Chapter III: Part 3

She sprang at the enraged lion with uplifted hoofs lashing and flailing. Mother instinct had completely banished her fear of the yellow killer. The cougar reared back and lashed at her but he did not stand his ground. Before her hoofs could smash down on him he leaped back, spitting and snarling. Lady Ebony did not stop her charge. Her slender legs pumped madly. The cougar was knocked off his feet and sent sprawling in the grass. He rolled over, righted himself, then fled before the pounding hoofs of the infuriated mare. Reaching the cottonwood timber he bounded up a tree and lay licking his bruises and spitting angrily.

Lady Ebony charged back to Midnight and shoved him up across the meadow. The cougar leaped down from the tree. Circling, he followed the pair, limping. Blood stained the weeds and tall grass along his trail.

Lady Ebony headed out of the meadow and up a deer trail. She kept moving, forcing Midnight to stay close to her side. The white starlight dimly outlined rocks and trees. They came to an open meadow but she did not halt. Midnight forgot the fear that had very nearly paralyzed him. He wanted to stop and rest. In the center of the meadow his mother halted and let him drink. As he eagerly fed she kept testing the night air, stamping her feet nervously and looking back down the trail. When Midnight had finished his lunch she moved on toward the high, dim hills looming above the canyon.

The cougar followed the trail of the horses for a while, but his smashed shoulder was giving him much pain, and he finally climbed on a ledge where he stretched his tawny length on a rocky bed and fell to licking the gash. Had he escaped unhurt he would have circled above the mare and her colt until he found a ledge from which he could attack again.

Lady Ebony kept moving throughout the night. The gray dawn found her going steadily upward. Just before noon they entered the oak belt at the base of the Crazy Kill Range. There she found a stream and an open meadow. Midnight insisted upon lying down to rest. No amount of coaxing would rouse him. He lay stretched out in the sun and closed his eyes. Lady Ebony was hungry. She began feeding close to where he slept. By the time he had finished his sleep she was grazing peacefully.

Mother and son spent long, sunny days in the meadow surrounded by oak brush. Lady Ebony seldom thought of the high mountain meadows. She had no desire to go anywhere at all. Midnight was beginning to feel that he was a grown horse. He danced and kicked and raced around. He even tried to make his mother do what he thought she should do. When she calmly ignored him and went on feeding he would lay back his ears and bare his teeth, nipping at her until she humped her back and threatened to lash out at him.

Many enemies passed the meadow and several paused to look at the fat colt and his mother. Two old lobos halted and calmly watched the colt at play. Coyotes trotted through the meadow in pairs or singly. An old bear shambled out of the oak brush and charged after a ground squirrel. He passed close to the frightened mother and her son but paid no attention to them. The killers were finding life easy. The hills abounded with grouse and rabbits as well as every species of squirrel. There were many mule deer, too. Old does watched over playful fawns growing strong and independent. The killers need not face the lashing feet of an infuriated mother horse to kill all they could eat. So they looked and went their way.

Midnight tried to make friends with the does. They were not afraid of him but they were not friendly. They stared at him out of calm eyes when he came near them, and they snorted and trotted at him when he tried to run with their fawns.

One evening Midnight saw a deer feeding at the edge of a clearing. He trotted over to the big-eared one in a friendly manner. But this one was different from the does. He had long, branching antlers and snorted aggressively when he halted and whinnied eagerly. Midnight stood staring at the strange deer with branches on his head. The buck snorted again. His horns were beginning to harden and the velvet was dropping away from their sharp spikes. With the hardening process his shoulders had begun to swell and his temper was becoming uncertain.

Midnight moved a little closer. He humped his back and kicked up his heels. The buck grunted angrily, then snorted. With a shake of his head he lowered his sweeping antlers and trotted toward the colt. Midnight circled and the buck circled. Midnight whirled and raced away. This fellow wanted to play. He’d give him a run around the meadow.

The buck jerked up his head and shook it. He had routed the enemy and was satisfied. He began feeding again, cropping the weeds and shoots, champing steadily. Midnight circled and galloped back to the old buck. This time the big fellow charged. The colt realized that the antlered deer wanted to fight and not play. Kicking his heels high he fled to his mother’s side.

Lady Ebony ran toward the buck and the big fellow bounded into the timber. Midnight felt he had won a great victory. He celebrated by charging around the meadow at a terrific pace. Lady Ebony watched him as he ran.

But a day came when the mare felt an urge to move on. Summer had slipped away and fall had brought frost and sharp winds from the peaks above. The high, barren reaches above timber line were white with new snow. Lady Ebony remembered the roundup when riders came to the high mesa and drove the horses down to the feed grounds in the valley. She moved about restlessly and finally struck off up the slope. Winter was coming and she was ready to go down the long trail to the home ranch. Her brief training with the wild band was forgotten, she was again a willing captive of man’s way.

