SUNßET from a nervous collapse do not tend as the eating places In the berry thick­ ets remain open. The cougars had Though the fear was mostly gone, feet; but at fltst she did not dare to toward cheer. the cougar retained enough of that hope that aid had come to her. She all gone down with the deer, the mi­ an But the natural sturdiness of caution that most wild animals ex­ had thought of Dan as on the far­ three quickly enme to their aid. Of gratory birds had departed, and even away marshes ; and her father, the hibit when hunting a new game so course Lennox had been severely In- the squirrels were tn hiding. that he didn't attempt to strike Snow­ only other living occupant of this part Jured by the falling log, and c. iy The scene didn't offer much in the bird down at once. But as the chase of the Divide, might even now be ly­ weeks would pass before he would be way of clues. Of the body Itself od I. v ing dead In bls house. In her terror, went on, his passion grew upon him. able to walk agnln. He could sit up a white heap of bones remained, for Ever he crept nearer. And at last he she had lost all power of interpreta­ for short periods, however; had the many and terrible had been the agents tion of events. The sound might be ■prang full Into the thickets beside the cougar’s mate, or even the wolf partial use of one ann; and could pro­ at work upon them. The clothes, how­ her. pel himself—after the first few weeks ever, particularly the coat, were prac­ At that iDStant she bad shot for the pack, Jealous of his game. Sobbing, —at a snail's pace through the rooms tically Intact Gripping himself, Dan hurried on Into Wbisperfoot ’ s am ­ she first time. Because the light had left In a rude wheel chair that Bill's Inge­ thrust his fingers into its pockets, then his eyes before she could find alm, bush. Then she heard a voice, and It seem­ nuity had contrived. The great livid into the pockets of the shirt and trous­ both shots had been clean misses. And scratches that Dan bore on his body ers. All paper that would in any terrible as the reports were, he was ed to be calling to her. ''Snowbird— quickly began to heal; and before a way serve to Identify the murdered man's strong I ’ m coming, Snowbird, ” a too engrossed In the chase to be man, or tell what bls purpose bad been frightened away by mere sound. This voice was shouting. She whirled with week was done he began to venture in journeying down the frail the night | forth on the hills again. Snowbird was the cry the man-pack always a sob of thankfulness. At that Instant the cougar sprang. ! had remained In bed for three days; of the murder had been removed. Only made—these sudden, startling sounds Terrified though she was. Snow­ I then she had hopped out one bright one explanation presented Itself. In the silence. But he felt no pain. bird ’ s reflexes had kept sure and true. afternoon, swearing never to go back Cranston had com«; before him and He crouched a moment, shivering. Even os the great cat leaped, a long, ■ Into it agnln. Evidently the crisp, fall searched the body himself. ¿Then he bounded on again. Dan looked about for tracks, and he The third shot was a miss too: tn lithe shadow out of the shadow, her air of the mountains had been a nerve was considerably surprised to find the | tonic for them all. finger pressed back against the trigger fact, there had been no chance for a Of course there had been medical blurred. Indistinct laij>rin't of a shoe hit A sound In the darkness is as of her pistol. She had been carry­ unreliable a target as can possibly be ing her gun In front of her, and she attention. A doctor and a nurse had other than his own. He hadn't the imagined. And It didn't frighten him fired It, this last time, with no con­ ' motored up the day after the accident; least hope that the tracks themselves as much as the others. He waited, scious effort. It was just a last In­ the physician had set the bones and would offer a clue to a detective. stinctive effort to defend herself. I departed, nnd the nurse remained for They were too dim for that. The sur­ crouching, nnd the girl started on. One other element affected the Is­ a week, to see the grizzled mountain­ prising fact was that since the mur­ i She was making other sounds now— queer, whimpering sounds not greatly sue. She hnd whirled to answer Dan’s eer well on the way of convalescence. der hnd been committed immediately different from the bleat that the fawn cry just as the cougar left the ground. But It was an anxious wait, and Len­ before the fall rains, the water had utters when It dies. It was a fear­ But she hnd still been In range. The nox's car was kept constantly In readl- not completely washed them out. The I sound, and if there Is one emotion only effect was to lessen, In some de­ 1 ness to speed her away in case the only possibility remaining