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Race Of The Swift - Edwin Carlile Litsey · Pollyanna

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  Speaker 1: Story one of the Race of the Swift. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by David Wales. The Race of the Swift by
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  Speaker 1: Edwin Carlyle Litsey, Story one, The Race of the Swift.
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  Speaker 1: A halved moon was shedding a faint glow over the
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  Speaker 1: rugged knob country. The twisted, broken, distorted ground, with its
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  Speaker 1: spasmodic growth of BlackBerry, sassafras and junifer bushes, seemed the
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  Speaker 1: center of desolation. But something was living, moving in the
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  Speaker 1: midst of this loneliness. Creeping along a ragged fence line
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  Speaker 1: at the base of a knob, went a stealthy figure,
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  Speaker 1: sharp muzzled, keen eyed, lean of body, and wiry of
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  Speaker 1: lemb The object moved forward at a swift trot. The
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  Speaker 1: night was young, scarcely had the salmon tans which the
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  Speaker 1: sun had left in the west disappeared. Through the pure,
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  Speaker 1: lambent air, the rolling tones of the farmer could be
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  Speaker 1: heard as he called his pigs home. Above the high
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  Speaker 1: hills gleamed the timid tapers of the early stars. A
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  Speaker 1: low breeze was chanting a gentle vesper among the pines
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  Speaker 1: and oaks. Upon the knob side. A blundering rabbit budded
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  Speaker 1: blindly through the weeds on the creek bank. A bullfrog,
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  Speaker 1: fat and inert, bellowed forth his thunderous note. A muskrat
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  Speaker 1: splashed softly from a half sunken log and spread his
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  Speaker 1: flat paddles to propel him to his hidden home. A
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  Speaker 1: whipperwill's heart broken tones came from a point further down
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  Speaker 1: the hollow. Nature was saying that the day was gone.
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  Speaker 1: The shea fox, trotting by the worm eaten fence, stopped abruptly.
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  Speaker 1: The fence was curving around the knob, and this did
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  Speaker 1: not coincide with her purpose. She stopped with one four
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  Speaker 1: foot up hell and ears pricked attentively. The sounds she
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  Speaker 1: heard were familiar, legitimate, a part of her nightly life.
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  Speaker 1: The shea fox was painfully attenuated. Her tawny body was
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  Speaker 1: barred with bulging ribs. There was a gaunt, starved look
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  Speaker 1: about her bony face. The two rows of teats along
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  Speaker 1: her belly were clean and bare, even moist for ten
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  Speaker 1: minutes ago. A half dozen tiny tongues had striven vainly
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  Speaker 1: to draw nourishment from them, but she had none to give.
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  Speaker 1: For two days and nights she had tasted food but once,
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  Speaker 1: and during that time her hungry brood had insistently drawn
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  Speaker 1: her very life from her. Hour after hour, she had
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  Speaker 1: given it freely and without grudge, Licking caressingly, first one
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  Speaker 1: baby form and then another, had even borne unflinchingly the
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  Speaker 1: sharp nips from little teeth when the milk would not flow.
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  Speaker 1: The night before, she had ranged for miles, though so
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  Speaker 1: weak that only the deathless strength of her mother love
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  Speaker 1: sustained her in her quest. Not far from her home
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  Speaker 1: was a place where human people lived, but they were
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  Speaker 1: wary and placed their hens and chickens under lock and
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  Speaker 1: ghee at the going down of every sun. Thither had
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  Speaker 1: she gone first, because it was the closest. But not
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  Speaker 1: a feather could she find. At the corner of the
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  Speaker 1: hen house, she stopped and sniffed eagerly. Beyond the whitewashed
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  Speaker 1: planks were scores of fat fowls, and the shea fox,
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  Speaker 1: knew it, but they were safe from her long white teeth.
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  Speaker 1: She listened the sound of rustling feathers, and drowsy clocks
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  Speaker 1: smote her ears, and the saliva of famine dripped from
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  Speaker 1: the loose skin of her lower jaw. Emboldened by desperation,
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  Speaker 1: she walked around the building. At the bottom of the door,
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  Speaker 1: a hole had been cut so that the fowls could
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  Speaker 1: enter when the door was shut, but this was secured
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  Speaker 1: by a plank, which in turn was held in place
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  Speaker 1: by a heavy stone. She could not move it because
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  Speaker 1: she was weak from fasting. Thrusting her sharp black nose
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  Speaker 1: into a crack about an inch wide between the planks,
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  Speaker 1: she drank in the ravishing odor of many a choice bullet.
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  Speaker 1: Suddenly realizing that this course was worse than futile, she turned,
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  Speaker 1: bolted the fence, enclosing the cow lot, swerved around a prostrate,
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  Speaker 1: ponderous figure, sleepily chewing its cud, and vanished in the
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  Speaker 1: direction of the stable. Here. Likewise, her investigation was fruitless,
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  Speaker 1: so she gave up and turned her head towards another
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  Speaker 1: farmhouse five miles away. The journey, which ordinarily would not
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  Speaker 1: have caused the least fatigue, came near to overcoming the
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  Speaker 1: dauntless forager. Near her destination, she tottered to a brook
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  Speaker 1: and sank in the cool water, lapping it at intervals.
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  Speaker 1: This brought back some of her strength, and she essayed
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  Speaker 1: to complete her te through the orchard. She trailed, Then
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  Speaker 1: suddenly her delicate nostrils conveyed to her subtle brain some
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  Speaker 1: welcome intelligence. Stopping about twenty feet from the yard fence,
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  Speaker 1: she reconnoitered. A big walnut tree grew close to the fence,
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  Speaker 1: and upon the limbs of this tree were some huge,
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  Speaker 1: shapeless knots, knots with convex backs and drooping tails turkeys.
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  Speaker 1: The eyes of the starved raider glowed green and blue.
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  Speaker 1: Here was a feast strength for her and life for
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  Speaker 1: her little ones back in their rocky den, crawling blindly
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  Speaker 1: about and wailing piteously for food. Softly as a moonbeam,
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  Speaker 1: she crept forward, then came to a halt in dismay,
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  Speaker 1: and sank upon her haunches. The plank with strips nailed
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  Speaker 1: across it by the aid of which the turkeys gained
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  Speaker 1: their roost, had been removed, and lay there upon the
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  Speaker 1: ground before her to mock her baffled hopes and her
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  Speaker 1: bitter discs. With a keen sense of distances, she measured
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  Speaker 1: with her eye the height of the lowest limb from
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  Speaker 1: the ground. It was not far. She had made greater
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  Speaker 1: leaps time and again, but now her leaden paralyzed limbs
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  Speaker 1: could scarcely carry her pinched body over the ground. To
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  Speaker 1: make the effort would be suicide. The dog pack were
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  Speaker 1: sleeping somewhere near by, and their sleep was light. A
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  Speaker 1: cracking twig would arouse them, and that night she could
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  Speaker 1: not lead them. There were babies at home who needed her.
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  Speaker 1: She dared not make the attempt. One of the knots
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  Speaker 1: on a limb moved cautiously, then toppled. The watcher sprang
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  Speaker 1: forward eagerly, to again meet with disappointment. The sleeping wings
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  Speaker 1: flapped once or twice. A new footing was secured, and
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  Speaker 1: the head of the restless turkey receded into the neck feathers.
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  Speaker 1: As the fowl relapsed into slumber. After a few moments,
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  Speaker 1: the dull red shadow on the ground moved gone again,
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  Speaker 1: hunger mad yet crafty, into the confines of the yard.
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  Speaker 1: Crept the fox up to a long, tall bench by
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  Speaker 1: the kitchen door. The scent of something strangely like fresh
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  Speaker 1: meat had reached her. There was a vessel of some
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  Speaker 1: sort covered with a piece of wood on the bench
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  Speaker 1: to leap up and muzzle off. The cover was the
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  Speaker 1: work of a second and there was the dressed carcass
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  Speaker 1: of a chicken soaking overnight to serve as a breakfast
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  Speaker 1: for the human people in the morning. Quickly as a
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  Speaker 1: star twinkles, she of the forest folk had the spoil
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  Speaker 1: in her strong jaws. Softly as a shadow falling, she
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  Speaker 1: dropped to earth. Swiftly as the wind. She glided through
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  Speaker 1: the long corn rows growing in the garden back of
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  Speaker 1: the house, and was soon a mile away, safe because unpursued.
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  Speaker 1: Then she sank upon her belly and ate and ate crunched,
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  Speaker 1: the tender bones and the juicy flesh, impregnated as they
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  Speaker 1: were with salt, and gradually she felt the glad elation
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  Speaker 1: of returning strength through her worn, famished body. Renewed life
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  Speaker 1: was running, although the edge of her hunger had barely
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  Speaker 1: been removed. She lay quiet for a while, gathering together
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  Speaker 1: the taxed forces of her being, and thinking of the
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  Speaker 1: mile stretching between her and the little ones. But before
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  Speaker 1: the shadows upon the hill tops turned into the misty
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  Speaker 1: halos of morning, six tiny forms lay at their mother's breasts,
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  Speaker 1: well fed and sleep. Now another day had come and gone,
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  Speaker 1: and she was as bad off as before. Her mate,
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  Speaker 1: who had bited with her until the babies came, had
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  Speaker 1: tired of her and gone to seek a fairer wench,
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  Speaker 1: leaving her unaided to provide for the offspring of their
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  Speaker 1: wild free love. She had planned and worked, plotted and slain.
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  Speaker 1: The floor of the den was covered with feathers and
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  Speaker 1: sprinkled with broken bones, dry bones which she had cracked
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  Speaker 1: in desperation while searching for sustenance. It was a fight
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  Speaker 1: all the time, fight for food, fight to live. So
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  Speaker 1: when the night had barely come and the salmon tents
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  Speaker 1: in the west were yet a shadow the she fox
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  Speaker 1: nosed her importunate progeny into a whining heap at one
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  Speaker 1: side of the den and slipped softly without and moved
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  Speaker 1: down the hillside, her waving tail like a smoldering torch
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  Speaker 1: in the gloom of the woods, keeping in the shadow
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  Speaker 1: of the rickety rail fence till it could no longer
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  Speaker 1: serve her. She halted a moment for deliberation, then twisted
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  Speaker 1: her supple body and half leaped, half crawled through a
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  Speaker 1: crack near the bottom as she had stood with ears
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  Speaker 1: alert before veering her course, the faintest kind of tone
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  Speaker 1: had come to her. It was different from the hill voices.