* * * * *

With the passing of summer Sam grew more listless and weary. He hated to take his daily walk in the padded yard behind the high walls which shut out the sight of his mountains. He preferred to sit in his cell and stare at the changing cottonwood branch. He had chalked another fall on his cell wall, but he thought about it for a week before he put the mark down. He was tired but he’d get over that once he was back on his mountain mesa where he could sit in the sun and watch his neighbors.

7. The Way of the High Country

There were many inviting meadows along the trail which led up to the high mesa. The aspen groves were inviting in the daytime, the rugged hillsides were rich with herbs and frost-ripened grass. Lady Ebony and Midnight did not hurry. Indian summer filled the valleys below with purple haze and the air was warm and smoky. They passed through a wild, rough country, across a high ridge by way of a deep saddle, then they dropped down to the mesa where Lady Ebony was born and where she had spent all her summers except one.

Below the mesa the aspen belt flamed in garments of brilliant yellow. The rustling leaves would cling to the branches for a few more days. The first gale sweeping down from the snow peaks would loosen them and send them sailing to their beds along the slope. The oak belt, below the aspens, was red and purple like the upholstery of a piece of expensive furniture in its design and blending of color. Fall was flaunting its brightest colors for a few short days. Lady Ebony stood on the edge of the meadow and looked across the brown grass to Sam’s cabin, silent and deserted. She nickered softly and trotted toward the weathered cabin. Halting before the closed door, she pawed the ground and whinnied louder. There was no answer. Old Sam did not come shuffling out to give her lump sugar.

The old yellowbelly sentinel chuckled from his perch on the high rock. He did not seem to understand that the black mare had been away. He did not shrill his warning whistle or jump down from his high perch. The calico chips dashed about in frantic haste, their cheeks pouched out with seeds and dry bits of roots. They realized that there was but a short time in which to complete their work of filling caches of food. The fat-bellied rockchips sat and stared into the blue-and-purple haze. They intended to do a little more work but the sun was warm and they were fat and lazy.

A saucy chipmunk jumped to the top of a weed and sat there, swaying back and forth. His high-pitched “chock, chock, chock” rang across the meadow. Instantly every member of his tribe mounted a sing perch and their chorus rang out. The song pitched higher and shifted to “check, check, check, chir-r-r-up.”

At the far end of the meadow the dog town burst into excited barking and saucy “squit-tuck’s.” Lady Ebony tossed her head. This was home and her welcome back was what it should be except for the closed door of the old cabin. Midnight bounded around, kicking his heels high and bucking. Lady Ebony walked around the cabin and sniffed eagerly. Her nose told her something was wrong. The familiar smells were dim and cold, the taint of Sam’s rank pipe, the pungent smell of the man himself, a smell so definite and different from that of the dwellers of the wild. Midnight raced about. He was not greatly interested in the cabin, though he had never seen or smelled anything like it before. He wanted to play, so he galloped away across the meadow, dry clods flying from his pounding hoofs.

Lady Ebony settled down to wait. She expected Sam with his lumps of sugar and she expected Tex and the boys from the ranch. These thoughts were rather vague, but they were strong enough to keep her in the meadow and to overcome her uneasiness as her nose warned her of coming storms. A week of Indian summer passed with warm hazy days and snapping cold nights. Both Lady Ebony and Midnight had grown thick, warm coats and the nights did not bother them. Frost carpeted the meadow with white jewels every night, and every day the sun melted the frost. Sam did not come and Tex did not come galloping out of the timber at the head of his roundup crew. The crew had finished its work in the high country the week before Lady Ebony’s arrival, and had left the brown grass and the everlasting green spruce to the blizzards and the deep snows. The horses and the white-faced cattle were all accounted for.

One afternoon a change came in the weather. The air had been snapping cold for days with the sun’s rays softening it but little. It became softer and warmer. Gray clouds raced over the timbered slopes, rolling low, touching the tops of the highest spruce. The gray wall swept down over the spruce and over the meadow. Snow began falling, big, soft flakes that sailed down like loosened leaves. The snow settled through a deep silence which filled the woods and lay heavy on the meadow. The chickaree squirrels in the tall spruce worked frantically, cutting cones from the branches, dropping them to the ground with steady, thumping sounds. They chattered and scolded as they worked. The old yellowbelly left his perch and romped to his den under the castle rock. The calico chips and the chipmunks and the fat-bellied brownies retired for the long night which was to last until spring came. The mesa was deserted, leaving only Lady Ebony, Midnight, and the big flakes of snow.

The wind rose and came roaring down. The great spruces swayed and moaned as the wind rushed through their branches and tore at their needles. The big flakes were powdered to fine dust and eddied in and out among the brown grass stems. The aspen leaves danced and swirled as they floated from the white branches. In less than an hour the uplifted arms of the silver trees were naked. But where each leaf had loosened its hold a brown bud peeped down, wrapped up in a warm little muffler and hood. The round leaves whirled along the ground and piled deep on the lee side of big trunks and in deep hollows on the slope. Under the bed of leaves the columbine and the paint weed and the lupine felt safer and warmer.