was that with which the wild beasts are ac­ gree, the accuracy of the spring. The ! snows should start At last she hnd Crnns'on had returned to the body qualnted, In all Its phases, It ts fear. bullet caught the beast In mid-air; I left him In Snowbird's hands, and Bill after the week's rainfall. The track She was afraid of him, then, and that but even if it hnd reached Its heart, : hnd driven her back to the settlements had be«‘n dimmed by the lighter rains meant he need no longer be In the the momentum of the attack wns too , in his father's cnr. The die was now that had fallen since. But yet it was entirely to be least afraid of her. Ills skin began to great to be completely overcome. cnst as to whether or not Dan nnd twitch all over with that terrible mad­ Snowbird only knew that some vast, the remainder of the family should pected that the examination of ness and passion of the flesh-hunters. resistless power had struck her, and winter In the mountain. The snow body would be an afterthought This game was like the deer, and that the darkness seemed to roar and 1 clouds deepened every day, the frost Cranston's part. Possibly at first I was ever heavier In the dawns, and only thought was to kill and, follow­ the tiling to do was He in wait. There explode about uSf. Hurled to her face In the trail, she the rond would surely remain open ing the prompting that has s«;nt so was only one trail. He wasn’t afraid many murderers to the gallows, he of losing her In the darkness, She did not see the cougar sprawl on the i only a few days more. was neither fleet like the deer nor earth beside her. The flame In the ' Once more the three seemingly had had afterward returned to the scene courageous like Woof the bear, He lantern almost flicked out ns It fell the Divide all to themselves. Bert of the crime to destroy any clues he had only to wult and leap from the from her hand, then flashed up nnd Cranston hnd evidently deserted his might have left and to search the down, from the deepest gloom to a cabin and was working a trap-line ou body for any evidence against the darkness when she passed. • ••**•• . vivid glare with something of the ef­ the Umpqua side. The rangers left arson ring. When Dan Falling, riding like mad fect of lightning flickering In the sky. ( the little station, nil danger of fire Dan's next thought was to follow over the mountain trail, heard the Nor did she hear the first frenzied pnst, and went down to their offices along the trail and find Cranston’s third shot from Snowbird's pistol, he thrashing of the wounded animal. In the federal bnlldlng of one of the ambush. Of course It would be In the felt that one of the debts he owed had Kindly unconsciousness hnd fallen, ob­ little cities below. Because he wns direction of the settlement from the come due at last, lie seemed to know, scuring this nnd also the sight of the worse fhnn useless In the deep snows body, as the bullet hnd entered from as the darkness pressed around hlin, great cat, In the agony of Its wound, thnt were sure to come, one of the the front. He found It hard to believe that be was to be tried In the Are. And creeping with broken shoulder nnd ranch hands that had driven up with that Illldrcth had fallen In the exact the horse staggered beneath him ns bared claws across the plnn needles Bill rode away to the valleys the last spot where the body lay. Men Jo«r- toward her defenseless body. he tried to hasten. of the live stock—the horse that Dan neyfng nt night keep to the trail, and But the terrible fangs were never hnd ridden to Snowbird's defense. He showed no mercy to his mount. the white heap Itself was fully forty Horse-flesh Isn't made for carrying a to know her white flesh. Some one I Nothing had been heard of Landy feet back from the trail In the thlck- heavy man over such a trail as this, had come between. Thera was no Hildreth, who used to live on the ets. Perhaps Cranston had dragged it and she was red-nostrlled nnd lath­ ehnnee to shoot: Whisperfoot and the trail to the marsh, nnd both Lennox 1 there to hide It from the sight of any­ ered before half a mile hud been cov­ girl were too near together for that. nnd his daughter wondered why. There one who might pass along the lonely ered. He mnde her leap up the rocks, But one course remained; nnd there were also certnln officials who had trail agnln; and ft was a remote pos­ and on fairly level stretches he loosed was not even time to count the cost. I begun to be curious. As yet, Dan sibility that Whfsperfoot, coming In the reins and Inshed her Into n gallop. In this most terrible moment of Dan had told no one of the grim find he the night, had tugged it Into the thick­ Only a mountain horse could have Falling's life, there was not even an hm! made on his return from hunting. ets for dreadful purposes of hfs own. stood thnt test. He gave