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  Speaker 1: The forest kind know all the dozens of low noises
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  Speaker 1: which float along the knob side at night. The voices
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  Speaker 1: and sounds were all soft, peculiarly soft. Only when a
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  Speaker 1: wild cat is at bay, or the pack swings mouthing
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  Speaker 1: over the lowlands and the hills is the wonderful silence
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  Speaker 1: of that region disturbed after the sun has gone. If
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  Speaker 1: her ear was not at fault, and privation had sharpened
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  Speaker 1: all of her faculties, the shea fox knew that a
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  Speaker 1: rich reward would soon be hers. Skirting the creek till
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  Speaker 1: she came to a place where it narrowed, she leaped
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  Speaker 1: across and moved on in the same steady trot through
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  Speaker 1: the BlackBerry and sassafras bushes. Behind a low tangle of
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  Speaker 1: weeds and vines. She crept at last and crouched not
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  Speaker 1: three feet from a narrow hog path, winding on towards
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  Speaker 1: the farmhouse, half a mile away from the pond. At
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  Speaker 1: the base of the slight elevation over which the path led,
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  Speaker 1: some belated geese were ambling homeward a half dozen or more, awkward,
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  Speaker 1: matronly placid moving an Indian phile, with never a thought
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  Speaker 1: beyond dipping in the hog trough in the barn yard
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  Speaker 1: or gobbling up the food thrown to the chickens. The
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  Speaker 1: webbed feet plodded on straight to death. One, two, three, four,
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  Speaker 1: six plump bodies marched sedately by the low clump of
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  Speaker 1: matted weeds. Destruction swift and sure seized the last out
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  Speaker 1: of the shadows, sprang a shape. Two sinewy fore legs
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  Speaker 1: glided around the long white neck, and skillful fangs tore
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  Speaker 1: open the portals of death. It was done almost without
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  Speaker 1: a sound. A feather or two and a few drops
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  Speaker 1: of blood were the only traces of the deed. Taking
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  Speaker 1: the blood as it gushed from the gaping wounds, the
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  Speaker 1: fox seized the neck firmly at a point near the base,
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  Speaker 1: slung the heavy body across her back with a dexterous
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  Speaker 1: jerk of her head, and started for her den at
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  Speaker 1: a swift lope. That night she feasted to repletion, and
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  Speaker 1: the next day she gorged herself on her kill. Made
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  Speaker 1: indolent by gluttony, she did not leave her lair for
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  Speaker 1: two whole days then her old enemy, hunger returned again
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  Speaker 1: and drove her to action. During the days she had
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  Speaker 1: been lying inert in her rocky chamber, some things had
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  Speaker 1: changed which disturbed her not a little. The morning following
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  Speaker 1: the night she had brought in her prize, she had
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  Speaker 1: heard the dread voices of the hounds on some far
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  Speaker 1: off range all day. At intervals, the unwelcome chant had
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  Speaker 1: come to her ears, and so she knew that the
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  Speaker 1: human people had missed their goose and were abroad with
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  Speaker 1: the pack in quest of its destroyer. The second day,
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  Speaker 1: a more alarming thing had happened. It was when the
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  Speaker 1: shadows of the taller trees began to lengthen towards the east,
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  Speaker 1: and twilight reigned in her cave home, that she was
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  Speaker 1: aroused once more by the determined notes of the pursuing pack.
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  Speaker 1: Creeping to the entrance, she presently saw the chase. Passing
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  Speaker 1: along the knob side. A great gray fox, nearly spent,
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  Speaker 1: was gliding falling down the incline, his red mouth stretched
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  Speaker 1: for breath, and his bushy tail drooping after him raised
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  Speaker 1: the hated friends of the human people. Loud, tongued and tireless,
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  Speaker 1: the gray fox was leading bravely, and hunters and hunted
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  Speaker 1: passed from view to the accompaniment of rustling leaves and
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  Speaker 1: snapping twigs and triumphant bays. The next morning, near midday,
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  Speaker 1: her merciless offspring teased and worried her, so that the
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  Speaker 1: she fox crept forth in spite of the warning of
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  Speaker 1: the day before, and set her sharp muscle towards the
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  Speaker 1: crest of the range, with the intention of invading territory
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  Speaker 1: which hitherto her feet had never pressed. There were wild
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  Speaker 1: turkeys back in the hills, and wary and suspicious as
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  Speaker 1: she knew them to be, they were no match for
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  Speaker 1: her wily woodcraft. But scarcely had her noiseless feet gone
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  Speaker 1: over the top of the knob when a sharp yelp
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  Speaker 1: immediately behind her caused her to jump and turn quickly.
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  Speaker 1: They were there, her enemies, and their noses were smelling
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  Speaker 1: out her trail, for as yet they had not seen her.
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  Speaker 1: Even as she leaped for the nearest cover like a
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  Speaker 1: yellow flash, her first thought was of the little ones
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  Speaker 1: biding at home. She must lead her foes away from
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  Speaker 1: that cleft in the rocks, where her love children lay
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  Speaker 1: awaiting her return. And though her life should be given up.
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  Speaker 1: Yet would she die alone and far away before she
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  Speaker 1: would sacrifice her young. It was a hard and stubborn
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  Speaker 1: race which she ran for the next six hours. At
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  Speaker 1: times her loyal, loving heart seemed ready to burst from
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  Speaker 1: the strain she thrust upon it. At times fleet feet
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  Speaker 1: were pattering almost at her heels, and pitiless joe were
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  Speaker 1: held wide to grasp her. Then again, only the echo
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  Speaker 1: of the stubborn cry of her pursuers reached her. She
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  Speaker 1: had doubled time and again once a brief respite was
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  Speaker 1: granted her when she dashed up a slanting tree trunk which,
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  Speaker 1: in falling, had lodged in the branches of another tree.
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  Speaker 1: Eight tawny forms dashed hotly, furiously. By then she descended
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  Speaker 1: and took the back track. Only for a moment, however,
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  Speaker 1: were the cunning dogs deceived. They discovered the artifice almost
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  Speaker 1: as soon as it was perpetrated, and came HARKing back
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  Speaker 1: themselves with redoubled zeal. So the long hours of the
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  Speaker 1: afternoon wore away, not a moment that was free from effort,
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  Speaker 1: not an instant that death did not hover over the
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  Speaker 1: mother fox, awaiting the least misstep to descend back and forth,
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  Speaker 1: around and across, and still the subtlety of the fox
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  Speaker 1: eluted the haste and fury of the hounds. All were
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  Speaker 1: tired to the point of exhaustion, but none would give up.
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  Speaker 1: The sun went down, Tremulous shadows, like curtains hung, were
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  Speaker 1: draped among the trees. The timid stars came out again,
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  Speaker 1: and the half moon rose, a little larger than the
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  Speaker 1: night before. And still with inveterate hate on the one side,
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  Speaker 1: and the undying strength of despair on the other, the
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  Speaker 1: grim chase swept through the night. At last, the blood
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  Speaker 1: rimmed eyes of the reeling quarry saw familiar landmarks. Unconsciously,
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  Speaker 1: in her blind efforts, she had come to the neighborhood
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  Speaker 1: of her den. Perhaps the love within her heart had
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  Speaker 1: guided her back. She found her strength quickly failing, and
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  Speaker 1: with the realization of this, her scheming brain awoke, as
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  Speaker 1: from a trance, and drove her to deeper guile. Two
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  Speaker 1: rods away was the creek to it. She staggered, splashed
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  Speaker 1: through the low water for a dozen yards, and hid
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  Speaker 1: her herself beneath the gnarled roots of a tree, from
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  Speaker 1: the base of which the stream had eaten away the
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  Speaker 1: soil she listened intensely. She heard the pack lose the scent,
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  Speaker 1: search half heartedly for a few minutes, for they too
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  Speaker 1: were weary to dropping, then withdraw one at a time.
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  Speaker 1: Beaten but for half an hour, the brave animal lay
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  Speaker 1: against the tree roots, waiting and resting. Then she came out, cautiously,
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  Speaker 1: looked around her, and with difficulty, gained the mouth of
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  Speaker 1: her den. Casting one keen glance over her shoulder through
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  Speaker 1: the checkered spaces of the forest, she glided softly within,
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  Speaker 1: and lying down, curled her tired body protectingly around her
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  Speaker 1: sleeping little ones and a story one story two of
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  Speaker 1: The Race of the Swift by Edwin Carlyle Litsey. This
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox lookdcurding is in the public domain. Story two The
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  Speaker 1: Robber Baron. The robber Baron sat upon his throne, for
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  Speaker 1: he was also a king. No courtiers attended him, no
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  Speaker 1: pages hung upon his slightest gesture. In dignified solitude, he
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  Speaker 1: sat and watched, and watched and watched. Part of the
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  Speaker 1: country through which Green River runs is almost as it
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  Speaker 1: was when the Master left it, with the seal of completeness.
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  Speaker 1: Its topography is unchanged except for the natural changes brought
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  Speaker 1: about by the primeval elements of wind and water. There
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  Speaker 1: are vast stretches of timbered country, checkered with cultivated acres
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  Speaker 1: and rugged limestone cliffs, fringed with moss and garlanded with
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  Speaker 1: poison ivy. The home of the robber Baron was on
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  Speaker 1: the edge of one of these timbered tracks, in an
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  Speaker 1: old oak tree. This was his castle and his alone.
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  Speaker 1: None of his feathered cousins dared perch in the spreading branches,
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  Speaker 1: even to rest for a moment. That tree was the
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  Speaker 1: property of the baron, and he had proven his title
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  Speaker 1: to complete ownership more than once with beak and claws
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  Speaker 1: and beating wings. At the very top of the tree,
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  Speaker 1: a dead snag shot up a distance of ten or
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  Speaker 1: twelve feet. This was the turret of the castle, the
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  Speaker 1: watch tower. On its summit, the old hen hawk would
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  Speaker 1: perch and complacently view his wide domain and his trembling subjects,
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  Speaker 1: And he was indeed a king. He levied tribute from
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  Speaker 1: the air, the earth, and the water alike, and whenever
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  Speaker 1: he poised and swooped, a life went out. One sound
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  Speaker 1: only caused his warrior heart to quake, and that was
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  Speaker 1: the solemn voice of the great horndow, crying dismally in
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  Speaker 1: the night from the recesses of the wood. Here was
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  Speaker 1: a foe worthy of his steel, bigger, stronger, and bulldog
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  Speaker 1: like in his battles. But the hawk took care not
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  Speaker 1: to pit his prowess against the power of this night marauder.
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  Speaker 1: During the day, he was safe for his one enemy,
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  Speaker 1: who could wage successful warfare with him. Moped on a
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  Speaker 1: limb from sunrise till after dusk, in the darkness, he
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  Speaker 1: sat high and safe for the night bird hunted low.
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  Speaker 1: More than once the baron, sleeping the sleep of the
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  Speaker 1: gorged glutton, had awakened to the sound of mighty wings
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  Speaker 1: winnowing the air, and he would draw his fierce head
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  Speaker 1: a little further down between his wing shoulders, shuddering and afraid.
