for his +adversary that he would not risk losing a single point in the +approaching contest. He waited till the mating season and the hunting +season were long past, and the great bull's pride and temper somewhat +cooled. He waited, moreover, for the day to come--along towards +midwinter--when those titanic antlers should loosen at their roots, +and fall off at the touch of the first light branch that might brush +against them. This, the wise old woodsman knew, would be the hour of +the King's least arrogance. Then, too, the northern snows would be +lying deep and soft and encumbering, over all the upland slopes +whereon the moose loved to browse. + +Along toward mid-February word came to Uncle Adam that the Monarch had +"yarded up," as the phrase goes, on the southerly slope of Old +Saugamauk, with three cows and their calves of the previous spring +under his protection. This meant that, when the snow had grown too +deep to permit the little herd to roam at will, he had chosen a +sheltered area where the birch, poplar, and cherry, his favorite +forage, were abundant, and there had trodden out a maze of deep paths +which led to all the choicest browsing, and centred about a cluster of +ancient firs so thick as to afford covert from the fiercest storms. +The news was what the wise old woodsman had been waiting for. With +three of his men, a pair of horses, a logging-sled, axes, and an +unlimited supply of rope, he went to capture the King. + +It was a clear, still morning, so cold that the great trees snapped +sharply under the grip of the bitter frost. The men went on snowshoes, +leaving the teams hitched in a thicket on the edge of a logging road +some three or four hundred yards from the "moose-yard." The sun +glittered keenly on the long white alleys which led this way and that +at random through the forest. The snow, undisturbed and accumulating +for months, was heaped in strange shapes over hidden bushes, stumps, +and rocks. The tread of the snowshoes made a furtive crunching sound +as it rhythmically broke the crisp surface. + +Far off through the stillness the great moose, lying with the rest of +the herd in their shadowy covert, caught the ominous sound. He lurched +to his feet and stood listening, while the herd watched him anxiously, +awaiting his verdict as to whether that strange sound meant peril or +no. + +For reasons which we have seen, the giant bull knew little of man, and +that little not of a nature to command any great respect. +Nevertheless, at this season of the year, his blood cool, his august +front shorn of its ornament and defence, he was seized with an +incomprehensible apprehension. After all, as he felt vaguely, there +was an unknown menace about man; and his ear told him that there were +several approaching. A few months earlier he would have stamped his +huge hoofs, thrashed the bushes with his colossal antlers, and stormed +forth to chastise the intruders. But now, he sniffed the sharp air, +snorted uneasily, drooped his big ears, and led a rapid but dignified +retreat down one of the deep alleys of his maze. + +This was exactly what Uncle Adam had looked for. His object was to +force the herd out of the maze of alleys, wherein they could move +swiftly, and drive them floundering through the deep, soft snow, which +would wear them out before they could go half a mile. Spreading his +men so widely that they commanded all trails by which the fugitives +might return, he followed up the flight at a run. And he accompanied +the pursuit with a riot of shouts and yells and laughter, designed to +shake his quarry's heart with the fear of the unusual. Wise in all +woodcraft, Uncle Adam knew that one of the most daunting of all +sounds, to the creatures of the wild, was that of human laughter, so +inexplicable and seemingly so idle. + +At other times the great bull would merely have been enraged at this +blatant clamor and taken it as a challenge. But now he retreated to +the farthest corner of his maze. From this point there were but two +paths of return, and along both the uproar was closing in upon him. +Over the edge of the snow--which was almost breast-high to him, and +deep enough to bury the calves, hopelessly deep, indeed, for any of +the herd but himself to venture through--he gave a wistful look +towards the depths of the cedar swamps in the valley, where he +believed he could baffle all pursuers. Then his courage--but without +his autumnal fighting rage--came back to him. His herd was his care. +He crowded the cows and calves between himself and the snow, and +turned to face his pursuers as they came running and shouting through +the trees. + +When Uncle Adam saw that the King was going to live up to his kingly +reputation and fight rather than be driven off into the deep snow, he +led the advance more cautiously till his forces were within +twenty-five or thirty paces of the huddling herd. Here he paused, for +the guardian of the herd was beginning to stamp ominously with his +great, clacking hoofs, and the reddening light in his eyes showed that +he might charge at any instant. + +He did not charge, however, because his attention was diverted by the +strange action of the men, who had stopped their shouting and begun to +chop trees. It amazed him to see the flashing axes bite savagely into +the great trunks and send the white chips flying. The whole herd +watched with wide eyes, curious and apprehensive; till suddenly a tree +toppled, swept the hard blue sky, and came down with a crashing roar +across one of the runways. The cows and calves bounded wildly, clear +out into the snow. But the King, though his eyes dilated with +amazement, stood his ground and grunted angrily. + +A moment more and another tree, huge-limbed and dense, came down +across the other runway. Two more followed, and the herd was cut off +from its retreat. The giant bull, of course, with his vast stride and +colossal strength, could have smashed his way through and over the +barrier; but the others, to regain the safe mazes of the "yard," would +have had to make a detour through the engulfing snow. + +Though the King was now fairly cornered, Uncle Adam was puzzled to +know what to do next. In his hesitation, he felled some more trees, +dropping the last one so close that the herd was obliged to crowd back +to avoid being struck by the falling top. This, at last, was too much +for the King, who had never before known what it was to be crowded. +While his followers plunged away in terror, burying themselves +helplessly before they had gone a dozen yards, he bawled with fury and +charged upon his tormentors. + +[Illustration: "For perhaps thirty or forty yards the bull was able to +keep up this almost incredible pace."] + +Though the snow, as we have seen, came up to his chest, the giant's +strength and swiftness were such that the woodsmen were taken by +surprise, and Uncle Adam, who was in front, was almost caught. In +spite of his bulk, he turned and sprang away with the agility of a +wildcat; but if his snowshoes had turned and hindered him for one half +second, he would have been struck down and trodden to a jelly in the +smother of snow. Seeing the imminence of his peril, the other woodsmen +threw up their rifles; but Uncle Adam, though extremely busy for the +moment, saw them out of the corner of his eye as he ran, and angrily +ordered them not to shoot. He knew what he was about, and felt quite +sure of himself, though the enemy was snorting at his very heels. + +For perhaps thirty or forty yards the bull was able to keep up this +almost incredible pace. Then the inexorable pull of the snow began to +tell, even upon such thews as his, and his pace slackened. But his +rage showed no sign of cooling. So, being very accommodating, Uncle +Adam slackened his own pace correspondingly, that his pursuer might +not be discouraged. And the chase went on. But it went slower, and +slower, and slower, till at last it stopped with Uncle Adam still just +about six feet in the lead, and the great moose still blind-mad, but +too exhausted to go one foot farther. Then Uncle Adam chuckled softly +and called for the ropes. There was kicking, of course, and furious +lunging and wild snorting, but the woodsmen were skilful and patient, +and the King of Old Saugamauk was conquered. In a little while he lay +upon his side, trussed up as securely and helplessly as a papoose in +its birch-bark carrying-cradle. There was nothing left of his kingship +but to snort regal defiance, to which his captors offered not the +slightest retort. In his bonds he was carried off to the settlements, +on the big logging-sled, drawn by the patient horses whom he scorned. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +After this ignominy, for days the King was submissive, with the sullen +numbness of despair. Life for him became a succession of stunning +shocks and roaring change. He would be put into strange box-prisons, +which would straightway begin to rush terribly through the world with +a voice of thunder. Through the cracks in the box he would watch trees +and fields and hills race by in madness of flight. He would be taken +out of the box, and murmuring crowds would gape at him till the black +mane along his neck would begin to rise in something of his old anger. +Then some one would drive the crowd away, and he would slip back into +his stupor. He did not know which he hated most,--the roaring boxes, +the fleeing landscapes, or the staring crowds. At last he came to a +loud region where there were no trees, but only what seemed to him +vast, towering, naked rocks, red, gray, yellow, brown, full of holes +from which issued men in swarms. These terrible rocks ran in endless +rows, and through them he came at last to a wide field, thinly +scattered with trees. There was no seclusion in it, no deep, dark, +shadowy hemlock covert to lie down in; but it was green, and it was +spacious, and it was more or less quiet. So when he was turned loose +in it, he was almost glad. He lifted his head, with a spark of the old +arrogance returning to his eyes. And through dilating nostrils he +drank the free air till his vast lungs thrilled with almost forgotten +life. + +The men who had brought him to the park--this bleak barren he would +have called it, had he had the faculty of thinking in terms of human +speech, this range more fitted for the frugal caribou than for a +ranger of the deep forests like himself--these men stood watching him +curiously after they had loosed him from his bonds. For a few minutes +he forgot all about them. Then his eyes fell on them, and a heat crept +slowly into his veins as he looked. Slowly he began to resume his +kingship. His eyes changed curiously, and a light, fiery and fearless, +flamed in their depths. His mane began to bristle. + +"It's time for us to get out of this. That fellow's beginning to +remember he has some old scores to settle up!" remarked the Director +coolly to the head-keeper and his assistants; and they all stepped +backwards, with a casual air, towards the big gate, which stood ajar +to receive them. Just as they reached it, the old fire and fury surged +back into the exile's veins, but heated seven fold by the ignominies +which he had undergone. With a hoarse and bawling roar, such as had +never before been heard in those guarded precincts, he launched +himself upon his gaolers. But they nimbly slipped through the gate and +dropped the massive bars into their sockets. + +They were just in time. The next instant the King had hurled himself +with all his weight upon the barrier. The sturdy ironwork and the +panels on either side of the posts clanged, groaned, and even yielded +a fraction of an inch beneath the shock. But in the rebound they +thrust their assailant backward with startling violence. Bewildered, +he glared at the obstacle, which looked so slender, yet was so strong +to balk him of his vengeance. Then, jarred and aching, he withdrew +haughtily to explore his new domain. The Director, gazing after him, +nodded with supreme satisfaction. + +"Those fellows up in New Brunswick told no lies!" said he. + +"He certainly is a peach!" assented the head-keeper heartily. "When +he grows his new antlers, I reckon we will have to enlarge the park." + +The great exile found his new range interesting to explore, and began +to forget his indignation. Privacy it had not, for the trees at this +season were all leafless, and there were no dense fir or spruce +thickets into which he could withdraw, to look forth unseen upon this +alien landscape. But there were certain rough boulders behind which he +could lurk. And there were films of ice, and wraiths of thin snow in +the hollows, the chill touch of which helped him to feel more or less +at home. In the distance he caught sight of a range of those high, +square rocks wherein the men dwelt; and hating them deeply, he turned +and pressed on in the opposite direction over a gentle rise and across +a little valley; till suddenly, among the trees, he came upon a +curious barrier of meshed stuff, something like a gigantic cobweb. +Through the meshes he could distinctly see the country beyond, and it +seemed to be just the country he desired, more wooded and inviting +than what he had traversed. Confidently he pushed upon the woven +obstacle; but to his amazement it did not give way before him. He eyed +it resentfully. How absurd that so frail a thing should venture to +forbid him passage! He thrust upon it again, more brusquely, to be +just as brusquely denied. The hot blood blazed to his head, and he +dashed himself upon it with all his strength. The impenetrable but +elastic netting yielded for a space, then sprang back with an +impetuosity that flung him clear off his feet. He fell with a loud +grunt, lay for a moment dismayed, then got up and eyed his +incomprehensible adversary with a blank stare. He was learning so many +strange lessons that it was difficult to assimilate them all at once. + +The following morning, when he was feasting on a pile of the willow +and poplar forage which he loved, and which had appeared as if by +magic close beside the mysterious barrier, he saw some men, perhaps a +hundred yards away, throw open a section of the barrier. Forgetting to +be angry at their intrusion on his range, he watched them curiously. A +moment more, and a little herd of his own kind, apparently quite +indifferent to the men, followed them into the range. He was not +surprised at their appearance, for his nose had already told him there +were moose about. But he was surprised to see them on friendly terms +with man. + +There were several cows in the herd, with a couple of awkward +yearlings; and the King, much gratified, ambled forward with huge +strides to meet them and take them under his gracious protection. But +a moment later two fine young bulls came into his view, following the +rest of the herd at a more dignified pace. The King stopped, lowered +his mighty front, laid back his ears like an angry stallion, and +grunted a hoarse warning. The stiff black hair along his neck slowly +arose and stood straight up. + +The two young bulls stared in stupid astonishment at this tremendous +apparition. It was not the fighting season, so they had no jealousy, +and felt nothing but a cold indifference toward the stranger. But as +he came striding down the field his attitude was so menacing, his +stature so formidable, that they could not but realize there was +trouble brewing. It was contrary to all traditions that they should +take the trouble to fight in midwinter, when they had no antlers and +their blood was sluggish. Nevertheless, they could not brook to be so +affronted, as it were, in their own citadel. + +Their eyes began to gleam angrily, and they advanced, shaking their +heads, to meet the insolent stranger. The keepers, surprised, drew +together close by the gate; while one of them left hurriedly and ran +towards a building which stood a little way off among the trees. + +As the King swept down upon the herd, bigger and blacker than any bull +they had ever seen before, the cows shrank away and stood staring +placidly. They were well fed, and for the time indifferent to all else +in their sheltered world. Still, a fight is a fight, and if there was +going to be one, they were ready enough to look on. + +Alas for the right of possession when it runs counter to the right of +might! The two young bulls were at home and in the right, and their +courage was sound. But when that black whirlwind from the fastnesses +of Old Saugamauk fell upon them, it seemed that they had no more +rights at all. + +Side by side they confronted the onrushing doom. At the moment of +impact, they reared and struck savagely with their sharp hoofs. But +the gigantic stranger troubled himself with no such details. He merely +fell upon them, like a blind but raging force, irresistible as a +falling hillside and almost as disastrous. They both went down before +him like calves, and rolled over and over, stunned and sprawling. + +The completeness of this victory, establishing his supremacy beyond +cavil, should have satisfied the King, especially as this was not the +mating season and there could be no question of rivalry. But his heart +was bursting with injury, and his thirst for vengeance was raging to +be glutted. As the vanquished bulls struggled to recover their feet, +he bounded upon the nearest and trod him down again mercilessly. The +other, meanwhile, fled for his life, stricken with shameless terror; +and the exile, leaving his victim, went thundering in pursuit, +determined that both should be annihilated. It was a terrifying sight, +the black giant, mane erect, neck out-thrust, mouth open, eyes glaring +with implacable fury, sweeping down upon the fugitive with his +terrific strides. + +But just then, when another stride would have sufficed, a strange +thing happened! A flying noose settled over the pursuer's head, +tightened, jerked his neck aside, and threw him with a violence that +knocked the wind clean out of his raging body. While his vast lungs +sobbed and gasped to recover the vital air, other nooses whipped about +his legs; and before he could recover himself even enough to struggle, +he was once more trussed up as he had been by Uncle Adam amid the +snows of Saugamauk. + +In this ignominious position, his heart bursting with shame and +impotence, he was left lying while his two battered victims were +lassoed and led away. Since it was plain that the King would not +suffer them to live in his kingdom, even as humble subjects, they were +to be removed to some more modest domain; for the King, whether he +deserved it or not, was to have the best reserved for him. + +It was little kingly he felt, the fettered giant, as he lay there +panting on his side. The cows came up and gazed at him with a kind of +placid scorn, till his furious snortings and the undaunted rage that +flamed in his eyes made them draw back apprehensively. Then, the men +who had overthrown him returned. They dragged him unceremoniously up +to the gate, slipped his bonds, and discreetly put themselves on the +other side of the barrier before he could get to his feet. With a +grunt he wheeled and faced them with such hate in his eyes that they +thought he would once more hurl himself upon the bars. But he had +learned his lesson. For a few moments he stood quivering. Then, as if +recognizing at last a mastery too absolute even for him to challenge, +he shook himself violently, turned away, and stalked off to join the +herd. + +That evening, about sundown, it turned colder. Clouds gathered +heavily, and there was the sense of coming snow in the air. A great +wind, rising fitfully, drew down out of the north. Seeing no covert to +his liking, the King led his little herd to the top of a naked knoll, +where he could look about and choose a shelter. But that great wind +out of the north, thrilling in his nostrils, got into his heart and +made him forget what he had come for. Out across the alien gloom he +stared, across the huddled, unknown masses of the dark, till he +thought he saw the bald summit of Old Saugamauk rising out of its +forests, till he thought he heard the wind roar in the spruce tops, +the dead branches clash and crack. The cows, for a time, huddled close +to his massive flanks, expecting some new thing from his vast +strength. Then, as the storm gathered, they remembered the shelter +which man had provided for them, and the abundant forage it contained. +One after the other they turned and filed away slowly down the slopes, +through the dim trees, towards the corner where they knew a gate would +stand open for them, and then a door into a warm-smelling shed. The +King, lost in his dream, did not notice their going. But suddenly, +feeling himself alone, he started and looked about. The last of the +yearlings, at its mother's heels, was just vanishing through the windy +gloom. He hesitated, started to follow, then stopped abruptly. Let +them go! They would return to him probably. Turning back to his +station on the knoll, he stood with his head held high, his nostrils +drinking the cold, while the winter night closed in upon him, and the +wind out of his own north rushed and roared solemnly in his face. + + + + +THE GRAY MASTER + + + + +THE GRAY MASTER + +CHAPTER I + + +Why he was so much bigger, more powerful, and more implacably savage +than the other members of the gray, spectral pack, which had appeared +suddenly from the north to terrorize their lone and scattered +clearings, the settlers of the lower Quah-Davic Valley could not +guess. Those who were of French descent among them, and full of the +old Acadian superstitions, explained it simply enough by saying he was +a _loup-garou_, or "wer-wolf," and resigned themselves to the +impossibility of contending against a creature of such supernatural +malignity and power. But their fellows of English speech, having no +such tradition to fall back upon, were mystified and indignant. The +ordinary gray, or "cloudy," wolf of the East they knew, though he was +so rare south of Labrador that few of them had ever seen one. They +dismissed them all, indifferently, as "varmin." But this unaccountable +gray ravager was bigger than any two such wolves, fiercer and more +dauntless than any ten. Though the pack he led numbered no more than +half a dozen, he made it respected and dreaded through all the wild +leagues of the Quah-Davic. To make things worse, this long-flanked, +long-jawed marauder was no less cunning than fierce. When the +settlers, seeking vengeance for sheep, pigs, and cattle slaughtered by +his pack, went forth to hunt him with dogs and guns, it seemed that +there was never a wolf in the country. Nevertheless, either that same +night or the next, it was long odds that one or more of those same +dogs who had been officious in the hunt would disappear. As for traps +and poisoned meat, they proved equally futile. They were always +visited, to be sure, by the pack, at some unexpected and +indeterminable moment, but treated always with a contumelious scorn +which was doubtless all that such clumsy tactics merited. Meanwhile +the ravages went on, and the children were kept close housed at night, +and cool-eyed old woodsmen went armed and vigilant along the lonely +roads. The French _habitant_ crossed himself, and the Saxon cursed his +luck; and no one solved the mystery. + +Yet, after all, as Arthur Kane, the young schoolmaster at Burnt Brook +Cross-Roads, began dimly to surmise, the solution was quite simple. A +lucky gold-miner, returning from the Klondike, had brought with him +not only gold and an appetite, but also a lank, implacable, tameless +whelp from the packs that haunt the sweeps of northern timber. The +whelp had gnawed his way to freedom. He had found, fought, thrashed, +and finally adopted, a little pack of his small, Eastern kin. He had +thriven, and grown to the strength and stature that were his rightful +heritage. And "the Gray Master of the Quah-Davic," as Kane had dubbed +him, was no _loup-garou_, no outcast human soul incarcerate in wolf +form, but simply a great Alaskan timber-wolf. + +But this, when all is said, is quite enough. A wolf that can break the +back of a full-grown collie at one snap of his jaws, and gallop off +with the carcass as if it were a chipmunk, is about as undesirable a +neighbor, in the night woods, as any _loup-garou_ ever devised by the +_habitant's_ excitable imagination. + +All up and down the Quah-Davic Valley the dark spruce woods were full +of game,--moose, deer, hares, and wild birds innumerable,--with roving +caribou herds on the wide barren beyond the hill-ridge. Nevertheless, +the great gray wolf would not spare the possessions of the settlers. +His pack haunted the fringes of the settlements with a needless +tenacity which seemed to hold a challenge in it, a direct and insolent +defiance. And the feeling of resentment throughout the Valley was on +the point of crystallizing into a concerted campaign of vengeance +which would have left even so cunning a strategist as the Gray Master +no choice but to flee or fall, when something took place which quite +changed the course of public sentiment. Folk so disagreed about it +that all concerted action became impossible, and each one was left to +deal with the elusive adversary in his own way. + +This was what happened. + +In a cabin about three miles from the nearest neighbor lived the Widow +Baisley, alone with her son Paddy, a lad under ten years old, and +little for his age. One midwinter night she was taken desperately ill, +and Paddy, reckless of the terrors of the midnight solitudes, ran +wildly to get help. The moon was high and full, and the lifeless +backwoods road was a narrow, bright, white thread between the silent +black masses of the spruce forest. Now and then, as he remembered +afterwards, his ear caught a sound of light feet following him in the +dark beyond the roadside. But his plucky little heart was too full of +panic grief about his mother to have any room for fear as to himself. +Only the excited amazement of his neighbors, over the fact that he had +made the journey in safety, opened his eyes to the hideous peril he +had come through. Willing helpers hurried back with him to his +mother's bedside. And on the way one of them, a keen huntsman who had +more than once pitted his woodcraft in vain against that of the Gray +Master, had the curiosity to step off the road and examine the snow +under the thick spruces. Perhaps imagination misled him, when he +thought he caught a glimpse of savage eyes, points of green flame, +fading off into the black depths. But there could be no doubt as to +the fresh tracks he found in the snow. There they were,--the +footprints of the pack, like those of so many big dogs,--and among +them the huge trail of the great, far-striding leader. All the way, +almost from his threshold, these sinister steps had paralleled those +of the hurrying child. Close to the edge of the darkness they +ran,--close, within the distance of one swift leap,--yet never any +closer! + +Why had the great gray wolf, who faced and pulled down the bull moose, +and from whose voice the biggest dogs in the settlements ran like +whipped curs--why had he and his stealthy pack spared this easy prey? +It was inexplicable, though many had theories good enough to be +laughed to scorn by those who had none. The _habitants_, of course, +had all their superstitions confirmed, and with a certain respect and +refinement of horror added: Here was a _loup-garou_ so crafty as to +spare, on occasion! He must be conciliated, at all costs. They would +hunt him no more, his motives being so inexplicable. Let him take a +few sheep, or a steer, now and then, and remember that _they_, at +least, were not troubling him. As for the English-speaking settlers, +their enmity cooled down to the point where they could no longer get +together any concentrated bitterness. It was only a big rascal of a +wolf, anyway, scared to touch a white man's child, and certainly +nothing for a lot of grown men to organize about. Some of the women +jumped to the conclusion that a certain delicacy of sentiment had +governed the wolves in their strange forbearance, while others +honestly believed that the pack had been specially sent by Providence +to guard the child through the forest on his sacred errand. But all, +whatever their views, agreed in flouting the young schoolteacher's +uninteresting suggestion that perhaps the wolves had not happened, at +the moment, to be hungry. + +As it chanced, however, even this very rational explanation of Kane's +was far from the truth. The truth was that the great wolf had profited +by his period of captivity in the hands of a masterful man. Into his +fine sagacity had penetrated the conception--hazy, perhaps, but none +the less effective--that man's vengeance would be irresistible and +inescapable if once fairly aroused. This conception he had enforced +upon the pack. It was enough. For, of course, even to the most +elementary intelligence among the hunting, fighting kindreds of the +wild, it was patent that the surest way to arouse man's vengeance +would be to attack man's young. The intelligence lying behind the +wide-arched skull of the Gray Master was equal to more intricate and +less obvious conclusions than that. + +Among all the scattered inhabitants of the Quah-Davic Valley there was +no one who devoted quite so much attention to the wonderful gray wolf +as did the young school-teacher. His life at the Burnt Brook +Cross-Roads, his labors at the little Burnt Brook School, were neither +so exacting nor so exciting but that he had time on his hands. His +preferred expedients for spending that time were hunting, and +studying the life of the wild kindreds. He was a good shot with both +rifle and camera, and would serve himself with one weapon or the other +as the mood seized him. When life, or his dinner, went ill with him, +or he found himself fretting hopelessly for the metropolitan +excitement of the little college city where he had been educated, he +would choose his rifle. And so wide-reaching, so mysterious, are the +ties which enmesh all created beings, that it would seem to even +matters up and relieve his feelings wonderfully just