Lady Ebony led Midnight to the lee of the cabin where they stood with heads down, backs to the sifting snow. All afternoon the white wall pressed close around them. Darkness came early, a black, solid darkness which blotted out every object, even the cabin wall close to their noses. In the morning the blizzard was still raging furiously. The snow was deep on the meadow, as deep as the knees of the black colt.

Lady Ebony fought her way out to the edge of the mesa and began pawing for grass. Midnight went with her and helped. They dug down and found a mat of rich, cured grass. With their tails to the lashing wind they fed. When they had eaten their fill they returned to the lee side of the cabin and Midnight had a scant but warm meal. Then he lay down. The snow melted around his body and froze into ice at the edges of the curves.

For three days the storm raged. When it cleared and the last of the gray clouds scurried away over the tops of the green spruce on the wings of the dying wind three feet of snow lay on the level mesa and four or five feet in the hollows and drifts. In places the wind had swept the dry snow away from the grass and feeding was easy for the horses. But snapping, biting cold followed the storm, making their breath plume out in wreaths of white fog and causing icicles to form on their nose hair and chins. Their faces were covered with white frost from their breathing.

Midnight showed keen interest in this new world. It was a white world, a silent world of snow and green spruce. The biting cold made him plunge through the deep drifts and snort eagerly. One other dweller of the high country, who could not sleep through the cold months, came to the meadow. An old timber-line buck had chosen to stay in the high mesa country defying the cold and the snow. The does and the fawns and the spike bucks had drifted downcountry before the storm. The two-points had gone with them and most of the four-points. The timber-line monarch stayed because he was wary and shunned the ranch-dotted valleys below the storm belt. He preferred the savage cold and the stalking killers to the rifles and dogs of the men who lived in the low country.

He dug down into the snow seeking herbs and twigs. He did not care for the dry, rich grass, and he watched the mare and her colt without interest, staring at them, then shaking his heavy antlers and returning to his feeding. The old fellow knew the dangers he faced, he had met them before and expected to meet them again.

The clear, cold weather held for a week. The days were sparkling and crisp, the nights blue and bitterly cold, with white stars reflecting their countless points of light upon the gleaming snow fields. In the aspen groves trees snapped and popped as the frost sought their hearts. Lady Ebony left the lee of the cabin and found a sheltered spot beside one of the big castle rocks at a point near the edge of the deep canyon. A narrow ledge trail led up to the shelter and an outthrust layer of rock furnished a roof so that the earth under the shelter was free from snow. A shoulder of the wall shut off the wind, making the retreat really a barn.

A crevice in the roof of the shelter harbored a nest of pack rats. Sticks, pine cones, bright rocks, and other things dear to the heart of a trade rat had been crammed into the crevice until they spilled out on the floor. The whole cave was tainted with rat smell, pungent and musty.

The black robes of the mare and her colt grew shaggy and thick, as the bitter cold deepened. Lady Ebony and Midnight were forced to seek grass at the upper end of the meadow below the cabin because the wind struck that part of the mesa, clearing the snow away. Every morning they plunged through deep drifts to reach the wind-swept portion of the meadow, returning again at night to their shelter.

The week of clear weather was broken late one afternoon. Clouds began to cluster around the high spires of the Crazy Kills. They crept into high craters and wound around the tall, granite cathedrals on top of the world like great cats stalking their prey. Above they were silvery white and gleamed like jeweled blankets, below they were dark gray and, in spots, black.

A feeble sun shone on the mesa, and two yellow sun-dogs blazoned forth on either side of it like sentinels. The air was still and the silence deep. Slowly the temperature rose and Midnight sniffed eagerly and plunged about in the snow. He was disturbed but did not know why. Lady Ebony jerked up her head and tested the air. She knew another storm was coming. Then the clouds rolled down over the spruce, blotting out the shining mountain peaks, the big soft flakes came and later the lashing wind. Another blizzard gripped the high mesa. With the wind came cutting cold that stabbed through even the thick coats of the horses. Lady Ebony headed across the meadow toward their shelter.

For many days the blizzard raged and roared and the snow fell. When the storm cleared, the snow was deeper than it had been in many winters. It piled in great, hundred-foot drifts along the comb ridges, in lips which thrust themselves out over the spruce below. Slides roared into the canyons as those lips broke and shot down the steep slopes. The white terrors mowed swaths through the spruce and tore great boulders from their beds, grinding them to dingy gray rivers of twisting, roaring debris which cascaded into the creek bottoms and slid up the far slopes. The thunder of the slides shook the mesa and the ridges, starting new rivers of snow.

When the white death roared, Midnight always crowded close to his mother’s side and stared up at the ridges trying to see the monster that could roar louder than any animal he had ever heard. Lady Ebony was disturbed but she nickered reassuringly to her son and did not lead a charge through the deep snow.

Digging for food was a job which required all the short day. The upper end of the meadow still offered the best feed ground, though the snow lay three feet deep on that part of it. The timber-line buck came down from a bed in the rocks and fed close to the horses. He ate much grass now because he could not scoop the snow away so easily as the horses did. And he browsed on willow growing along the stream, but such feeding meant fighting snow six feet deep. Sometimes he followed the horses and ate the weeds they uncovered and left untouched.