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  Speaker 1: And if the night was moonlight and he happened to
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: look down, he would see a broad black shadow gliding
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: swiftly between the trees, a veritable specter of death. Day
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: after day, the robber baron sat on the top of
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: the snag in the oak tree. This was his home,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: his bed, his point of lookout, and his banquet chamber.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: With almost telescopic keenness of vision. He he could see
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: what was going on for incredible distances around him. A
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: rabbit's quiet movements while feeding a half mile away on
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: the young clover in a brown stubble field, the neutral
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: tints of the prim little quail as they scurried over
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: the saffron leaves and through the yellow grass. A squirrel's
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: bark back in the forest behind him. A leaping fish
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: in the stream which ran a good mile from his
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: gray snag. All this he saw and heard, as well
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: as many other things. If he had recently dined and
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: was well filled and comfortable, he would ruffle his wings,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: preen his breast feathers, and gaze calmly upon the things
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: which were his. When he wanted them, he would go
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: and get them. And when once those needle pointed talons
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: touched fur, feathers or fins, they never let go their
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: hold until they reached the snag. Then one foot would
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: seek the familiar grass, while the other held the victim
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: down rigidly until the rent dingbeak of the spoiler had
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: torn out the life of his prize. Now years of
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: rapine and plunder and slaughter had not only schooled the
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: robber baron in the fine art of taking game of
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: every description, but it had made him an epicure as well.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: For sailing over a barnyard one day he saw a
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: plump pullet dozing in the warm dust by the side
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: of a stone wall. The instinct imparted by some daintily
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: fed ancestor, awoke, and, hardly knowing it, the hawk swooped
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: and clutched. There was a terrible outcry from the stricken pullet,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: and the barnyard tribe joined in the row with one voice.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: The pullet was fat and heavy and struggled desperately, but
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: the sinewy pinions of the attacker had never failed him,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: and he slowly rose with labored flapping, taking his captive
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: with him. But the hubbub had reached indoors, where the
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: farmer and his sons were taking their noonday meal, and
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: to them the fuss outside meant hawk, hawk, and nothing else.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: For hens never cackle at any other time as they
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: do when a hawk or a mink invade their midst.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: So a boy rushed out with a gun, and there,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: barely clearing the tops of the trees in the orchard,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: flew the raider. The boy fired twice But when he
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: ducked his head to gaze under the smoke, the hawk
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: was still going, and with him the pullet. The shot
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: had whistled about the ears of the baron, and a
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: hot streak had run up his back and across his neck.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: But no shot struck him fairly, and he went grimly on.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: When he at last sighted his tower, his strength was
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: giving down, for his burden was heavy, and the way
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: had been long. But he went up, up, bravely, up,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: breasting the clear air, higher and higher, and finally his
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: feet rested on the old, familiar place, and he skillfully
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: balanced himself with his wings. As he feasted, he realized
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: that he had made a great discovery. The tender, juicy
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: flesh which entered his greedy mouth in tempting strips, was
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: far more suited to his palate than was the meat
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: of the wild things upon which he had hitherto prayed.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: All of the wild flesh was tainted, more or less,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: with the exception of the luscious quail. But here was
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: something fit for even his kingly beak. So as he ate,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: he planned, and his thoughts boded ill for the farm housewife.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Thus it happened that for a time, a feeling of
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: peace and security reigned in the dominion of the king.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: In the rabbit world, the cotton tails came more and
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: more into the open, venturing out from the brier patches
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: and the low growing bushes, which were their natural protectors.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: But they never failed to watch the air with one
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: eye while they ate, for the destroyer came silently, and
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: the first morning was the fatal shadow falling upon them,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: followed by the smothering swish of wings. Then woe to
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: the long eared, luckless one who was even a few
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: feet from cover. The descent of the bold robber was
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: like a lightning bolt, as swift and as deadly. The
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: quail began to trot with more confidence between the stubble rows,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: for it was the autumn season, and to hunt for
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: berries and stray grains of wheat with less fear. So
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: with all the different families over which the robber baron
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: held sway. Every day a broad, thin shadow would pass over,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: but it never dropped, and the timid ground people whispered
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: to each other that their dreaded enemy had found a
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: new hunting place, and rejoiced accordingly. At times they saw
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: him returning, nearly always flying low and heavily, with a
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: cumbersome prey in his clutches. What it was they did
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: not know, But so long as he left them in peace,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: they were content not to question his doings. One golden afternoon,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: the robber baron sat upon his turred in majestic loneliness.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: He was a royal bird. His head was flat, his
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: brow niched and frowning, and his beak was curved like
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: a boat hook. His mighty wings were folded closely to
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: his sides. His gray white breast, flecked with brown, bravely
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: met the winds which flew about his towering snag. His
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: sturdy legs were tufted to the second joint, and his
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: gayly talons, black and steel like in their powerful grasp,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: curved firmly around the dead wood which formed his perch.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: He was a type of strength and grace, and the
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: embodiment of rapacity and cruelty. Calmly and proudly, his bold
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: eyes roamed far and wide, resting for a moment upon
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: a waving, irregular line of sedge caused by the passage
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: of some four footed thing, then being drawn to the
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: glinting breast of the river, where some constantly widening circles
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: showed the upward leap of a frolicsome fish. But no
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: heed at all did he pay to these signs, which,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: upon other days would have lured him to pursuit his
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: aristocratic taste. Would no longer admit of such petty sacrifices
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: and such poor food. Were not the feathers of a
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: plump hen, even at that moment littering the ground at
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: the foot of his castle. And had he not heard
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: the night before a prowling raccoon a crunching the bones
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: which he had disdainfully cast aside. The air was chrisp
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: with the tang of wild leaves which the frost had bitten,
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: and hazy with the Indian summer glory of the season.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: Back in the forest behind him, some maples were blazing
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: in their crimson garments, and the hardier leaves of the
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: oak and chestnut were tinging. A creeper encircling with many
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: a close embrace. The trunk of his own high tree
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: burned like the fiery serpent of some magician. Emboldened by
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: the truce which their lord had declared, the bob Whites
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: sent their inexpressibly pure notes from different points, like the
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: sounds of answering bells. In the cornfield. Just across the river,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: some men were working with long knives in their hands.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: They attacked the serried ranks of yellow uniformed soldiery, and
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: wherever they went they left a gap round. Pumpkins which
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: the midest hand of frost had turned to purest gold,
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: were being carried by others to one huge pile, forming
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: a pyramid of plenty. From the bountiful giver. In a
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: hickory tree near his castle, two old crows were engaged
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: in a very silly dispute, and the baron turned a
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: disgusted gaze upon the quarrelsome black things who knew nothing
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: of dignity and all of sly theft. Far overhead, a
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: buzzard sailed along, that dumb, faithful scavenger of the wild,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: who was never known to utter a sound from the
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: beginning of time him the big Hawk respected. He attended
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: to his affairs, and never engaged in bickerings with his neighbors.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: That he nested on the ground, in the caves and
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: in the hollows of rotten tree trunks was no concern
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: of the baron, who scorned the earth and never touched it,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: but to rise again immediately. The sun was slowly dipping
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: towards the line of hills far to the west. The
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: watcher on the snag took note of this, as he
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: did of everything that went on around him, and he
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: knew that if he was to have a feast that day,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: he must go about procuring it. The barn yard, which
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: had been supplying him with his daily meal for the
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: past ten days, was not far away. But the wily
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: robber had become used to many things during his predatory existence,
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: and one of these things was that every house possessed
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: a gun, and that a gun has a remarkably long
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: range when loaded for hawk. During his last raid, he
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: had lost some feathers, and there was a constant itching
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: pain in one of his thighs, where a shot had lodged.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: He had tried to pluck it out with his murderous beak,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: but his efforts had only aggravated the wound, with the
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: result that he was continually irritated. He would visit that
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: barnyard no more. Sweeping his bold eyes in another direction,
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: he beheld, several miles away, a wavering column of smoke
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: ascending This came from the chimney of a farmhouse. He
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: made his resolve quickly, the memory of countless repast forbade
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: the idea of even a day's fast. The clamped toes unclasped, clasped,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: and unclasped again. The graceful body leaned forward, and the
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: wing feathers quivered. Squatting low, the big bird launched himself
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: in air, and the broad wings shot out and bore
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: him up. Once again, he was in the element. He
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: loved the tiny hearts of the ground. People shook with
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: fear as the shadow of the destroyer passed over the
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: stubble field, for weeks of immunity from attack had not
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: lessened their fear of their bloodthirsty ruler. But the shadow
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: passed on and disappeared. The river's placid breast mirrored his
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: image as the great hawks sped on, flying leisurely, for
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: he would need his strength upon his return. Then over
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: the cornfield, where the men were husking the yellow grain.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: Just over the variegated floor which the tree tops of
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: another forest made, he passed on his flight, for there
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: was no reason to mount high and thus tire himself.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: Very soon the farmhouse came in sight, and in the
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: big yard was a grove of locust trees. These afforded
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: an excellent shelter from which to spy, and presently his
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: feet gripped a limb. He tilted forward from the momentum
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: of his flight, but regained his equilibrium instantly, and his
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: searching eyes turned this way and that in quest of
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: a victim. About the yard, some matronly hens were straying,
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: with here and there a strutting cock. Self conscious and pompous,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: the daring rob did not hesitate long. A particularly tempting
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: plymouth rock hen drew his eye, and instantly he left
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: his perch, arose in the air and prepared to swoop.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Just as he closed his wings for this purpose, a
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: babble of twittering a rose which he had learned to dread,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: and around the corner of the house sped two martins
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: with fluttering wings and wild cries of anger. Dismayed, the
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: marauder spread his wings again and strove to escape, while
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: a fearful tumult began among the fowls in the yard,
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: followed by a wild rush for cover. Swift of wing
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: and fearless, the tiny attackers vigorously pursued the fleeing hawk,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: hovering over him with their shrill cries, and now and
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: again dropping upon his back to deliver a sharp peck.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: When they had chased the invader from the yard, they
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: considered their duty done and came back in wild curves
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: to their box on the pole in the rear of
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: the house. In rage and smarting from the chastisement which
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: he had received, the hawk sailed up in a white
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: ash tree to rest and consider the situation. As he debated,
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: dusk came on and he became aware that he was
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: desperately hungry. The yard was guarded and he could not
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: enter there. Disappointed and sore, he was preparing to depart
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: empty handed when his restless eye caught sight of a
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: dark spot moving over the ground not far away. It
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: was a foraging hen coming home to roost. Five seconds later,
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: his pinions hissed over the head of the doomed fowl.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: The knife like talons caught and held, and he painfully
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: rose to begin his homeward flight. His prey was a
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: full grown hen and was heavy as lead, but when
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: he arose with his spoil, he never let go his hold,
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: so over the tops of the trees he went again,
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: the limp body in his grip, brushing some of the leaves.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: So heavily did sag back over the cornfield forsaken now
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: by the harvesters, and his flight was so low that
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: a man with a club might have struck him. Then
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: the river in which the first stars were beginning to gleam.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: How his legs ached, and each motion of his wings
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: wrenched his body. He had never been so late returning before,
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: and the distance had never seemed so long. On the
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: other side of the stubble field rose his tower, waiting
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: for him to come home, as it had waded through
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: all his life. Would he ever reach it? He would
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: if it cost him his life, for he could not
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: sit on the earth and eat like a filth devouring buzzard.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: His dragging flight over the field was more than half
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: completed when he heard a sound that turned his blood
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: to ice. It was the deep, solemn node of the
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: horned owl boomed forth at the edge of the wood.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: He had tarried too long at his hunting, and his
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: enemy was coming on his kne ight hunt for food.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: Swiftly the hawk dipped and swerved, but those big red
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: green eyes to which darkness was day beheld him and
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: gave chase. The wily robber dropped his burden, hoping to
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: bribe the specter in his wake. But with a rush,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: the owl passed over the cast off carcass and sped on.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: The hen hog heard the soft feathery wing swish, coming
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: nearer and nearer, and though he was no coward, he
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: knew that his hour was at hand, for he was
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: worn and spent, whereas his foe had fresh strength. Zigzagging nimbly,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: he strove in this manner to elude his pursuer. But
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: the big owl had waited long for this chance, and
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: he was resolved that it should not escape him. Suddenly
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: he struck out with beak and claws, and the hawk
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: careened wildly from the shock, then, righting himself, turned to
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: give battle. It was the last resort, and so they clashed,
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: And again there arose the rasping of beak on beak,
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: and the dull thud of flesh propelled against flesh. Feathers
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: were torn out by clawfuls, and the breast of each
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: combatant was streaked and dabbled with blood. At last, the owl,
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: maddened and all powerful in his might, beat and smothered
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: his antagonist to the earth, and holding that kingly head
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: on the ground with the vise like grip of one foot,
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: with his curved beak, he prodded and tore till life
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: was gone from the robber barren. The gray old snag
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: which was his tower, waited for his coming that night
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: in vain end of story two, Story three of The
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: Race of the Swift by Edwin Carlyle Litsey. This LibriVox
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Story three. The ghost coon,
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: something white was moving warily through the shadows of the
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: beech hollow. It was near the turning of night, and
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: the heart of the wide, uncleared knob area was quiet,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: not the quiet of sleep, indeed, for the wood folk
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: were abroad in numbers, each bent upon a separate errand
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: whose aim and end was death. But they moved without noise,
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: from the larges to the smallest. A brown mink wriggled
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: his serpentine way along the erratic path which a field
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: mouse had made. Following him, perchance, with subtle cunning and
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: fell purpose, was a wild cat. A fox sniffed where
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: a pheasant had passed, and trailed hungrily and swiftly for
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: a dozen yards to a point where the bird had
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: risen in the air. So through the night they went
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: big and little, threading the secret ways of the underbrush,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: and sooner or later, finding that for which they sought.
