The Man of the Forest

e gazed into Bo's whitening face. She read her sister's mind.

"You don't suppose any man can know all this

ost when I was

ke," replied Roy, contritely. "Don't feel bad, now. All I nee

ng to the ridge they had ascended, until once more he came out upon a promontory. Old Baldy loomed

y, as he wheeled his horse. "We'll

est changed. The trees were no longer pines, but firs and spruce, growing thin and exceedingly tall, w

without a fallen tree. The horses, laboring slowly, sometimes sank knee-deep into the brown du

mmed together in dozens, showed the savagery of the storms. Wherever a single monarch lay uprooted there had sprung up a number of ambitious sons, jealous of one another, fighting for place. Even the trees

ive for Helen to put all her attention on the ground and trees in her immediate vicinity. So the pleasure of

der the trees. She was reeling in her saddle, half blind and s

w spruce, like evergreen, which descended sharply to another level, where dark, shallow streams flowed gently and the solemn stillness held

Roy. "By Solomon! if Mil

ding up to craggy rims all gold and red in the last flare of the sun; then all the spir

re, under lofty trees, shone a camp-fire. Huge gray rocks loomed beyond, and then cliffs rose step by step to a notch in the mountain wall, over wh

all form

, as with a comprehensive fla

ot lost,"

ried to get her foot out of the stirrups, and then she slid from the saddle into Dale's arms. He placed her on her feet and, supporting her, sa

o walk. The fact that the voluble Bo had nothing to say was sig

m a crack in the solid rock. The campfire blazed under a pine, and the blue column of smoke rose just in front of the shelving rock. Packs were lying on the grass and some of them wer

had read Helen's mind. "To-morrow we'll fix

lankets and saddles could make them

his-a dream?"

replied Helen. "Now that we're here-wi

Bo. "I'd just as lief Uncle

n. Think what the w

nows Dale he won'

s Uncle Al d

at make?... Oh, I don't know w

to-night," sai

swiftly. The silence was beautiful, seemingly undisturbed by the soft, silky, dreamy fall of water. Helen closed her eyes, ready for sleep, with the physical commotion within her body gradually yielding. In some places her bones felt as if t

w murmur of the waterfall, and then the sound or feeling of some one at the campfir

mp. Helen threw down the blankets, and then, gathering courage-for she felt as if her back was broken-she endeavored to sit up. In vain! Her spirit was willing, but her muscles refused to act. It must tak

have to-get up?" s

?" queri

horoughly awake and lay th

-get

got one arm and shoulder up, only to flop back like a crippled thing.

a Western girl you'd better

upon her face, she raised herself on her hands and turned to a sitting pos

l little green tent or shack had been erected out of spruce boughs. It had a slanting roof that sloped all the way from a ridge-pole to the ground; half of the opening in fr

n't there last ni

Lean-to? Where'd y

ut it up for us.... Sure, I see our bag

from the spring flowed beside it and spilled its clear water over a stone, to fall into a little pool. The floor of this woodland habitation consisted of tips of spruce boughs to about a foot in depth, all laid one way, smooth and springy, and so sweetly odorous t

en simultaneously with Bo's cry of delight Helen saw a beaut

was the hunter's greeting. "I

ternoon? We're just able t

stoutly. "Oh, Nell, look at

erect, and then with a graceful little trot came up to Bo and reached a slim nose for her outstretched hand. All about it, except the beautiful soft eyes, seeme

htened it?

k. There, twenty feet from the ground, curled up on a ledg

"Recognizes him as a hereditary foe,

lion!" exclaimed Bo. "Ugh!

e?" queried Helen, gazing fas

' goes," replied Dale. "But I

ly free-right over us-whi

on you slept the

e doesn't look like a lion-an African lion. He'

m is not only long, but thick an' round. I've had him four ye

tame-safe?" asked

ale. "You can absolutely believe it. A wild cougar wouldn't attac

e face, with its sleepy, half-shu

him down?" i

did not fi

d to him-at a distance," repl

ad an' you'll see how tame he is," s

elen, aware of his penetr

am," vouc

'll eat. My camp is round bet

she saw he wore a lighter, cleaner suit of buckskin, with no coat, and instead of the high-h

you think, but I call h

o idea what

walk some,"

og some few rods from their camp. This point was close to th

exclaimed Bo, with

iful!" bre

trees in moonlight, bordered the park, sending out here and there an isolated tree, sharp as a spear, with under-branches close to the ground. Long golden-green grass, resembling half-ripe wheat, covered the entire floor of the park, gently waving to the wind. Above sheered the black, gold-patched slopes, steep and unsc

ated the spirit of the place, dreamy and sleepy and tranquil; it murmured sweetly on one breath of wind

k!" whispered

ions of caverned cliffs, split off in bygone ages from the mountain wall above. A few stately pines stood out from the rocks, and a clump of silver spruce ran down to a brown brook. This camp was only a step from the lean-to, round the corner of a huge rock, yet it had been out of sight. Here indeed was evidence of a hun

hing. A bear cub scampered away in haste. He was small and

near starved in my absence. An' now he wants everythin',

ve him!" cried Bo. "Come

s distance, watching Dale

r. Roy?" a

gets down in the pines on Anson's trail. He'll hang to Anson, an'

ect?" questioned

ts up with Anson, well an' good, for Roy won't be far off. An' sure if he runs across Roy, why they'll soon be here. B

ed that it must be privation and annoyance for her to be compelled to accept hi

rcing. He seemed to be receiving a strange or unusual portent. No

startled at this deduction. "You're safe here. No sheep-thief could ever find this camp. I'll take risks to get you safe i