Lady Ebony and Midnight came to expect the timber-line buck to join them in their battle for food. The three fed close together in comradeship. Theirs was a common fight against a common enemy. The buck no longer charged at Midnight when the little horse walked up to him. And Lady Ebony no longer whinnied warningly when her son approached the antlered monarch.

Life was hard for the three on the mesa, but not as hard as it was for the killers who roamed the silent forests. The gray wolves and the cougars hunted daily, their sides gaunt. The snowy owls beat along the edges of the timber, their glassy eyes staring down savagely. But there was little food. The snow had not crusted and the gray wolves and the cougars could not overtake the hardy mule deer remaining in the mountains. They wallowed and floundered while the deer and the elk bounded up and clear of the clinging drifts. Night and day the killers hunted with savage intensity, their yellow eyes flaming with savage hunger. When one of a wolf pack was wounded or crippled, the pack turned on him and devoured him as they would any lesser prey.

A day came when the weather moderated, the sun shone, and the snow softened and settled. A warm wind blew from the valleys below. The wind melted the top snow to a depth of several inches. That night the cold returned, the trees popped, and the air was still and brittle. Frost crystals coated the willows along the stream and made brilliant jewelry of every branch and twig rising above the snow. The trees looked like rock candy. The slushy snow froze into ice and the world was coated with a hard armor. And now the gaunt killers could race swiftly over the surface while deer and elk broke through. The killers slaughtered savagely, gorging themselves on fresh meat until they could not run. The coyotes and the owls fed at the tables of the great ones after the hunters had passed on to fresh kills.

Lady Ebony and Midnight found the battle to reach the cured grass under the snow much more difficult, now that the ice had come. They were forced to feed later into the night in order to fill their bellies. They pawed and smashed at the thick armor covering the drifts. A full moon shone down, its white light flashing back from the glistening ice. The air was snapping cold as night settled, but Lady Ebony delayed returning to their shelter. They had not fed well that day. She was pawing down the crust, then scooping away the loose snow. The old timber-line buck followed close behind the two horses. He was gaunt and lank. His slender hoofs made poor weapons against the ice.

The air was still with the stillness of a dead world. Suddenly Lady Ebony jerked up her head. From the ridge above the mesa came the cry of an old lobo wolf and his bachelor pack. They were racing down from the high barrens seeking prey. The old lobo had not led his sons into the lower country. He was wise and cunning and had kept his pack high above the ranches with their poison sets, their traps, and their guns. He preferred the savage struggle of the snow-locked high country to the sure death lurking in the open valleys. He had ranged above the belt where the deer and the elk wintered and had not led his sons to a kill in more than a week. The slaughter going on lower down the slope had not been shared by these gaunt killers.

Lady Ebony listened intently. The pack was running down the ridge above the mesa. She shook her head restlessly and looked across the meadow toward the castle rocks. Turning she took a few steps toward the lower end of the meadow. The timber-line buck grunted protestingly as he floundered out of her way. Midnight kept on digging in the snow. He was still hungry. The snarling of the pack sounded farther down the ridge and Lady Ebony turned back to where Midnight was pawing. The howling rose in savage crescendo. The pack had swerved and was heading toward the meadow.

The timber-line buck did not wait to listen. He began floundering and plunging across the open toward the woods where he knew the warm sun had not softened the snow so that it crusted. Here he could double and bound; his speed would save him from the gray ones.

Lady Ebony snorted and whirled. She took one long leap, then halted and looked back, nickering loudly, warningly. Midnight stood looking at her. He was chewing a mouthful of grass he had pulled from under the snow. He swallowed the grass and thrust his head back into the hole. He had found a good mat of grass and meant to finish it. The howling pack did not disturb him greatly. He had never been attacked by wolves. All the wolves he had met had loped away when he ran toward them.

Lady Ebony leaped back to his side and crowded against him. She whinnied excitedly and pawed the snow, then whirled and leaped a few yards toward the rocky point. Midnight pulled up a tasty mouthful of grass and munched at it, then dived down for more. Lady Ebony was frantic. She plunged at him and nipped his rump sharply.

Midnight’s hips jerked and he lashed out with his hoofs, striking his mother a smashing blow. She had never bitten him so severely before and his temper flared. Lady Ebony charged at him again. She had to make him follow her.

Up in the spruce the old lobo heard her whinny and the tone of his howls changed from hungry yelping to savage eagerness. Instantly his sons, leaping at his side, took up the cry. After many days of stark hunger the old one had led them to a kill.

The gray killers burst out of the darkness under the spruce, running madly, their fangs gleaming, their red tongues lolling. They flashed into the gleaming moonlight like shadows. Midnight jerked up his head. He saw the glowing, yellow eyes of the killers, the white fangs, and the red tongues as the wolves leaped across the crusted snow. Fear gripped him, and with a wild squeal of fright he plunged away, breaking through the crust, floundering, stumbling.