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: Few went beyond the limits which marked Beech Hollow on
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: every side. The lore of the wood kind taught that
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: this place was haunted by the ghost of a big coon,
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: and that death awaited the invader into his precincts by
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: a secret telegraphic code, by purrings and by barks. There
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: was not a denizen of the wild, but knew the
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: fact more than one had seen the specter. It was
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: not the hallucination of a march grazed cotton tail. The
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: ghost coon ran every night from the first cock crow
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: till near dawn, and his hunting ground was held in
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: violet by his four footed flesh and blood gendred. It
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: was an opulent night in autumn. The half naked beaches
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: which gave the hollow its name, shivered in their scant covering.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: The hillsides were heavy with drifted leaves, russet and gold,
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: and poppy veined through the hollow. Pearled a small stream
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: sleepily along the trunk of a long dead beach, prostrate
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: and blackened, moved something white, a figure, almost ball shape.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: Its head was held low to the surface of the log.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: Its body rose up in a peculiarly rounded hump, and
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: its snow white bushy tail trailed along behind. It was
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: the ghost coon of Beech Hollow, on his nightly quest
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: for food. His progress was most ungainly. The forefeet would
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: move forward a few inches, and the body would lengthen,
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: then the hind feet would get in motion, and the
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: back would assume an arc, and all the time the
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: busy nose would be smelling to left and right, reaching
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: the end of the tree. At last, the coon reared
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: upon his haunches squirrel fashion and gazed about him keenly.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: Nothing was stirring beyond a fluttering leaf. Nothing was heard
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: but the low sowing of the wind. Suddenly, the triangular
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: head went up a little higher, and the nose pointed
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: directly across the hollow. Thus it was held rigidly for
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: several moments, while the beady eyes glowed fiercely. Then a
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: slender red tongue curved swiftly around his upper lip. He
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: sank to the log again, and thence to the ground
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: and moved down the hillside with a shambling, awkward, yet
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: incredibly swift gait. That very day, as he was sleeping
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: in his hollow tree at the end of the ravine,
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: he had been awakened by the shots of some hunters
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: in the cornfield bordering his valley of refuge. Then he
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: had stretched himself and gone to sleep again, confident of
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: a rich banquet in the hours of the coming night.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: He knew well, for he had learned the lesson when
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: half grown, that frightened birds always take to the nearest
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: cover when annoyed too much by men and dogs. Not
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: long after sundown, he had crawled out of his hole
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: and crouched on a limb in front of it, and
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: listened to the rallying call of the quail as they
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: gathered together to squat for the night. Then, when the
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: night was far enough advanced, he had slid down the
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: tree like a patch of moonlight, and gone in search
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: of his prey in a direct line with the comb's progress.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: The stream below spread into a pool of considerable breadth
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: and some depth, and as the soft footed prowler gained
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: its edge, he stopped, leaned over the water, and eyed
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: the surface. Intently. A born fisherman, he could not let
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: the opportunity pass to land one of the small perch
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: which had their home in this pool. For a number
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: of minutes, he stood as still as one of the
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: stones lining the bank. Then he burst into action with
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: the agility of one of the cat tribe. One claw
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: rimmed foot shot forward and downward, then up again, all
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: at one stroke, and the star rays glittered on his
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: scaly body. Flying through the air, the fish had scarcely
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: touched the ground when the nimble animal was beside it.
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: Quickly the faithful paws pounced upon the flopping object and
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: pinioned it to the earth. Then, just back of the neck,
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: the sharp fangs crunched, and the ghostly ruler of the
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: hollow ate leisurely of the toothsome dainty which his craft
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: and skill had provided, spitting and clawing out the bones
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: when in his greediness they stuck in his tongue. When
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: his supper was over, the coon, his hunger appeased in
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: a measure, did not at once take up the air trail,
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: which was still wafted gently to him from the top
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: of the other slope. He moved around and around the
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: heap of bones and offal which marked his late repast,
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: sniffing and nibbling by turns. Finally he veered about and
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: started back over the track which he had come. Just
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: then his nostrils were tickled by another light gust, laden
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: with the partridge smell. It was too much to resist.
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: He swerved again and began to climb the slope of
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: his temptation. Nestling at the base of a rugged knob.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: Not two miles distant from Beach Hollow was a log
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: roller's hut. Of its human inmates, we have no word
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: to say, for our story has not to do with them,
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: but of a certain low, heavy bodied, vengeful, mongrel curd
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: dog which harbored at this hut in the day. It
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: becomes necessary now to speak. This dog feared nothing, absolutely nothing.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: He would bite at the thick sole of the shoe
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: which kicked him. He would fight anything that walked upon
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: two feet or four. He was totally wicked, totally merciless
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: in his battles, and he cherished an inveterate hatred for coons.
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: Throughout the day, he would hang around the miserable shelter
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: of the human people his companions, but not his masters,
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: and when night sank down over the broad wastes of
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: forest and hill, he would go trailing through the dense
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: passes of the wild, sharp nosed and vigilant, his stub
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: tail moving like the pendulum of a clock and keeping
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: time to his rapid footsteps. Once in his wanderings he
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: had entered a beach hollow and had run upon that
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: which the wood folk feared, a large, white, ghostly figure
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: coming towards him down the ravine. The cur yelped and fled,
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: gaining the open to the south of the hollow. The
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: moonlight gave him courage, and he warily circled the place,
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: coming in at the other end and running with his
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: skeen nose not an inch above the ground. He stumbled
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: upon the scent quickly, and the chase yelp bubbled to
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: his throat, but he choked it back, for he was
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: wiser than most coon dogs, who give tongue as soon
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: as the trail is caught, and thus worn their quarry
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: of danger. The trail that night led him to the
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: base of a large beech tree, and there was the
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: coon smell on the bark, as high as he could
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: reach by standing upon his hind legs. From that night,
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: the hollow held no terror for him. A coon had
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: but one smell, and though this one was white, whereas
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: all with whom he had drawn blood were gray with
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: black rings tails. Still it was a coon, and the
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: one idea in his head now was to harass and
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: carry it into open fight. So he began to stalk
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: the lonely hollow, which was shunned by the forest people,
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: in bred guile, driving him to all the cunning artifices
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: known to the wood dwellers. But the ghost coon was
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: his match in subtlety. Never since that first night had
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: the vindictive cur laid eyes upon the phantom, though two
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: and three times a week he would come with his
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: fangs wedded for fight. But upon that night in autumn,
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: when the coon feasted upon the fish and subsequently started
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: in quest of the huddled quail, a dark, noiseless shape
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: entered the hollow from the north and glided down it
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: as a cloud shadow glides over a field. The cur
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: struck the trail a few feet from the point where
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: the coon had dropped from the prostrate tree, and instantly
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: he crouched and grew rigid. The odor was fresh and strong,
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: and he had waited long and traveled far for this chance.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: Flattening his body on the damp leaves, he looked about
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: him with glowing eyes. Nothing was to be seen or heard.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: Which way was he to go? Had his prey gone
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: up hill or down? Guided by that unerring instinct which
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: all animals possessed, the dog arose after an instant's hesitation,
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: and moved down the hill, with his black muzzle brushing
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: the leaves. At the top of the other slope, the
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: white marauder was slowly closing in upon his sleeping victims.
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: Each step was taken with painful deliberateness and extreme care,
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: for he knew that his journey would end in a
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: clump of huckleberry bushes just at the edge of the wood. Onward,
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: he glided his tiny feet as noiseless in their progress
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: as the fall of a snowflake beneath a bending berry
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: laden spray. He stopped and gazed gloatingly for a second
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: upon a dozen or more or brown bodies crowded together
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: with their tails touching. Then he pounced. A few sleepy chirrups,
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: a wild scramble, and the sound of whirrying wings followed
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: The chagrined coon, cheated of his anticipated meal, shook a
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: few downy feathers from the claws of his right forefoot,
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: backed out of the bushes, and took the return trail
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: for history of refuge. In his anger at failing in
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: his last adventure, he neglected to scan the slope before
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: him as he started down it. Soon he realized that
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: a strange stump had taken root in his path, since
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: he had trodden it a few moments before, a squat, black,
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: ugly thing, which he had not previously noticed. He came
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: on stubbornly, however, and did not stop until he saw
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: two blazing eyes looking at him with an expression of
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: fiendish joy. There was nothing to do but fight. For
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: a very perceptible time time the two glared at each other,
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: the dog cruel, mean, wicked, the coon angry, furtive, sly,
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: then low sounds came from the throat of each. The
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: dog gave a deep, muttering growl, the coon a succession
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: of sharp hisses, not unlike those made by a goose.
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: Though while he withdrew into himself and glanced about as
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: if meditating flight, Though no tree grew near enough for
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: him to reach the dog quickly assumed the offensive, for
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: his eager hate would not countenance delay. His spring was
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: like the rebound of a crossbow. But his enemy knew
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: how to fight. While the cur was yet in air,
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: the ghost of the Hollow had reared and fallen prone
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: upon his back, his hind feet drawn close down upon
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: his belly, and his forefeet arched and ready. At the
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: right moment, the hind feet shot up and ripped a
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: half dozen streaming seams in the flanks of the cur
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: as he descended with snapping jaws, a screech, a scuffle,
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: a howl of pain, and the dog leaped backward, drew
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: his tongue rapidly across the stinging rents in his side,
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: and bounded for the second time upon his foe. Aiming
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: at the throat, his teeth found the loose skin at
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: one side of the neck. Instead, the coon secured one
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: of the stub ears of the attacker in his mouth,
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: and thus they grappled. Strange sounds floated through the length
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: of beach all of that night, sounds which never before
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: had disturbed its accustomed quiet. There were the sounds of
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: heavy bodies threshing the earth, the rasping snarl, the yelp
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: of distress, and the clashing of teeth in the still night.