to kill +something, if only a rabbit or a weasel. + +But at other times he preferred the camera. + +Naturally Kane was interested in the mysterious gray wolf more than in +all the other prowlers of the Quah-Davic put together. He was quite +unreasonably glad when the plans for a concerted campaign against the +marauder so suddenly fell through. That so individual a beast should +have its career cut short by an angry settler's bullet, to avenge a +few ordinary pigs or sheep, was a thing he could hardly contemplate +with patience. To scatter the pack would be to rob the Quah-Davic +solitudes of half their romance. He determined to devote himself to a +study of the great wolf's personality and characteristics, and to +foil, as far as this could be done without making himself unpopular, +such plots as might be laid for the beast's undoing. + +Recognizing, however, that this friendly interest might not be +reciprocated, Kane chose his rifle rather than his camera as a weapon, +on those stinging, blue-white nights when he went forth to seek +knowledge of the gray wolf's ways. His rifle was a well-tried +repeating Winchester, and he carried a light, short-handled axe in his +belt besides the regulation knife; so he had no serious misgivings as +he trod the crackling, moonlit snow beneath the moose-hide webbing of +his snowshoes. But not being utterly foolhardy, he kept to the open +stretches of meadow, or river-bed, or snow-buried lake, rather than in +the close shadows of the forest. + +But now, when he was so expectant, the wolf-pack seemed to find +business elsewhere. For nights not a howl had been heard, not a fresh +track found, within miles of Burnt Brook Cross-Roads. Then, +remembering that a watched pot takes long to boil, Kane took +fishing-lines and bait, and went up the wide, white brook-bed to the +deep lake in the hills, whence it launches its shallow flood towards +the Quah-Davic. He took with him also for companionship, since this +time he was not wolf-hunting, a neighbor's dog that was forever after +him--a useless, yellow lump of mongrel dog-flesh, but friendly and +silent. After building a hasty shelter of spruce boughs some distance +out from shore in the flooding light, he chopped holes through the ice +and fell to fishing for the big lake trout that inhabited those deep +waters. He had luck. And soon, absorbed in the new excitement, he had +forgotten all about the great gray wolf. + +It was late, for Kane had slept the early part of the night, waiting +for moonrise before starting on his expedition. The air was tingling +with windless cold, and ghostly white with the light of a crooked, +waning moon. Suddenly, without a sound, the dog crept close against +Kane's legs. Kane felt him tremble. Looking up sharply, his eyes fell +on a tall, gray form, sitting erect on the tip of a naked point, not a +hundred yards away, and staring, not at him, but at the moon. + +In spite of himself, Kane felt a pricking in his cheeks, a creeping of +the skin under his hair. The apparition was so sudden, and, above all, +the cool ignoring of his presence was so disconcerting. Moreover, +through that half-sinister light, his long muzzle upstretched towards +the moon, and raised as he was a little above the level on which Kane +was standing, the wolf looked unnaturally and impossibly tall. Kane +had never heard of a wolf acting in this cool, self-possessed, +arrogantly confident fashion, and his mind reverted obstinately to the +outworn superstitions of his _habitants_ friends. But, after all, it +was this wolf, not an ordinary brush-fence wolf, that he was so +anxious to study; and the unexpected was just what he had most reason +to expect! He was getting what he came for. + +Kane knew that the way to study the wild creatures was to keep still +and make no noise. So be stiffened into instant immobility, and +regretted that he had brought the dog with him. But he need not have +worried about the dog, for that intelligent animal showed no desire to +attract the Gray Master's notice. He was crouched behind Kane's legs, +and motionless except for his shuddering. + +For several minutes no one stirred--nothing stirred in all that frozen +world. Then, feeling the cold begin to creep in upon him in the +stillness, Kane had to lift his thick-gloved hands to chafe his ears. +He did it cautiously, but the caution was superfluous. The great wolf +apparently had no objection to his moving as much as he liked. Once, +indeed, those green, lambent eyes flamed over him, but casually, in +making a swift circuit of the shores of the lake and the black fringe +of the firs; but for all the interest which their owner vouchsafed +him, Kane might as well have been a juniper bush. + +Knowing very well, however, that this elaborate indifference could not +be other than feigned, Kane was patient, determined to find out what +the game was. At the same time, he could not help the strain beginning +to tell on him. Where was the rest of the pack? From time to time he +glanced searchingly over his shoulder towards the all-concealing fir +woods. + +At last, as if considering himself utterly alone, the great wolf +opened his jaws, stretched back his neck, and began howling his +shrill, terrible serenade to the moon. As soon as he paused, came +far-off nervous barkings and yelpings from dogs who hated and trembled +in the scattered clearings. But no wolf-howl made reply. The pack, for +all the sign they gave, might have vanished off the earth. And Kane +wondered what strong command from their leader could have kept them +silent when all their ancient instincts bade them answer. + +As if well satisfied with his music, the great wolf continued to +beseech the moon so persistently that at last Kane lost patience. He +wanted more variety in the programme. Muttering, "I'll see if I can't +rattle your fine composure a bit, my friend!" he raised his rifle and +sent a bullet whining over the wolf's head. The wolf cocked his ears +slightly and looked about carelessly, as if to say, "What's that?" +then coolly resumed his serenade. + +Nettled by such ostentatious nonchalance, Kane drove another bullet +into the snow within a few inches of the wolf's forefeet. This proved +more effective. The great beast looked down at the place where the +ball had struck, sniffed at it curiously, got up on all fours, and +turned and stared steadily at Kane for perhaps half a minute. Kane +braced himself for a possible onslaught. But it never came. Whirling +lightly, the Gray Master turned his back on the disturber of his song, +and trotted away slowly, without once looking back. He did not make +directly for the cover, but kept in full view and easy gunshot for +several hundred yards. Then he disappeared into the blackness of the +spruce woods. Thereupon the yellow mongrel, emerging from his shelter +behind Kane's legs, pranced about on the snow before him with every +sign of admiration and relief. + +But Kane was too puzzled to be altogether relieved. It was not +according to the books for any wolf, great or small, to conduct +himself in this supercilious fashion. Looking back along the white +bed of the brook, the path by which he must return, he saw that the +sinking of the moon would very soon involve it in thick shadow. This +was not as he wished it. He had had enough of fishing. Gathering up +his now frozen prizes, and strapping the bag that contained them over +his shoulder, so as to leave both hands free, he set out for home at +the long, deliberate, yet rapid lope of the experienced snowshoer; and +the yellow dog, confidence in his companion's prowess now thoroughly +established, trotted on heedlessly three or four paces ahead. + +Already the shadow of the woods lay halfway across the bed of the +brook, but down the middle of the strip of brightness, still some five +or six paces in breadth, Kane swung steadily. As he went, he kept a +sharp eye on the shadowed edge of his path. He had gone perhaps a +mile, when all at once he felt a tingling at the roots of his hair, +which seemed to tell him he was being watched from the darkness. Peer +as he would, however, he could catch no hint of moving forms; strain +his ears as he might, he could hear no whisper of following feet. +Moreover, he trusted to the keener senses, keener instincts, of the +dog, to give him warning of any furtive approach; and the dog was +obviously at ease. + +He was just beginning to execrate himself for letting his nerves get +too much on edge, when suddenly out from the black branches just ahead +shot a long, spectral shape and fell upon the dog. There was one +choked yelp--and the dog and the terrible shape vanished together, +back into the blackness. + +It was all so instantaneous that before Kane could get his rifle up +they were gone. Startled and furious, he fired at random, three times, +into cover. Then he steadied himself, remembering that the number of +cartridges in his chamber was not unlimited. Seeing to it that his axe +and knife were both loose for instant action, he stopped and +replenished his Winchester. Then he hurried on as fast as he could +without betraying haste. + +As he went, he was soon vividly conscious that the wolves--not the +Gray Master alone, but the whole pack also--were keeping pace with him +through the soundless dark beyond the rim of the spruces. But not a +hint of their grim companioning could he see or hear. He felt it +merely in the creeping of his skin, the elemental stirring of the hair +at the back of his neck. From moment to moment he expected the swift +attack, the battle for his life. But he was keyed up to it. It was not +fear that made his nerves tingle, but the tense, trembling excitement +of the situation. Even against these strange, hidden forces of the +forest, his spirit felt sure of victory. He felt as if his rifle would +go up and speak, almost of itself, unerringly at the first instant of +attack, even before the adversary broke into view. But through all the +drawn-out length of those last three miles his hidden adversaries gave +no sign, save that once a dead branch, concealed under the snow, +snapped sharply. His rifle was at his shoulder, it seemed to him, +almost before the sound reached his ear. But nothing came of it. Then +a panic-mad rabbit, stretched straight out in flight, darted across +the fast narrowing brightness of his path. But nothing followed. And +at last, after what seemed to him hours, he came out upon the open +pastures overlooking Burnt Brook Settlement. Here he ran on a little +way; and then, because the strain had been great, he sat down suddenly +upon a convenient stump and burst into a peal of laughter which must +have puzzled the wolves beyond measure. + +After this, though well aware that the Gray Master's inexplicable +forbearance had saved him a battle which, for all his confidence, +might quite conceivably have gone against him, Kane's interest in the +mysterious beast was uncompromisingly hostile. He was bitter on +account of the dog. He felt that the great wolf had put a dishonor +upon him; and for a few days he was no longer the impartial student of +natural history, but the keen, primitive hunter with the blood-lust +hot in his veins. Then this mood passed, or, rather, underwent a +change. He decided that the Gray Master was, indeed, too individual a +beast to be just snuffed out, but, at the same time, far too dangerous +to be left at liberty. + +And now all the thought and effort that could be spared from his daily +duties at the Cross-Roads were bent to the problem of capturing the +great wolf alive. He would be doing a service to the whole Quah-Davic +Valley. And he would have the pleasure of presenting the splendid +captive to his college town, at that time greatly interested in the +modest beginnings of a zoological garden which its citizens were +striving to inaugurate. It thrilled his fancy to imagine a tin placard +on the front of a cage in the little park, bearing the inscription-- + + CANIS OCCIDENTALIS. + EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. + PRESENTED BY ARTHUR KANE, ESQ. + +After a few weeks of assiduous trapping, however, Kane felt bound to +acknowledge that this modest ambition of his seemed remote from +fulfilment. Every kind of trap he could think of, that would take a +beast alive, he tried in every kind of way. And having run the whole +insidious gamut, he would turn patiently to run it all over again. Of +course, the result was inevitable, for no beast, not even such a one +as the Gray Master, is a match, in the long run, for a man who is in +earnest. Yet Kane's triumph, when it blazed upon his startled eyes at +last, was indirect. In avoiding, and at the same time uncovering and +making mock of, Kane's traps, the great wolf put his foot into +another, a powerful bear-trap, which a cunning old trapper had hidden +near by, without bait. The trap was secured to a tree by a stout +chain--and rage, strain, tear as he might, the Gray Master found +himself snared. In his silent fury he would probably have gnawed off +the captive foot, for the sake of freedom. But before he came to that, +Kane arrived and occupied his attention fully. + +Kane's disappointment, at finding the splendid prize in another trap +than his own, was but momentary. He knew his successful rival would +readily part with his claims, for due consideration. But he was +puzzled as to what should be done in the immediate emergency. He +wanted to go back home for help, for ropes, straps, and a muzzle with +which he had provided himself; but he was afraid lest, in his absence, +the trapper might arrive and shoot the captive, for the sake of the +pelt and the bounty. In his uncertainty he waited, hoping that the +trapper might come soon; and by way of practice for the serious +enterprise that would come later, as well as to direct the prisoner's +mind a little from his painful predicament, Kane began trying to lasso +him with a coil of heavy cord which he carried. + +His efforts in this direction were not altogether successful, but the +still fury which they aroused in the great wolf's breast doubtless +obscured the mordant anguish in his foot. One terrific leap at his +enemy, resulting in an ignominious overthrow as the chain stopped him +in mid-air, had convinced the subtle beast of the vanity of such +tactics. Crouching back, he eyed his adversary in silence, with eyes +whose hatred seemed to excoriate. But whenever the running noose at +the end of the cord came coiling swiftly at his head, with one +lightning snap of his long teeth he would sever it as with a knife. By +the time Kane had grown tired of this diversion the cord was so full +of knots that no noose would any longer run. + +But at this point the old trapper came slouching up on his snowshoes, +a twinkle of elation in his shrewd, frosty, blue eyes. + +"I reckon we'll show the varmint now as how he ain't no _loup-garou_!" +he remarked, lightly swinging his axe. + +But Kane hastily intervened. + +"_Please_ don't kill him, Dave!" he begged. "_I_ want him, bad! +What'll you take for him?" + +"Just as he stands?" demanded the old trapper, with a chuckle. "I +ain't a-goin' to deliver the goods to yer door, ye know!" + +"No," laughed Kane, "just as he stands, right here!" + +"Well, seein' as it's you, I don't want no more'n what his pelt'ld +fetch, an' the bounty on his nose," answered the trapper. + +"All right," said Kane. "You wait here a bit, will you, an' keep him +amused so's he won't gnaw his paw off; an' I'll run back to the +Cross-Roads and get some rope and things I guess I'll be needing." + +When he got back with rope, straps, a big mastiff-muzzle, and a +toboggan, he found Dave in a very bad humor, and calling the +watchful, silent, crouching beast hard names. In his efforts to amuse +himself by stirring that imperturbable and sinister quiet into action, +he had come just within the range of the Gray Master's spring. Swift +as that spring was, that of the alert backwoodsman was just swift +enough to elude it--in part. Dave's own hide had escaped, but his +heavy jacket of homespun had had the back ripped clean out of it. + +But now, for all his matchless strength, courage, and craft, the Gray +Master's game was played out. The fickle Fates of the wild had +pronounced against him. He could not parry two flying nooses at once. +And presently, having been choked for a few moments into +unconsciousness, he awoke to find himself bound so that he could not +move a leg, and his mighty jaws imprisoned in a strange cage of straps +and steel. He was tied upon the toboggan, and being dragged swiftly +through the forest--that free forest of which he had so long felt +himself master--at the heels of his two conquerors. His only poor +consolation was that the hideous, crunching thing had been removed +from his bleeding paw, which, however, anguished cruelly for the +soothing of his tongue. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +During the strenuous and dangerous weeks while Kane was gaoler to his +dreaded captive, his respect for the grim beast's tameless spirit by +no means diminished; but he had no shadow of misgiving as to the +future to which he destined his victim. He felt that in sending the +incomparable wolf to the gardens, where he would be well cared for, +and at the same time an educative influence, he was being both just +and kind. And it was with feelings of unmixed delight that he received +a formal resolution of gratitude from the zoological society for his +valued and in some respects unique donation. + +It was about a year and a half later that Kane had occasion to revisit +the city of his Alma Mater. As soon as possible he hurried to inspect +the little gardens, which had already marched so far towards success +as to be familiarly styled "The Zoo." There were two or three paddocks +of deer, of different North American species--for the society was +inclined to specialize on the wild kindreds of native origin. There +were moose, caribou, a couple of bears, raccoons, foxes, porcupines, +two splendid pumas, a rather flea-bitten and toothless tiger, and the +Gray Master, solitary in his cage! + +A sure instinct led Kane straight to that cage, which immediately +adjoined the big double cage of the pumas. As he approached, he caught +sight of a tall, gray shape pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing to and fro +behind the bars with a sort of measured restlessness that spoke an +immeasurable monotony. When he reached the front of the cage, Kane saw +that the great wolf's eyes were noting nothing of what was about him, +but dim with some far-off vision. As he marked the look in them, and +thought of what they must be remembering and aching for, his heart +began to smite him. He felt his first pang of self-reproach, for +having doomed to ignominious exile and imprisonment this splendid +creature who had deserved, at least, to die free. As he mused over +this point, half angrily, the Gray Master suddenly paused, and his +thin nostrils wrinkled. Perhaps there still clung about Kane's clothes +some scent of the spruce woods, some pungent breath of the cedar +swamps. He turned and looked Kane straight in the eyes. + +There was unmistakable recognition in that deep stare. There was +also, to Kane's sensitive imagination, a tameless hate and an +unspeakable but dauntless despair. Convicted in his own mind of a +gross and merciless misunderstanding of his wild kindreds, whom he +professed to know so well, he glanced up and saw the painted placard +staring down at him, exactly as he had anticipated---- + + CANIS OCCIDENTALIS. + EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. + PRESENTED BY ARTHUR KANE, ESQ. + +The sight sickened him. He had a foolish impulse to tear it down and +to abase himself with a plea for pardon before the silent beast behind +the bars. But when he looked again, the Gray Master had turned away, +and was once more, with indrawn, far-off vision in his eyes, pacing, +pacing, pacing to and fro. Kane felt overwhelmed with the intolerable +weariness of it, as if it had been going on, just like that, ever +since he had pronounced this doom upon his vanquished adversary, and +as if it would go on like that forever. In vain by coaxing word, by +sharp, sudden whistle, by imitations of owl, loon, and deer calls, +which brought all the boys in the place admiringly about him, did he +strive to catch again the attention of the captive. But not once +more, even for the fleeting fraction of a second, would the Gray +Master turn his eyes. And presently, angry and self-reproachful, Kane +turned on his heel and went home, pursued by the enthusiasm of the +small boys. + +After this, Kane went nearly every day to the little "Zoo"; but never +again did he win the smallest hint of notice from the Gray Master. And +ever that tireless pacing smote him with bitterest self-reproach. Half +unconsciously he made it a sort of penance to go and watch his victim, +till at last he found himself indulging in sentimental, idiotic +notions of trying to ransom the prisoner. Realizing that any such +attempt would make him supremely ridiculous, and that such a dangerous +and powerful creature could not be set free anywhere, he consoled +himself with a resolve that never again would he take captive any of +the freedom-loving, tameless kindreds of the wilderness. He would kill +them and have cleanly done with it, or leave them alone. + +One morning, thinking to break the spell of that eternal, hopeless +pacing by catching the Gray Master at his meals, Kane went up to the +gardens very early, before any of the usual visitors had arrived. He +found that the animals had already been fed. The cages were being +cleaned. He congratulated himself on his opportune arrival, for this +would give him a new insight into the ways of the beasts with their +keepers. + +The head-keeper, as it chanced, was a man of long experience with wild +animals, in one of the chief zoological parks of the country. Long +familiarity, however, had given him that most dangerous gift, +contempt. And he had lost his position through that fault most +unforgivable in an animal keeper, drunkenness. Owing to this fact, the +inexperienced authorities of this little "Zoo" had been able to obtain +his services at a comparatively moderate wage--and were congratulating +themselves on the possession of a treasure. + +On this particular morning, Biddell was not by any means himself. He +was cleaning the cage of the two pumas, and making at the same time +desperate efforts to keep his faculties clear and avoid betraying his +condition. The two big cats seemed to observe nothing peculiar in his +manner, and obeyed him, sulkily, as usual; but Kane noticed that the +great wolf, though pacing up and down according to his custom, had his +eyes on the man in the next cage, instead of upon his own secret +visions. Biddell had driven the two pumas back through the door which +led from the open cage to the room which served them for a den, and +closed the door on them. Then, having finished his duties there, he +unfastened the strong door between this cage and that of the Gray +Master, and stepped through, leaving the door slightly ajar. + +Biddell was armed, of course, with a heavy-pronged fork, but he +carried it carelessly as he went about his work, as if he had long +since taught the sombre wolf to keep at a distance. But to-day the +wolf acted curiously. He backed away in silence, as usual, but eyed +the man fixedly with a look which, as it seemed to Kane, showed +anything rather than fear. The stiff hair rose slightly along his neck +and massive shoulders. Kane could not help congratulating himself that +he was not in the keeper's place. But he felt sure everything was all +right, as Biddell was supposed to know his business. + +When Biddell came to the place where the wolf was standing, the latter +made way reluctantly, still backing, and staring with that sinister +fixity which Kane found so impressive. He wondered if Biddell noticed. +He was just on the point of speaking to him about it, through the +bars, when he chanced to glance aside to the cage of the pumas. +Biddell, in his foggy state of mind, had forgotten to close an inner +door connecting the two rooms in the rear. The pumas had quietly +passed through, and emerged again into their cage by the farther +entrance. Catching sight of the door into the wolf's cage standing +ajar, they had crept up to it; and now, with one great noiseless paw, +the leader of the two was softly pushing it open. + +Kane gave an inarticulate yell of warning. No words were needed to +translate that warning to the keeper, who was sobered completely as he +flashed round and saw what was happening. With a sharp command he +rushed to drive the pumas back and close the gate. But one was already +through, and the other blocked the way. + +At this tense instant, while Kane glanced swiftly aside to see if any +help were in sight, the Gray Master launched himself across the cage. +Kane could not see distinctly, so swiftly did it happen, whether the +man or the intruding puma was the object of that mad rush. But in the +next second the man was down, on his face, with the silent wolf and +the screeching puma locked in a death grapple on top of him. + +[Illustration: "Then the second puma pounced."] + +Horrified, and yelling for help, Kane tore at the bars, but there was +no way of getting in, the door being locked. He saw that the wolf had +secured a hold upon the puma's throat, but that the great cat's claws +were doing deadly work. Then the second puma pounced, with a screech, +upon the Gray Master's back, bearing him down. + +At this moment Biddell rolled out from under the raving, writhing +heap, and staggered to his feet, bleeding, but apparently uninjured. +With his fork and his booted foot he threw himself upon the combatants +furiously, striving to separate them. After what seemed to Kane an age +he succeeded in forcing off the second puma and driving it through the +gate, which he shut. Then he returned to the fight. + +But he had little more to do now, for the fight was over. Though no +wolf is supposed to be a fair match for a puma, the Gray Master, with +his enormous strength and subtle craft, might perhaps have held his +own against his first antagonist alone. But against the two he was +powerless. The puma, badly torn, now crouched snarling upon his +unresisting body. Biddell forced the victor off and drove him into a +corner, where he lay lashing his sides with heavy, twitching tail. + +The keeper was sober enough now. One long look at the great wolf's +body satisfied him it was all over. He turned and saw Kane's white +face pressed against the bars. With a short laugh he shook himself, +to make sure he was all sound, then pushed the body of the Gray Master +gently with his foot. Yet there was respect, not disrespect, in the +gesture. + +"I wouldn't have had that happen for a thousand dollars, Mr. Kane!" +said he in a voice of keen regret. "That was a great beast, an' we'll +never get another wolf to match him." + +Kane was on the point of saying that it would _not_ have happened but +for certain circumstances which it was unnecessary for him to specify. +He realized, however, that he was glad it had happened, glad the long +pacing, pacing, pacing was at an end, glad the load of his +self-reproach was lifted off. So he said something quite different. + +"Well, Biddell, he's _free_! And maybe, when all's said, that was just +what he was after!" + +Then he turned and strode hurriedly away, more content in his heart +than he had felt for days. + + + + +THE SUN-GAZER + + + + +THE SUN-GAZER + +CHAPTER I + + +To Jim Horner it seemed as if the great, white-headed eagle was in +some way the uttered word of the mountain and the lake--of the lofty, +solitary, granite-crested peak, and of the deep, solitary water at its +base. As his canoe raced down the last mad rapid, and seemed to snatch +breath again as it floated out upon the still water of the lake, Jim +would rest his paddle across the gunwales and look upward expectantly. +First his keen, far-sighted, gray eyes would sweep the blue arc of +sky, in search of the slow circling of wide, motionless wings. Then, +if the blue was empty of this far shape, his glance would range at +once to a dead pine standing sole on a naked and splintered shoulder +of the mountain which he knew as "Old Baldy." There he was almost sure +to see the great bird sitting, motionless and majestic, staring at the +sun. Floating idly and smoking, resting after his long battle with +the rapids, he would watch, till the immensity and the solitude would +creep in upon his spirit and oppress him. Then, at last, a shrill +yelp, far off and faint, but sinister, would come from the pine-top; +and the eagle, launching himself on open wings from his perch, would +either wheel upward into the blue, or flap away over the serried +fir-tops to some ravine in the cliffs that hid his nest. + +One day, when Jim came down the river and stopped, as usual, to look +for the great bird, he scanned in vain both sky and cliff-side. At +last he gave up the search and paddled on down the lake with a sense +of loss. Something had vanished from the splendor of the solitude. But +presently he heard, close overhead, the beat and whistle of vast +wings, and looking up, he saw the eagle passing above him, flying so +low that he could catch the hard, unwinking, tameless stare of its +black and golden eyes as they looked down upon him with a sort of +inscrutable challenge. He noted also a peculiarity which he had never +seen in any other eagle. This one had a streak of almost black +feathers immediately over its left eye, giving it a heavy and sinister +eyebrow. The bird carried in the clutch of its talons a big, +glistening lake trout, probably snatched from the fish-hawk; and Jim +was able to take note of the very set of its pinion-feathers as the +wind hummed in their tense webs. Flying with a massive power quite +unlike the ease of his soaring, the eagle mounted gradually up the +steep, passed the rocky shoulder with its watch-tower pine, and +disappeared over the edge of a ledge which looked to Horner like a +mere scratch across the face of the mountain. + +"There's where his nest