Lady Ebony did not rush after him. She knew they could not both escape the swift shadows so close upon them. With a toss of her flowing mane she plunged toward the pack. After charging a few yards she halted and her front hoofs rose. A defiant, screaming cry came from her chest. The wolves leaped in on her, dodging her flailing hoofs, their fangs reaching from every side. The old lobo leaped straight at her throat while his sons swarmed around her. One smashing hoof struck the lobo and sent him spinning across the glare of ice. But as she hurled the old one from her, two young wolves ripped her flanks while another tore a gash in her shoulder. They leaped and lashed and ripped, springing in, darting away.

Lady Ebony could not run and the deep snow kept her from pivoting to meet the rear attack. She was doomed and she knew it, but she did not try to plunge away. Her son was floundering to the safety of the ledge and she had to hold the pack where they were until he reached the castle rocks.

The old lobo scrambled to his feet. Lady Ebony’s flank was turned to him. He leaped and his fangs sank deep, driving toward the tendons of her leg. He did not waver and spring away. He struck with savage recklessness. His sharp fangs severed the tendons and Lady Ebony went down. Instantly the whole pack swarmed over her, tearing at her sleek coat.

Midnight plunged on across the meadow. The pack was so busy tearing at the black mare that they did not follow him. He reached the ledge trail and plunged up to a shelf where there was room for him to whirl about. He stood staring out across the meadow, listening to the snarling of the pack as they fed on the carcass lying in the snow. He was still standing there when the pack turned away from the bloody bones of his mother and began looking for him.

They picked up his trail and raced across the gleaming snow. He watched them come, and courage, the courage of a cornered animal, plus the wild and savage fighting heart given him by the chestnut stallion came to him. He shrilled a challenge and reared up on his hind feet, his little ears laid back, his teeth bared.

The old lobo was the first to leap up the ledge trail. He lunged at the black colt. Midnight’s lashing hoofs met him and sent him tumbling back upon his leaping sons. The bachelors swept past their father and closed in. They were not so hungry but the blood lust ran hot within them. They wanted to kill again and their easy victory over the mare made them feel certain of their victim.

One of the youngsters leaped at Midnight’s throat. Two lashing hoofs met the gray body in mid-air. The killer screamed with rage and pain as his body writhed on the snow. He slid down toward the canyon rim and over the edge, hurtling into the shadowy depths below. Another youngster leaped and was smashed back.

The pack backed away from the flailing hoofs. Their bellies were gorged with meat and much of their savageness had left them. There was no way to surround the colt or to leap at his flanks. They sat down on the snow and glared at him, their yellow eyes flaming eagerly, their red tongues dripping as they extended above white fangs. The old lobo licked his wounds and growled deep in his chest.

Midnight waited, poised. But they did not attack again. One killer lay dead at the base of the canyon wall, while another crawled around on the snow, snarling and whimpering, his ribs caved in by the hoofs of the little stallion. Presently the old lobo got to his feet. He made a feint toward Midnight, but when the pounding hoofs lifted menacingly he turned and trotted away with his pack close behind him. They paid no attention to the wounded wolf.

Out on the meadow Midnight heard them pause at the carcass of his mother and begin feeding again. He stood for a long time listening, nickering softly, calling to his mother, trying to tell her that he had beaten the pack. There was no answer except the pack’s snarling and the yelp of a coyote that had smelled the fresh blood and come to the edge of the woods to wait until the gray ones were done with their banquet.

Midnight stood guard until the pack finished worrying the bones in the meadow. After they had loped away into the timber he turned back to the shelter and stood waiting for his mother.

8. The Strong Survive

When the little black stallion came out of his shelter the morning after the wolf raid the sun was shining on the glare of ice which covered the meadow. The old timber-line buck was plunging toward the feed ground. Midnight whinnied eagerly for his mother and shook his head impatiently. He was hungry and wanted her badly. When he got no answer he moved down the ledge trail. At the spot where the wolves had attacked him he halted and sniffed the snow, blowing loudly, pawing the ground angrily.

He moved out across the meadow. The old buck lifted his head from a hole in the snow and stared at him. Midnight whinnied again. He was glad to see the buck calmly feeding. It drove away some of the fear that he felt because he could not see his mother. The buck dropped his head to feed. Midnight walked to the place where the snow was spattered with blood. He sniffed and shied back. Standing with legs apart and head bent forward, he looked at the frost-coated pile of bones lying in the trampled snow. Breaking a trail around the spot he moved close to the monarch and began breaking the crusted snow. The buck let him feed close to his side but when the little horse would have shouldered against him he jerked up his head and snorted. He shook his bony lances threateningly and Midnight backed away.