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: The noise carried far, and the keen ears of some
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: wood dwellers running on a nearby range heard it. And
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: the forest folk stopped, listened, and turned their faces from it,
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: for it came from the haunted hall. On the leaf
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: strewn slope. One great ball of intermingled black and white
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: gradually drew near the bottom of the hill. Neither knew
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: nor thought of the course the fight was taking. Their
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: hearts were inflamed with the battle lust, and with lightning
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: like movements, they fought for the death hold. After a time,
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: the level was reached, and here, by mere chance, the
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: jaws of the dog found the throat of his enemy.
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: The coon realized his straight and plied all four feet
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: with such good effect that the blood ran in streams
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: from the ragged wounds which he inflicted. But his breath
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: was shut off, and nothing can live or fight without air.
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: It was then that he felt something cool clasp his
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: hind leg. With his remaining strength, he threw himself backward,
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: dragging the cur with him, and the water of the
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: pool close over them. Both A coon can remain under
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: water for a marvelously long time. A dog knows it
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: and will never attack them in or near a stream.
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: The ghost coon sank, taking his enemy with him in
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: the foreign element. The cur, confused, strangled and frightened, loosed
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: his hold, came to the surface and struck out for
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: the shore. But the tables had turned, and the valiant
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: old boar knew it. Rising also, he received the grateful
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: rush of air into his strained lungs, and in another
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: moment he was on the back of his opponent and
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: forcing him under, Fastening his teeth in the loose folds
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: of skin at the base of the skull. He sank again,
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: dragging the cur down with him. The water boiled like
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: a cauldron, and though a leg or even a shoulder
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: at times appeared, no head came into view. Soon the
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: pool grew quiet. Then near the bank, a sharp muzzle
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: came up, slowly, followed by the dripping form of the victor.
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: His dad Trees stood quite near the other end of
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: the hollow, and as he painfully began his march towards it,
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: leaving a trail of water and blood behind him. As
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: he went, his body swayed and his steps were uncertain.
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: At last he stood among the roofs which he knew
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: so well, and with eyes which scarcely saw, looked up
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: the bare trunk which he had been wont to climb
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: with perfect ease. Feebly he reared and began the ascent.
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: Six feet from the ground, he stopped gently, let his
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: head fall forward upon the bark, quivered from end to end,
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: and dropped to the earth dead end of story three.
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: Story four of the Race of the Swift by Edwin
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: Carlyle Litsey. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: Story four the Spoiler of the Folds. High over the
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: crest of Bald Knob, the storm clouds had gathered. A dull, uncertain,
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: ghostly light lay upon the land, for the moon was
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: at its full, though hidden by the driving rack. Directly
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: in the mouth of Devil's Gorge, where it debouched upon
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: the low lying pastures of the hill farmers, a gaunt
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: figure was standing. It was neither fox, nor wild cat,
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: nor dog, for it was bigger than any of these.
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: In the fantastic shadows which the wild night cast, the
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: figure seemed monstrous, grisly, its eyes burned with a basilisk glare,
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: its head was broad with a long, tapering muzzle. Its
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: shoulders were strong, and its lean legs stood firmly upon
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: the earth. Moment by moment, the storm grew fiercer. It
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: rushed among the great trees on the knob side and
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: tore the leaves, hissing from the tossing branches. A blinding
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: flash of lightning corkscrewed the gloom, followed by a terrible
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: peal of thunder. Immediately there was a crash from far
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: up the slope. An oak tree had fallen before the wind.
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: The figure, standing in the mouth of Devil's Gorge, crouched
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: as under a blow, turned its head and glared in
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: the direction of the sound, then glided out into the
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: open with lowered muzzle and drooping tail. The gray Wolf
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: knew his mind and his business well, depending largely on
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: guile for success in his hunting. Yet there were times
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: when wit and fleetness were of no avail, and his
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: great strength alone had won him through his ribbed sides
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: bore many a scar black and hairless where a dog's
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: tooth had furrowed its way through his hide. So, with
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: added craft, on account of his many battles, he had
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: come to skulk more, holding meat won by stealth equally
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: as good as that fought for, and realizing as he
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: grew older that in time he would be overcome. This
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: was new territory he was dreading now of urge and field,
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: where any hope to find rich harvest. Nor was disappointment
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: in store for him. Guided by that precious instinct which
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: is the eternal heritage of all the wood kind, the
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: specterlike shape moved briskly across some gullied foot hills, climbing, slipping, leaping,
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: and crept through a brush fence, just as the lowering
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: clouds opened and the rain began to pour and driving torrents.
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: As the water beat upon his back and plastered the
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: hair to his lean sides, the old forager began to
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: move faster and with less desire for concealment, For well
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: he knew that human beings would not dare thrust their
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: noses out on such a night. It was all his own,
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: and he could work his will unhampered. Through coarse clumps
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: of wire grass and stray patches of clover. He went,
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: casting his sharp eyes neither to right nor left, for
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: he was fully aware that his gentle prey would never
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: wander around in an open field on such a night
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: as this. Near a corner in the farther end of
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: the pasture rose a great black bulk. When the lightning flashed,
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: the gray wolf could see it, and something white at
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: its base. Besides, it was a straw rick, the result
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: of last year's wheat harvest, and it afforded some protection
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: from the wrath of the elements. Towards this the marauder
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: went relentlessly steadily. Some two rods from it, he stopped,
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: crouched and waited. Presently, a vivid glare lit up the
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: drenched landscape, and there, huddling in the lee of the rick,
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: was a flock of sheep, crowded together and shivering from
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: the wet. Dense darkness followed the lightning's flash, and under
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: its cover, the robber drew nearer, nearer, nearer. Now through
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: the gloom and the sheets of rain, he could make
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: out the cowering forms, for they had already scent a danger.
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: Though powerless to resist it, closer yet crept the shape
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: of death, his empty stomach dragging the ground so low
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: had his body sunk. The sheep pressed with short, jerky
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: movements against their straw, sheltar, wild eyed, helpless. They felt
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: the danger but did not know how to combat it.
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: Then the climax came, as swiftly as a bolt from
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: the sky. A dim shape was projected through the night.
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: There was a bleat, choked short off, and a wild
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: scurry of feet flying blindly from danger. One ewe alone
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: remained prostrate upon the ground, while at her soft throat,
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: keen fang store and a curved red tongue lapped up
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: the warm blood as it flowed. The gray wolf was
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: skilled in strategy. He knew that when a sheep dog
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: turned traitor and began to harry the flocks, he never
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: went beyond the throats of his victims and took only
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: one a night. So the killer lay and drank the
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: rich life current as it came, drank until even his
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: ravenous hunger was appeased. Then, gnawing tentatively at the draggled
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: wound he had made, he arose and turned his besmeared
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: visage towards the dark line of knobs, which was his
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: hiding place and his home. A short time later, when
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: the summer storm was dying away in the east and
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: the thunder was but a growling echo, A gaunt figure
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: entered the mouth of Devil's Gorge and became engulfed in
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: the black shadows which hung over it. Five hours later
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: the sun came up into a sky of purest blue.
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: With it arose the hill farmers, strong from their long
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: night's rest for the day of toil. One there was
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: who mounted his piebald saddle mare with a bucket balanced
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: on his saddle bow, and went to salt his sheep
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: in the bars. One was missing, an unusual thing. He
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: called and called again, the cry which had never failed
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: to bring her before, but there was no answer. Then
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: the farmer urged his horse forward and began the search
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: around the field. He went, and at last drew up
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: at this raw rick there lay the lost one dead.
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: He dismounted and made an examination. Her throat was woefully
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: mangled and torn, but there was no other herd upon her.
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: A sheep dog's gone wrong, was the man's audible comment,
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: as he arose and mounted his horse again to summon
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: his fellow farmers. They came to the scene of the
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: slaughter one and all, For sheep raising was their most
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: paying industry, and sheep murder was a crime to which
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: there was attached one penalty and one only death. The
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: ewe lay as the killer had left her limbs straight
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: and stiffened head back, and that awful damning wound in
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: her white throat. One by one they came and looked
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: those rugged, gnarled, horny handed ill men. One by one
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: they shook their heads. A sheep dog done at was
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: the one remark, and theyde I, I'll kill myself. Then
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: arose the question how to detect the culprit. Each dog
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: had followed his master, and each was called up and examined,
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: but nothing was proven. Every mouth was clean and fresh.
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: There were no clots of wool, nor blood stained noses,
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: and each man breathed a sigh of relief when his
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: favorite was exonerated. For love me, Love my dog. Is
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: never more exemplified than in the sheep raising districts, where
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: with almost human intelligence, the four footed retainers cared for
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: the flocks entrusted to their care. The meeting was preparing
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: to break up when some one discovered a track in
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: the rain soaked ground. It was fully four inches across,
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: and the claw to each toe was plainly marked. It
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: was useless to fit a dog's foot to that colossal track.
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: Some strange animal had assaulted the flock, and there was
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: not a heart, but beat easier when they found this out.
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: For a farmer to kill his dog required a sacrifice
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: almost as great as that which Abraham made when he
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: prepared to offer up Isaac. So, amid wild conjectures and
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: impossible theories, the farmers dispersed. That very night, another flock
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: was visited and one taken from it. The raider left
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: no clue. He came, slew one sheep and drained its blood,
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: then went his way, and the darkness hid him. The
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: farmers met again and held counsel. It must be a dog,
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: they said, for it killed like a dog. Anything else
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: would do away with half a dozen sheep or more.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: But the meeting resulted in nothing, because there was nothing
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: to do except keep a sharp lookout. The next night,
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: the same thing happened, and the next, and the next,
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: and so on for a week, always a different flock,
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: but always one sheep was claimed. One only then it was.
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: The farmers took to sitting up of nights and gathering
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: their flocks under shelter. This invisible skir ur jbad fair
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: to devastate their folds, and strenuous action must needs be taken.
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: That first night of watching, one went to sleep at
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: his post along towards morning, and when the call of
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: a neighboring cock awakened him at sunrise, it was to
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: find one of his jurlings dead not ten feet from him.
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: The destroyer had crept in while he slept, and laughed
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: at the loaded gun across his knees, while proceeding to
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: feast on the choicest of the flock. Then alarm changed
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: to terror. What was this dreadful thing which came at
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: night and which left no trace behind? No one could answer,
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: And the deeper the mystery grew, the more the farmers
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: quaked and wondered. But later, upon a night, when the
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: moon was waning, another had seen a huge gray object
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: gliding towards the lot in which his sheep were corralled.
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: Then haste got the better of judgment, and the man
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: fired before the marauder got within good rain. The result
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: was only a handful of coarse, drab hair found upon
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: the ground. The next morning, then hounds were brought and
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: put upon the trail. They followed it, mouthing to the
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: entrance of Devil's gorge, and there lost the scent on
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: the boulders and the pebbly soil. But this gave a
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: clue to the men. Their enemy dwelt somewhere within the
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: gloomy recesses of that mighty cleft in the hills. So
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: thither they came night by night and watched the entrance
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: of that dismal place. But when they returned, unsuccessful to
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: their homes in the morning, it was to discover that
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: one of their unguarded flocks had been entered, and a
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: member of it lifeless. So dismay seized them, for it
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: seemed that they were helpless before the subtlety of this
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: mysterious assassin. Their nicest plans were frustrated, and their schemes
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: brought to naught. Then traps were laid, cunning devices of
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: wood and pitfalls screened with leaves and drips limbs. Sometimes
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: these were found sprung, sometimes unmolested, but sprung or set.