is, sure!" muttered Horner to himself. And +remembering that cold challenge in the bird's yellow stare, he +suddenly decided that he wanted to see an eagle's nest. He had plenty +of time. He was in no particular hurry to get back to the settlement +and the gossip of the cross-roads store. He turned his canoe to land, +lifted her out and hid her in the bushes, and struck back straight for +the face of "Old Baldy." + +The lower slope was difficult to climb, a tangle of tumbled boulders +and fallen trunks, mantled in the soundless gloom of the fir-forest. +Skilled woodsman though he was, Horner's progress was so slow, and the +windless heat became so oppressive to his impatience, that he was +beginning to think of giving up the idle venture, when suddenly he +came face to face with a perpendicular and impassable wall of cliff. +This curt arrest to his progress was just what was needed to stiffen +his wavering resolution. He understood the defiance which his ready +fancy had found in the stare of the eagle. Well, he had accepted the +challenge. He would not be baffled by a rock. If he could not climb +over it, he would go round it; but he would find the nest. + +With an obstinate look in his eyes, Horner began to work his way along +the foot of the cliff towards the right. Taking advantage of every +inch of ascent that he could gain, he at last found, to his +satisfaction, that he had made sufficient height to clear the gloom of +the woods. As he looked out over their tops, a light breeze cooled his +wet forehead, and he pressed on with fresh vigor. Presently the slope +grew a trifle easier, the foothold surer, and he mounted more rapidly. +The steely lake, and the rough-ridged, black-green sea of the fir-tops +began to unroll below him. At last he rounded an elbow of the steep, +and there before him, upthrust perhaps a hundred feet above his head, +stood the outlying shoulder of rock, crowned with its dead pine, on +which he was accustomed to see the eagle sitting. Even as he looked, +motionless, there came a rushing of great wings; and suddenly there +was the eagle himself, erect on his high perch, and staring, as it +seemed to Horner, straight into the sun. + +When Horner resumed his climbing, the great bird turned his head and +gazed down upon him with an ironic fixity which betrayed neither dread +nor wonder. Concluding that the nest would be lying somewhere within +view of its owner's watch-tower, Horner now turned his efforts towards +reaching the dead pine. With infinite difficulty, and with a few +bruises to arm and leg, he managed to cross the jagged crevice which +partly separated the jutting rock-pier from the main face of the +cliff. Then, laboriously and doggedly, he dragged himself up the +splintered slope, still being forced around to the right, till there +fell away below him a gulf into which it was not good for the nervous +to look. Feeling that a fate very different from that of Lot's wife +might be his if he should let himself look back too indiscreetly, he +kept his eyes upon the lofty goal and pressed on upwards with a haste +that now grew a trifle feverish. It began to seem to him that the +irony of the eagle's changeless stare might perhaps not be +unjustified. + +Not till Horner had conquered the steep and, panting but elated, +gained the very foot of the pine, did the eagle stir. Then, spreading +his wings with a slow disdain, as if not dread but aversion to this +unbidden visitor bade him go, he launched himself on a long, splendid +sweep over the gulf, and then mounted on a spacious spiral to his +inaccessible outlook in the blue. Leaning against the bleached and +scarred trunk of the pine, Horner watched this majestic departure for +some minutes, recovering his breath and drinking deep the cool and +vibrant air. Then he turned and scanned the face of the mountain. + +[Illustration: "He launched himself on a long, splendid sweep over the +gulf."] + +There it lay, in full view--the nest which he had climbed so far to +find. It was not more than a hundred yards away. Yet, at first sight, +it seemed hopelessly out of reach. The chasm separating the ledge on +which it clung from the outlying rock of the pine was not more than +twenty feet across; but its bottom was apparently somewhere in the +roots of the mountain. There was no way of passing it at this point. +But Horner had a faith that there was a way to be found over or around +every obstacle in the world, if only one kept on looking for it +resolutely enough. To keep on looking for a path to the eagle's nest, +he struggled forward, around the outer slope of the buttress, down a +ragged incline, and across a narrow and dizzy "saddle-back," which +brought him presently upon another angle of the steep, facing +southeast. Clinging with his toes and one hand, while he wiped his +dripping forehead with his sleeve, he looked up--and saw the whole +height of the mountain, unbroken and daunting, stretched skyward above +him. + +But to Horner the solemn sight was not daunting in the least. + +"Gee!" he exclaimed, grinning with satisfaction. "I _hev_ circumvented +that there cervice, sure's death!" + +Of the world below he had now a view that was almost overpoweringly +unrestricted; but of the mountain, and his scene of operations, he +could see only the stretch directly above him. A little calculation +convinced him, however, that all he had to do was to keep straight on +up for perhaps a hundred and fifty feet, then, as soon as the slope +would permit, work around to his left, and descend upon the nest from +above. Incidentally, he made up his mind that his return journey +should be made by another face of the mountain--any other, rather than +that by which he had rashly elected to come. + +It seemed to Horner like a mile, that last hundred and fifty feet; but +at last he calculated that he had gained enough in height. At the same +time he felt the slope grow easier. Making his way towards the left, +he came upon a narrow ledge, along which he could move easily +side-wise, by clinging to the rock. Presently it widened to a path by +which he could walk almost at ease, with the wide, wild solitude, dark +green laced with silver watercourses, spread like a stupendous +amphitheatre far below him. It was the wilderness which he knew so +well in detail, yet had never before seen as a whole; and the sight, +for a few moments, held him in a kind of awed surprise. When, at last, +he tore his gaze free from the majestic spectacle, there, some ten or +twelve yards below his feet, he saw the object of his quest. + +It was nothing much to boast of in the way of architecture, this nest +of the Kings of the Air--a mere cart-load of sticks and bark and +coarse grass, apparently tumbled at haphazard upon the narrow ledge. +But in fact its foundations were so skilfully wedged into the crevices +of the rock, its structure was so cunningly interwoven, that the +fiercest winds which scourged that lofty seat were powerless against +it. It was a secure throne, no matter what tempests might rage around +it. + +Sitting half erect on the nest were two eaglets, almost full grown, +and so nearly full feathered that Horner wondered why they did not +take wing at his approach. He did not know that the period of +helplessness with these younglings of royal birth lasted even after +they looked as big and well able to take care of themselves as their +parents. It was a surprise to him, also, to see that they were quite +unlike their parents in color, being black all over from head to tail, +instead of a rich brown with snow-white head, neck, and tail. As he +stared, he slowly realized that the mystery of the rare "black eagle" +was explained. He had seen one once, flying heavily just above the +tree-tops, and imagined it a discovery of his own. But now he reached +the just conclusion that it had been merely a youngster in its first +plumage. + +As he stared, the two young birds returned his gaze with interest, +watching him with steady, yellow, undaunted eyes from under their +flat, fierce brows; with high-shouldered wings half raised, they +appeared quite ready to resent any familiarity which the strange +intruder might be contemplating. + +Horner lay face downward on his ledge, and studied the perpendicular +rock below him for a way to reach the next. He had no very definite +idea what he wanted to do when he got there; possibly, if the +undertaking seemed feasible, he might carry off one of the royal brood +and amuse himself with trying to domesticate it. But, at any rate, he +hoped to add something, by a closer inspection, to his rather +inadequate knowledge of eagles. + +And this hope, indeed, as he learned the next moment, was not +unjustified. Cautiously he was lowering himself over the edge, feeling +for the scanty and elusive foothold, when all at once the air was +filled with a rush of mighty wings, which seemed about to overwhelm +him. A rigid wing-tip buffeted him so sharply that he lost his hold on +the ledge. With a yell of consternation, which caused his assailant to +veer off, startled, he fell backwards, and plunged down straight upon +the nest. + +It was the nest only that saved him from instant death. Tough and +elastic, it broke his fall; but at the same time its elasticity threw +him off, and on the rebound he went rolling and bumping on down the +steep slopes below the ledge, with the screaming of the eagles in his +ears, and a sickening sense in his heart that the sunlit world +tumbling and turning somersaults before his blurred sight was his last +view of life. Then, to his dim surprise, he was brought up with a +thump; and clutching desperately at a bush which scraped his face, he +lay still. At the same moment a flapping mass of feathers and fierce +claws landed on top of him, but only to scramble off again as swiftly +as possible with a hoarse squawk. He had struck one of the young +eagles in his fall, hurled it from the nest, and brought it down with +him to this lower ledge which had given him so timely a refuge. + +For several minutes, perhaps, he lay clutching the bush desperately +and staring straight upwards. There he saw both parent eagles whirling +excitedly, screaming, and staring down at him; and then the edge of +the nest, somewhat dilapidated by his strange assault, overhanging the +ledge about thirty feet above. At length his wits came back to him, +and he cautiously turned his head to see if he was in danger of +falling if he should relax his hold on the bush. He was in bewildering +pain, which seemed distributed all over him; but in spite of it he +laughed aloud, to find that the bush, to which he hung so desperately, +was in a little hollow on a spacious platform, from which he could not +have fallen by any chance. At that strange, uncomprehended sound of +human laughter the eagles ceased their screaming for a few moments and +wheeled farther aloof. + +With great difficulty and anguish Horner raised himself to a sitting +position and tried to find out how seriously he was hurt. One leg was +quite helpless. He felt it all over, and came to the conclusion that +it was not actually broken; but for all the uses of a leg, for the +present at least, it might as well have been putty, except for the +fact that it pained him abominably. His left arm and shoulder, too, +seemed to be little more than useless encumbrances, and he wondered +how so many bruises and sprains could find place on one human body of +no more than average size. However, having assured himself, with +infinite relief, that there were no bones broken, he set his teeth +grimly and looked about to take account of the situation. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +The ledge on which he had found refuge was apparently an isolated one, +about fifty or sixty feet in length, and vanishing into the face of +the sheer cliff at either end. It had a width of perhaps twenty-five +feet; and its surface, fairly level, held some soil in its rocky +hollows. Two or three dark-green seedling firs, a slim young silver +birch, a patch or two of wind-beaten grass, and some clumps of +harebells, azure as the clear sky overhead, softened the bareness of +this tiny, high-flung terrace. In one spot, at the back, a spread of +intense green and a handbreadth of moisture on the rock showed where a +tiny spring oozed from a crevice to keep this lonely oasis in the +granite alive and fresh. + +At the farthest edge of the shelf, and eying him with savage dread, +sat the young eagle which had fallen with him. Horner noticed, with a +kind of sympathy, that even the bird, for all his wings, had not come +out of the affair without some damage; for one of its black wings was +not held up so snugly as the other. He hoped it was not broken. As he +mused vaguely upon this unimportant question, his pain so exhausted +him that he sank back and lay once more staring up at the eagles, who +were still wheeling excitedly over the nest. In an exhaustion that was +partly sleep and partly coma, his eyes closed. When he opened them +again, the sun was hours lower and far advanced towards the west, so +that the ledge was in shadow. His head was now perfectly clear; and +his first thought was of getting himself back to the canoe. With +excruciating effort he dragged himself to the edge of the terrace and +looked down. The descent, at this point, was all but perpendicular for +perhaps a hundred feet. In full possession of his powers, he would +find it difficult enough. In his present state he saw clearly that he +might just as well throw himself over as attempt it. + +Not yet disheartened, however, he dragged himself slowly towards the +other end of the terrace, where the young eagle sat watching him. As +he approached, the bird lifted his wings, as if about to launch +himself over and dare the element which he had not yet learned to +master. But one wing drooped as if injured, and he knew the attempt +would be fatal. Opening his beak angrily, he hopped away to the other +end of the terrace. But Horner was paying no heed to birds at that +moment. He was staring down the steep, and realizing that this ledge +which had proved his refuge was now his prison, and not unlikely to +become also his tomb. + +Sinking back against a rock, and grinding his teeth with pain, he +strove to concentrate his attention upon the problem that confronted +him. Was he to die of thirst and hunger on this high solitude before +he could recover sufficiently to climb down? The thought stirred all +his dogged determination. He _would_ keep alive, and that was all +there was about it. He _would_ get well, and then the climbing down +would be no great matter. This point settled, he dismissed it from his +consideration and turned his thoughts to ways and means. After all, +there was that little thread of a spring trickling from the rock! He +would have enough to drink. And as for food--how much worse it would +have been had the ledge been a bare piece of rock! Here he had some +grass, and the roots of the herbs and bushes. A man could keep himself +alive on such things if he had will enough. And, as a last resource, +there was the young eagle! This idea, however, was anything but +attractive to him; and it was with eyes of good-will rather than of +appetite that he glanced at his fellow-prisoner sitting motionless at +the other extremity of the ledge. + +"It'ld be hard lines, pardner, ef I should hev to eat you, after all!" +he muttered, with a twisted kind of grin. "We're both of us in a hole, +sure enough, an' I'll play fair as long as I kin!" + +As he mused, a great shadow passed over his head, and looking up, he +saw one of the eagles hovering low above the ledge. It was the male, +his old acquaintance, staring down at him from under that strange, +black brow. He carried a large fish in his talons, and was plainly +anxious to feed his captive young, but not quite ready to approach +this mysterious man-creature who had been able to invade his eyrie as +if with wings. Horner lay as still as a stone, watching through +half-closed lids. The young eagle, seeing food so near, opened its +beak wide and croaked eagerly; while the mother bird, larger but +wilder and less resolute than her mate, circled aloof with sharp cries +of warning. At last, unable any longer to resist the appeals of his +hungry youngster, the great bird swooped down over him, dropped the +fish fairly into his clutches, and slanted away with a hurried +flapping which betrayed his nervousness. + +As the youngster fell ravenously upon his meal, tearing it and +gulping the fragments, Horner drew a deep breath. + +"There's where I come in, pardner," he explained. "When I kin git up +an appetite for that sort of vittles, I'll go shares with you, ef +y'ain't got no objection!" + +Having conceived this idea, Horner was seized with a fear that the +captive might presently gain the power of flight and get away. This +was a thought under which he could not lie still. In his pocket he +always carried a bunch of stout salmon-twine and a bit of copper +rabbit-wire, apt to be needed in a hundred forest emergencies. He +resolved to catch the young eagle and tether it securely to a bush. + +His first impulse was to set about this enterprise at once. With +excruciating effort he managed to pull off his heavy woollen +hunting-shirt, intending to use it as the toreador uses his mantle, to +entangle the dangerous weapons of his adversary. Then he dragged +himself across to the other end of the ledge and attempted to corner +the captive. For this he was not quite quick enough, however. With a +flop and a squawk the bird eluded him, and he realized that he had +better postpone the undertaking till the morrow. Crawling back to his +hollow by the bush, he sank down, utterly exhausted. Not till the +sharp chill which comes with sunset warned him of its necessity, was +he able to grapple with the long, painful problem of getting his shirt +on again. + +Through the night he got some broken sleep, though the hardness of his +bed aggravated every hurt he had suffered. On the edge of dawn he saw +the male eagle come again--this time more confidently and +deliberately--to feed the captive. After he was gone, Horner tried to +move, but found himself now, from the night's chill and the austerity +of his bed, altogether helpless. Not till the sun was high enough to +warm him through and through, and not till he had manipulated his legs +and arms assiduously for more than an hour, did his body feel as if it +could ever again be of any service to him. Then he once more got off +his shirt and addressed himself to the catching of the indignant bird +whom he had elected to be his preserver. + +Though the anguish caused by every movement was no less intense than +it had been the afternoon before, he was stronger now and more in +possession of his faculties. Before starting the chase, he cut a strip +from his shirt to wind around the leg of the young eagle, in order +that he might be able to tether it tightly without cutting the flesh. +The bird had suddenly become most precious to him! + +Very warily he made his approaches, sidling down the ledge so as to +give his quarry the least possible room for escape. As he drew near, +the bird turned and faced him, with its one uninjured wing lifted +menacingly and its formidable beak wide open. Holding the heavy shirt +ready to throw, Horner crept up cautiously, so intent now upon the +game that the anguish in the leg which he dragged stiffly behind him +was almost forgotten. The young bird, meanwhile, waited, motionless +and vigilant, its savage eyes hard as glass. + +At last a faint quiver and shrinking in the bird's form, an +involuntary contracting of the feathers, gave warning to Horner's +experienced eye that it was about to spring aside. On the instant he +flung the shirt, keeping hold of it by the sleeve. By a singular piece +of luck, upon which he had not counted at all, it opened as he threw +it, and settled right over the bird's neck and disabled wing, blinding +and baffling it completely. With a muffled squawk it bounced into the +air, both talons outspread and clawing madly; but in a second Horner +had it by the other wing, pulling it down, and rolling himself over +upon it so as to smother those dangerous claws. He felt them sink +once into his injured leg, but that was already anguishing so +vehemently that a little more or less did not matter. In a few moments +he had his captive bundled up with helplessness, and was dragging it +to a sturdy bush near the middle of the terrace. Here, without much +further trouble, he wrapped one of its legs with the strip of flannel +from his shirt, twisted on a hand-length of wire, and then tethered it +safely with a couple of yards of his doubled and twisted cord. + +Just as he had accomplished this to his satisfaction, and was about to +undo the imprisoning shirt, it flashed across his mind that it was +lucky the old eagles had not been on hand to interfere. He glanced +upward--and saw the dark form dropping like a thunderbolt out of the +blue. He had just time to fling himself over on his back, lifting his +arm to shield his face, and his foot to receive the attack, when the +hiss of that lightning descent filled his ears. Involuntarily he half +closed his eyes. But no shock came, except a great buffet of air on +his face. Not quite daring to grapple with that ready defence, the +eagle had opened its wings when within a few feet of the ledge, and +swerved upward again, where it hung hovering and screaming. Horner saw +that it was the female, and shook his fist at her in defiance. Had it +been his old acquaintance and challenger, the male, he felt sure that +he would not have got off so easily. + +Puzzled and alarmed, the mother now perched herself beside the other +eaglet, on the edge of the nest. Then, keeping a careful eye upon her, +lest she should return to the attack, Horner dexterously unrolled the +shirt, and drew back just in time to avoid a vicious slash from the +talons of his indignant prisoner. The latter, after some violent +tugging and flopping at his tether and fierce biting at the wire, +suddenly seemed to conclude that such futile efforts were undignified. +He settled himself like a rock and stared unwinkingly at his captor. + +It was perhaps an hour after this, when the sun had grown hot, and +Horner, having slaked his thirst at the spring in the rock, had tried +rather ineffectually to satisfy his hunger on grass roots, that the +male eagle reappeared, winging heavily from the farthest end of the +lake. From his talons dangled a limp form, which Horner presently made +out to be a duck. + +"Good!" he muttered to himself. "I always did like fowl better'n +fish." + +When the eagle arrived, he seemed to notice something different in +the situation, for he wheeled slowly overhead for some minutes, +uttering sharp yelps of interrogation. But the appeals of the +youngster at last brought him down, and he delivered up the prize. The +moment he was gone, Horner crept up to where the youngster was already +tearing the warm body to pieces. Angry and hungry, the bird made a +show of fighting for his rights; but his late experience with his +invincible conqueror had daunted him. Suddenly he hopped away, the +full length of his tether; and Horner picked up the mangled victim. +But his appetite was gone by this time; he was not yet equal to a diet +of raw flesh. Tossing the prize back to its rightful owner, he +withdrew painfully to grub for some more grass roots. + +[Illustration: "After this the eagle came regularly every three or four +hours with food for the prisoner."] + +After this the eagle came regularly every three or four hours with +food for the prisoner. Sometimes it was a fish--trout, or brown +sucker, or silvery chub--sometimes a duck or a grouse, sometimes a +rabbit or a muskrat. Always it was the male, with that grim black +streak across the side of his white face, who came. Always Horner made +a point of taking the prize at once from the angry youngster, and then +throwing it back to him, unable to stomach the idea of the raw flesh. +At last, on the afternoon of the third day of his imprisonment, he +suddenly found that it was not the raw flesh, but the grass roots, +which he loathed. While examining a fine lake-trout, he remembered +that he had read of raw fish being excellent food under the right +conditions. This was surely one of those right conditions. Picking +somewhat fastidiously, he nevertheless managed to make so good a meal +off that big trout that there was little but head and tail to toss +back to his captor. + +"Never mind, pardner!" he said seriously. "I'll divide fair nex' time. +But you know you've been havin' more'n your share lately." + +But the bird was so outraged that for a long time he would not look at +these remnants, and only consented to devour them, at last, when +Horner was not looking. + +After this Horner found it easy enough to partake of his prisoner's +meals, whether they were of fish, flesh, or fowl; and with the +ice-cold water from the little spring, and an occasional mouthful of +leaves and roots, he fared well enough to make progress towards +recovery. The male eagle grew so accustomed to his presence that he +would alight beside the prisoner, and threatened Horner with that old, +cold stare of challenge, and frequently Horner had to drive him off +in order to save his share of the feast from the rapacity of the +eaglet. But as for the female, she remained incurably suspicious and +protesting. From the upper ledge, where she devoted her care to the +other nestling, she would yelp down her threats and execrations, but +she never ventured any nearer approach. + +For a whole week the naked hours of day and dark had rolled over the +peak before Horner began to think himself well enough to try the +descent. His arm and shoulder were almost well, but his leg, in spite +of ceaseless rubbing and applications of moist earth, remained +practically helpless. He could not bear his weight on it for a second. +His first attempt at lowering himself showed him that he must not be +in too great haste. It was nearly a week more before he could feel +assured, after experiments at scaling the steep above him, that he was +fit to face the terrible steep below. Then he thought of the eaglet, +his unwilling and outraged preserver! After a sharp struggle, of which +both his arms and legs bore the marks for months, he caught the bird +once more and examined the injured wing. It was not broken; and he saw +that its owner would be able to fly all right in time, perhaps as +soon as his more fortunate brother in the nest above. Satisfied on +this point, he loosed all the bonds and jumped back to avoid the +indomitable youngster's retort of beak and claws. Unamazed by his +sudden freedom, the young eagle flopped angrily away to the farther +end of the ledge; and Horner, having resumed his useful shirt, started +to climb down the mountain, whose ascent he had so heedlessly +adventured nearly two weeks before. As he lowered himself over the +dizzy brink, he glanced up, to see the male eagle circling slowly +above him, gazing down at him with the old challenge in his unwinking, +golden eyes. + +"I reckon you win!" said Horner, waving the imperturbable bird a grave +salutation. "But you're a gentleman, an' I thank you fer your kind +hospitality." + +It was still early morning when Horner started to descend the +mountain. It was dusk when he reached the lake and flung himself down, +prostrated with fatigue and pain and strain of nerve, beside his +canoe. From moment to moment, through spells of reeling faintness and +spasmodic exhaustion, the silent gulfs of space had clutched at him, +as if the powers of the solitude and the peak had but spared him so +long to crush him inexorably in the end. At last, more through the +sheer indomitableness of the human spirit than anything else, he had +won. But never afterwards could he think of that awful descent without +a sinking of the heart. For three days more he made his camp by the +lake, recovering strength and nerve before resuming his journey down +the wild river to the settlements. And many times a day his +salutations would be waved upward to that great, snowy-headed, +indifferent bird, wheeling in the far blue, or gazing at the sun from +his high-set watch-tower of the pine. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Two or three years later, it fell in Horner's way to visit a great +city, many hundreds of miles from the gray peak of "Old Baldy." He was +in charge of an exhibit of canoes, snowshoes, and other typical +products of his forest-loving countrymen. In his first morning of +leisure, his feet turned almost instinctively to the wooded gardens +wherein the city kept strange captives, untamed exiles of the +wilderness, irreconcilable aliens of fur and hide and feather, for the +crowds to gape at through their iron bars. + +He wandered aimlessly past some grotesque, goatish-looking deer which +did not interest him, and came suddenly upon a paddock containing a +bull moose, two cows, and a yearling calf. The calf looked ungainly +and quite content with his surroundings. The cows were faded and +moth-eaten, but well fed. He had no concern for them at all. But the +bull, a splendid, black-shouldered, heavy-muffled fellow, with the new +antlers just beginning to knob out from his massive forehead, appealed +to him strongly. The splendid, sullen-looking beast stood among his +family, but towered over and seemed unconscious of them. His long, +sensitive muzzle was held high to catch a breeze which drew coolly +down from the north, and his half-shut eyes, in Horner's fancy, saw +not the wires of his fence, but the cool, black-green fir thickets of +the north, the gray rampikes of the windy barrens, the broad lily +leaves afloat in the sheltered cove, the wide, low-shored lake water +gleaming rose-red in the sunset. + +"It's a shame," growled Horner, "to keep a critter like that shut up +in a seven-by-nine chicken-pen!" And he moved on, feeling as if he +were himself a prisoner, and suddenly homesick for a smell of the +spruce woods. + +It was in this mood that he came upon the great dome-roofed cage +containing the hawks and eagles. It was a dishevelled, dirty place, +with a few uncanny-looking dead trees stuck up in it to persuade the +prisoners that they were free. Horner gave a hasty glance and then +hurried past, enraged at the sight of these strong-winged adventurers +of the sky doomed to so tame a monotony of days. But just as he got +abreast of the farther extremity of the cage, he stopped, with a queer +little tug at his heart-strings. He had caught sight of a great, +white-headed eagle, sitting erect and still on a dead limb close to +the bars, and gazing through them steadily, not at him, but straight +into the eye of the sun. + +"Shucks! It ain't possible! There's millions o' bald eagles in the +world!" muttered Horner discontentedly. + +It was the right side of the bird's head that was turned towards him, +and that, of course, was snowy white. Equally, of course, it was as, +Horner told himself, the height of absurdity to think that this grave, +immobile prisoner gazing out through the bars at the sun could be his +old friend of the naked peak. Nevertheless, something within his heart +insisted it was so. If only the bird would turn his head! At last +Horner put two fingers between his mouth, and blew a whistle so +piercing that every one stared rebukingly, and a policeman came +strolling along casually to see if any one had signalled for help. But +Horner was all unconscious of the interest which he had excited. In +response to his shrill summons the eagle had slowly, very +deliberately, turned his head, and looked him steadily in the eyes. +Yes, there was the strange black bar above the left eye, and there, +unbroken by defeat and captivity, was the old look of imperturbable +challenge! + +Horner could almost have cried, from pity and homesick sympathy. Those +long days on the peak, fierce with pain, blinding bright with sun, +wind-swept and solitary, through which this great, still bird had kept +him alive, seemed to rush over his spirit all together. + +"Gee, old pardner!" he murmured, leaning as far over the railing as he +could. "But ain't you got the grit! I'd like to know who it was served +this trick on you. But don't you fret. I'll get you out o' this, ef it +takes a year's arnings to do it! You wait an' see!" And with his jaws +set resolutely he turned and strode from the gardens. That bird should +not stay in there another night if he could help it. + +Horner's will was set, but he did not understand the difficulties he +had to face. At first he was confronted, as by a stone wall, by the +simple and unanswerable fact that the bird was not for sale at any +price. And he went to bed that night raging with disappointment and +baffled purpose. But in the course of his efforts and angry +protestations he had let out a portion of his story--and this, as a +matter of interest, was carried to the president of the society which +controlled the gardens. To this man, who was a true naturalist and not +a mere dry-as-dust cataloguer of bones and teeth, the story made a +strong appeal, and before Horner had quite made up his mind whether to +get out a writ of _habeas corpus_ for his imprisoned friend, or commit +a burglary on the cage, there came a note inviting him to an interview +at the president's office. The result of this interview was that +Horner came away radiant, convinced at last that there was heart and +understanding in the city as well as in the country. He had agreed to +pay the society simply what it might cost to replace the captive by +another specimen of his kind; and he carried in his pocket an order +for the immediate delivery of the eagle into his hands. + +To the practical backwoodsman there was no fuss or ceremony now to be +gone through. He admired the expeditious fashion in which the keeper +of the bird-house handled his dangerous charge, coming out of the +brief tussle without a scratch. Trussed up as ignominiously as a +turkey--proud head hooded, savage talons muffled, and skyey wings +bound fast, the splendid bird was given up to his rescuer, who rolled +him in a blanket without regard to his dignity, and carried him off +under his arm like a bundle of old clothes. + +Beyond the outskirts of the city Horner had observed a high, rocky, +desolate hill which seemed suited to his purpose. He took a street +car and travelled for an hour with the bundle on his knees. Little his +fellow-passengers guessed of the wealth of romance, loyalty, freedom, +and spacious memory hidden in that common-looking bundle on the knees +of the gaunt-faced, gray-eyed man. At the foot of the hill, at a space +of bare and ragged common, Horner got off. By rough paths, frequented +by goats, he made his way up the rocky slope, through bare ravines and +over broken ridges, and came at last to a steep rock in a solitude, +whence only far-off roofs could be seen, and masts, and bridges, and +the sharp gleam of the sea in the distance. + +This place satisfied him. On the highest point of the rock he +carefully unfastened the bonds of his prisoner, loosed him, and jumped +back with respect and discretion. The great bird sat up very straight, +half raised and lowered his wings as if to regain his poise, looked +Horner dauntlessly in the eye, then stared slowly about him and above, +as if to make sure that there were really no bars for him to beat his +wings against. For perhaps a full minute he sat there. Then, having +betrayed no unkingly haste, he spread his wings to their full splendid +width and launched himself from the brink. For a few seconds he +flapped heavily, as if his wings had grown unused to their function. +Then he got his rhythm, and swung into a wide, mounting spiral, which +Horner watched with sympathetic joy. At last, when he was but a +wheeling speck in the pale blue dome, he suddenly turned and sailed +off straight towards the northeast, with a speed which carried him out +of sight in a moment. + +Horner drew a long breath, half wistful, half glad. + +"Them golden eyes of yourn kin see a thunderin' long ways off, +pardner," he muttered, "but I reckon even you can't make out the top +of 'Old Baldy' at this distance. It's the eyes o' your heart ye must +have seen it with, to make for it so straight!" + + + + +THE LORD OF THE GLASS HOUSE + + + + +THE LORD OF THE GLASS HOUSE + +CHAPTER I + + +In the sheltered Caribbean cove the water was warm as milk, green and +clear as liquid beryl, and shot through with shimmering sun. Under +that stimulating yet mitigated radiance the bottom of the cove was +astir with strange life, grotesque in form, but brilliant as jewels or +flowers. Long, shining weeds, red, yellow, amber, purple, and olive, +waved sinuously among the weed-like sea-anemones which outshone them +in colored sheen. Fantastic pink-and-orange crabs sidled awkwardly but +nimbly this way and that. Tiny sea-horses, yet more fantastic, slipped +shyly from one weed-covert to another, aware of a possible peril in +every gay but menacing bloom. And just above this eccentric life of +the shoal sea-floor small fishes of curious form shot hither and +thither, live, darting gleams of gold and azure and amethyst. Now and +again a long, black shadow would sail slowly over the scene of +freakish life--the shadow of a passing albacore or barracouta. +Instantly the shining fish would hide themselves among the shining +shells, and every movement, save that of the unconsciously waving +weeds, would be stilled. But the sinister shadow would go by, and +straightway the sea-floor would be alive again, busy with its affairs +of pursuit and flight. + +The floor of the cove was uneven, by reason of small, shell-covered +rocks and stones being strewn over it at haphazard. From under the +slightly overhanging base of one of these stones sprouted what seemed +a cluster of yellowish gray, pink-mottled weed-stems, which sprawled +out inertly upon the mottled bottom. Over the edge of the stone came +swimming slowly one of the gold-and-azure fish, its jewelled, +impassive eyes on the watch for some small prey. Up from the bottom, +swift as a whip-lash, darted one of those inert-looking weed-stems, +and fastened about the bright fish just behind the gills. + +Fiercely the shining one struggled, lashing with tail and fins till +the water swirled to a boil over the shell-covered rock, and the +sea-anemones all about shut their gorgeous, greedy flower-cups in a +panic. But the struggle was a vain one. Slowly, inexorably, that +mottled tentacle curled downward with its prey, and a portion of the +under side of the rock became alive! Two ink-black eyes appeared, +bulging, oval, implacable; and between them opened a great, hooked +beak, like a giant parrot's. There was no separate head behind this +gaping beak, but eyes and beak merely marked the blunt end of a +mottled, oblong, sac-like body. + +[Illustration: "And the writhing tentacles composed themselves once more +to stillness upon the bottom, awaiting the next careless +passer-by."] + +As the victim was drawn down to the waiting beak, among the bases of +the tentacles, all the tentacles awoke to dreadful life, writhing in +aimless excitement, although there was no work for them to do. In a +few seconds the fish was torn asunder and engulfed--those inky eyes +the while unwinking and unmoved. A darker, livid hue passed fleetingly +over the pallid body of the octopus. Then it slipped back under the +shelter of the rock; and the writhing tentacles composed themselves +once more to stillness upon the bottom, awaiting the next careless +passer-by. Once more they seemed mere inert trailers of weed, not +worth the notice of fish or crab. And soon the anemones near by +reopened their treacherous blooms of yellow and crimson. + +Whether because there was something in the gold-and-azure fish that +disturbed his inward content, or because his place of ambush had +somehow grown distasteful to his soft, unarmored body, the octopus +presently bestirred himself and crawled forth into the open, walking +awkwardly on the incurled tips of his tentacles. It looked about as +comfortable a method of progression as for a baby to creep on the back +of its hands. The traveller himself did not seem to find it altogether +satisfactory, for all at once he sprang upward nimbly, clear of the +bottom, and gathered his eight tentacles into a compact parallel bunch +extending straight out past his eyes. In this attitude he was no +longer clumsy, but trim and swift-looking. Beneath the bases of the +tentacles, on the under side of the body, a sort of valve opened +spasmodically and took in a huge gulp of water, which was at once +ejected with great force through a tube among the tentacles. Driven by +the strange propulsion of this pulsating stream, the elongated shape +shot swiftly on its way, but travelling backward instead of forward. +The traveller had apparently taken his direction with care before he +started, however, for he made his way straight to another rock, +weedier and more overhanging than the first. Here he stopped, settled +downward, and let his tentacles once more sprawl wide, preparatory to +backing his spotted body-sac into its new quarters. + +This was the moment when he was least ready for attack or defence; +and just at this moment a foraging dolphin, big-jawed and hungry, shot +down upon him through the lucent green, mistaking him, perhaps, for an +overgrown but unretaliating squid. The assailant aimed at the big, +succulent-looking body, but missed his aim, and caught instead one of +the tentacles which had reared themselves instantly to ward off the +attack. Before he realized what was happening, another tentacle had +curled about his head, clamping his jaws firmly together so that he +could not open them to release his hold; while yet others had wrapped +themselves securely about his body. + +The dolphin was a small one; and such a situation as this had never +come within range of his experience. In utter panic he lashed out with +his powerful tail and darted forward, carrying the octopus with him. +But the weight upon his head, the crushing encumbrance about his body, +were too much for him, and bore him slowly downward. Suddenly two +tentacles, which had been trailing for an anchorage, got grip upon the +bottom--and the dolphin's frantic flight came to a stop abruptly. He +lashed, plunged, whirled in a circle, but all to no purpose. His +struggles grew weaker. He was drawn down, inexorably, till he lay +quivering on the sand. Then the great beak of the octopus made an end +of the matter, and the prey was dragged back to the lair beneath the +weed-covered rock. + +A long time after this, a shadow bigger and blacker than that of any +albacore--bigger than that of any shark or saw-fish--drifted over the +cove. There was a splash, and a heavy object came down upon the +bottom, spreading the swift stillness of terror for yards about. The +shadow ceased drifting, for the boat had come to anchor. Then in a +very few minutes, because the creatures of the sea seem unable to fear +what does not move, the life of the sea-floor again bestirred itself, +and small, misshapen forms that did not love the sunlight began to +convene in the shadow of the boat. + +Presently, from over the side of the boat descended a dark tube, with +a bright tip that seemed like a kind of eye. The tube moved very +slowly this way and that, as if to let the eye scan every hiding-place +on the many-colored bottom. As it swept over the rock that sheltered +the octopus, it came to a stop. Those inert, sprawling things that +looked like weeds appeared to interest it. Then it was softly +withdrawn. + +A few moments later, a large and tempting fish appeared at the surface +of the water, and began slowly sinking straight downward in a most +curious fashion. The still eyes of the octopus took note at once. They +had never seen a fish behave that way before; but it plainly was a +fish. A quiver of eagerness passed through the sprawling tentacles, +for their owner was already hungry again. But the prize was still too +far away, and the tentacles did not move. The curious fish, however, +seemed determined to come no nearer, and at last the waiting tentacles +came stealthily to life. Almost imperceptibly they drew themselves +forward, writhing over the bottom as casually as weeds adrift in a +light current. And behind them those two great, inky, impassive eyes, +and then the fat, mottled, sac-like body, emerged furtively from under +the rock. + +The bottom, just at this point, was covered with a close brown weed, +and almost at once the body of the octopus and his tentacles began to +change to the same hue. When the change was complete, the gliding +monster was almost invisible. He was now directly beneath that +incomprehensible fish; but the fish had gently risen, so that it was +still out of reach. + +For a few seconds the octopus crouched, staring upward with motionless +orbs, and gathering himself together. Then he sprang straight up, like +a leaping spider. He fixed two tentacles upon the tantalizing prey; +then the other tentacles straightened out, and with a sharp jet of +water from his propulsion tube he essayed to dart back to his lair. + +To his amazement, the prey refused to come. In some mysterious way it +managed to hold itself--or was held--just where it was. Amazement gave +way to rage. The monster wrapped his prize in three more tentacles, +and then plunged his beak into it savagely. The next instant he was +jerked to the surface of the water. A blaze of fierce sun blinded him, +and strong meshes enclosed him, binding and entangling his tentacles. + +In such an appalling crisis most creatures of sea or land would have +been utterly demoralized by terror. Not so the octopus. Maintaining +undaunted the clutch of one tentacle upon his prize, he turned the +others, along with the effectual menace of his great beak, to the +business of battle. The meshes fettered him in a way that drove him +frantic with rage, but two of his tentacles managed to find their way +through, and writhed madly this way and that in search of some +tangible antagonist on which to fasten themselves. While they were yet +groping vainly for a grip, he felt himself lifted bodily forth into +the strangling air, and crowded--net, prey, and all--into a dark and +narrow receptacle full of water. + +This fate, of course, was not to be tamely endured. Though he was +suffocating in the unnatural medium, and though his great, unwinking +eyes could see but vaguely outside their native element, he was all +fight. One tentacle clutched the rim of the metal vessel; and one +fixed its deadly suckers upon the bare black arm of a half-seen +adversary who was trying to crowd him down into the dark prison. There +was a strident yell. A sharp, authoritative voice exclaimed: "Look +out! Don't hurt him! _I'll_ make him let go!" But the next instant the +frightened darky had whipped out a knife and sliced off a good foot of +the clutching tentacle. As the injured stump shrank back upon its +fellows like a spade-cut worm, the other tentacle was deftly twisted +loose from its hold on the rim, and the captive felt himself forced +down into the narrow prison. A cover was clapped on, and he found +himself in darkness, with his prey still gripped securely. Upset and +raging though he was, there was nothing to be done about it, so he +fell to feasting indignantly upon the prize for which he had paid so +dear. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Left to himself, the furious prisoner by and by disentangled himself +from the meshes of the net, and composed himself as well as he could +in his straitened quarters. Then for days and days thereafter there +was nothing but tossing and tumbling, blind feeding, and +uncomprehended distress; till at last his prison was turned upside +down and he was dropped unceremoniously into a great tank of glass and +enamel that glowed with soft light. Bewildered though he was, he took +in his surroundings in an instant, straightened his tentacles out +before him, and darted backwards to the shelter of an overhanging rock +which he had marked on the floor of the tank. Having backed his +defenceless body under that shield, he flattened his tentacles +anxiously among the stones and weeds that covered the tank-bottom, and +impassively stared about. + +It was certainly an improvement on the black hole from which he had +just escaped. Light came down through the clear water, but a cold, +white light, little like the green and gold glimmer that illumined +the slow tide in his Caribbean home. The floor about him was not +wholly unfamiliar. The stones, the sand, the colored weeds, the +shells,--they were like, yet unlike, those from which he had been +snatched away. But on three sides there were white, opaque walls, so +near that he could have touched them by stretching out a tentacle. +Only on the fourth side was there space--but a space of gloom and +inexplicable moving confusion from which he shrank. In this direction +the floor of sand and stones and weeds ended with a mysterious +abruptness; and the vague openness beyond filled him with uneasiness. +Pale-colored shapes, with eyes, would drift up, sometimes in crowds, +and stare in at him fixedly. It daunted him as nothing else had ever +done, this drift of peering faces. It was long before he could teach +himself to ignore them. When food came to him,--small fish and crabs, +descending suddenly from the top of the water,--at such times the +faces would throng tumultuously in that open space, and for a long +time the many peering eyes would so disconcert him as almost to spoil +his appetite. But at last he grew accustomed even to the faces and the +eyes, and disregarded them as if they were so much passing seaweed, +borne by the tide. His investigating tentacles had shown him that +between him and the space of confusion there was an incomprehensible +barrier fixed, which he could see through but not pass; and that if he +could not get out, neither could the faces get in to trouble him. + +Thus, well fed and undisturbed, the octopus grew fairly content in his +glass house, and never guessed the stormy life of the great city +beyond his walls. For all he knew, his comfortable prison might have +been on the shore of one of his own Bahaman Keys. He was undisputed +lord of his domain, narrow though it was; and the homage he received +from the visitors who came to pay him court was untiring. + +His lordship had been long unthreatened, when one day, had he not been +too indifferent to notice them, he might have seen that the faces in +the outer gloom were unusually numerous, the eyes unusually intent. +Suddenly there was the accustomed splash in the water above him. That +splash had come to him to mean just food, unresisting victims, and his +tentacles were instantly alert to seize whatever should come within +reach. + +This time the splash was unusually heavy, and he was surprised to see +a massive, roundish creature, with a little, pointed tail sticking +out behind, a small, snake-like head stretched out in front, and two +little flippers outspread on each side. With these four flippers the +stranger came swimming down calmly towards him. He had never seen +anything at all like this daring stranger; but without the slightest +hesitation he whipped up two writhing tentacles and seized him. The +faces beyond the glass surged with excitement. + +When that abrupt and uncompromising clutch laid hold upon the turtle, +his tail, head, and flippers vanished as if they had never been, and +his upper and lower shells closed tight together till he seemed +nothing more than a lifeless box of horn. Absolutely unresisting, he +was drawn down to the impassive eyes and gaping beak of his captor. +The tentacles writhed all over him, stealthily but eagerly +investigating. Then the great parrot-beak laid hold on the shell, +expecting to crush it. Making no impression, however, it slid +tentatively all over the exasperating prize, seeking, but in vain, for +a weak point. + +[Illustration: "Without the slightest hesitation he whipped up two +writhing tentacles and seized him."] + +This went on for several minutes, while the watching faces outside the +glass gazed in tense expectancy. Then at last the patience of the +octopus gave way. In a sudden fury he threw himself upon the +exasperating shell, tumbling it over and over, biting at it madly, +wrenching it insanely with all his tentacles. And the faces beyond the +glass surged thrillingly, wondering how long the turtle would stand +such treatment. + +Shut up within his safe armor, the turtle all at once grew tired of +being tumbled about, and his wise discretion forsook him. He did not +mind being shut up, but he objected to being knocked about. Some +prudence he had, to be sure, but not enough to control his short +temper. Out shot his narrow, vicious-looking head, with its dull eyes +and punishing jaws, and fastened with the grip of a bulldog upon the +nearest of the tentacles, close to its base. A murmur arose outside +the glass. + +The rage of the octopus swelled to a frenzy, and in his contortions +the locked fighters bumped heavily against the glass, making the faces +shrink back. The small stones on the bottom were scattered this way +and that, and the fine silt rose in a cloud that presently obscured +the battle. + +Had the turtle had cunning to match his courage, the lordship of the +glass house might have changed holders in that fight. Had he fixed his +unbreakable grip in the head of his foe, just above the beak, he +would have conquered in the end. But as it was, he had now a +vulnerable point, and at last the octopus found it. His beak closed +upon the exposed half of the turtle's head, and slowly, inexorably, +sheared it clean off just behind the eyes. The stump shrank instantly +back into the shell; and the shell became again the unresisting +plaything of the tentacles, which presently, as if realizing that it +had no more power to retaliate, flung it aside. In a few minutes the +silt settled. Then the eager faces beyond the glass saw the lord of +the tank crouching motionless before his lair, his ink-like eyes as +impassive and implacable as ever, while the turtle lay bottom side up +against the glass, no more to be taken account of than a stone. + + + + +BACK TO THE WATER WORLD + + + + +BACK TO THE WATER WORLD + +CHAPTER I + + +An iron coast, bleak, black, and desolate, without harborage for so +much as a catboat for leagues to north or south. A coast so pitiless, +so lashed forever by the long, sullen rollers of the North Atlantic, +so tormented by the shifting and treacherous currents of the tide +between its chains of outlying rocky islets, that no ship ever +ventured willingly within miles of its uncompromising menace. A coast +so little favored by summer that even in glowing August the sun could +reach it seldom through its cold and drenching fogs. + +Perhaps half a mile off shore lay the islands--some of them, indeed, +mere ledges, deathtraps for ships, invisible except at low tide, but +others naked hills of upthrust rock, which the highest tides and +wildest hurricanes could not overwhelm. Even on the loftiest of them +there was neither grass, bush, nor tree to break the jagged outlines, +but day and night, summer and winter long, the sea-birds clamored +over them, and brooded by the myriad on their upper ledges. + +These islands were fretted, on both their landward and their seaward +sides, by innumerable caves. In one of these caves, above the reach of +the highest tide, and facing landward, so that even in the wildest +storms no waves could invade it, the pup of the seal first opened his +mild eyes upon the misty northern daylight. + +Of all the younglings of the wild, he was perhaps the most winsome, +with his soft, whitish, shadowy-toned, close, woolly coat, his round, +babyish head, his dark, gentle eyes wide with wonder at everything to +be seen from the cave mouth. He lay usually very near the entrance, +but partly hidden from view by a ragged horn of rock. While +alone--which was a good part of the time, indeed, like most +fishermen's children--he would lie so still that his woolly little +form was hardly to be distinguished from the rock that formed his +couch. He had no desire to attract public attention--for the only +public that might have been attracted to attend consisted of the pair +of great sea eagles whose shadows sometimes swooped aross the ledge, +or of an occasional southward-wandering white bear. As for the +innumerable gulls, and gannets, and terns, and lesser auks, which +made the air forever loud about these lonely islets, nothing could +have induced them to pay him any attention whatever. They knew him, +and his people, to be harmless; and that was all their winged and +garrulous companies were concerned to know. + +But to the little seal, on the other hand, the noisy birds were +incessantly interesting. Filled with insatiable curiosity, his mild +eyes gazed out upon the world. The sea just below the cave was, of +course, below his line of vision; but at a distance of some hundred +yards or so--a distance which varied hugely with the rising and +falling of the tide--he caught sight of the waves, and felt himself +strangely drawn to them. Whether leaden and menacing under the drift +of rain and the brooding of gray clouds, or green-glinting under the +sheen of too rare sunshine, he loved them and found them always +absorbing. The sky, too, was worth watching, especially when white +fleeces chased each other across a patch of blue, or wonderful colors, +pallid yet intense, shot up into it at dawn from behind a far-off line +of saw-toothed rocks. + +The absences of the mother seal were sometimes long, for it required +many fish to satisfy her appetite and keep warm her red blood in +those ice-cold arctic currents. Fish were abundant, to be sure, along +that coast, where the invisible fruitfulness of the sea made +compensation for the blank barrenness of the land; but they were swift +and wary, and had to be caught, one at a time, outwitted and +outspeeded in their own element. The woolly cub, therefore, was often +hungry before his mother returned. But when, at last, she came, +flopping awkwardly up the rocky slope, and pausing for an instant to +reconnoitre, as her round, glistening head appeared over the brink of +the ledge, the youngster's delight was not all in the satisfying of +his hunger and in the mothering of his loneliness. As he snuggled +under her caress, the salty drip from her wet, sleek sides thrilled +him with a dim sense of anticipation. He connected it vaguely with +that endless, alluring dance of the waves beyond his threshold. + +When he had grown a few days older, the little seal began to turn his +attention from the brighter world outside to the shadows that +surrounded him in his cave. His interest was caught at once by a +woolly gray creature like himself, only somewhat smaller, which lay +perhaps seven or eight feet away, at the other side of the cave, and +farther back. He had not realized before that his narrow retreat was +the home of two families. Being of a companionable disposition, he +eyed his newly discovered neighbor with immense good-will. Finding no +discouragement in the mild gaze that answered his, he presently raised +himself on his flippers, and with laborious, ungainly effort flopped +himself over to make acquaintance. Both youngsters were too +unsophisticated for ceremony, too trusting for shyness, so in a very +few minutes they were sprawling over each other in great content. + +In this baby comradeship the stranger's mother, returning to her +household duties, found them. She was smaller and younger than our +Pup's dam, but with the same kindly eyes and the same salty-dripping +coat. So, when her own baby fell to nursing, the Pup insisted +confidently on sharing the entertainment. The young mother protested, +and drew herself away uneasily, with little threatening grunts; but +the Pup, refusing to believe she was in earnest, pressed his point so +pertinaciously that at length he got his way. When, half an hour +later, the other mother returned to her charge, well filled with fish +and well disposed toward all the world, she showed no discontent at +the situation. She belonged to the tribe of the "Harbor Seals," and, +unlike her pugnacious cousins, the big "Hoods," she was always +inclined towards peace and a good understanding. There was probably +nothing that could have brought the flame of wrath into her confiding +eyes, except an attack upon her young, on whose behalf she would have +faced the sea-serpent himself. Without a moment's question, she joined +the group; and henceforth the cave was the seat of a convenient +partnership in mothers. + +It was perhaps a week or two later, when the islands were visited by a +wonderful spell of sun and calm. It was what would have been called, +farther south, Indian summer. All along the ledges, just above the +mark of the diminished surf, the seals lay basking in the glow. The +gulls and mews clamored rapturously, and squabbled with gay zest over +the choicer prizes of their fishing. It appeared to be generally known +that the bears, displeased at the warmth, had withdrawn farther north. +The sea took on strange hues of opal and lilac and thrice-diluted +sapphire. Even the high black cliffs across the charmed water veiled +their harshness in a skyey haze. It was a time for delicious +indolence, for the slackening of vigilance, for the forgetfulness of +peril. And it was just at this very time that it came the young +seal's way to get his first lesson in fear. + +He was lying beside his mother, about a dozen feet out from the mouth +of the cave. A few steps away basked his little cave-mate--alone for +the moment, because its mother had flung herself vehemently down the +slope to capture a wounded fish which had just been washed ashore. As +she reached the water's edge, a wide shadow floated across the rocks. +She wheeled like a flash and scrambled frantically up the steep. But +she was too late. She saw the other mothers near by throw their bodies +over those of their young, and lift their faces skyward with bared, +defiant fangs. She saw her own little one, alone in the bright open, +gaze around in helpless bewilderment and alarm. He saw her coming, and +lifting himself on his weak flippers, started towards her with a +little cry. Then came a terrible hissing of wings in the air above, +and he cowered, trembling. The next instant, with a huge buffet of +wind in all the upturned faces, a pair of vast, dark pinions were +outspread above the trembler; great clutching talons reached down and +seized him by neck and back; and his tiny life went out in a throttled +whimper. The nearest seal, the mother of the Pup, reared on her +flippers and lunged savagely at the marauder. But all she got was a +blinding slash of rigid wing-tips across her face. Then, launching +himself from the brink of the slope, the eagle flapped scornfully away +across the water toward the black cliffs, his victim hanging limply +from his claws. And all along the ledges the seals barked furiously +after him. + +The Pup, whom death had brushed so closely, could not be persuaded for +hours to leave the shelter of his mother's side, even after she had +led him back to the cave. But now he found himself the exclusive +proprietor of two mothers; for the bereaved dam, thenceforth, was no +less assiduously devoted to him than his own parent. With such care, +and with so abundant nourishment, he throve amazingly, outstripping in +growth all the other youngsters of his age along the ledges. His +terror quickly passed away from him; but the results of the lesson +long remained, in the vigilance with which his glance would sweep the +sky, and question every approach of wings more wide than those of gull +or gannet. + +It was not long after this grim chance that the Pup's woolly coat +began to change. A straight, close-lying under-fur pushed swiftly into +view, and the wool dropped out--a process which a certain sense of +irritation in his skin led him to hasten by rubbing his back and +sides against the rock. In an astonishingly short time his coat grew +like his mother's--a yellowish gray, dotted irregularly with blackish +spots, and running to a creamy tone under the belly. As soon as this +change was completed to his mother's satisfaction, he was led down +close to the water's edge, where he had never been allowed before. + +Eagerly as he loved the sight of the waves, and the salty savor of +them, when the first thin crest splashed up and soused him he shrank +back daunted. It was colder, too, that first slap in his face, than he +had expected. He turned, intending to retreat a little way up the +rocks and consider the question, in spite of the fact that there was +his little mother in the water, swimming gayly a few feet out from +shore and coaxing him with soft cries. He was anxious to join her--but +not just yet. Then, all at once the question was decided for him. His +real mother, who was just behind him, suddenly thrust her muzzle under +his flank, and sent him rolling into deep water. + +He came up at once, much startled. Straightway he found that he could +move in the water much more easily and naturally than on shore--and he +applied the discovery to getting ashore again with all possible +haste. But his mother, awaiting him at the edge, shoved him off +relentlessly. + +Feeling much injured, he turned and swam out to his other mother. Here +the first one joined him; and in a few minutes amazement and +resentment alike were lost in delight, as he began to realize that +this, at last, was life. Here, and not sprawling half helplessly on +the rocks, was where he belonged. He swam, and dived, and darted like +a fish, and went wild with childish ecstasy. He had come to his own +element. After this, he hardly ever returned to the cave, but slept +close at the side of one or the other of his mothers, on the open +rocks just a few feet above the edge of tide. + +A little later came a period of mad weather, ushering in the autumn +storms. Snow and sleet drove down out of the north, and lay in great +patches over the more level portions of the islets above tide. The +wind seemed as if it would lift the islets bodily and sweep them away. +The vast seas, green and black and lead-color, thundered down upon the +rocks as if they would batter them to fragments. The ledges shuddered +under the incessant crashing. When the snow stopped, on its heels came +the vanguard of the arctic cold. The ice formed instantly in all the +pools left by the tide. Along the edges of the tide it was ground to a +bitter slush by the perpetual churning of the waves. + +After a week or two of this violence, the seals--who, unlike their +polar cousins, the "Harps" and the "Hoods," were no great lovers of +storm and the fiercer cold--began to feel discontented. Presently a +little party of them, not more than a score in all, with a few of the +stronger youngsters of that season, on a sudden impulse left their +stormy ledges and started southward. The Pup, who, thanks to his +double mothering, was far bigger and more capable than any of his +mates, went with his partner-mothers in the very forefront of the +migration. + +Straight down along the roaring coast they kept, usually at a distance +of not more than half a mile from shore. They had, of course, no +objection to going farther out, but neither had they any object in +doing so, since the fish-life on which they fed as they journeyed was +the more abundant where the sea began to shoal. With their slim, +sleek, rounded bodies, thickest at the fore flippers and tapering +finely to tail and muzzle, each a lithe and close-knit structure of +muscle and nerve-energy, they could swim with astounding speed; and +therefore, although there was no hurry whatever, they went along at +the pace of a motor-boat. + +All this time the gale was lashing the coast, but it gave them little +concern. Down in the black troughs of the gigantic rollers there was +always peace from the yelling of the wind--a tranquillity wherein the +gulls and mews would snatch their rest after being buffeted too long +about the sky. Near the tops of the waves, of course, it was not good +to be, for the gale would rip the crests off bodily and tear them into +shreds of whipping spray. But the seals could always dive and slip +smoothly under these tormented regions. Moreover, if weary of the +tossing surfaces and the tumult of the gale, they had only to sink +themselves down, down, into the untroubled gloom beneath the +wave-bases, where greenish lights gleamed or faded with the passing of +the rollers overhead, and where strange, phosphorescent shapes of life +crawled or clung among the silent rocks. Longer than any other +red-blooded animal, except the whale, could their lungs go without +fresh oxygen; so, though they knew nothing of those great depths where +the whales sometimes frequent, it was easy for them to go deep enough +to get below the storm. + +Sometimes a break in the coast-line, revealing the mouth of an inlet, +would tempt the little band of migrants. Hastening shoreward, they +would push their way inland between the narrowing banks, often as far +as the head of tide, gambolling in the quiet water, and chasing the +salmon fairly out upon the shoals. Like most discriminating creatures, +they were very fond of salmon, but it was rarely, except on such +occasions as this, that they had a chance to gratify their taste. + +After perhaps a week of this southward journeying, the travellers +found themselves one night at the head of a little creek where the +tide lapped pleasantly on a smooth, sandy beach. They were already +getting into milder weather, and here, a half mile inland, there was +no wind. The sky was overcast, and the seals lay in contented security +along the edge of the water. The blacker darkness of a fir forest came +down to within perhaps fifty paces of their resting-place. But they +had no anxieties. The only creatures that they had learned to fear on +shore besides man were the polar bears; and they knew they were now +well south of that deadly hunter's range. As for eagles, they did not +hunt at night; and, moreover, they were a terror only in the +woolly-coated, baby stage of a seal's existence. + +But it often enough happens that wild animals, no less than human +beings, may be ignorant of something which their health requires them +to know. There was another bear in Labrador--a smallish, rusty-coated, +broad-headed, crafty cousin of the ordinary American black bear. And +one of these, who had acquired a taste for seal, along with some +cleverness in gratifying that taste, had his headquarters, as it +chanced, in that near-neighboring fir wood. + +The Pup lay crowded in snugly between his two mothers. He liked the +warmth of being crowded; for the light breeze, drawing up from the +water, was sharp with frost. There is such a thing, however, as being +just a little too crowded, and presently, waking up with a protest, he +pushed and wriggled to get more space. As he did so, he raised his +head. His keen young eyes fell upon a black something a little blacker +than the surrounding gloom. + +The black something was up the slope halfway between the water and the +wood. It looked like a mass of rock. But the Pup had a vague feeling +that there had been no rock thereabouts when he went to sleep. A +thrill of apprehension went up and down his spine, raising the +stiffish hairs along his neck. Staring with all his eyes through the +dimness, he presently saw the black shape move. Yes, it was drawing +nearer. With a shrill little bark of terror he gave the alarm, at the +same time struggling free and hurling himself toward the water. + +In that same instant the bear rushed, coming down the slope as it were +in one plunging jump. The seals, light sleepers all, were already +awake and floundering madly back to the water. But for one of them, +and that one the Pup's assistant mother, the alarm came too late. Just +as she was turning, bewildered with terror of she knew not what, the +dark bulk of the bear landed upon her, crushing her down. A terrific +blow on the muzzle broke her skull, and she collapsed into a quivering +mass. The rest of the band, after a moment of loud splashing, swam off +noiselessly for the safe retreat of the outer ledges. And the bear, +after shaking the body of his victim to make sure it was quite dead, +dragged it away with a grunt of satisfaction into the fir wood. + +After this tragedy, though the travellers continued to ascend the +creeks and inlets when the whim so moved them, they took care to +choose for sleep the ruder security of outlying rocks and islands, +and cherished, by night and by day, a wholesome distrust of +dark fir woods. But for all their watchfulness their journeying was +care-free and joyous, and from time to time, as they went, their +light-heartedness would break out into aimless gambols, or something +very like a children's game of tag. Nothing, however, checked their +progress southward, and presently, turning into the Belle Isle +Straits, they came to summer skies and softer weather. At this point, +under the guidance of an old male who had followed the southward track +before, they forsook the Labrador shore-line and headed fearlessly out +across the strait till they reached the coast of Newfoundland. This +coast they followed westward till they gained the Gulf of St. +Lawrence, then, turning south, worked their way down the southwest +coast of the great Island Province, past shores still basking in the +amethystine light of Indian summer, through seas so teeming with fish +that they began to grow lazy with fatness. Here the Pup and other +younger members of the company felt inclined to stay. But their elders +knew that winter, with the long cold, and the scanty sun, and the +perilous grinding of tortured ice-floes around the shore-rocks, would +soon be upon them; so the journey was continued. On they pressed, +across the wide gateway of the Gulf, from Cape Ray to North Cape, the +eastern point of Nova Scotia. Good weather still waited upon their +wayfaring, and they loitered onward gayly, till, arriving at the +myriad-islanded bay of the Tuskets, near the westernmost tip of the +peninsula, they could not, for sheer satisfaction, go farther. Here +was safe seclusion, with countless inaccessible retreats. Here was +food in exhaustless plenty; and here was weather benignant enough for +any reasonable needs. + +It was just here, off the Tuskets, that the Pup got another lesson. +Hitherto his ideas of danger had been altogether associated with the +land where eagles swooped out of a clear sky and bears skulked in the +darkness, and where, moreover, he himself was incapable of swift +escape. But now he found that the sea, too, held its menace for the +gentle kindred of the seals. It was a still, autumnal morning, blue +and clear, with a sunny sparkle on sea and air. The seals were most of +them basking luxuriously on the seaward ledges of one of the outermost +islands, while half a dozen of the more energetic were amusing +themselves with their game of tag in the deep water. Pausing for a +moment to take breath, after a sharp wrestling-match far down among +the seaweeds, the Pup's observant eyes caught sight of a small, black +triangular object cutting swiftly the smooth surface of the swells. +He stared at it curiously. It was coming towards him, but it did not, +to his uninitiated eyes, look dangerous. Then he became conscious of a +scurrying of alarm all about him; and cries of sharp warning reached +him from the sentinels on the ledge. Like a flash he dived, at an +acute angle to the line of approach of the mysterious black object. +Even in the instant, it was close upon him, and he caught sight of a +long, terrible, gray shape, thrice as long as a seal, which turned on +one side in its rush, showing a whitish belly, and a gaping, +saw-toothed mouth big enough to take him in at one gulp. Only by a +hair's-breadth did he avoid that awful rush, carrying with him as he +passed the sound of the snapping jaws and the cold gleam of the +shark's small, malignant eye. + +Hideously frightened, he doubled this way and that, with a nimbleness +that his huge pursuer could not hope to match. It took the shark but a +few seconds to realize that this was a vain chase. An easier quarry +caught his eye. He darted straight shoreward, where the deep water ran +in abruptly to the very lip of the ledge. The Pup came to the surface +to watch. One of the younger seals, losing its wits utterly with +fright, and forgetting that its safety lay in the deep water where it +could twist and dodge, was struggling frantically to clamber out upon +the rocks. It had almost succeeded, indeed. It was just drawing up its +narrow, tail-like hind flippers, when the great, rounded snout of the +shark shot into the air above it. The monstrous shape descended upon +it, and fell back with it into the water, leaving only a splash and +trickle of blood upon the lip of the ledge. The other seals tossed +their heads wildly, jumped about on their fore-flippers, and barked in +lively dismay; and in a few moments, as if the matter had been put to +vote and carried unanimously, they betook themselves in haste to one +of the inner islands, where they knew that the shark, who hates shoal +water, would not venture to follow them. + +In this sheltered archipelago the little herd might well have passed +the winter. But after a few weeks of content the southing spirit again +seized upon the old male who had hitherto been the unquestioned +leader. At this point, however, his authority went to pieces. When he +resumed the southward wandering, less than half the herd accompanied +him. But among those faithful were the Pup and his mild-eyed mother. + +Rounding the extremity of Nova Scotia, the travellers crossed the +wide mouth of the Bay of Fundy, and lingered a few days about the +lofty headlands of Grand Manan. By this time they had grown so +accustomed to ships of all kinds, from the white-sailed fishing-smack +to the long, black, churning bulk of the ocean liner, that they no +longer heeded them any more than enough to give them a wide berth. One +and all, these strange apparitions appeared quite indifferent to +seals, so very soon the seals became almost indifferent to them. Off +the island of Campobello, however, something mysterious occurred which +put an end to this indifference, although none of the band could +comprehend it. + +A beautiful, swift, white craft, with yellow gleams flashing here and +there from her deck as the sun caught her polished brasswork, was +cleaving the light waves northward. The seals, their round, dark heads +bobbing above the water at a distance of perhaps three hundred yards +from her port-quarter, gazed at the spectacle with childlike interest. +They saw a group of men eying them from the deck of the swift monster. +All at once from this group spurted two thin jets of flame. The Pup +heard some tiny vicious thing go close over his head with a cruel +whine, and _zip_ sharply through a wave-crest just beyond. On the +instant, even before the sharp clatter of the two reports came to +their ears, all the seals dived, and swam desperately to get as far +away as possible from the terrifying bright monster. When they came to +the surface again, they were far out of range. But the restless old +male, their leader, was not among them. The white yacht was steaming +away into the distance, with its so-called sportsmen congratulating +themselves that they had almost certainly killed something. The little +band of seals waited about the spot for an hour or two, expecting the +return of their chief; and then, puzzled and apprehensive, swam away +toward the green-crested shore-line of Maine. + +Here, lacking a leader, their migration came to an end. There seemed +no reason to go farther, since here was everything they wanted. The +Pup, by this time an expert pursuer of all but the swiftest fish, was +less careful now to keep always within his mother's reach, though the +affection between the two was still ardent. One day, while he was +swimming some little distance apart from the herd, he noticed a +black-hulled boat rocking idly on the swells near by. It was too near +for his comfort, so he dived at once, intending to seek a safer +neighborhood. But as luck would have it, he had hardly plunged below +the surface when he encountered an enormous school of young herring. +What throngs of them there were! And how crowded together! Never had +he seen anything like it. They were darting this way and that in +terrific excitement. He himself went wild at once, dashing hither and +thither among them with snapping jaws, destroying many more than he +could eat. And still they seemed to throng about him ever the more +closely. At last he got tired of it, and dashed straight ahead to +clear the shoal. The next moment, to his immeasurable astonishment, he +was checked and flung back by a fine, invisible barrier. No, it was +not quite invisible. He could see a network of meshes before him. +Puzzled and alarmed, he shot up to the surface to reconnoitre. + +As his head rose above the water, his heart fairly stopped for a +second with dismay. The black side of the fishing boat was just above +him, and the terrifying eyes of men looked straight down into his. +Instantly he dived again, through the ever thickening masses of the +herring. But straightway again he met the fine, invincible barrier of +the net. Frantically he struggled to break through it, but only +succeeded in coiling it about him till he could not move a flipper. +And while he wriggled there impotently, under the squirming myriads of +the fish, he was lifted out into the air and dragged into the boat. + +Seeing the damage he had wrought in their catch, the fishermen were +for knocking their captive straightway on the nose. But as he lay +there, looking up with innocent eyes of wonder and appeal through the +meshes, something in his baby helplessness softened the captain's +heart. + +"Hold hard, Jim," he ordered, staying a big sailor's hand. "Blamed if +the little varmint ain't got eyes most as soft as my Libby's. I reckon +he'll make a right purty pet fer the kid, an' kind of keep her from +frettin' after her canary what died last Sunday." + +"He don't much resemble a canary, Ephraim," laughed Jim, dropping the +belaying-pin. + +"I reckon he'll fill the bill fine, all the same," said the captain. + +So the Pup was carried prisoner to Eastport. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +As it happened, Miss Libby was a child of decided views. One of the +most decided of her views proved to be that a seal pup, with very +little voice and that little by no means melodious, was no substitute +for a canary. She refused to look at the Pup at all, until her father, +much disappointed, assured her that she should have a canary also +without further delay. And even then, though she could not remain +quite indifferent to the Pup's soft eyes and confiding friendliness, +she never developed any real enthusiasm for him. She would minister +amiably to his wants, and laugh at his antics, and praise his good +temper, and stroke his sleek, round head, but she stuck resolutely to +her first notion, that he was quite too "queer" for her to really +love. She could never approve of his having flippers instead of fore +paws, and of his lying down all the time even when he walked. As for +his hind feet, which stuck out always straight behind him and close +together, like a sort of double-barrelled tail, she was quite sure +they had been fixed that way by mistake, and she could not, in spite +of all her father's explanations as to the advantages, for a seal, of +that arrangement, ever bring herself to accept them as normal. + +Miss Libby's mother proved even less cordial. Her notions of natural +history being of the most primitive, at first view she had jumped to +the conclusion that the Pup was a species of fish; and in this opinion +nothing could ever shake her. + +"Well, I never!" she had exclaimed. "If that ain't just like you, Eph +Barnes. As if it wa'n't enough to have to eat fish, an' talk fish, an' +smell fish, year in an' year out, but you must go an' bring a live +fish home to flop aroun' the house an' keep gittin' under a body's +feet every way they turn! An' what's he goin' to eat, anyways, I'd +like to know?" + +"He eats _fish_, but he ain't no manner of fish himself, mother, no +more than you nor I be!" explained Captain Ephraim, with a grin. "An' +he won't be in your way a mite, for he'll live out in the yard, an' +I'll sink the half of a molasses hogshead out there an' fill it with +salt water for him to play in. He's an amusin' little beggar, an' +gentle as a kitten." + +"Well, I'd have you know that _I_ wash my hands of him, Ephraim!" +declared Mrs. Barnes, with emphasis. And so it came about that the +Pup presently found himself, not Libby's special pet, but Captain +Ephraim's. + +Two important members of the Barnes family were a large yellow cat and +a small, tangle-haired, blue-gray mop of a Skye terrier. At the first +glimpse of the Pup, the yellow cat had fled, with tail as big as a +bottle-brush, to the top of the kitchen dresser, where she crouched +growling, with eyes like green full moons. The terrier, on the other +hand, whose name was Toby, had shown himself rather hospitable to the +mild-eyed stranger. Unacquainted with fear, and always inclined to be +scornful of whatever conduct the yellow cat might indulge in, he had +approached the newcomer with a friendly wagging of his long-haired +stump of a tail, and sniffed at him with pleased curiosity. The Pup, +his lonely heart hungering for comradeship, had met this civil advance +with effusion; and thenceforward the two were fast friends. + +By the time the yellow cat and Mrs. Barnes had both got over regarding +the Pup as a stranger, he had become an object of rather distant +interest to them. When he played at wrestling matches with Toby in the +yard,--which always ended by the Pup rolling indulgently on his back, +while Toby, with yelps of excitement, mounted triumphantly between +his fanning flippers,--the yellow cat would crouch upon the woodpile +close by and regard the proceedings with intent but non-committal eye. +Mrs. Barnes, for her part, would open the kitchen door and +surreptitiously coax the Pup in, with the lure of a dish of warm milk, +which he loved extravagantly. Then--this being while Libby was at +school and Captain Ephraim away on the water--she would seat herself +in the rocking-chair by the window with her knitting and watch the Pup +and Toby at their play. The young seal was an endless source of +speculation to her. + +"To think, now," she would mutter to herself, "that I'd be a-settin' +here day after day a-studyin' out a critter like that, what's no +more'n jest plain _fish_ says I, if he _do_ flop roun' the house an' +drink milk like a cat. He's right uncanny; but there ain't no denyin' +but what he's as good as a circus when he gits to playin' with Toby." + +As Mrs. Barnes had a very good opinion of Toby's intelligence, +declaring him to be the smartest dog in Maine, she gradually imbibed a +certain degree of respect for Toby's friend. And so it came about that +the Pup acquired a taste which no seal was ever intended to +acquire--a taste for the luxurious glow of the kitchen fire. + +When at last the real Atlantic winter had settled down upon the coast, +binding it with bitter frost and scourging it with storm, then Captain +Ephraim spent most of his time at home in his snug cottage. He had +once, on a flying visit to New York, seen a troupe of performing +seals, which had opened his eyes to the marvellous intelligence of +these amphibians. It now became his chief occupation, in the long +winter evenings, to teach tricks to the Pup. And stimulated by +abundant prizes in the shape of fresh herrings and warm milk, right +generously did the Pup respond. He learned so fast that before spring +the accomplished Toby was outstripped; and as for the canary,--an +aristocratic golden fellow who had come all the way from Boston,--Miss +Libby was constrained to admit that, except when it came to a question +of singing, her pet was "not in it" with her father's. Mrs. Barnes' +verdict was that "canaries seemed more natural-like, but couldn't +rightly be called so interestin'." + +Between Libby and her father there was always a lot of gay banter +going on, and now Captain Ephraim declared that he would teach the Pup +to sing as well as the canary. The obliging animal had already +acquired a repertoire of tricks that would have made him something of +a star in any troupe. The new demand upon his wits did not disturb +him, so long as it meant more fish, more milk, and more petting. +Captain Ephraim took a large tin bucket, turned it upside down on the +floor, and made the Pup rest his chest upon the bottom. Then, tying a +tin plate to each flipper, he taught the animal to pound the plates +vigorously against the sides of the bucket, with a noise that put the +shrill canary to shamefaced silence and drove the yellow cat in +frantic amazement from the kitchen. This lesson it took weeks to +perfect, because the Pup himself always seemed mortified at the +blatant discords which he made. When it was all achieved, however, it +was not singing, but mere instrumental music, as Libby triumphantly +proclaimed. Her father straightway swore that he was not to be downed +by any canary. A few weeks more, and he had taught the Pup to point +his muzzle skyward and emit long, agonizing groans, the while he kept +flapping the two tin plates against the bucket. It was a wonderful +achievement, which made Toby retreat behind the kitchen stove and gaze +forth upon his friend with grieved surprise. But it obliged Libby, who +was a fair-minded child, to confess to her father that she and her +pet were vanquished. + +All this while the Pup was growing, as perhaps no harbor seal of his +months had grown before. When spring came, he saw less of Captain +Ephraim, but he had compensation, for the good captain now diverted +into his modest grounds a no-account little brook which was going +begging, and dug a snug little basin at the foot of the garden for the +Pup to disport himself therein. All through the summer he continued to +grow and was happy, playing with Toby, offending the yellow cat, +amusing Miss Libby, and affording food for speculation to Mrs. Barnes +over her knitting. In the winter Captain Ephraim polished him up in +his old tricks, and taught him some new ones. But by this time he had +grown so big that Mrs. Barnes began to grumble at him for taking up +too much room. He was, as ever, a model of confiding amiability, in +spite of his ample jaws and formidable teeth. But one day toward +spring he showed that this good nature of his would not stand the test +of seeing a friend ill-used. + +It happened in this way. Toby, who was an impudent little dog, had +managed to incur the enmity of a vicious half-breed mastiff, which +lived on a farm some distance out of Eastport. The brute was known to +have killed several smaller dogs; so whenever he passed the Barnes' +gate, and snarled his threats at Toby, Toby would content himself with +a scornful growl from the doorstep. + +But one morning, as the big mongrel went by at the tail of his +master's sled, Toby chanced to be very busy in the snow near the gate +digging up a precious buried bone. The big dog crept up on tiptoe, and +went over the gate with a scrambling bound. Toby had just time to lift +his shaggy little head out of the snow and turn to face the assault. +His heart was great, and there was no terror in the growl with which +he darted under the foe's huge body and sank his teeth strategically +into the nearest hind paw. But the life would have been crushed out of +him in half a minute, had not the Pup, at this critical juncture, come +flopping up awkwardly to see how his little friend was faring. + +Now the Pup, as we have seen, was simply overflowing with good-will +towards dogs, and cats, and every one. But that was because he thought +they were all friendly. He was amazed to find here a dog that seemed +unfriendly. Then all at once he realized that something very serious +was happening to his playmate. His eyes reddened and blazed; and with +one mighty lunge he flung himself forward upon the enemy. With that +terrific speed of action which could snap up a darting mackerel, he +caught the mastiff in the neck, close behind the jaw. His teeth were +built to hold the writhings of the biggest salmon, and his grip was +that of a bulldog--except that it cut far deeper. + +The mastiff yelped, snapped wildly at his strange antagonist, and +then, finding himself held so that he could not by any possibility get +a grip, strove to leap into the air and shake his assailant off. But +the Pup held him down inexorably, his long teeth cutting deeper and +deeper with every struggle. For perhaps half a minute the fight +continued, the mad contortions of the entangled three (for Toby still +clung to his grip on the foe's hind paw) tearing up the snow for a +dozen feet in every direction. The snow was flecked with crimson,--but +suddenly, with a throbbing gush, it was flooded scarlet. The Pup's +teeth had torn through the great artery of his opponent's neck. With a +cough the brute fell over, limp and unresisting as a half-filled bran +sack. + +At this moment the mastiff's owner, belatedly aware that the tables +were being turned on his vicious favorite, came yelling and cursing +over the gate, brandishing a sled stake in his hands. But at the same +time arrived Captain Ephraim, rushing bareheaded from the kitchen, and +stepped in front of the new arrival. One glance had shown him that the +fight was over. + +"Hold hard there, Baiseley!" he ordered in curt tones. Then he +continued more slowly--"It ain't no use makin' a fuss. That murderin' +brute of yourn begun it, an' come into my yard to kill my own little +tike here. He's got just what he deserved. An' if the Pup here hadn't +'a' done it, I'd 'a' done it myself. See?" + +Baiseley, like his mongrel follower, was a bully. But he had +discretion. He calmed down. + +"That there dog o' mine, Captain Ephraim, was a good dog, an' worth +money. I reckon ye'll hev to pay me ten dollars for that dog, an' +we'll call it square." + +"Reckon I'll have to owe it to ye, Hank! Mebbe I'll pay it some day +when you git han'somer 'n you are now!" laughed Captain Ephraim dryly. +He gave a piercing whistle through his teeth. Straightway Toby, sadly +bedraggled, came limping up to him. The Pup let go of his dead enemy, +and lifted his head to eye his master inquiringly. His whole front was +streaming with blood. + +"Go wash yerself!" ordered the captain picking up a chip and hurling +it into the pond, which was now half empty of ice. + +The Pup floundered off obediently to get the chip, and Baiseley, +muttering inarticulate abuse, slouched away to his sled. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Toward the end of April there came a great change in the Pup's +affairs. Primarily, the change was in Captain Ephraim's. Promoted to +the command of a smart schooner engaged in cod-fishing on the Grand +Banks, he sold his cottage at Eastport and removed his family to +Gloucester, Massachusetts. At the same time, recognizing with many a +pang that a city like Gloucester was no place for him to keep a seal +in, he sold the Pup, at a most consoling price indeed, to the agent of +an English animal trainer. With the prospect of shortly becoming the +cynosure of all eyes at Shepherd's Bush or Earl's Court, the Pup was +shipped on a freighter for Liverpool. + +With his pervasive friendliness, and seeking solace for the absence of +Toby and Captain Ephraim, the Pup proved a most privileged and popular +passenger. All went well till the ship came off Cape Race, +Newfoundland. Then that treacherous and implacable promontory made +haste to justify its reputation; and in a blind sou'wester the ship +was driven on the ledges. While she was pounding to pieces, the crew +got away in their boats, and presently the Pup found himself reviving +half-forgotten memories amid the buffeting of the huge Atlantic +rollers. + +He felt amazingly at home, but very lonely. Bobbing his head as high +as he could above the water, he stared about him in every direction, +dimly hoping to catch sight of Captain Ephraim or Toby--or even of the +unsociable yellow cat. They were nowhere to be seen. Well, company he +must have. After fish, of which there was no lack in those teeming +waters, company was his urgent demand. He headed impatiently for the +coast, which he could not see indeed, but which he felt clearly in the +distance. + +The first land he encountered was a high hogback of rock which proved +to be an island. Swimming around under its lea, he ran into a little +herd of seals of his own kind, and hastened confidently to fraternize +with them. + +The strangers, mostly females and young males, met his advances with a +good-natured indifference. One of the herd, however, a big dog-seal +who seemed to consider himself the chief, would have none of him, but +grumbled and showed his teeth in a most unpleasant manner. The Pup +avoided him politely, and crawled out upon the rocks, about twenty +feet away, beside two friendly females. He wanted to get acquainted, +that was all. But the old male, after grumbling for several minutes, +got himself worked up into a rage, and came floundering over the rocks +to do up the visitor. Roughly he pushed the two complaisant females +off into the water, and then, with a savage lunge, he fell upon the +Pup. + +But in this last step the old male was ill-advised. Hitherto the Pup +had felt diffident in the face of such a reception, but now a sudden +red rage flared into his eyes. Young as he was, he was as big as his +antagonist, and, here on land, a dozen times more nimble. Here came in +the advantage of Captain Ephraim's training. When the old male lunged +upon him, he simply wasn't there. He had shot aside, and wheeled like +a flash, and secured a hold at the root of his assailant's flipper. Of +course in this position he too received some sharp punishment. But he +held on like a bulldog, worrying, worrying mercilessly, till all at +once the other squealed, and threw up his muzzle, and struggled to get +away. The Pup, satisfied with this sign of submission, let him go at +once, and he flounced off furiously into the water. + +As a prompt result of this victory, the Pup found himself undisputed +leader of the little herd, his late antagonist, after a vain effort to +effect a division, having slipped indolently into a subordinate place. +This suited the Pup exactly, who was happy himself, and wanted +everybody else to be so likewise. + +As spring advanced, the herd worked their way northward along the +Newfoundland coast, sometimes journeying hurriedly, sometimes +lingering for days in the uninhabited inlets and creek mouths. The Pup +was in a kind of ecstasy over his return to the water world, and +indulged in antics that seemed perhaps frivolous in the head of so +important a family. But once in a while a qualm of homesickness would +come over him, for Toby, and the Captain, and a big tin basin of warm +milk. And in one of these moods he was suddenly confronted by men. + +The herd was loitering off a point which marked the entrance to a +shallow cove, when round the jutting rocks slid a row-boat, with two +fishermen coming out to set lines. They had no guns with them, +fortunately. They saw the seals dive and vanish at the first glimpse +of them, as was natural. But to their amazement, one seal--the +biggest, to their astonished eyes, in the whole North Atlantic--did +not vanish with the rest. Instead of that, after eying them +fearlessly at a distance of some fifty feet, he swam deliberately +straight toward them. + +Now there is nothing very terrifying, except to a fish, in the aspect +of even the biggest harbor seal; but to these fishermen, who knew the +shyness of the seals, it was terrifying to the last degree that one +should conduct himself in this unheard-of way. They stopped rowing, +and stared with superstitious eyes. + +"Howly Mother!" gasped one, "that b'ain't no seal, Mike!" + +"What d'ye s'pose he wants wid us, Barney, annyhow?" demanded Mike, in +an awed voice. + +"Sure, an' it's a _sign_ for the one or t'other of us. It's gittin' +back to shore we'd better be," suggested Barney, pulling round hard on +the bow oar. + +As the mysterious visitor was still advancing, this counsel highly +commended itself to Mike, who would have faced a polar bear with no +weapon but his oar, but had no stomach for a parley with the +supernatural. In another moment the boat was rushing back up the cove +with all the speed their practised muscles could impart. But still, +swimming leisurely in their wake, with what seemed to them a dreadful +deliberation, the Pup came after them. + +"Don't ye be comin' nigh _me_!" cried Mike, somewhat hysterically, "or +I'll bash yer face wid the oar, mind!" + +"Whisht!" said Barney, "don't ye be after talkin' that way to a +sperrit, or maybe he'll blast ye!" + +"I'm thinkin', now," said Mike, presently, in a hushed voice, "as +maybe it be Dan Sheedy's sperrit, comin' back to ha'nt me coz I didn't +give up them boots o' his to his b'y, accordin' to me promise." + +"Shure an' why not that?" agreed Barney, cheered by the hope that the +visitation was not meant for him. + +A moment more and the boat reached the beach with an abruptness that +hurled both rowers from their seats. Scrambling out upon the shingle, +they tugged wildly at the boat to draw her up. But the Pup, his eyes +beaming affection, was almost on their heels. With a yell of dismay +Mike dashed up the shore toward their shack; but Barney, having less +on his conscience, delayed to snatch out of the bow the precious tin +pail in which they carried their bait. Then he followed Mike. But +looking back over his shoulder, he saw his mysterious pursuer ascend +from the water and come flopping up the shore at a pace which +assuredly no _mortal_ seal could ever accomplish on dry land. At that +he fell over a boulder, dropped the pail of bait, picked himself up +with a startled yell, and made a dash for the shack as if all the +fiends were chasing him. + +Slamming the door behind them, the two stared fearfully out of the +window. Their guns, loaded with slugs, leaned against the wall, but +they would never be guilty of such perilous impiety as to use them. + +When he came to the tin pail and the spilled bait the Pup was pleased. +He knew very well what the pail was for, and what the men expected of +him. He had no objection to being paid in advance, so he gobbled the +bait at once. It was not much, but he had great hopes that, if he +acquitted himself well, he might get a pan of warm milk. Cheerfully he +hoisted his massive chest upon the pail, and then, pounding jerkily +with his flippers as hard as he could, he lifted his muzzle heavenward +and delivered himself of a series of prolonged and anguished groans. + +This was too much for his audience. + +"Howly Mother, save us!" sobbed Barney, dropping upon his knees, and +scrabbling desperately in his untidy memory for some fragments of his +childhood's prayers. + +"Don't, Dan, don't!" pleaded Mike, gazing out with wild eyes at the +Pup's mystical performance. "I'll give back them boots to the b'y. +I'll give 'em back, Dan! Let me be now, won't 'ee, old mate?" + +Thus adjured, the Pup presently stopped, and stared expectantly at the +shack, awaiting the pan of warm milk. When it did not come, he was +disgusted. He had never been kept waiting this way before. These men +were not like Captain Ephraim. In a minute or two he rolled off the +pail, flopped heavily down the beach, and plunged back indignantly +into the sea. As his dark head grew smaller and smaller in the +distance, the men in the shack threw open the door, and came out as if +they needed fresh air. + +"I always _said_ as how Dan had a good heart," muttered Mike, in a +shaken voice. "An' shure, now, ye see, Barney, he ain't after bearin' +no grudge." + +"But ye'll be takin' back them boots to young Dan, this very day of +our lives," urged Barney. "An' ye'll be after makin' it all right wid +the Widdy Sheedy, afore ye're a day older, now." + +"Shure, an' to wanst ain't none too quick for me, an' me receavin' a +hint loike that!" agreed Mike. + +As for the Pup, after this shock to his faith in man, he began to +forget the days of his comfortable captivity. His own kind proved +vastly interesting to him, and in a few weeks his reversion was +complete. By that time his journeyings had led him, with his little +herd, far up the coast of Labrador. At last he came to a chain of +rocky islands, lying off a black and desolate coast. The islands were +full of caves, and clamorous with sea-birds, and trodden forever by a +white and shuddering surf. Here old memories stirred dimly but sweetly +within him--and here he brought his wanderers to rest. + + + + +LONE WOLF + + + + +LONE WOLF + +CHAPTER I + + +Not, like his grim ancestors for a thousand generations, in some dark +cave of the hills was he whelped, but in a narrow iron cage littered +with straw. Two brothers and a sister made at the same time a like +inauspicious entrance upon an alien and fettered existence. And +because their silent, untamable mother loved too savagely the +hereditary freedom of her race to endure the thought of bearing her +young into a life of bondage, she would have killed them mercifully, +even while their blind baby mouths were groping for her breasts. But +the watchful keeper forestalled her. Whelps of the great gray timber +wolf, born in captivity, and therefore likely to be docile, were rare +and precious. The four little sprawlers, helpless and hungrily +whimpering, were given into the care of a foster-mother, a sorrowing +brown spaniel bitch who had just been robbed of her own puppies. + +When old enough to be weaned, the two brothers and the sister, sturdy +and sleek as any wolf cubs of the hills, were sold to a dealer in wild +animals, who carried them off to Hamburg. But "Lone Wolf," as Toomey, +the trainer, had already named him, stayed with the circus. He was the +biggest, the most intelligent, and the most teachable cub of the whole +litter, and Toomey, who had an unerring eye for quality in a beast, +expected to make of him a star performer among wolves. + +Job Toomey had been a hunter and a trapper in the backwoods of New +Brunswick, where his instinctive knowledge of the wild kindreds had +won him a success which presently sickened him. His heart revolted +against the slaughter of the creatures which he found so interesting, +and for a time, his occupation gone, he had drifted aimlessly about +the settlements. Then, at the performance of a travelling circus, +which boasted two trained bears and a little trick elephant, he had +got his cue. It was borne in upon him that he was meant to be an +animal trainer. Then and there he joined the circus at a nominal wage, +and within six months found himself an acknowledged indispensable. In +less than a year he had become a well-known trainer, employed in one +of the biggest menageries of America. Not only for his wonderful +comprehension and command of animals was he noted, but also for his +pose, to which he clung obstinately, of giving his performances always +in the homespun garb of a backwoodsman, instead of in the conventional +evening dress. + +"Lone Wolf!" It seemed a somewhat imaginative name for the prison-born +whelp, but as he grew out of cub-hood his character and his stature +alike seemed to justify it. Influenced by the example of his gentle +foster-mother, he was docility itself toward his tamer, whom he came +to love well after the reticent fashion of his race. But toward all +others, man and beast alike, his reserve was cold and dangerous. +Toomey, apparently, absorbed all the affection which his lonely nature +had to spare. In return for this singleness of regard, Toomey trained +him with a firm patience which never forgot to be kind, and made him, +by the time he was three years old, quite the cleverest and most +distinguished performing wolf who had ever adorned a show. + +He was now as tall as the very tallest Great Dane, but with a depth of +shoulder and chest, a punishing length and strength of jaw, that no +dog ever could boast. When he looked at Toomey, his eyes wore the +expression of a faithful and understanding follower; but when he +answered the stares of the crowd through the bars of his cage, the +greenish fire that flamed in their inscrutable depths was ominous and +untamed. In all save his willing subjection to Toomey's mastery, he +was a true wolf, of the savage and gigantic breed of the Northwestern +timber. To the spectators this was aggressively obvious; and therefore +the marvel of seeing this sinister gray beast, with the murderous +fangs, so submissive to Toomey's gentlest bidding, never grew stale. +In every audience there were always some spectators hopefully +pessimistic, who vowed that the great wolf would some day turn upon +his master and tear his throat. To be sure, Lone Wolf was not by any +means the only beast whom the backwoodsman had performing for the +delectation of his audiences. But all the others--the lions, the +leopards, the tiger, the elephant, the two zebras, and the white +bear--seemed really subdued, as it were hypnotized into harmlessness. +It was Lone Wolf only who kept the air of having never yielded up his +spirit, of being always, in some way, not the slave but the free +collaborator. + +Ordinarily, in spite of the wild fire smouldering in his veins, Lone +Wolf was well enough content. The show was so big and so important +that it was accustomed to visit only the great centres, and to make +long stops at each place. At such times his life contained some +measure of freedom. He would be given a frequent chance of exercise, +in some secure enclosure where he could run, and jump, and stretch his +mighty muscles, and breathe deep. And not infrequently--after dark as +a rule--his master would snap a massive chain upon his collar, and +lead him out, on leash like a dog, into the verdurous freshness of +park or country lane. But when the show was on tour, then it was very +different. Lone Wolf hated fiercely the narrow cage in which he had to +travel. He hated the harsh, incessant noise of the grinding rails, the +swaying and lurching of the trucks, the dizzying procession of the +landscape past the barred slits which served as windows to his car. +Moreover, sometimes the unwieldy length of the circus train would be +halted for an hour or two on some forest siding, to let the regular +traffic of the line go by. Then, as his wondering eyes caught glimpses +of shadowed glades, and mysterious wooded aisles, and far-off hills +and horizons, or wild, pungent smells of fir thicket and cedar swamp +drew in upon the wind to his uplifted nostrils, his veins would run +hot with an uncomprehended but savage longing for delights which he +had never known, for a freedom of which he had never learned or +guessed. At such times his muscles would ache and quiver, till he felt +like dashing himself blindly against his bars. And if the halt +happened to take place at night, with perhaps a white moon staring in +upon him from over a naked hill-top, he would lift his lean muzzle +straight up toward the roof of his cage and give utterance to a +terrible sound of which he knew not the meaning, the long, shrill +gathering cry of the pack. This would rouse all the other beasts to a +frenzy of wails and screeches and growls and roars; till Toomey would +have to come and stop his performance by darkening the cage with a +tarpaulin. At the sound of Toomey's voice, soothing yet overmastering, +the great wolf would lie down quietly, and the ghostly summons of his +far-ravaging fathers would haunt his spirit no more. + +After one of these long journeys, the show was halted at an inland +city for a stop of many weeks; and to house the show a cluster of +wooden shanties was run up on the outskirts of the city, forming a +sort of mushroom village flanked by the great white exhibition tents. +In one of these shanties, near the centre of the cluster, Lone Wolf's +cage was sheltered, along with the cages of the puma, the leopard, +and the little black Himalayan bear. Immediately adjoining this shanty +was the spacious open shed where the elephants were tethered. + +That same night, a little before dawn, when the wearied attendants +were sleeping heavily, Lone Wolf's nostrils caught a strange smell +which made him spring to his feet and sniff anxiously at the suddenly +acrid air. A strange reddish glow was dispersing the dark outside his +window. From the other cages came uneasy mutterings and movements, and +the little black bear, who was very wise, began to whine. The dull +glow leaped into a glare and then the elephants trumpeted the alarm. +Instantly the night was loud with shoutings, and tramplings, and +howlings, and rushings to and fro. A cloud of choking smoke blew into +Lone Wolf's cage, making him cough and wonder anxiously why Toomey +didn't come. The next moment Toomey came, with one of the keepers, and +an elephant. Frantically they began pushing and dragging out the +cages. But there was a wind; and before the first cage, that of the +puma, was more than clear of the door, the flames were on top of them +like a leaping tiger. Panic-stricken, the elephant screamed and +bolted. The keeper, shouting, "We can't save any more in this house. +Let's git the lions out!" made off with one arm over his eyes, +doggedly dragging the heavy cage of the puma. The keeper was right. He +had his work cut out for him, as it was, to save the screeching puma. +As for Toomey, his escape was already almost cut off. But he could not +endure to save himself without giving the imprisoned beasts a chance +for their lives. Dashing at the three remaining cages, he tore them +open; and then, with a summons to Lone Wolf to follow him, he threw +his arms over his face and dashed through the flames. + +The three animals sprang out at once into the middle of the floor, but +their position seemed already hopeless. The leopard, thoroughly cowed, +leaped back into his cage and curled up in the farthest corner, +spitting insanely. Lone Wolf dashed at the door by which Toomey had +fled, but a whirl of flame in his face drove him back to the middle of +the floor, where the little bear stood whimpering. Just at this moment +a massive torrent of water from a fire engine crashed through the +window, drenching Lone Wolf, and knocking the bear clean over. The +beneficent stream was whisked away again in an instant, having work to +do elsewhere than on this already doomed and hopeless shed. But to the +wise little bear it had shown a way of escape. Out through the window +he scurried, and Lone Wolf went after him in one tremendous leap just +as the flames swooped in and licked the floor clean, and slew the +huddled leopard in its cage. + +Outside, in the awful heat, the alternations of dazzling glare and +blinding smoke, the tumult of the shouting and the engines, the roar +of the flames, the ripping crash of the streams, and the cries of the +beasts, Lone Wolf found himself utterly confused. But he trusted, for +some reason, to the sagacity of the bear, and followed his shaggy +form, bearing diagonally up and across the wind. Presently a cyclone +of suffocating smoke enveloped him, and he lost his guide. But +straight ahead he darted, stretched out at top speed, belly to the +ground, and in another moment he emerged into the clear air. His eyes +smarting savagely, his nose and lips scorched, his wet fur singed, he +hardly realized at first his escape, but raced straight on across the +fields for several hundred yards. Then, at the edge of a wood, he +stopped and looked back. The little bear was nowhere to be seen. The +night wind here blew deliciously cool upon his face. But there was the +mad red monster, roaring and raging still as if it would eat up the +world. The terror of it was in his veins. He sprang into the covert +of the wood, and ran wildly, with the one impulse to get as far away +as possible. + +Before he had gone two miles, he came out upon an open country of +fields, and pastures, and farmyards, and little thickets. Straight on +he galloped, through the gardens and the farmyards as well as the open +fields. In the pastures the cattle, roused by the glare in the sky, +stamped and snorted at him as he passed, and now and then a man's +voice yelled at him angrily as his long form tore through flowerbeds +or trellised vines. He had no idea of avoiding the farmhouses, for he +had at first no fear of men; but at length an alert farmer got a long +shot at him with a fowling-piece, and two or three small leaden +pellets caught him in the hind quarters. They did not go deep enough +to do him serious harm, but they hurt enough to teach him that men +were dangerous. Thereupon he swerved from the uncompromising straight +line of his flight, and made for the waste places. When the light of +the fire had quite died out behind him, the first of the dawn was +creeping up the sky; and by this time he had come to a barren region +of low thickets, ragged woods, and rocks thrusting up through a +meagre, whitish soil. + +Till the sun was some hours high Lone Wolf pressed on, his terror of +the fire now lost in a sense of delighted freedom. By this time he was +growing hungry, and for an instant the impulse seized him to turn back +and seek his master. But no, that way lay the scorching of the flames. +Instead of turning, he ran on all the faster. Suddenly a rabbit +bounded up, almost beneath his nose. Hitherto he had never tasted +living prey, but with a sure instinct he sprang after the rabbit. To +his fierce disappointment, however, the nimble little beast was so +inconsiderate as to take refuge in a dense bramble thicket which he +could not penetrate. His muzzle, smarting and tender from the fire, +could not endure the harsh prickles, so after prowling about the +thicket for a half-hour in the wistful hope that the rabbit might come +out, he resumed his journey. He had no idea, of course, where he +wanted to go, but he felt that there must be a place somewhere where +there were plenty of rabbits and no bramble thickets. + +Late in the afternoon he came upon the fringes of a settlement, which +he skirted with caution. In a remote pasture field, among rough +hillocks and gnarled, fire-scarred stumps, he ran suddenly into a +flock of sheep. For a moment he was puzzled at the sight, but the +prompt flight of the startled animals suggested pursuit. In a moment +he had borne down the hindermost. To reach for its throat was a sure +instinct, and he feasted, with a growing zest of savagery, upon the +hot flesh. Before he realized it, he was dragging the substantial +remnant of his meal to a place of hiding under an overhanging rock. +Then, well content with himself, he crept into a dark thicket and +slept for several hours. + +When he awoke, a new-risen moon was shining, with something in her +light which half bewildered him, half stung him to uncomprehended +desires. Skulking to the crest of a naked knoll, he saw the landscape +spread out all around him, with the few twinkling lights of the +straggling village below the slopes of the pasture. But not for +lights, or for villages, or for men was his concern. Sitting up very +straight on his gaunt haunches, he stretched his muzzle toward the +taunting moon, and began to sound that long, dreadful gathering cry of +his race. + +It was an unknown or a long-forgotten voice in those neighborhoods, +but none who heard it needed to have it explained. In half a minute +every dog in the settlement was howling, barking, or yelping, in rage +or fear. To Lone Wolf all this clamor was as nothing. He paid no more +attention to it than as if it had been the twittering of sparrows. +Then doors opened, and lights flashed as men came out to see what was +the matter. Clearly visible, silhouetted against the low moon, Lone +Wolf kept up his sinister chant to the unseen. But presently, out of +the corner of his eye, he noted half a dozen men approaching up the +pasture, with the noisy dogs at their heels. Men! That was different! +Could it be that they wanted him? All at once he experienced a qualm +of conscience, so to speak, about the sheep he had killed. It occurred +to him that if sheep belonged to men, there might be trouble ahead. +Abruptly he stopped his serenading of the moon, slipped over the crest +of the knoll, and made off at a long, tireless gallop which before +morning had put leagues between himself and the angry villagers. + +After this he gave a wide berth to settlements; and having made his +first kill, he suddenly found himself an accomplished hunter. It was +as if long-buried memories had sprung all at once to life,--memories, +indeed, not of his own but of his ancestors',--and he knew, all at +once, how to stalk the shy wild rabbits, to run down and kill the red +deer. The country through which he journeyed was well stocked with +game, and he fed abundantly as he went, with no more effort than just +enough to give zest to his freedom. In this fashion he kept on for +many days, working ever northward just because the wild lands +stretched in that direction; and at last he came upon the skirts of a +cone-shaped mountain, ragged with ancient forest, rising solitary and +supreme out of a measureless expanse of wooded plain. From a jutting +shoulder of rock his keen eyes noted but one straggling settlement, +groups of scattered clearings, wide apart on the skirts of the great +hill. They were too far off to mar the vast seclusion of the height; +and Lone Wolf, finding a cave in the rocks that seemed exactly +designed for his retreat, went no farther. He felt that he had come +into his own domain. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +The settlers around the skirts of Lost Mountain were puzzled and +indignant. For six weeks their indignation had been growing, and the +mystery seemed no nearer a solution. Something was slaughtering their +sheep--something that knew its business and slaughtered with dreadful +efficiency. Several honest dogs fell under suspicion, not because +there was anything whatever against their reputations, but simply +because they had the misfortune to be big enough and strong enough to +kill a sheep if they wanted to, and the brooding backwoods mind, when +troubled, will go far on the flimsiest evidence. + +Of all the wrathful settlers the most furious was Brace Timmins. Not +only had he lost in those six weeks six sheep, but now his dog, a +splendid animal, half deerhound and half collie, had been shot on +suspicion by a neighbor, on no better grounds, apparently, than his +long legs and long killing jaws. Still the slaughtering of the flocks +went on with undiminished vigor. And a few days later Brace Timmins +avenged his favorite by publicly thrashing his too hasty neighbor in +front of the cross-roads store. The neighbor, pounded into exemplary +penitence, apologized, and as far as the murdered dog was concerned, +the score was wiped clean. But the problem of the sheep killing was no +nearer solution. If not Brace Timmins' dog, as every one made prudent +haste to acknowledge, then whose dog was it? The life of every dog in +the settlement, if bigger than a wood-chuck, hung by a thread, which +might, it seemed, at any moment turn into a halter. Brace Timmins +loved dogs; and not wishing that others should suffer the unjust fate +which had overtaken his own, he set his whole woodcraft to the +discovery of the true culprit. + +Before he had made any great progress, however, on this trail, a new +thing happened, and suspicion was lifted from the heads of all the +dogs. Joe Anderson's dog, a powerful beast, part sheep-dog and part +Newfoundland, with a far-off streak of bull, and the champion fighter +of the settlements, was found dead in the middle of Anderson's sheep +pasture, his whole throat fairly ripped out. He had died in defence of +his charges, and it was plainly no dog's jaws that had done such +mangling. What dog indeed could have mastered Anderson's "Dan"? + +"It's a bear, gone mad on mutton," pronounced certain of the wise +ones, idling at the cross-roads store. "Ye see as how he hain't _et_ +the dawg, noways, but jest bit him to teach him not to go interferin' +as regards sheep." + +"Ye're all off," contradicted Timmins, with authority. "A bear'd hev' +tore him an' batted him an' mauled him more'n he'd hev' bit him. A +bear thinks more o' usin' his fore paws than what he does his jaws, if +he gits into any kind of an onpleasantness. No, boys, our unknown +friend up yonder's a _wolf_, take my word for it." + +Joe Anderson snorted, and spat accurately out through the door. + +"A _wolf_!" he sneered. "Go chase yerself, Brace Timmins. I'd like to +see any wolf as could 'a' done up my Dan that way!" + +"Well, keep yer hair on, Joe," retorted Timmins, easily. "I'm a-goin' +after him, an' I'll show him to you in a day or two, as like as not!" + +"I reckon, Joe," interposed the storekeeper, leaning forward across +the counter, "as how there be other breeds of wolf besides the +sneakin' little gray varmint of the East here, what's been cleaned out +of these parts fifty year ago. If Brace is right,--an' I reckon he +be,--then it must sure be one of them big timber wolves we read about, +what the Lord's took it into His head to plank down here in our safe +old woods to make us set up an' take notice. You better watch out, +Brace. If ye don't git the brute first lick, he'll git you!" + +"_I'll_ watch out!" drawled Timmins, confidently; and selecting a +strong, steel trap-chain from a box beside the counter, he sauntered +off to put his plans in execution. + +These plans were simple enough. He knew that he had a wide-ranging +adversary to deal with. But he himself was a wide ranger, and +acquainted with every cleft and crevice of Lost Mountain. He would +find the great wolf's lair, and set his traps accordingly, one in the +runway, to be avoided if the wolf was as clever as he ought to be, and +a couple of others a little aside to really do the work. Of course, he +would carry his rifle, in case of need, but he wanted to take his +enemy alive. + +For several arduous but exciting days Timmins searched in vain alike +the dark cedar swamps and the high, broken spurs of the mountain. +Then, one windless afternoon, when the forest scents came rising to +him on the clear air, far up the steep he found a climbing trail +between gray, shelving ledges. Stealthy as a lynx he followed, +expecting at the next turn to come upon the lair of the enemy. It was +a just expectation, but as luck would have it, that next turn, which +would have led him straight to his goal, lay around a shoulder of rock +whose foundations had been loosened by the rains. With a kind of long +growl, rending and sickening, the rock gave way, and sank beneath +Timmins' feet. + +Moved by the alert and unerring instinct of the woodsman, Timmins +leaped into the air. Both high and wide he sprang, and so escaped +being engulfed in the mass which he had dislodged. On the top of the +ruin he fell, but he fell far and hard; and for some fifteen or twenty +minutes after that fall he lay very still, while the dust and debris +settled into silence under the quiet flooding of the sun. + +At last he opened his eyes. For a moment he made no effort to move, +but lay wondering where he was. A weight was on his legs, and glancing +downward, he saw that he was half covered with earth and rubbish. Then +he remembered. Was he badly hurt? He was half afraid, now, to make +the effort to move, lest he should find himself incapable of it. +Still, he felt no serious pain. His head ached, to be sure; and he saw +that his left hand was bleeding from a gash at the base of the thumb. +That hand still clutched one of the heavy traps which he had been +carrying, and it was plainly the trap that had cut him, as if in a +frantic effort to escape. But where was his rifle? Cautiously turning +his head, he peered around for it, but in vain, for during the fall it +had flown far aside into the thickets. As he stared solicitously, all +at once his dazed and sluggish senses sprang to life again with a +scorching throb, which left a chill behind it. There, not ten paces +away, sitting up on its haunches and eying him contemplatively, was a +gigantic wolf, much bigger, it seemed to him, than any wolf had any +right to be. + +Timmins' first instinct was to spring to his feet, with a yell that +would give the dreadful stranger to understand that he was a fellow it +would not be well to tamper with. But his woodcraft stayed him. He was +not by any means sure that he _could_ spring to his feet. Still less +was he sure that such an action would properly impress the great wolf, +who, for the moment at least, seemed not actively hostile. Stillness, +absolute immobility, was the trump-card to be always played in the +wilderness when in doubt. So Timmins kept quite still, looking +inquiringly at Lone Wolf. And Lone Wolf looked inquiringly at him. + +For several minutes this waiting game went on. Then, with easy +nonchalance, Lone Wolf lifted one huge hind paw and vigorously +scratched his ear. This very simple action was a profound relief to +Timmins. + +"Sartain," he thought, "the crittur must be in an easy mood, or he'd +never think to scratch his ear like that. Or mebbe he thinks I'm so +well buried I kin wait, like an old bone!" + +Just then Lone Wolf got up, stretched himself, yawned prodigiously, +came a couple of steps nearer, and sat down again, with his head +cocked to one side, and a polite air of asking, "Do I intrude?" + +"Sartain sure, I'll never ketch him in a better humor!" thought +Timmins. "I'll try the human voice on him." + +"Git to H---- out of that!" he commanded in a sharp voice. + +Lone Wolf cocked his head to the other side interrogatively. He had +been spoken to by Toomey in that voice of authority, but the words +were new to him. He felt that he was expected to do something, but he +knew not what. He liked the voice--it was something like Toomey's. He +liked the smell of Timmins' homespun shirt--it, too, was something +like Toomey's. He became suddenly anxious to please this stranger. But +what was wanted of him? He half arose to his feet, and glanced around +to see if, perchance, the inexplicable order had been addressed to +some one else. As he turned, Timmins saw, half hidden in the heavy fur +of the neck, a stout leather collar. + +"I swear!" he muttered, "if tain't a _tame_ wolf what's got away!" +With that he sat up; and pulling his legs, without any very serious +hurt, from their covering of earth and sticks he got stiffly to his +feet. For a moment the bright landscape reeled and swam before him, +and he had a vague sense of having been hammered all over his body. +Then he steadied himself. He saw that the wolf was watching him with +the expression of a diffident but friendly dog who would like to make +acquaintance. As he stood puzzling his wits, he remembered having read +about the great fire which had recently done such damage to Sillaby +and Hopkins' Circus, and he concluded that the stranger was one of the +fugitives from that disaster. + +"Come here, sir! Come here, big wolf!" said he, holding out a +confident hand. + +"Wolf"--that was a familiar sound to Lone Wolf's ears! it was at least +a part of his name! And the command was one he well understood. +Wagging his tail gravely, he came at once, and thrust his great head +under Timmins' hand for a caress. He had enjoyed his liberty, to be +sure, but he was beginning to find it lonely. + +Timmins understood animals. His voice, as he talked to the redoubtable +brute beside him, was full of kindness, but at the same time vibrant +with authority. His touch was gentle, but very firm and unhesitating. +Both touch and voice conveyed very clearly to Lone Wolf's disciplined +instinct the impression that this man, like Toomey, was a being who +had to be obeyed, whose mastery was inevitable and beyond the reach of +question. When Timmins told him to lie down, he did so at once, and +stayed there obediently while Timmins gathered himself together, shook +the dirt out of his hair and boots, recovered his cap, wiped his +bleeding hand with leaves, and hunted up his scattered traps and +rifle. At last Timmins took two bedraggled but massive pork +sandwiches, wrapped in newspaper, from his pocket, and offered one to +his strange associate. Lone Wolf was not hungry, being full of +perfectly good mutton, but being too polite to refuse, he gulped down +the sandwich. Timmins took out the steel chain, snapped it on to Lone +Wolf's collar, said, "Come on!" and started homeward. And Lone Wolf, +trained to a short leash, followed close at his heels. + +Timmins' breast swelled with exultation. What was the loss of one dog +and half a dozen no-account sheep to the possession of this +magnificent captive and the prestige of such a naked-handed capture? +He easily inferred, of course, that his triumph must be due, in part +at least, to some resemblance to the wolf's former master, whose +dominance had plainly been supreme. His only anxiety was as to how the +great wolf might conduct himself toward Settlement Society in general. +Assuredly nothing could be more lamb-like than the animal's present +demeanor, but Timmins remembered the fate of Joe Anderson's powerful +dog, and had his doubts. He examined Lone Wolf's collar, and +congratulated himself that both collar and chain were strong. + +It was getting well along in the afternoon when Timmins and Lone Wolf +emerged from the thick woods into the stumpy pastures and rough burnt +lands that spread back irregularly from the outlying farms. And here, +while crossing a wide pasture known as Smith's Lots, an amazing thing +befell. Of course Timmins was not particularly surprised, because his +backwoods philosophizing had long ago led him to the conclusion that +when things get started happening, they have a way of keeping it up. +Days, weeks, months, glide by without event enough to ripple the most +sensitive memory. Then the whimsical Fates do something different, +find it interesting, and proceed to do something else. So, though +Timmins had been accustomed all his life to managing bulls, +good-tempered and bad-tempered alike, and had never had the ugliest of +them presume to turn upon him, he was not astonished now by the +apparition of Smith's bull, a wide-horned, carrot-red, white-faced +Hereford, charging down upon him in thunderous fury from behind a +poplar thicket. In a flash he remembered that the bull, which was +notoriously murderous in temper, had been turned out into that pasture +to act as guardian to Smith's flocks. There was not a tree near big +enough for refuge. There was not a stick big enough for a weapon. And +he could not bring himself to shoot so valuable a beast as this fine +thoroughbred. "Shucks!" he muttered in deep disgust. "I might 'a' +knowed it!" Dropping Lone Wolf's chain, he ran forward, waving his +arms and shouting angrily. But that red onrushing bulk was quite too +dull-witted to understand that it ought to obey. It was in the mood to +charge an avalanche. Deeply humiliated, Timmins hopped aside, and +reluctantly ran for the woods, trusting to elude his pursuer by timely +dodging. + +Hitherto Lone Wolf had left all cattle severely alone, having got it +somehow into his head that they were more peculiarly under man's +protection than the sheep. Now, however, he saw his duty, and duty is +often a very well-developed concept in the brain of dog and wolf. His +ears flattened, his eyes narrowed to flaming green slits, his lips +wrinkled back till his long white fangs were clean bared, and without +a sound he hurled himself upon the red bull's flank. Looking back over +his shoulder, Timmins saw it all. It was as if all his life Lone Wolf +had been killing bulls, so unerring was that terrible chopping snap at +the great beast's throat. Far forward, just behind the bull's jaws, +the slashing fangs caught. And Timmins was astounded to see the bull, +checked in mid-rush, plunge staggering forward upon his knees. From +this position he abruptly rolled over upon his side, thrown by his +own impetus combined with a dexterous twist of his opponent's body. +Then Lone Wolf bounded backward, and stood expectant, ready to repeat +the attack if necessary. But it was not necessary. Slowly the great +red bull arose to his feet, and stared about him stupidly, the blood +gushing from his throat. Then he swayed and collapsed. And Lone Wolf, +wagging his tail like a dog, went back to Timmins' side for +congratulations. + +The woodsman gazed ruefully at his slain foe. Then he patted his +defender's head, recovered the chain with a secure grip, and said +slowly:-- + +"I reckon, partner, ye did yer dooty as ye seen it, an' mebbe I'm +beholden to ye fer a hul' skin, fer that there crittur was sartinly +amazin' ugly an' spry on his pins. But ye're goin' to be a +responsibility some. Ye ain't no suckin' lamb to hev aroun' the house, +I'm thinkin'." + +To these remarks, which he judged from their tone to be approving, +Lone Wolf wagged assent, and the homeward journey was continued. +Timmins went with his head down, buried in thought. All at once, +coming to a convenient log, he seated himself, and made Lone Wolf lie +down at his feet. Then he took out the remaining sandwich,--which he +himself, still shaken from his fall, had no desire to eat,--and +contemplatively, in small fragments, he fed it to the wolf's great +blood-stained jaws. At last he spoke, with the finality of one whose +mind is quite made up. + +"Partner," said he, "there ain't no help for it. Bill Smith's a-goin' +to hold _me_ responsible for the killin' o' that there crittur o' +his'n, an' that means a pretty penny, it bein' a thoroughbred, an' +imported at that. He ain't never a-goin' to believe but what I let you +loose on to him a purpose, jest to save _my_ hide! Shucks! Moreover, +ye may's well realize y'ain't _popular_ 'round these parts; an' first +thing, when I wasn't lookin', somebody'd be a-puttin' somethin' +onhealthy into yer vittles, partner! We've kind o' took to each other, +you an' me; an' I reckon _we'd_ git on together _fine_, me always +havin' me own way, of course. But there ain't no help fer it. Ye're +too hefty a proposition, by long odds, fer a community like Lost +Mountain Settlement. I'm a-goin' to write right off to Sillaby an' +Hopkins, an' let them have ye back, partner. An' I reckon the price +they'll pay'll be enough to let me square myself with Bill Smith." + +And thus it came about that, within a couple of weeks, Lone Wolf and +Toomey were once more entertaining delighted audiences, while the +settlement of Lost Mountain, with Timmins' prestige established beyond +assault, relapsed into its uneventful quiet. + + + + +THE BEAR'S FACE + + + + +THE BEAR'S FACE + +CHAPTER I + + +"There ain't no denying but what you give us a great show, Job," said +the barkeeper, with that air of patronage which befits the man who +presides over and autocratically controls the varied activities of a +saloon in a Canadian lumber town. + +"It _is_ a good show!" assented Job Toomey, modestly. He leaned up +against the bar in orthodox fashion, just as if his order had been +"whiskey fer mine!" but being a really great animal trainer, whose eye +must be always clear and his nerve always steady as a rock, his glass +contained nothing stronger than milk and Vichy. + +Fifteen years before, Job Toomey had gone away with a little +travelling menagerie because he loved wild animals. He had come back +famous, and the town of Grantham Mills, metropolis of his native +county, was proud of him. He was head of the menagerie of the Sillaby +and Hopkins' Circus, and trainer of one of the finest troupes of +performing beasts in all America. It was a great thing for Grantham +Mills to have had a visit from the Sillaby and Hopkins' Circus on its +way from one important centre to another. There had been two great +performances, afternoon and evening. And now, after the last +performance, some of Toomey's old-time acquaintances were making +things pleasant for him in the bar of the Continental. + +"I don't see how ye do it, Job!" said Sanderson, an old river-man who +had formerly trapped and hunted with Toomey. "I mind ye was always +kind o' slick an' understandin' with the wild critters; but the way +them lions an' painters an' bears an' wolves jest folly yer eye an' +yer nod, willin' as so many poodle dogs, beats me. They seem to like +it, too." + +"They _do_," said Toomey. "Secret of it is, _I_ like _them_; so by an' +by they learn to like me well enough, an' try to please me. I make it +worth their while, too. Also, they know I'll stand no fooling. Fear +an' love, rightly mixed, boys--plenty of love, an' jest enough fear to +keep it from spilin'--that's a mixture'll carry a man far--leastways +with animals!" + +The barkeeper smiled, and was about to say the obvious thing, but he +was interrupted by a long, lean-jawed, leather-faced man, captain of +one of the river tugs, whose eyes had grown sharp as gimlets with +looking out for snags and sandbanks. + +"The finest beast in the whole menagerie, that big grizzly," said he, +spitting accurately into a spacious box of sawdust, "I noticed as how +ye didn't have _him_ in your performance, Mr. Toomey. Now, I kind o' +thought as how I'd like to see you put _him_ through his stunts." + +Toomey was silent for a moment. Then, with a certain reserve in his +voice, he answered-- + +"Oh, he ain't exactly strong on stunts." + +The leather-faced captain grinned quizzically. + +"Which does he go shy on, Mr. Toomey, the love or the fear?" he +asked. + +"Both," said Toomey, shortly. Then his stern face relaxed, and he +laughed good-humoredly. "Fact is, I think we'll have to be sellin' +that there grizzly to some zoological park. He's kind of bad fer my +prestige." + +"How's that, Job?" asked Sanderson, expectant of a story. + +"Well," replied Toomey, "to tell you the truth, boys,--an' I only say +it because I'm here at home, among friends,--it's _me_ that's afraid +of _him_! An' he knows it. He's the only beast that's ever been able +to make me feel fear--the real, deep-down fear. An' I've never been +able to git quit of that ugly notion. I go an' stand in front o' his +cage; an' he jest puts that great face of his up agin the bars an' +stares at me. An' I look straight into his eyes, an' remember what has +passed between us, an' I feel afraid still. Yes, it wouldn't be much +use me tryin' to train _that_ bear, boys, an' I'm free to acknowledge +it to you all." + +"Tell us about it, Job!" suggested the barkeeper, settling his large +frame precariously on the top of a small, high stool. + +An urgent chorus of approval came from all about the bar. Toomey took +out his watch and considered. + +"We start away at 5.40 A.M.," said he. "An' I must make out to get a +wink o' sleep. But I reckon I've got time enough. As you'll see, +however, before I git through, the drinks are on me, so name yer +pison, boys. Meanwhile, you'll excuse me if I don't join you this +time. A man kin hold jest about so much Vichy an' milk, an' I've got +my load aboard. + +"It was kind of this way," he continued, when the barkeeper had +performed his functions. "You see, for nigh ten years after I left +Grantham Mills, I'd stuck closer'n a burr to my business, till I began +to feel I knew 'most all there was to know about trainin' animals. +Men do git that kind of a fool feelin' sometimes about lots of things +harder than animal-trainin'. Well, nothin' would do me but I should go +back to my old business of _trappin'_ the beasts, only with one big +difference. I wanted to go in fer takin' them alive, so as to sell +them to menageries an' all that sort of thing. An' it was no pipe +dream, fer I done well at it from the first. But that's not here nor +there. I was gittin' tired of it, after a lot o' travellin' an' some +lively kind of scrapes; so I made up my mind to finish up with a +grizzly, an' then git back to trainin', which was what I was cut out +fer, after all. + +"Well, I wanted a grizzly; an' it wasn't long before I found one. We +were campin' among the foothills of the upper end of the Sierra Nevada +range, in northern California. It was a good prospectin' ground fer +grizzly, an' we found lots o' signs. I wanted one not too big fer +convenience, an' not so old as to be too set in his ways an' too proud +to larn. I had three good men with me, an' we scattered ourselves over +a big bit o' ground, lookin' fer a likely trail. When I stumbled on to +that chap in the cage yonder, what Captain Bird admires so, I knew +right off _he_ wasn't what I was after. But the queer thing was that +_he_ didn't seem to feel that way about _me_. He was after me before I +had time to think of anything jest suitable to the occasion." + +"Where in thunder was yer gun?" demanded the river-man. + +"That was jest the trouble!" answered Toomey. "Ye see, I'd stood the +gun agin a tree, in a dry place, while I stepped over a bit o' boggy +ground, intendin' to lay down an' drink out of a leetle spring. Well, +the bear was handier to that gun than I was. When he come fer me, I +tell ye I didn't go back fer the gun. I ran straight up the hill, an' +him too close at my heels fer convenience. Then I remembered that a +grizzly don't run his best when he goes up hill on a slant, so on the +slant I went. It worked, I reckon, fer though I couldn't say I gained +on him much, it was soothin' to observe that he didn't seem to gain on +me. + +"Fer maybe well on to three hundred yards it was a fine race, and I +was beginnin' to wonder if the bear was gittin' as near winded as I +was, when slap, I come right out on the crest of the ridge, which jest +ahead o' me jutted out in a sort of elbow. What there was on the other +side I couldn't see, and couldn't take time to inquire. I jest had to +chance it, hopin' it might be somethin' less than a thousand foot +drop. I ran straight to the edge, and jest managed to throw myself +flat on my face an' clutch at the grasses like mad to keep from +pitchin' clean out into space. It _was_ a drop, all right,--two +hundred foot or more o' sheer cliff. + +"An' the bear was not thirty yards behind me. + +"I looked at the bear, as I laid there clutchin' the grass-roots. Then +I looked down over the edge. I didn't feel frightened exactly, so fur; +didn't _know_ enough, maybe, to be _frightened_ of _any_ animal. But +jest at this point I was mighty anxious. You'll believe, then, it was +kind o' good to me to see, right below, maybe twenty foot down, a +little pocket of a ledge full o' grass an' blossomin' weeds. There was +no time to calculate. I could let myself drop, an' maybe, if I had +luck, I could stop where I fell, in the pocket, instead of bouncin' +out an' down, to be smashed into flinders. Or, on the other hand, I +could stay where I was, an' be ripped into leetle frayed ravellin's by +the bear; an' that would be in about three seconds, at the rate he was +comin'. Well, I let myself over the edge till I jest hung by the +fingers, an' then dropped, smooth as I could, down the rock face, kind +of clutchin' at every leetle knob as I went to check the fall. I lit +true in the pocket, an' I lit pretty hard, as ye might know, but not +hard enough to knock the wits out o' me, the grass an' weeds bein' +fairly soft. An' clawin' out desperate with both hands, I caught, an' +stayed put. Some dirt an' stones come down, kind o' smart, on my head, +an' when they'd stopped I looked up. There was the bear, his big head +stuck down, with one ugly paw hangin' over beside it, starin' at me. I +was so tickled at havin' fooled him, I didn't think o' the hole I was +in, but sez to him, saucy as you please, 'Thou art so near, an' yet so +far.' At this he give a grunt, which might have meant anything, an' +disappeared. + +"'Ye know enough to know when you're euchred,' says I. An' then I +turned to considerin' the place I was in, an' how I was to git out of +it. + +"To git out of it, indeed! The more I considered, the more I wondered +how I'd ever managed to stay in it. It wasn't bigger than three foot +by two, or two an' a half, maybe, in width, out from the cliff-face. +On my left, as I sat with my back agin the cliff, a wall o' rock ran +out straight, closin' off the pocket to that side clean an' sharp, +though with a leetle kind of a roughness, so to speak--nothin' more +than a roughness--which I calculated _might_ do, on a pinch, fer me +to hang on to if I wanted to try to climb round to the other side. I +_didn't_ want to jest yet, bein' still shaky from the drop, which, as +things turned out, was just as well for me. + +"To my right a bit of a ledge, maybe six or eight inches wide, ran off +along the cliff-face for a matter of ten or a dozen feet, then slanted +up, an' widened out agin to another little pocket, or shelf like, of +bare rock, about level with the top o' my head. From this shelf a +narrow crack, not more than two or three inches wide, kind o' +zigzagged away till it reached the top o' the cliff, perhaps forty +foot off. It wasn't much, but it looked like somethin' I could git a +good finger-hold into, if only I could work my way along to that +leetle shelf. I was figurin' hard on this, an' had about made up my +mind to try it, an' was reachin' out, in fact, to start, when I +stopped sudden. + +"A good, healthy-lookin' rattler, his diamond-pattern back bright in +the sun, come out of the crevice an' stopped on the shelf to take a +look at the weather. + +"It struck me right off that he was on his way down to this pocket o' +mine, which was maybe his favorite country residence. I didn't like +one bit the idee o' his comin' an' findin' me there, when I'd never +been invited. I felt right bad about it, you bet; and I'd have got +away if I could. But not bein' able to, there was nothin' fer me to do +but try an' make myself onpleasant. I grabbed up a handful o' dirt an' +threw it at the rattler. It scattered all 'round him, of course, an' +some of it hit him. Whereupon he coiled himself like a flash, with +head an' tail both lifted, an' rattled indignantly. There was nothin' +big enough to do him any damage with, an' I was mighty oneasy lest he +might insist on comin' home to see who his impident caller was. But I +kept on flingin' dirt as long as there was any handy, while he kept on +rattlin', madder an' madder. Then I stopped, to think what I'd better +do next. I was jest startin' to take off my boot, to hit him with as +he come along the narrow ledge, when suddenly he uncoiled an' slipped +back into the