Midnight set to work pawing, breaking the crust and scooping the loose snow aside. He worked steadily all through the day, pausing at intervals to call for his mother. Two lean coyotes came out of the spruce and slipped across the meadow. A little fox thrust his sleek head out of a thicket which had been swept clear of snow. He wrinkled his nose as he crept forward. His furry, red brush waved back and fourth. Hunger had driven the three hunters into the open in the white light of day, hunger and the smell of fresh meat. The coyotes poked among the bones gnawing and snarling. The little fox sat down to watch and to wait. He was sure there would be a few bits of gristle left for him.

Midnight snorted and shook his head at the coyotes. He pawed into the drift savagely, then rushed at the coyotes as far as his trail went. The coyotes leaped back from the carcass and faced him snarling and snapping. Midnight stared at them for a long time, then turned and went back to his feeding. He was learning the lessons of the wild.

A lynx cat with tufted ears and big furry pads on his feet thrust his head from behind a drift. He, too, had forsaken the twilight of the spruce country, which was his natural home. He blinked his eyes before the glare of the sun and stared at the pair of coyotes and the little fox. His nose twitched hungrily. He seldom ventured far from the green dusk of the forest but he had eaten only one small morsel in two days, a field mouse dug from the roots of a dead aspen tree. His green eyes fixed on the little fox and he shifted his padded feet nervously. He had feasted on fox before and the stringy meat was to his liking.

At the same moment the fox’s sharp eyes and pointed nose discovered the lynx cat. Turning, the sly one raced over the crust toward his burrow in the thicket. The lynx cat bounded over the snow, cutting across to head the fox away from his hole. The little fox ran swiftly but he had a greater distance to go. The cat closed in swiftly and the fox whirled to face him. The lynx arched his back and circled slowly around his intended victim. He knew the fox had deadly fangs and that he would use them. The sly one was shy and timid but he could fight when cornered. The air was filled with the yowling and spitting of the lynx and the snarling of the fox. Both coyotes sat up and watched. Midnight and the big buck jerked up their heads and stared at the battlers. The old buck sniffed the cat scent and made off along his trail to the timber. Midnight stood still. He was afraid but did not know what to do.

The big lynx cat circled a second time. He was cautious even though he was desperately hungry. With a lightning movement he leaped at the fox, who was crouched down with his chest on the snow. The fox leaped to meet him and slashed at him savagely. A big tuft of hair from the cat’s neck scruff sailed high and floated to the snow. The cat backed away spitting, his big feet planted wide apart.

When the lynx leaped back the little fox whirled and raced for the timber. He had tricked the cat and his red tongue lolled out over his white teeth very much as though he was laughing at his clumsy antagonist.

The lynx bounded after him and the fox whirled again. Again the fox made a stand and the dweller of the spruce twilight circled around him. Again the lynx leaped and was met by the lashing fangs of the slim hunter of mice. The cat leaped back and red drops of blood dotted the snow. Both times his lashing paws had missed the dodging, weaving fox. The fox whirled and ran, this time almost to his thicket. The lynx bounded upon him and he whirled, his brush sweeping across the glistening snow.

The lynx did not strike again. If the snow had been soft and loose he would have been the victor and would have feasted upon the carcass of the tough little fox, because his snowshoe feet would have carried him over the surface while the fox floundered. The hard crust which spelled death for the elk and the deer gave the little fox a surer chance to live. Slowly the fox backed to his den under the bushes. He halted in the opening and crouched there, his muzzle resting on his forepaws, his little eyes flaming.

The lynx cat arched his back and sidled up to the den, spitting and snarling. He halted well out of reach of the flashing attack of the little hunter. He sat down and stared back at the fox. Finally he walked away to a drift. He hoped the fox would venture away from his hole under the bushes. But the fox could see the big fellow seated on the drift. He drowsed, his eyes half closed, waiting for the killer to tire and go his way. Finally the lynx cat got up and padded back into the spruce.

Two eagles came and the great owls beat along the edge of the clearing. The wolf pack raced down along the ridge at dusk, seeking the little stallion. But Midnight and the old buck were safe in their shelters long before dusk. Both remembered the experience of the previous night and left the feed ground early. They bedded down on stomachs only half filled, but they rested better than the killers who could not get even half a meal.

* * * * *

There came days of sunshine and days of storm. When the blizzard came the wind swept the new snow across the hard, smooth surface of the meadow, piling it in the timber or swirling it into the deep canyon.

One cloudy day a lean cougar padded through the spruce at the upper edge of the mesa. He halted and stared out over the sheet of glistening ice. His yellow eyes suddenly flamed with eagerness. He had sighted the timber-line buck and the little stallion. His amber eyes flicked over the old buck and fastened on the colt beside him. His nose jerked and the black tip of his tail twitched. It seemed almost beyond any good luck to find a fat colt and a buck deer together. He had hunted for days and was heading toward the lower country. The only living things he had met were wolves and coyotes as hungry as himself.

The cougar moved to the edge of the woods, his eyes wandering over the snowy expanse. It did not seem possible for the colt to escape him. The little horse had a long way to go to reach cover. The snow was crusted so that the killer could bound over it while the horse would break through and flounder. He located a drift which ran out into the meadow like the fin of a great fish. He would slip out along that fin. He would not need to get close. His eyes roved eagerly over the meadow, seeking to locate any weak point in his plan of attack.