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: They never claimed a prey. Whatever it was that worried
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: their sheep seemed proof against all their wiles. Still, the
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: nightly visits continued, and dead mutton lay everywhere, and the
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: buzzards darkened the sky in their circling flight. It was
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: as though a plague had come upon the land. Driven
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: to desperation, the farmers took their guns and fell to
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: patrolling the dark ravines, especially Devil's Gorge, whither it was
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: surely known the destroyer had at one time gone. They
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: found nothing, though day by day they went in numbers
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: and scoured the defiles of the knobs. That for which
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: they saw remained in hiding, and came forth only when
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: the generous mantle of night covered his movements. Among the
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: many who had suffered from the nocturnal prowler's depredations was
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: one of sterner mold than his fellows, a tall, bony faced,
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: austere man who talked little and thought much. And his
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: thinking led him to this, When in the ceaseless round
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: of sleighing three of his sheep had been taken, he
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: mounted his horse one day without a word to any one,
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: and rode into town. When he came back after nightfall,
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: he brought with him a huge steel trap, big enough
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: to hold a bear. The next morning, he arose, while
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: the stars were yet shining, whistled his dog, and started
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: on foot to the Devil's Gorge, taking the trap with him.
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: The dog went in advance, and after him. The man
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: struggled through the damp hollow with his heavy burden over
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: his shoulder. Day dawned on the peaks above them, and
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: filtered faintly down into the depths through which they toiled. Suddenly,
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: the dog came rushing back to his master, his bushy
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: tail between his legs, and his whole body a quiver
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: from fright. The man quickened his pace and pushed forward, grimly,
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: drawing a large revolver from his pocket at the same time.
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: Rounding a bend in the gorge, he came upon that
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: which had sent the shepherd dog cowering back. Perched upon
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: a large boulder was a monstrous wolf, gray and grim
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: in the half light. Raising his arm, the man fired,
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: but the wolf leaped just before the flash and ran
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: in the other direction. The man followed as quickly as
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: he could, and presently saw the big form disappear in
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: a hole up the sloping side of the cliff. The
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: entrance of this den was worn as by the constant
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: passing of feet, and the man felt that he had
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: found the home of his enemy. So he set his
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: trap right under the lip of the crevice. Cunningly hiding
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: it with dead leaves and the rubbish of the woods,
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: and securing the strong chain to the trunk of a
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: dwarfed black oak. The first step the monster took on
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: his next raid would make him a prisoner. The steel
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: guives would hold him fast until his foe came and
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: killed him. In the dead of night, when the moon
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: had climbed the towering peak of Bald Knob, and the
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: hill farmers below kept silent watch for the coming of
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: the raider, a face appeared in the cleft on the
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: side of Devil's Gorge. There was the craft of a
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: lifetime in the burning eyes as they suspiciously swept the
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: ground immediately in front of his den. There was nothing
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: to awaken distrust except the tumbled condition of the earth.
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: But the old wolf hesitated. Then hunger, the one law
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: which the wood folk know not how to disobey, drove
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: him out. He rested one foot gingerly upon a bed
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: of leaves, lent a little more weight to it as
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: he prepared to draw the other one forward, and just
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: then two bands of steel a rose up out of
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: the ground and gripped him nearly to the knee with
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: a deep howl of wrath and terror. The old warrior
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: fought for his freedom. Around and around he took, gnatching
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: with impotent teeth at that awful thing which held him
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: like a vice. For the space of an hour, he
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: wrenched and struggled, Then, suddenly realizing the futility of his efforts,
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: he crouched upon his belly to rest. It was near
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: morning when he accepted the last resort and began the
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: heroic task of freeing himself. Before sun up, the man
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: who had set the trap came with exultation on his face,
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: confident of victory. He found the trampled ground the sprung trap,
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: and fastened in it the forefoot of a large wolf,
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: with part of the leg which had been gnawed in
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: two just below the knee. The spoiler of the folds
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: had baffled them to the end, but the flocks were
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: never more disturbed. End of story four. Story five of
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: The Race of the Swift by Edwin Carlyle Litsey. This
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Story five, the
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: Fight on the Tree Bridge. The forest lay black in
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: the close embrace of the odorous young knight. Soft balsamic
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: waves of air rose strata above strata, stealing between roughly
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: corrugated bowls and smooth trunks, and the satin soft stems
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: of the young saplings, who had yet to wind their spurs,
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: as knights of the wood against the mighty winds, permeating
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: every dell and dingle, every copse and tangle covered the
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: nostrils which these airwaves touched, tingled with delight, and the lungs,
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: which were bathed and invigorated by this life giving essence
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: from Nature's laboratory, expanded with a conscious strength and sent
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: the red blood bounding from them in its ceaseless errand.
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 1: The season was early summer. Beneath the interlacing boughs, it
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: was black, black as the night of Egypt's curse, solid
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: bank of gloom, which bore no outline and no shape.
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: So might it have been just before God uttered his
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: first command two things terrestrial. Here and there a tree
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: arose above its army of fellows, and the delicate traceri
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: of spreading branch and even of tapering leaf, was etched
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: upon the vastness overhead. In the sky, the faithful stars
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: were burning. Not the smallest speck of cloud veiled their
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: earnest faces, and The mellow radiance which their united powers
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: shed fell like a blessing upon the glad earth. But
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: the forest baffled the star rays, those gentle messengers which
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: came so timidly upon their missions of light. The leaves
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: at the tops of the trees gleamed glossy and green,
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: but they were a numerous multitude of shields to the
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: solitude below. The forest went off to the gullied hills
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: in one direction. In another, it sloped sharply down a
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: bluff to the river, with an accompaniment of running briers
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: and rotting like and covered stumps, and an occasional fallen
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: warrior of the wood which some storm had overcome. The
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: river was not wide. A half grown rabbit might have
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: swum it with ease had the water been stagnant, but
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: here it ran swift and deep between its high rock
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: bound banks. It flowed silently, though except for a low
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: purling where a drift had formed, and a sucking gurgle
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: where a ledge let down the bed. This river was
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: a source of much worry and concern to the wood people.
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: All of them could swim, some well and some very badly,
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: But more than one family circle had been bereft by
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: reason of the treacherous stream. For, in addition to the
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: velocity with which it wound its way through the wood,
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: shifting whirlpools lurked within it, against which the strongest swimmer's
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: power was as naught. There was a second forest across
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: the river, not as large as the first, it is true,
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: but still wide enough to shelter many a tiny dweller,
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: as well as given food. So when friend wanted to
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: visit friend, or cousin to call upon cousin, there was
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: this black, whispering barrier stretching between, mocking them with its
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: insinuating murmurs, and seeking to lure them to its faithless
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: and fatal bosom, with low cooings and shining siren arms.
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 1: And on certain moonlit nights in spring there had been
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: those who heard the mating call wafted through the stillness,
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: coming in answer, they had suddenly found themselves standing on
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: the brink of that taunting river, while from the other
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: shore the cry would come again, tender and appealing. Then
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: hot blood and the madness of the season would have
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: their way, and the young buck belonged to what family
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: he may, would put discretion behind him and glide out
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: into the stream with the echo of his mistress call
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: as a beacon and a guide. On rare occasions, one
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: would make the passage safely. More often, as he battled
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: with the current, snaky fingers would shoot up from beneath
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: and grip him, whirl him round and round in maddening circles,
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: and finally drag him down with the hiss of victory,
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: and his lifeless carcass might have been seen afloat the
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: next day, miles away. All this was before the great storm.
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: After that had come and gone. Things were different with
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 1: the forest people. It was at the close of a
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 1: day in midsummer. For weeks there had been no rain.
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: Day after day, the sun had come up, had scorched
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: and burned and seared, and had gone down. The leaves
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: curled upon the trees, the grass blades became brittle. The
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: rabbit runs were so hot at midday that they hurt
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: the pads of the cotton tails, and they lay panting
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: in their burrows waiting for night. Then it was that
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: the wood people blessed the river, for there was no
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: water anywhere else. The river sank foot by foot, leaving cracked,
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: baked stretches of yellow clay as it receded. Still it
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: ran doggedly and breathed defiance. It would take more than
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: one dry summer to rob it of its terror and strength.
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: At last, there came a day which was borne with
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: portents of some awful thing to come. The sun rose hazy,
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: like a ball of blood. The air, which had been hot,
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: became stifling. It pressed on the chest and burned in
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: the throat. The chipmunks and the squirrels sought their nests wildly.
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: The birds went deeper into the forest. By noon, all
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: of the little people who had a home were in it,
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: but so far nothing had happened. Mid afternoon, a growl
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: of wrath came from the west, and a long leaden
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: band pushed its edge over the horizon. A terrible silence
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: hung over the forest, the unnatural calm which precedes some
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: great calamity. Then a chill breath stirred the upper leaves,
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: followed by gusts of wind. Almost icy. Night came long
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: before its time, and the sky, which for weeks had
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: been a shining surface of blinding light, became a seething,
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: tossing cauldron of billowy clouds and murky vapors, and threading
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 1: through all the tumbled mass was a vivid network of flame.
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: The chariots of the storm came thundering down the slopes
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: of the sky, and the forest shivered and bent and
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: tossed its thousands of arms in agony. Thick limbs were
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: rent from writhing, groaning bodies and cast furiously down. Some
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: veteran giants, weakened by the natural decay of years, mingled
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: their death cry with a hoarse bellow of the destroying wind,
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: and fell, crashing and quivering to the earth. Then came
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: rain and a cessation of the demoniac fury. It was
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: a night which the wood dwellers never forgot. Birds were
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: killed by the dozens, and the lives of many of
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: the four footed kind were given up as well. The
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: secret trails were obliterated and blocked, and the runways of
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: the weasel and the rabbit became a trackless wilderness. Long
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: before the sun arose the next morning, an old raccoon
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: cautiously poked his black nose out of a hole in
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: a maple tree near the first fork. This raccoon was
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: the oldest and the wiliest of the wood folk that
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: lived in the forest. An old boor coon was he,
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: and many years had passed over his wise little head.
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: Once before, in his youth, such a storm as this
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: had swept over the forest. His mother had him out,
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: teaching him how to stalk ground sparrows, and the storm
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: came so suddenly that they had no time to reach home,
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: so had taken shelter under a shelving rock on the
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: bluff by the river. He had weathered that storm successfully,
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: and in later years had paid scant heed to nature's
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: purses of anger. A raccoon, of all things, was surely
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: smart enough to keep out of the way of a
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: falling limb. The whiskers about the muzzle of the old
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: coon were gray, His eyes were black and beady, and
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: some wonderment was expressed in them as he rolled them
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 1: around on the once familiar scene. He had not slept
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: the night before, for his house had shook and creaked
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: its warnings hour after hour, and the hungry voice of
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: the wind had howled down at him from the hole
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: above his head. Everything was changed. Outside. A neighbor tree
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: lay prostrate at the foot of his own. A broken
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 1: limb sagged at the side of his door, and everywhere
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 1: was disorder and destruction. A trifle dazed by it all,
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 1: in spite of his superior wisdom, the old fellow slid
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: back into his den and fell to crunching the bones
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: of a chicken he had captured two nights before. Though
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: the storm had hopelessly tangled the secret ways which had
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: been nosed doubt and trodden with so much care, and
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: had been the death of many of their kind, yet
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: it had brought its blessings too, in that it had
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: conquered for the people of the wild their enemy, the river.