no thought Instant's hesitation. He did not know And he would have found It an ex­ Likely the shot wns fired when Hil­ to his own safety. Ills courage was that Whisperfoot was wounded. He tremely difficult fact to explnfn. dreth was In an open place on the nt the tent, nnd no risk of his own saw the beast creeping forward In the It nil went back to those inner trail; and Dnn searched for the am­ life must Interfere with his attempt weird dancing light of the fallen Inn- springs of motive thnt few men can bush with this conclusion tn mind. He to save Snowbird from the danger tern, nnd he only knew that Ills flesh, see clearly enough within themselves walked back, looking for a thicket that threatened her. He didn't know not hers, must resist Ils rending tal­ to recognize. Evon the first dny, when from which such a spot would be vis­ when the horse would fall with him ons. Nothing else mattered. No oth­ he lay burning from his wounds, he ible. Something over fifty yards down and precipitate him down u precipice, er consideration could come between. work«*«] out his own explanation In re­ he found It; and he knew It. by the It wns the test; nnd Dan's Instincts gard to the murder mystery. He empty brass rifle cartridge that lay and he was perfectly aware thnt to crash into a low-hanging limb of one prompted coolly nnd well. He leaped hadn’t the slightest doubt but thnt half burled tn the wet leaves. of the grout trees beside the trail with all his strength. The cougar Cranston hnd killed Hildreth to pre­ The shell was of the same caliber would probably crush his skull. But bonndtsl Into his arms, not upon the vent his testimony from ranching the as Cranston’s rifle, Dan'» hand shook prone body of the girl. And she open- he took the chance. And before the conrts below. Of course, any other as he pat It in his pocket. ride was done he found himself plead­ ed her eyes to hear n curious thrash- member of the nrson ring of hillmen Encouraged by this amazing find, ing with the horse, even ns he lashed might have been the murderer; yet he turned up the trail toward H11- her sides with his whip. Dan wns Inclined to believe thnt Cran­ dreth’s cabin, It might he possible. The lesser forest creatures sprang ston, the lender of the gang, usually he thought, thnt Hildreth had left from his trail; and once the mare preferred to do such dangerous work some of bls testimony—perhaps such leaped high to miss a dark shadow as this himself. If It were tri»«.' some­ rudely s<-rawled letters ns Cranston that crossed In front. As she caught where on that tree-clad ridge clues had written him—In some forgotten her stride, Dan heard a squeal nnd a would bo left. Moreover, It wns wholly drawer In his hut. It wns but a short rattle of quills that identified the crea­ possible’ thnt the written testimony walk for Dan's hardened legs, and he ture as a porcupine. Hildreth must have gathered had nev­ mnde It before midafternoon. er Iwen found or destroyed. Dan By now he hud passed the first of The search Itwlf was wholly with­ didn't wnnt the al arson ring, his motives, stripped had to enlarge his search for such Bald. He knew how many bullets her and bare, were really not utllitarinn. documents as Hildreth had carried to pistol carried; am! the danger—what­ He hail no particular Interest in Hil­ Include nil the territory between the ever It urns—must bo just at hand. Un­ dreth's case. Ho remembered him sim­ trail nnd the location of the body. derbrush cracked beneath him. ply ns one of Cranston's disreputable then the hors«’ drew up with a It was possibly a distance of forty gang, a poacher and a tire bug him- feet, nnd getting down on hts hands thnt almost hurled him from self. When all Is said and dene. It and knees. Dnn looked for aay break die. remained really a personal Issue be- In the shrubbery that would indicate lie lashed at her In vain, tween Dnn and Cranston. And per- the path that the wounded Hildreth not afraid in the darkness »on a I Issues are frowned upon '.»y law hnd taken. And it wns ten minutes rocks of the trail, but some Terror In nnd society. Civilization has tolled well rewarded, ns far ns clearing up the woods In front had In nn Instant up frora the darkness In a great meas­ certain details of the ertme. nis broken hla control over her. Sb«' ure to get nwny from them. But hu­ senses had be«>n trained and sharp­ reared, snorting; then danced In nn man nature remains distressingly the ened by Ms months tn the wilderness, Impotent circle. Meanwhile, precious A Strange, Grim Battle, same, and I »an’» desire ’o pay bls debt and he was able to back-track the Bcconds were fleeing. He understood now. The horse Ing In the pine needle», a strange grin, was a distinctly human emotion. Some­ wounded man from the skeleton clear stood still, shivering beneath him, but battle that, as the lantern ttash