Midnight and the old buck fed steadily, the buck following the trail Midnight had broken. He was about twenty yards back of the little stallion. Midnight pulled a tuft of grass up out of the snow and chewed it eagerly. Swallowing it he ducked his head and nosed about for more. He pulled another mouthful and looked around him. He was fast learning the tricks of the old buck. Look, listen, test the air after every exploration under the crust.

It was the buck who warned him of danger. The monarch snorted loudly and whirled about. The wind had shifted and his keen nose had caught cougar scent. Midnight looked and saw the gaunt killer rising above the drift in a long, high leap. The big cat screamed savagely, angered because he had been discovered before he was ready to attack. Midnight plunged after the old buck. The cougar landed on the hard crust, skidded, then righted himself and bounded again. His leaps were terrific and carried him down quickly on the two struggling and panic-stricken comrades. His ears were flattened and his tail was lashing. His yellow eyes checked the distance he had to cover. His last leap must send him smashing down on the back of the colt. His tawny body shot upward and out in a twenty-foot leap, while his claws unsheathed and he bared his fangs for the death thrust.

With a wild plunge of speed Midnight charged past the old buck. The ancient monarch was a scarred warrior. He had been attacked by cougars before and had always managed to escape. This time he was trapped. He could not flounder to the deep, soft drifts in the spruce. Like any wild thing, he whirled to fight because that was all there was left for him to do. He had lived to old age in the high country because he had been able to meet desperate situations. When he whirled he lowered his sharp antlers until they formed a shield for his neck and shoulders.

The leap of the yellow killer had been aimed and timed so that its force would smash down on the back of the colt. Instead of smashing upon the unprotected back of the little horse the cougar landed upon the bony lances of the old buck. His hundred pounds of weight hurtling down on those horns would have been damaging enough, but the old timber-line monarch charged forward just as the cat landed, adding to the effectiveness of the defense. The buck was smashed back on his haunches, but instantly his powerful legs straightened and with a grunt he lunged again.

The lances of bone drove deep into the chest and neck and legs of the cougar. When the buck lunged he twisted those knives and drove them deeper. He ripped and tore in mad fury. Flight was forgotten now that he was in a battle. He thought only of destroying his attacker. The cougar was startled by this attack from a prey which had always fled in a wild fear before him. He screamed savagely as he struggled to toss his body out of the path of the ripping horns. Rolling over and over in the snow he scrambled away from the charging deer.

The buck made another lunge but the big cat had had enough. He bounded away across the snow leaving a trail of blood which froze in round red jewels on the crust.

The buck shook his head and snorted savagely. Midnight watched him from the safety of the ledge. Finally the little horse trotted down the trail to meet the monarch, who was stalking along, his rump patch fanned out, his breath whistling angrily. Midnight halted before the buck, and they stood looking at each other.

After that the bond was a little closer between the two. Midnight realized that there was safety in being close to the big buck. He was convinced the old fellow was the master of the yellow killers so terrifying to him. The monarch gave the matter no thought. He had escaped from another cougar, but he did not intend to allow one to get near him if his nose and his keen sight warned him in time. But he followed Midnight’s trail and ate the weeds and brush tips the little horse uncovered and left.

So the cold winter passed. The pair who came daily to the meadow kept vigilant watch for the killers and slipped away from the feed ground early each night. The little stallion was nearly as quick of sight and smell as the old buck by the time the snow began to soften. They were always hungry, never able to dig up enough grass and feed to fill their stomachs, but they were also wary and alert.

* * * * *

Spring waited for them on the snow-bound meadow one morning when they came down to feed. A chinook wind was blowing and the air was soft, promising life, alive with earthy smells carried up from the lower valleys where green things were already growing on the south slopes and in the canyons. Midnight bucked and pranced excitedly. The old buck shook his head and grunted. He was a sad-looking monarch now. His sides were thick with matted hair and he had shed one horn so that he was forced to carry his head on the side. He moved about more timidly and seemed eager to be near the black colt.

The snow settled down and down. At night it froze but not with the bitter hardness of the deep winter. Each day the snow sank lower and packed harder. It shrank until bare patches of meadow appeared. Then it retreated into the spruce where it would make its last stand against the sun. There were blustery days when snow fell and raw winds blew, but this was spring and nothing could halt its coming.

The wolves and the coyotes raced across the bare ground, leaping over the dirty drifts in the shade, racing on and on, as fast as the steady wind which blew up out of the green valleys below. The wolves were not seeking prey, they were running in pairs, leaping through the dusky twilight or the pale moonlight, seeking romance on distant ridges, trysting places under the stars.

The resurrection came swiftly. Grass sprouted and flowers shoved forth their buds, some of them poking out their hardy blossoms at the edges of the drifts in the twilight of the woods. But the real and certain arrival of spring was announced by the yellowbelly whistlers. They awoke and came out of their dens to blink at the sun. They romped across the bare meadow and bounded among the rocks at the base of the castles. A day or so after the whistlers had come out the calico chips appeared. They had been ready for some time but had been careful not to hurry.