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: It was in this way. At a certain point, on
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: the southern bank of the river, an old elm tree
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: grew quite near the edge of the water. The bank
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: had crumbled, and the tree had leaned until at length
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: its hawk hung almost over the center of the stream.
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: Nothing but its great roots, twined about hidden rocks, kept
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: it from falling directly across from the elm. Close to
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: the shore on the other bank, an ancient sycamore had stood,
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: leaning very slightly towards the river. Now, when the storm
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: came down from the north, the sycamore's roots gave way,
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: and it swayed and fell its top by some strange
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: freak lodging in the fork of the elm, and the
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: force of its fall wedged it in firmly and snugly.
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: And behold, here was a bridge for the feet of
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: the wood folk, and they could pass high and dry
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: and laugh down at their baffled foe. There was but
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: one passage way for the many members of the many tribes,
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: and naturally trouble arose sometimes, And there were nights when
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: the river smiled placidly and opened its arms and waited.
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: Sometimes one victim came, and sometimes two. For the bridge
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: became the scene of many a midnight tragedy and moonlighted frey.
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 1: And in the end it was the river which was
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: the victor. After all, it did not have to seek
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: its prey. It simply waited and took its tribute, very
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: much as of old, though in a different manner. So
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: the years went by. Mates were chosen, families were born,
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: Battles were fought. The strong devoured the weak, much as
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: the human folks do. In another way, the old raccoon
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: still lived in its maple, though others of his kind
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: often harbored by threes, fours or e even sixes in
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 1: a single tree. This aristocrat was not sociable, and preferred
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: a hermit existence, except once a year when the sap
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: of spring renewed his youth and sent him a courting.
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: Then a sleek, mild eyed little mate would come and
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: keep house for him until the children were old enough
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: to hear a dog running half a mile away. Then,
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: quite abruptly, upon the return of mother and offspring, some
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: day they would be met by a white fanged visage
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: and ordered to go elsewhere for a bed. The forest
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: was the abode of little people. Nothing larger than the
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: raccoon found a home there. He was practically lord of
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: the domain, partly because of his age and sagacity, partly
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: because of his might as a warrior. His record was
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: three dogs whipped in single fight. He did not fear
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: any dog, so long as the men did not come
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: poking around with their blinding lanterns and their guns. And
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: it might be told further that when he set foot
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: upon one end of the tree bridge, he usually went
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: to the other end. In a field at the edge
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: of the smaller forest was a Negro cabin, where lived
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: the black people, with a horde of tattered children and
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: two dogs. One was a shepherd gentle calm, white, intelligent.
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 1: The other was a coon dog, little, muscular, aggressive. A
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: coon dog is as distinctive a breed as is the
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: collie or the spaniel. It is true he is an
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: ignoble mixture of many, but it takes the certain and
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: correct blending of various strains to make a coon dog.
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: He must have the nose of a pointer, the speed
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: of a greyhound, the strength of a mastiff, and the
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: stubbornness of a bulldog. The model coon dog is low, short,
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: and heavy set. His back and sides are nearly black,
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: and his throat, belly, and feet are a reddish brown.
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 1: Such was the dog which hung about the Negro cabin
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: till hunger sent him nosing along the floor of the forest.
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: He had railed coons long enough to know that they
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: never touch earth in the day, and that this scent
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: is freshest in the early part of the night, just
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: after a light rain. So that night and spring, when
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 1: the soft balsamic odors rose strata above strata, the coon dog,
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 1: impelled by the pain in his stomach, which was like
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: a hundred tearing claws, set off at a smart trot
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: through the sassafras bushes and the dewberry vines. Heading for
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: the smaller forest on the southern side of the river,
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 1: his keen nostrils revealed a trail before he had gone
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: a dozen yards in the wood, and with a low
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: wine he followed it with amazing swiftness and accuracy. In
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: and out it led, and the smell which the trader
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: feet had left grew stronger. Almost the dog gave tongue
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: so close he knew his quarry must be when he stopped, confused,
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: with his fore feet resting on the slanting trunk of
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: a tree. He had come to the bridge of the
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: forest people, and the hot trail left up the incline
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: before him. Off in the shadows near to one side,
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: something called a sharp barking cry. The dog cocked his
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 1: ears and jerked his head around, but quickly decided that
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: he had nothing to do with whatever it was that
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: had temporarily engaged his attention, and again turned to the bridge,
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: restless and eager. He had never attempted its passage, but
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: its surface was broad, and the bark rough and hunger
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 1: is a stern master. Quickly he squatted and leaped, thrust
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 1: out his claws so that they caught and held and
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: In another moment, he was creeping warily up the tree,
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: with the scent still warm beneath his guiding nostrils. But
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: other ears had heard that low mating call which the
• 1:23:47
  Speaker 1: dog had ignored. The old boar coon of the maple tree,
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 1: driven by loneliness and the magic of the season, was
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 1: ambling in his hump backed awkward way along a narrow
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: path curving down the bluff on the northern side of
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: the river, bent on securing a bride for perhaps the
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: twentieth time. He stopped and listened alertly at the circey sound,
• 1:24:10
  Speaker 1: then moved swiftly towards the tree bridge to respond in person.
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: With remarkable agility for his years, he gained a footing
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 1: on the sycamore trunk, showing his teeth with a low
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 1: growl of displeasure, as the strong odor of opossum told
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: him that one had just passed that way. A few
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: feet further on, his ears detected a scratching sound on
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: the other end of the bridge. Some impudent cousin had
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: dared to risk his anger, for was not this his
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: bridge when he chose to set his royal foot upon it?
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: He would make him give way and retreat or cast
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: him off, for he had done the like before. On
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: Up the ghostly white trunk of the fallen sycamore, he glided,
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: his fur, rising in wrath, as the scratching beyond grew
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: louder and louder, and came closer and closer, gaining the
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 1: apex of the bridge. First, the raccoon thrust his black
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: muzzle over the fork where the two trees touched, and
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: not five feet away came the coon dog timorously but steadily.
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: The ring tailed warrior did not attempt to choke the
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 1: fierce snarl which rasped between his white fangs. What was
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: this upon his bridge? A four footed thing which disgraced
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: his shape by living with and serving the human people?
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: A dog? The intruder stopped, sank on his belly, and
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 1: gave back a savage growl, his gage of battle. Below
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 1: the river dimpled in the starlight, and murmured joyfully along
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: the shores. Carefully, the dog inched forward, his mouth open,
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: his upper lip curled back. The coon waited, his beady eyes,
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: watching the play of every muscle in the form of
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: his antagonists, and the curving claws on all four feet
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: shot out to their fullest length. These were his main defense.
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: His teeth were secondary. Both animals were at a disadvantage.
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: The dog was out of his element, and his footing
• 1:26:10
  Speaker 1: was very precarious. On the other hand, the coon, while
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 1: perfectly at home, never waged his battles in a tree.
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 1: When he fought, it was lying flat on his back
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: on the ground. But the guile of many years was
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: in his sly old brain. And where the trees locked
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: was a little hollow, safely bulwarked by the peculiar way
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 1: in which the branches had entwined. As the dog leaped
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 1: at his throat, he threw himself on his back and
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 1: struck out with all four feet at once. But the
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 1: starved alien knew his business well. Ignoring the stinging rents
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 1: which the hind claws made, he bore the four legs
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 1: down with the force of his fall, and his jaws
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 1: gained the coveted hold without which no coon can be conquered.
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: But that was not all the battle. Fiercely the old
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 1: boar wrestled, ripping the body of his foe with lightning
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: like movements of his strong legs, gnashing his teeth in
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: a vain effort to use them, and struggling for breath.
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: The dog bore his awful punishment like a martyr, lying
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: as closely as he could so as to impede the
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: other's movements, but never uttering a cry of pain, and
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 1: wrenching and tugging at the furry throat over which his
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 1: jaws had closed. In the intensity of their joint efforts,
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 1: neither had a thought of caution. Presently the raccoon was
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: out of the hollow where he had lain to receive
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 1: the attack. There was a slip, a scuffle, and through
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 1: twenty feet of space, two writhing bodies, locked so closely
• 1:27:47
  Speaker 1: as to seem almost one fell with a loud splash
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 1: into the liquid depths below. And so the river received
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 1: them both, and a whirlpool sucked them down. Now the
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: bark on the tree the bridge is almost worn away
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 1: from the constant passing of little feet which before had
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: been afraid. End of story five, Story six of The
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: Race of the Swift by Edwin Carlyle Litsey. This LibriVox
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Story six, The Guardian
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: of the Flock in a ravine where men seldom place
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 1: their feet, a rod or more up a rocky, bushy
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: hillside in a hole almost concealed by an overhanging dewberry
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 1: bush lay a dog, A big dog, his head huge, disfigured, terrible,
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 1: rested upon the earth between his paws, and the lids
• 1:28:46
  Speaker 1: had fallen over the fierce eyes, which glowed with changing
• 1:28:50
  Speaker 1: lights when open. The big dog was asleep. His backbone
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 1: was a succession of knots with small depressions between It
• 1:28:59
  Speaker 1: terminated a tawny stump, perhaps six inches long, which stood
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: for a tail. The bones above his hips jutted out
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 1: like door knobs. His flanks were sunk in cavernously and
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: palpitated with each sharply in drawn breath. There were scars
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: on the ribbed body, old scars which had healed bare
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: and blackly, others where the aggrieved flesh was beginning to join,
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: and still others which showed raw and red, almost dripping.
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: And about these a tiny gnats had gathered and sat
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: in rows at their feast, while their colorless bodies quickly
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 1: took on a crimson shade. A large green fly boomed
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: into the hole in the hill. Zigzagged about over the
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: recumbent form, and then plumped his spiked feet down in
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 1: one of the rowst of the wounds. A convulsive shiver
• 1:29:51
  Speaker 1: passed over the side of the dog, and the green
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: fly lost his foothold, but not to be cheated out
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: of his meal. He returned more cautiously, and standing among
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 1: the scant, scrubby hair at the edge of the moist fissure,
• 1:30:04
  Speaker 1: he stretched out his neck and thrust out his tongue.
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 1: The mussels along the bruised side moved again, but more slightly,
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 1: and the fly and the gnats ate and drank their fill.