!" exclaimed Bo. "I've c

med it an' also the creek. Paradise Creek! I've been here tw

me!" returned Bo,

. "An' I reckon you'

tatoes as white as if prepared at home, stewed dried apples, and butter and coffee. This bounteous repast surprised and de

she tried to get her breath. There was a brown spot on her

him, for his laugh seemed unused and d

at with us?"

, "it'll save time, an'

ence ensued, which prese

come

ny, with spots of whitish gray. He had bow-legs, big and round and furry, and a huge head with great tawny eyes. No matter how tame he was sai

took it, not viciously, but nevertheless with a snap that made Helen jump. As if by magic the turke

le my t

ply. The cougar glided round rather

on his paws, with his beautiful tawny eyes

g out a piece of turkey. Whereu

is transaction, and he plainly indicated h

Bo. "He means it's not f

anifestation of delight. Bo almost forgot her own needs in feeding him and getting acquainted wit

t-that a full-grown mountain lion lay on one side of her and a baby brown bear sat on the other-that a strange hunter, a man of the

him. Helen, watching Bo play, was inclined to envy her. No matter where Bo was placed, she always got something out of it. She adapted herself.

ng for her, and her mind needed food. Helen was a thinker. One reason she had desired to make her home in the West was that by taking up a life of the open, of action, she might think and dream and b

she asked Bo, a

d Bo. "You walk like an old, cr

ody of bees. Helen made a pillow and lay down to rest. The green pine-needles, so thin and fine in their crisscross network, showed clearly against the blue sky. She looked in vain for birds. Then her gaze went wonderingly to the lofty fringed rim of the great amphitheater, and

Bo curled beside her. Dale had thoughtfully covered them with a blan

nd made comfortable seats beside the fire

he time," he said. "An' bein' c

e idea of her being lonesome

ion, before the blaze. "It's natural you'd find time drag up here, bei

here," replied Helen,

but he showed that his mistake

oesn't seem long since I left home-most of them would die of lonesomeness up here." Then he addressed himself t

nesome very soo

girls as company before. An' in a day or so, w

flashing interest, and

doubtful or ironic challenge of an educated woman t

givin' you rides an' climbs to beautiful places. An' then, if you're inter

ng, hunter or wanderer or hermit, he was no

to learn from

"You can't tell too much

be something of the very nature of which he spoke-a stillness, aloofness, an unbreakable tranquillity, a cold, clear spirit

you more 'n you'll ev

you bet?"

methin' nice when you're safe an' home

Nell, y

odded h

ther an' depend on one another, an' protect the forest from storm-winds. An' how they hold the water that is the fountains of the great rivers. An' how the creatures an' things that live in them or on them are good for them, an' neither could live without the other. An' then I'll show you my pets tame an' untamed, an' tell you how it's man that makes any creature wild-how easy they are to tame-an' how they learn to love you. An' there's the life of the forest, the strife of it-how the bear lives, an' the cats, an' the wolves, an' the deer. You'll see how cruel nature is how savage an' wild the wolf or cougar tears down the deer-how a wolf loves fresh, hot blood, an' how a cougar unrolls the skin of a d

igion?" interrupte

it's to live-to grow-to re

the immortality of the

to God an' immortalit

ld rob me of

in self-defense or like I'd do if Snake Anson would ride up here now. My religion, maybe, is love of life-wild life as it was in the beginnin'-an' the wind that blows secrets from everywhere, an' the water that sings all day an' night, an' the stars that shine constant, an' the trees that speak somehow, an' the rocks that aren't dead. I'm never alone here or on the trails. There's somethin' unseen, but always with me. An' that's It! Call it God if you like. But what stalls me is-where was that Spirit when this earth was a ball of fiery gas?

t it's terrible!" exclaimed Helen.

reckon," he r

little inter

," declared Bo, with earne

't get much chance to talk, except to myself or Tom. Years ago, when I found the habi

you all night," ret

have books?" inqui

ill I was fifteen. Always hated study, but liked to read. Years ago an old friend of mine down here at

ale bade the girls good night and left them. Helen watched his tall form vani

. "I've called you three t

len, half embarrassed, half wonderi

"Wish you could just have seen your eyes.

er feebly. She did not at a

h that wild hunter," declared Bo

t her breath preparatory to giving this incorrigi

el it in

torted Helen. "All you seem to hold in your head is some rot about love. T

fectionate, and laughing as she b

ust it. There I