One day the chipmunks appeared. They held a concert at once, and the meadow rang with their “chock, chocking.” The fat little brownies came with the chipmunks. They selected stones and spent much of their time sitting in silence looking down into the blue valley. Only the cabin at the edge of the timber remained lifeless and dead. It went on sleeping. Its one dusty window stared out drearily on the lively scene. Its door did not open to let the spring air into the cabin, there was no one to open it. The willow chair sagged beside the doorstone. It sat there much as though it had stepped outside to wait for the owner of the cabin.

Midnight became restless. He raced around the meadow and mud flew from his hoofs as he splashed through puddles in the hollows. The only spot he avoided was the dog town. There the ground was soft and the holes made it treacherous. The dogs barked and scolded when he thundered past but they accepted him as one of them. He whinnied and kicked and pranced. The old whistler, perched on his high lookout, stretched his neck, chuckled several times, then pulled his head back into his ball of fur.

Midnight still used the shelter under the rim. Habit made him return to it at dusk. The old timber-line buck knocked off his remaining horn, then wandered into the twilight of the spruce and did not come out again. He would seek a sun-drenched glade where he could nurse his new antlers through the period when they were in the velvet. In a short time nubbins of furry, blood-filled soft horns would appear, rising from the scars of his old spread. During this time the monarch would be quiet and shy. He would not fight and he would avoid charges which would take him into the timber.

Midnight was climbing the ledge trail one night when he was faced by a strange and terrible creature. A great silvertip, with the sleep of winter still dulling his little eyes, came shambling down the narrow ledge. He was gaunt and in a savage mood. Midnight had come to consider this as his own trail. He had met the wolf pack almost on the spot where he now stood. He snorted and reared on his hind feet. The old silvertip kept on shambling toward him. Midnight laid back his ears and squealed. The ledge was too narrow to turn about easily, and it was his ledge.

Then the little stallion got a good whiff of rank bear scent and panic seized him. He tried to whirl about but the ledge was too narrow. The very thing that had made the ledge safe for him against the wolf pack made it a trap now. He reared again and his trim hoofs lashed out at the massive head and hairy chest of the silvertip.

The old bear saw the little horse for the first time when Midnight reared. His great jaws opened and a roar came up from his chest. He did not desire meat to eat, he wanted certain herbs and he wanted cold water, things to help his shrunken stomach adjust itself. But he never gave the trail to any except the skunk and the wolverine. In his present mood he was ready to smash anything that tried to halt him.

He straightened up and stood like a shaggy giant, advancing as a man would. One massive paw swept out. The blow struck Midnight with glancing force. Had it landed squarely it would have finished him. It over-balanced him and he slid off the trail. Kicking and lashing he plunged over the canyon rim.

The old silvertip shoved a swaying head over the edge and growled deeply, then he ambled down the trail and headed across the meadow, growling and grunting to himself. The yellow-belly sentinel blasted shrilly and the little dwellers of the meadow raced to their dens. The dogs slid down their runways and defiant “squit-tucks” came out of the ground. The silvertip paid no attention to the commotion he had caused. He strode on across the mesa.

Midnight dropped a few yards and landed with a thump on another ledge. A pile of earth matted with grass and berry bushes broke his fall. His head hung over a yawning chasm. Quickly he gathered himself together and scrambled to his feet. For a few minutes he stood pressing against the rock wall and trembling; he saw that he was on a ledge which sloped gently down to the meadow. There was no chance to leap back to the trail above, so he moved along the cliff, sliding, crowding against the wall.

He slid off the ledge onto solid ground matted with dry grass. He was in a cup-shaped hollow on the side of the canyon wall. He trotted through a matted tangle of willow and brush to the edge of the basin. From where he stood he could look down into Shadow Canyon. He could see the foaming waters of the Crazy Kill River. But a sheer wall prevented him from climbing down, so he explored the hollow.

There were not more than seven acres in the basin. Aspens grew close together over most of the ground, except in the center where a beaver colony had cut them away. In this clearing nestled a tiny lake. Two old beavers were swimming around in the water, inspecting the horseshoe-shaped dam at the lower side. When Midnight halted at the edge of the water the old beavers dived, slapping their tails with explosive sounds.

Midnight turned away from the lake. He did not like the confining feel of this little mesa. He limped as he walked and his shoulder pained him, but he was not hurt badly. He wandered all the way around the mesa and discovered no trail leading off it except at the lower end where a ten-foot crevice cut through a ledge along the side of the canyon wall. He turned back and began feeding uneasily on the green shoots pushing up through the dead grass.

The old beavers came up again and set to work. A ptarmigan strutted in the dry leaves under the aspens and a snowshoe rabbit hopped out of a thicket. The big bunny sat down and began nibbling on a tender weed-stalk.

9. Prisoner