crevice. + +"Either it was very hot, or I'd been a bit more anxious than I'd +realized, for I felt my forehead wet with sweat; I drew my sleeve +across it, all the time keeping my eyes glued on the spot where the +rattler'd disappeared. Jest then, seemed to me, I felt a breath on the +back o' my neck. A kind o' cold chill crinkled down my backbone, an' I +turned my face 'round sharp. + +"Will you believe it, boys? I was nigh jumpin' straight off that there +ledge, right into the landscape an' eternity! There, starin' 'round +the wall o' rock, not one inch more than a foot away from mine, was +the face o' the bear. + +"Well, I was scared. There's no gittin' round that fact. There was +something so onnatural about that big, wicked face hangin' there over +that awful height, an' starin' so close into mine. I jest naturally +scrooged away as fur as I could git, an' hung on tight to the rock +so's not to go over. An' _then_ my face wasn't more'n two feet away, +do the best I could; an' that was the time I found what it felt like +to be right down scared. I believe if that face had come much closer, +I'd have _bit_ at it, that minute, like a rat in a hole. + +"For maybe thirty seconds we jest stared. Then, I kind o' got a holt +of myself, an' cursed myself good fer bein' such a fool; an' my blood +got to runnin' agin. I fell to studyin' how the bear could have got +there; an' pretty soon I reckoned it out as how there must be a big +ledge runnin' down the cliff face, jest the other side o' the wall o' +the pocket. An' I hugged myself to think I hadn't managed to climb +'round on to that ledge jest before the bear arrived. I got this all +figgered out, an' it took some time. But still that face, hangin' out +there over the height, kept starin' at me; an' I never saw a wickeder +look than it had on to it, steady an' unwinkin' as a nightmare. It is +curious how long a beast _kin_ look at one without winkin'. At last, +it got on to my nerves so I jest couldn't stand it; an' snatching a +bunch of weeds (I'd already flung away all the loose dirt, flingin' it +at the rattler), I whipped 'em across them devilish leetle eyes as +hard as I could. It was a kind of a child's trick, or a woman's, but +it worked all right, fer it made the eyes blink. That proved they were +real eyes, an' I felt easier. After all, it _was_ only a bear; an' he +couldn't git any closer than he was. But that was a mite too close, +an' I wished he'd move. An' jest then, not to be gittin' _too_ easy in +my mind, I remembered the rattler. + +"Another cold chill down my backbone! I looked 'round right smart. But +the rattler wasn't anywhere in sight. That, however, put me in mind of +what I'd been goin' to do to _him_. A boot wasn't much of a weapon +agin a bear, but it was the only thing handy, so I reckoned I'd have +to make it do. I yanked it off, took it by the toe, an' let that +wicked face have the heel of it as hard as I could. I hadn't any room +to swing, so I couldn't hit very hard. But a bear's nose is tender, +on the tip; an' it was jest there, of course, I took care to land. +There was a big snort, kind o' surprised like, an' the face +disappeared. + +"I felt a sight better. + +"Fer maybe five minutes nothin' else happened. I sat there figgerin' +how I was goin' to git out o' that hole; an' my figgerin' wasn't +anyways satisfactory. I knew the bear was a stayer, all right. There'd +be no such a thing as tryin' to crawl 'round that shoulder o' rock +till I was blame sure _he_ wasn't on t'other side; an' how I was goin' +to find _that_ out was more than I could git at. There was no such a +thing as climbin' _up_. There was no such a thing as climbin' _down_. +An' as fer that leetle ledge an' crevice leadin' off to the +right,--well, boys, when there's a rattler layin' low fer ye in a +crevice, ye're goin' to keep clear o' that crevice. It wanted a good +three hours of sundown, an' I knew my chaps wouldn't be missin' me +before night. When I didn't turn up for dinner, of course they'd begin +to suspicion somethin', because they knew I was takin' things rather +easy an' not followin' up any long trails. It looked like I was there +fer the night; an' I didn't like it, I tell you. There wasn't room to +lay down, and if I fell asleep settin' up, like as not I'd roll off +the ledge. There was nothing fer it but to set up a whoop an' a yell +every once in a while, in hopes that one or other of the boys _might_ +be cruisin' 'round near enough to hear me. So I yelled some half a +dozen times, stoppin' between each yell to listen. Gittin' no answer, +at last I decided to save my throat a bit an try agin after a spell o' +restin' an' worryin'. Jest then I turned my head; an' I forgot, right +off, to worry about fallin' off the ledge. There, pokin' his ugly head +out o' the crevice, was the rattler. I chucked a bunch o' weeds at +him, an' he drew back in agin. But the thing that jarred me now was, +how would I keep him off when it got too dark fer me to see him. He'd +be slippin' home quiet like, thinkin' maybe I was gone, an' mad when +he found I wasn't, fer, ye see, _he_ hadn't no means of knowin' that I +couldn't go _up_ the rock jest as easy as I come down. I feared there +was goin' to be trouble after dark. An' while I was figgerin' on that +till the sweat come out on my forehead, I turned agin, an' there agin +was the bear's face starin' round the rock not more'n a foot away. + +"You'll understand how my nerves was on the jumps, when I tell you, +boys, that I was scared an' startled all over again, like the first +time I'd seen it. With a yell, I fetched a swipe at it with my boot; +but it was gone, like a shadow, before I hit it; an' the boot flew out +o' my hand an' went over the cliff, an' me pretty nigh after it. I +jest caught myself, an' hung on, kind o' shaky, fer a minute. Next +thing, I heard a great scratchin' at the other side o' the rock, as if +the brute was tryin' to git a better toehold an' work some new dodge +on me. Then the face appeared agin, an' maybe, though perhaps that was +jest my excited imagination, it was some two or three inches closer +this time. + +"I lit out at it with my fist, not havin' my other boot handy. But +Lord, a bear kin dodge the sharpest boxer. That face jest wasn't +there, before I could hit it. Then, five seconds more, an' it was back +agin starin' at me. I wouldn't give it the satisfaction o' tryin' to +swipe it agin, so I jest kept still, pretendin' to ignore it; an' in a +minute or two it disappeared. But then, a minute or two more an' it +was back agin. An' so it went on, disappearin', comin' back, goin' +away, comin' back, an' always jest when I _wasn't_ expectin' it, an' +always sudden an' quick as a shadow, till _that_ kind o' got on to my +nerves too, an' I wished he'd stay one way or t'other, so as I could +know what I was up against. At last, settlin' down as small as I +could, I made up my mind I jest wouldn't look that way at all, face or +no face, but give all my attention to watchin' for the rattler, an' +yellin' fer the boys. Judgin' by the sun,--which went mighty slow that +day,--I kept that game up for an hour or more; an' then, as the +rattler didn't come any more than the boys, I got tired of it, an' +looked 'round for the bear's face. Well, that time it wasn't there. +But in place of it was a big brown paw, reachin' round the edge of the +rock all by itself, an' clawin' quietly within about a foot o' my ear. +That was all the farthest it would reach, however, so I tried jest to +keep my mind off it. In a minute or two it disappeared; an' then back +come the face. + +"I didn't like it. I preferred the paw. But then, it kept the +situation from gittin' monotonous. + +"I suppose it was about this time the bear remembered somethin' that +wanted seein' to down the valley. The face disappeared once more, and +this time it didn't come back. After I hadn't seen it fer a half-hour, +I began to think maybe it had _really_ gone away; but I knew how foxy +a bear could be, an' thought jest as like as not he was waitin', +patient as a cat, on the other side o' the rock fer me to look round +so's he could git a swipe at me that would jest wipe my face clean +off. I didn't try to look round. But I kept yellin' every little +while; an' all at once a voice answered right over my head. I tell you +it sounded good, if _'twasn't_ much of a voice. It was Steevens, my +packer, lookin' down at me. + +"'Hello, what in h---- are ye doin' down there, Job?' he demanded. + +"'Waiting fer you to git a rope an' hoist me up!' says I. 'But look +out fer the bear!' + +"'Bear nothin'!' says he. + +"'Chuck an eye down the other side,' says I. + +"He disappeared, but came right back. 'Bear nothin',' says he agin, +havin' no originality. + +"'Well, he _was_ there, 'an' he stayed all the afternoon,' says I. + +"'Reckon he must 'a' heard ye was an animal trainer, an' got skeered!' +says Steevens. But I wasn't jokin' jest then. + +"'You cut fer camp, an' bring a rope, an' git me out o' this, _quick_, +d'ye hear?' says I. 'There's a rattler lives here, an' he's comin' +back presently, an' I don't want to meet him. Slide!' + +"Well, boys, that's all. That bear _wasn't_ jest what I'd wanted; but +feelin' ugly about him, I decided to take him an' break him in. We +trailed him, an' after a lot o' trouble we trapped him. He was a sight +more trouble after we'd got him, I tell you. But afterwards, when I +set myself to tryin' to train him, why, I might jest as well have +tried to train an earthquake. Do you suppose that grizzly was goin' to +be afraid o' _me?_ He'd seen me afraid o' _him_, all right. He'd seen +it in my eyes! An' what's more, _I_ couldn't forgit it; but when I'd +look at him I'd _feel_, every time, the nightmare o' that great wicked +face hangin' there over the cliff, close to mine. So, he don't +perform. What'll ye take, boys? It's hot milk, this time, fer mine." + + + + +THE DUEL ON THE TRAIL + + + + +THE DUEL ON THE TRAIL + + +White and soft over the wide, sloping upland lay the snow, marked +across with the zigzag gray lines of the fences, and spotted here and +there with little clumps of woods or patches of bushy pasture. The sky +above was white as the earth below, being mantled with snow-laden +cloud not yet ready to spill its feathery burden on the world. One +little farm-house, far down the valley, served but to emphasize the +spacious emptiness of the silent winter landscape. + +Out from one of the snow-streaked thickets jumped a white rabbit, its +long ears waving nervously, and paused for a second to look back with +a frightened air. It had realized that some enemy was on its trail, +but what that enemy was, it did not know. After this moment of +perilous hesitation, it went leaping forward across the open, leaving +a vivid track in the soft surface snow. The little animal's discreet +alarm, however, was dangerously corrupted by its curiosity; and at the +lower edge of the field, before going through a snake fence and +entering another thicket, it stopped, stood up as erect as possible on +its strong hind quarters, and again looked back. As it did so, the +unknown enemy again revealed himself, just emerging, a slender and +sinister black shape, from the upper thicket. A quiver of fear passed +over the rabbit's nerves. Its curiosity all effaced, it went through +the fence with an elongated leap and plunged into the bushes in a +panic. Here it doubled upon itself twice in a short circle, trusting +by this well-worn device to confuse the unswerving pursuer. Then, +breaking out upon the lower side of the thicket, it resumed its +headlong flight across the fields. + +Meanwhile the enemy, a large mink, was following on the trail with the +dogged persistence of a sleuth-hound. Sure of his methods, he did not +pause to see what the quarry was doing, but kept his eyes and nose +occupied with the fresh tracks. His speed was not less than that of +the rabbit, and his endurance was vastly greater. Being very long in +the body, and extremely short in the legs, he ran in a most peculiar +fashion, arching his lithe back almost like a measuring-worm and +straightening out like a steel spring suddenly released. These sinuous +bounds were grotesque enough in appearance, but singularly effective. +The trail they made, overlapping that of the rabbit, but quite +distinct from it, varied according to the depth of the surface snow. +Where the snow lay thin, just deep enough to receive an imprint, the +mink's small feet left a series of delicate, innocent-looking marks, +much less formidable in appearance than those of the pad-footed +fugitive. But where the loose snow had gathered deeper the mink's long +body and sinewy tail from time to time stamped themselves +unmistakably. + +When the mink reached the second thicket, his keen and experienced +craft penetrated at once the poor ruses of the fugitive. Cutting +across the circlings of the trail, he picked it up again with +implacable precision, making almost a straight line through the +underbrush. When he emerged again into the open, the rabbit was in +full view ahead. + +The next strip of woodland in the fugitive's path was narrow and +dense. Below it, in a patch of hillocky pasture ground, sloping to a +pond of steel-bright ice, a red fox was diligently hunting. He ran +hither and thither, furtive, but seemingly erratic, poking his nose +into half-covered moss-tufts and under the roots of dead stumps, +looking for mice or shrews. He found a couple of the latter, but +these were small satisfaction to his vigorous winter appetite. +Presently he paused, lifted his narrow, cunning nose toward the woods, +and appeared to ponder the advisability of going on a rabbit hunt. His +fine, tawny, ample brush of a tail gently swept the light snow behind +him as he stood undecided. + +All at once he crouched flat upon the snow, quivering with excitement, +like a puppy about to jump at a wind-blown leaf. He had seen the +rabbit emerging from the woods. Absolutely motionless he lay, so still +that, in spite of his warm coloring, he might have been taken for a +fragment of dead wood. And as he watched, tense with anticipation, he +saw the rabbit run into a long, hollow log, which lay half-veiled in a +cluster of dead weeds. Instantly he darted forward, ran at top speed, +and crouched before the lower end of the log, where he knew the rabbit +must come out. + +Within a dozen seconds the mink arrived, and followed the fugitive +straight into his ineffectual retreat. Such narrow quarters were just +what the mink loved. The next instant the rabbit shot forth--to be +caught in mid-air by the waiting fox, and die before it had time to +realize in what shape doom had come upon it. + +All unconscious that he was trespassing upon another's hunt, the fox, +with a skilful jerk of his head, flung the limp and sprawling victim +across his shoulder, holding it by one leg, and started away down the +slope toward his lair on the other side of the pond. + +As the mink's long body darted out from the hollow log he stopped +short, crouched flat upon the snow with twitching tail, and stared at +the triumphant intruder with eyes that suddenly blazed red. The +trespass was no less an insult than an injury; and many of the wild +kindreds show themselves possessed of a nice sensitiveness on the +point of their personal dignity. For an animal of the mink's size the +fox was an overwhelmingly powerful antagonist, to be avoided with care +under all ordinary circumstances. But to the disappointed hunter, his +blood hot from the long, exciting chase, this present circumstance +seemed by no means ordinary. Noiseless as a shadow, and swift and +stealthy as a snake, he sped after the leisurely fox, and with one +snap bit through the great tendon of his right hind leg, permanently +laming him. + +As the pang went through him, and the maimed leg gave way beneath his +weight, the fox dropped his burden and turned savagely upon his +unexpected assailant. The mink, however, had sprung away, and lay +crouched in readiness on the snow, eying his enemy malignantly. With a +fierce snap of his long, punishing jaws the fox rushed upon him. +But--the mink was not there. With a movement so quick as fairly to +elude the sight, he was now crouching several yards away, watchful, +vindictive, menacing. The fox made two more short rushes, in vain; +then he, too, crouched, considering the situation, and glaring at his +slender black antagonist. The mink's small eyes were lit with a +smouldering, ruddy glow, sinister and implacable; while rage and pain +had cast over the eyes of the fox a peculiar green opalescence. + +For perhaps half a minute the two lay motionless, though quivering +with the intensity of restraint and expectation. Then, with lightning +suddenness, the fox repeated his dangerous rush. But again the mink +was not there. As composed as if he had never moved a hair, he was +lying about three yards to one side, glaring with that same immutable +hate. + +At this the fox seemed to realize that it was no use trying to catch +so elusive a foe. The realization came to him slowly--and slowly, +sullenly, he arose and turned away, ignoring the prize which he could +not carry off. With an awkward limp, he started across the ice, +seeming to scorn his small but troublesome antagonist. + +Having thus recovered the spoils, and succeeded in scoring his point +over so mighty an adversary, the mink might have been expected to let +the matter rest and quietly reap the profit of his triumph. But all +the vindictiveness of his ferocious and implacable tribe was now +aroused. Vengeance, not victory, was his craving. When the fox had +gone about a dozen feet, all at once the place where the mink had been +crouching was empty. Almost in the same instant, as it seemed, the fox +was again, and mercilessly, bitten through the leg. + +This time, although the fox had seemed to be ignoring the foe, he +turned like a flash to meet the assault. Again, however, he was just +too late. His mad rush, the snapping of his long jaws, availed him +nothing. The mink crouched, eying him, ever just beyond his reach. A +gleam of something very close to fear came into his furious eyes as he +turned again to continue his reluctant retreat. + +Again, and again, and yet again, the mink repeated his elusive attack, +each time inflicting a deep and disastrous wound, and each time +successfully escaping the counter-assault. The trail of the fox was +now streaked and flecked with scarlet, and both his hind legs dragged +heavily. He reached the edge of the smooth ice and turned at bay. The +mink drew back, cautious for all his hate. Then the fox started across +the steel-gray glair, picking his steps that he might have a firm +foothold. + +A few seconds later the mink once more delivered his thrust. Feinting +towards the enemy's right, he swerved with that snake-like celerity of +his, and bit deep into the tender upper edge of the fox's thigh, where +it plays over the groin. + +It was a cunning and deadly stroke. But in recovering from it, to dart +away again to safe distance, his feet slipped, ever so little, on the +shining surface of the ice. The delay was only for the minutest +fraction of a second. But in that minutest fraction lay the fox's +opportunity. His wheel and spring were this time not too late. His +jaws closed about the mink's slim backbone and crunched it to +fragments. The lean, black shape straightened out with a sharp +convulsion and lay still on the ice. + +Though fully aware of the efficacy and finality of that bite, the fox +set his teeth, again and again, with curious deliberation of movement, +into the limp and unresisting form. Then, with his tongue hanging a +little from his bloody jaws, he lifted his head and stared, with a +curious, wavering, anxiously doubtful look, over the white familiar +fields. The world, somehow, looked strange and blurry to him. He +turned, leaving the dead mink on the ice, and painfully retraced his +deeply crimsoned trail. Just ahead was the opening in the log, the way +to that privacy which he desperately craved. The code of all the +aristocrats of the wild kindred, subtly binding even in that supreme +hour, forbade that he should consent to yield himself to death in the +garish publicity of the open. With the last of his strength he crawled +into the log, till just the bushy tip of his tail protruded to betray +him. There he lay down with one paw over his nose, and sank into the +long sleep. For an hour the frost bit hard upon the fields, stiffening +to stone the bodies but now so hot with eager life. Then the snow came +thick and silent, filling the emptiness with a moving blur, and buried +away all witness of the fight. + + + * * * * * * + + +Charles G. D. Roberts' + + THE BACKWOODSMEN + + _Illustrated Cloth 12mo $1.50_ + + "'The Backwoodsmen' shows that the writer knows the backwoods as + the sailor knows the sea. Indeed, his various studies of wild life + in general, whether cast in the world of short sketch or story or + full-length narrative, have always secured an interested + public.... Mr. Roberts possesses a keen artistic sense which is + especially marked when he is rounding some story to its end. There + is never a word too much, and he invariably stops when the stop + should be made.... Few writers exhibit such entire sympathy with + the nature of beasts and birds as he."--_Boston Herald._ + + "When placed by the side of the popular novel, the strength of + these stories causes them to stand out like a huge primitive giant + by the side of a simpering society miss, and while the grace and + beauty of the girl may please the eye for a moment, it is to the + rugged strength of the primitive man your eyes will turn to glory + in his power and simplicity. In simple, forceful style Mr. Roberts + takes the reader with him out into the cold, dark woods, through + blizzards, stalking game, encountering all the dangers of the + backwoodsmen's life, and enjoying the close contact with Nature in + all her moods. His descriptions are so vivid that you can almost + feel the tang of the frosty air, the biting sting of the snowy + sleet beating on your face, you can hear the crunch of the snow + beneath your feet, and when, after heartlessly exposing you to the + elements, he lets you wander into camp with the characters of the + story, you stretch out and bask in the warmth and cheer of the + fire."--_Western Review._ + +L. W. Brownell's + + PHOTOGRAPHY FOR THE SPORTSMAN NATURALIST + + _Illustrated Cloth 8vo $2.00 net_ + + "It often occurs that he who finds delight in woodcraft finds also + a pleasure in preserving by photography what he finds to interest + him in his wanderings in the open. To such this book appeals with + a peculiar force, for the author is evidently at once familiar + with wood and field life and an adept with the camera."--_Boston + Transcript._ + +Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist is in + + THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN LIBRARY SERIES + +The other volumes in the series are _The American Thoroughbred_, +_American Yachting_, _Bass, Pike, Perch, and other Fish_, _Big Game +Fishes of the United States_, _The Deer Family_, _Guns, Ammunition, +and Tackle_, _Lawn Tennis and Lacrosse_, _Musk-Ox, Bison, Sheep, and +Goat_, _Riding and Driving_, _Rowing and Track Athletics_, _Salmon and +Trout_, _The Sporting Dog_, _The Trotting and the Pacing Horse_, +_Upland Game Birds_, _and The Water Fowl Family_. + +The price of each volume is $2.00 net. + +PUBLISHED BY + +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + +64-66 Fifth Avenue, New York + + + + +Ernest Ingersoll's + + LIFE OF ANIMALS: THE MAMMALS + + _Colored Plates and Photographic Illustrations_ + + _Cloth 8vo $2.00 net_ + + "Bountifully illustrated with new colored plates drawn and painted + by the author's daughter, and with more than a hundred + photographs, many of them taken by the author himself, the text of + the volume gives a succinct and lucid account of the life of the + mammals,... their ancestry, their place in nature, their means of + livelihood, and their general characteristics."--_New York + Herald._ + + "An exceedingly entertaining and informing book containing the + latest information concerning the whole group of mammals, that + branch of animal creation most interesting to man because he is + one himself. There are numberless works on this topic or related + ones, but we know of none that is so comprehensive as this in + a single volume.... There is an amazing amount of information + written simply but with authority. Every man, woman, and child + who takes up this book will hate to put it down for a + moment."--_Philadelphia Inquirer._ + + "There are pictures and anecdotes for the little ones of the + family, adventures and curious habits to attract the eager minds + of older lads, guiding information and suggestion for the student, + and the whole is treated in the light of the latest facts. Many + novelties, apart from the simple, homely, almost humorous method + of handling a truly scientific subject, characterize the volume. + Nowhere else is so intelligently traced the relation between the + past (fossil history) and the present of the families in this most + important of all animal tribes; nowhere else will be found + explained many curious customs, such as the origin of the habit of + storing winter food, how the opossum came to 'play 'possum,' and + why beavers dam up streams. The book is written from the American + point of view, yet the whole world is covered and the newest + material has been utilized. It would be difficult to find a book + on natural history which could make a stronger appeal to the + reader, old or young, who is interested in natural history than + this volume by Ernest Ingersoll."--_Brooklyn Daily Eagle._ + + "There is not a page of the whole volume but is full of interest, + and the many splendid photographs of the existing and prehistoric + mammals add greatly to the value of the book. One lays it down + with reluctance and with the feeling that the author has added + largely to the sum of human knowledge."--_Toronto Globe._ + + "A large and admirable book.... Interesting as fiction, + scientifically exact, simply expressed, this well-prepared volume + will almost literally repeople the earth for many readers. Those + who already love natural history will rejoice in its fascinating + richness of information, while it would be difficult to imagine a + more readable and comprehensive introduction to the numerous big + and little brethren of the woods and fields."--_Chicago + Record-Herald._ + +PUBLISHED BY + +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + +64-66 Fifth Avenue, New York + + + + +Lieut.-Col. J. H. Patterson's + + IN THE GRIP OF THE NYIKA + + _Illustrated Cloth 8vo $2.00 net_ + + "Nyika merely means wilderness, and its grip is conveyed very + forcefully to the pages of Colonel Patterson's book, which holds + the reader as closely as the Nyika holds those who venture into + it.... Colonel Patterson has a particularly interesting way of + describing things he sees.... The whole volume is filled with + exciting incidents and many illustrations from photographs of odd + animals and queer people."--_Boston Transcript._ + + THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO AND OTHER EAST AFRICAN ADVENTURES + + With Foreword by Mr. Frederick C. Selous + + _Illustrated Cloth 8vo $2.00 net_ + + "The account of how Colonel Patterson overcame the many + difficulties that confronted him in building his bridge across the + Tsavo River makes excellent reading, while the courage he + displayed in attacking, single-handed, lions, as well as + rhinoceroses and other animal foes, was surpassed by his pluck, + tact, and determination in quelling a formidable mutiny which once + broke out among his native workers."--_New York Herald._ + +Theodore S. Van Dyke's + + THE STILL HUNTER + + _Illustrated, Cloth 8vo $1.75 net_ + + "A vivid account of the most exciting sport in the world.... The + record of years of experience.... It is crammed full of valuable + advice for the deer hunter, and has the advantage of having been + written before hunting became more of a pastime than a serious + business, requiring untiring energy, great patience, cool nerves, + and perfect sight."--_Chicago Tribune._ + +Edwyn Sandys' + + SPORTING SKETCHES + + _Cloth 12mo $1.75 net_ + + "Mr. Sandys is a real sportsman with a wide experience, and he + writes agreeably and without effort to make his work unusual or + picturesque. It is just the sort of description you would expect + from a man who had really done the things narrated.... He + describes in such manner that even one who has never held gun or + rod cannot but partake of something of the writer's + enthusiasm."--_Chicago Tribune._ + +PUBLISHED BY + +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + +64-66 Fifth Avenue, New York + + + + +OUTDOOR STORIES FOR BOYS AND GIRLS + + By J. W. Fortescue + THE STORY OF A RED DEER + Cloth, 16mo, $.80; Leather, $1.25 + + By Jack London + TALES OF THE FISH PATROL + Illustrated by G. Varian, Cloth, 12mo, $1.50 + + By Charles Major + THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER + Illustrated by A. B. Frost, Cloth, 12mo, $1.50 + + UNCLE TOM ANDY BILL + Illustrated. Cloth, 12mo, $1.50 + + By Edwyn Sandys + SPORTSMAN JOE + Illustrated. 12mo, $1.50 + + TRAPPER JIM + Illustrated. 12mo, $1.50 + + By Ernest Ingersoll + AN ISLAND IN THE AIR + Illustrated by William McCullough, Cloth, 12mo $1.50 + + By Stewart Edward White + THE MAGIC FOREST + Colored Illustrations by Joseph Gleeson, Cloth, 12mo, $1.20 net + + By Mabel Osgood Wright + DOGTOWN + Illustrated with Photographs, Cloth, 12mo, $1.50 net + + GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS + Colored Illustrations, Cloth, 12mo, $1.75 net + +PUBLISHED BY + +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + +64-66 Fifth Avenue, New York + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KINGS IN EXILE*** + + +******* This file should be named 28530.txt or 28530.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/5/3/28530 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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