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 1: The dog's high shoulder blades seemed ready to burst through
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: their covering. There was a deep hollow between them. The
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: neck was short, thick, bull like. One ear was bleeding,
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 1: the other was gone, and a tangled mass of gnarled
• 1:30:29
  Speaker 1: flesh marked where it had been. About the grim muzzle
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: were some patches of sheep wool, draggled and red. The
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 1: dog had been out nearly all night, and it was
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 1: now early morning. He had traveled many miles since the
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: sun had set the day before, ranging back and forth, skulking,
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: hiding waiting. Before he returned to his hiding place, he
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: had battened on blood and fought a battle. The dog
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: had no name, no lineage, no friends, no home, simply
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 1: the dog. He bore within him the strains of a
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: badly mixed ancestry, and had been hated and cuffed since puppyhood,
• 1:31:09
  Speaker 1: hanging to the outskirts of a straying gypsy band. He
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: had come to the neighborhood where he now abode a
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 1: farmer whose flocks were beginning to multiply. Swiftly saw the uncouth,
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: bony frame and the defiant face, and thought that here
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 1: was a fitting guardian for his ewes and lambs. He
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: bought him for a fifty cent piece and set him
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: to watch over his sheep. But there came a night
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: when the farmer's allowance of food did not satisfy him,
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 1: when the hard bread and cold stuff flung to him
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: only wetted his appetite. That night he trotted to his
• 1:31:42
  Speaker 1: post with guile in his heart, But hour after hour
• 1:31:46
  Speaker 1: he held himself in check, though at times almost rubbing
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: shoulders with his fleece covered charges. It was past the
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: turning of night, and his stomach was empty. In herding him,
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: the master was asleep. The night was so still. He
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: was hungry, hungry, and had never known a law. All
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: around him sleeping patches of white dotted the grass. He
• 1:32:09
  Speaker 1: was lying down too, but his red green eyes were wide,
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 1: for he was the guardian of the flock. There is
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: a point that marks the limit of endurance. Directly. The
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: dog arose, swiftly, silently, stood rigid for the briefest space
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: of time, then launched himself at the soft throat of
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 1: a half grown lamb, a stifled bleat a struggle which
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 1: ended with its inception, And the traitor lay upon his
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 1: belly and lapped the warm blood and worried at the
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 1: tender neck of his victim. That was the first. When
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: the farmer came out after sun up the next morning,
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 1: he found the mangled bodies of five of his lambs
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: that had been born that spring, and he, whom he
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: had placed to watch over them gone. In this way
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 1: was the dog accursed and outlawed, and the heart of
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 1: every person and thing was set against him. He, for
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 1: his part, fostered hate by day and raked it by night.
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: Every step he took was fraught with danger. Men were
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 1: against him, and the men's dogs were against him. He
• 1:33:13
  Speaker 1: soon learned that the men carried long sticks that spat flame,
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 1: and at one time, when the fire jumped out and
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 1: the stick was pointed towards him. He felt a sharp
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 1: pain in the fleshy part of his thigh, and blood
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 1: ran down his leg. Then he grew more cautious and
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 1: ventured out only at night, when he had to smell
• 1:33:33
  Speaker 1: and feel his way. He could baffle the men in
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 1: the night, and his own blood kind were a little
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 1: slow in chasing him, but they had fallen upon him
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 1: once unexpectedly, and he was a sorry sight when he
• 1:33:45
  Speaker 1: at last broke from them and escaped to cover. His
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: wounds upon that occasion were long in healing, for there
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: is venom in a dog fang. He was sick for
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 1: many days and ate nothing but certain herbs, which instinct
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: told him would counteract the poison in his system. He
• 1:34:03
  Speaker 1: grew well after a long period of pain and weakness,
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 1: and upon his next raid he came too near the
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 1: house and had one of his ears shot off by
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 1: a farmer's boy. That night, he crept back without his spoil,
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 1: staggering up the ravine with a red trail behind him.
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: He scratched away the dirt on one side of his
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: den and laid his wounded head on the cool, black earth.
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 1: This made the blood to clot and to finally stop running.
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: But the dog was so weak that he lay over
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: on his side, catching his breath in jerks. Thereafter, he
• 1:34:38
  Speaker 1: fasted many days because of his spent strength. But at
• 1:34:42
  Speaker 1: last he essayed to crawl to the back of his
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 1: hole and feebly excavate some provender which he had hidden
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: against this very day, a fortnight ago, when he had eaten,
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 1: new energy began to diffuse itself through his worn body,
• 1:34:57
  Speaker 1: and once more he grew well, but more ugly than ever,
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: And in his heart was nothing but vindictive hate and
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: treachery and craft. He was an outcast, hunted by every
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 1: living thing that was big enough to harass and kill.
• 1:35:13
  Speaker 1: He had skulked and run all his life. Now things
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 1: would change. He would turn hunter and harry and slay
• 1:35:20
  Speaker 1: until they made an end of him. The big green fly,
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 1: forgetting caution in his hungry zeal, probed his lance like
• 1:35:28
  Speaker 1: tongue a little too deep in the sensitive flesh. The
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 1: dog awoke and snapped viciously at his tormentor, but the
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 1: popeyes of the fly saw the movement, and he escaped
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 1: the cavernous jaws projected towards him. The dog fell to
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: licking his new wounds. Between the hours of twelve and
• 1:35:46
  Speaker 1: four of the past night, he had sallied forth and
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: found the flock in a pen near the barn, unguarded.
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 1: As he thought to bring one down was play. He
• 1:35:57
  Speaker 1: gorged himself on the blood and was turning to another
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 1: victim when a form larger than his own leaped at
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 1: his throat from the shadows. The dog wheeled and the
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: fangs of the attacker closed in his side. For a while,
• 1:36:11
  Speaker 1: they wrestled silently, save for deep throated snarls. Then of
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 1: a sudden, the dog broke away, leaped from the pen
• 1:36:18
  Speaker 1: and ran. The wolfhound attempted to follow, but his feet
• 1:36:22
  Speaker 1: slipped on the blood soaked ground. As he made his jump,
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 1: his breast struck the top rail of the pen, and
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 1: he fell back and did not make the effort again.
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 1: The dog sought his den, resentful, sore, desperate. That night,
• 1:36:38
  Speaker 1: he slept from weariness. In the early morning, the green
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 1: fly woke him. In his round, ugly, disfigured head was
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: born the thought that he would turn hunter now and
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: wreak vengeance on his persecutors. Throughout the day, he lay
• 1:36:53
  Speaker 1: still and rested, licking his sores at intervals and dozing
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 1: from time to time. When the black knight came, he arose,
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: stretched himself and yawned hugely, shook his big body vigorously,
• 1:37:06
  Speaker 1: and stalked forth with the fell, intent in his heart
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 1: to kill, kill, kill, With his keen nostrils set to
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: catch every odor the breeze might bring. His one macerated
• 1:37:19
  Speaker 1: ear cocked for the slightest sound, he trotted down the
• 1:37:22
  Speaker 1: ravine and soon emerged into the open country. He had
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: come to know the neighborhood well, who sat up late,
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 1: who kept close watch, who slumbered careless of his stalk,
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 1: past houses where lights burned in the windows, making detours
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 1: to avoid possible detection. Crouching low on his haunches when
• 1:37:42
  Speaker 1: he heard footsteps, the dog pursued his way through the night,
• 1:37:46
  Speaker 1: mile after mile, over fences and ditches, through the corn
• 1:37:50
  Speaker 1: along the roadside when it ran parallel with his purpose.
• 1:37:54
  Speaker 1: At last he passed the boundary which had marked all
• 1:37:57
  Speaker 1: of his wanderings. Heretofore, and as he entered this unexplored territory,
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 1: he moved more freely and with less caution. His trained
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 1: muscle scented a familiar smell through a rail fence. He
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 1: dragged himself, scratching his torn side cruelly on a splinter
• 1:38:14
  Speaker 1: as he did so, then started down a hill slope briskly.
• 1:38:19
  Speaker 1: Soon he found them alone, sleeping helpless. One by one,
• 1:38:24
  Speaker 1: he pulled them down. As each fell, the survivors would
• 1:38:28
  Speaker 1: huddle closer together, dazed and afraid. First the lambs, then
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 1: the ewes, then the bucks. The blood lust grew in
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 1: the dog's savage heart with each fresh massacre. The first
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: four had seated his appetite and filled his maw to repletion,
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 1: but his mission was to kill without mercy. His strong
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 1: jaws snapped out their lives one by one, and the
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: bell Weather went last. He was old and had seen
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 1: killers at work before. He had always kept well in
• 1:38:59
  Speaker 1: the background until the bloodthirsty invader had got his fill
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 1: and gone away to night. He had stayed on the
• 1:39:06
  Speaker 1: further side of the flock, expecting the killer to leave
• 1:39:09
  Speaker 1: after each victim, but he did not leave, and kept
• 1:39:13
  Speaker 1: drawing nearer to him instead. The end of it was
• 1:39:16
  Speaker 1: that the Bellweather ran, but there was something that ran
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 1: faster than his shadow, something that pounced heavily upon his back,
• 1:39:24
  Speaker 1: and then it was all over. The butchery was done
• 1:39:28
  Speaker 1: back over the path which he had come went the murderer.
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 1: His chops were gory, his shoulders and fore legs were bloody.
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 1: His whole body was streaked and splashed with the tell
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 1: tale red. But he did not care. Everything was against him.
• 1:39:44
  Speaker 1: He was against everything. There would be no backsliding, no
• 1:39:48
  Speaker 1: capitulation until death closed the scene. Back over the path
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 1: which he had come he went a fearful figure, big,
• 1:39:57
  Speaker 1: deformed with wounds, drunken with blood. He held to the
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 1: highway now so long as it did not run out
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: of his course, For he was possessed of a reckless
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 1: bravery which took into account neither friend nor foe. It
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 1: was the still hour of the night, the hour when
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 1: life ebbs lowest in the hearts of those who sleep,
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 1: the hour just before the rooster smell the coming day,
• 1:40:22
  Speaker 1: and awake to give the alarm. He met nothing, nothing
• 1:40:26
  Speaker 1: opposed him. Just when the darkness began to quiver before
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: the bare hint of a croaching light, the dog felt,
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 1: rather than saw, some object moving awkwardly in the road
• 1:40:37
  Speaker 1: before him. It was not large, and lay close to earth.
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 1: The pads of his feet bore him noiselessly forward. The
• 1:40:45
  Speaker 1: terrible jaws opened snapped, the head was flung contemptuously to
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 1: one side. There was a thud, and a dead opossum
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 1: lay in a patch of huckleberry bushes by the old
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 1: rock fence. In a hall ough tree in the woods
• 1:41:01
  Speaker 1: not far away, some little opossums lay piled upon each other, asleep.
• 1:41:06
  Speaker 1: The mother's supply of milk had run low, and she
• 1:41:09
  Speaker 1: had started in quest of food. The youngsters would sleep
• 1:41:13
  Speaker 1: until hunger awakened them, and then life's tragedy would soon
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 1: be over. The dog quickened his pace because daylight abroad
• 1:41:22
  Speaker 1: meant death for him. Through the dim first light of
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 1: the coming day, he ran easily. It is true he
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 1: had covered many miles that night, but his stomach was
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: full of the rich, hot life blood he had drained
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 1: from palpitating throats, and new strength had been imparted to him.
• 1:41:40
  Speaker 1: Misty cobwebs hung about his head like a veil, gathered
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 1: from his passage through the bushes and underbrush. His tongue lolled,
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: dripping from his deadly jaws. In this way, he came
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 1: to the ravine just as the gray dawn was beginning
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 1: to be silvered by the rising sun across the hollow
• 1:41:59
  Speaker 1: from his den. On the opposite slope, where some hickory
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 1: nut trees were growing, a silent figure stood with a
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 1: gun in its hands. A half grown boy had come
• 1:42:08
  Speaker 1: out after squirrels, knowing that the bushy tailed, active little
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 1: creatures sought their breakfast just before sun up, when the
• 1:42:16
  Speaker 1: air was fresh and moist from the night dews. He
• 1:42:19
  Speaker 1: had stood still for a long time, as one must
• 1:42:22
  Speaker 1: who hunt squirrels, and presently his eyes were drawn by
• 1:42:25
  Speaker 1: something moving on the opposite side of the hollow. He
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 1: looked and saw a large, dark brown shape disappear as
• 1:42:32
  Speaker 1: it were into the earth. The boy rubbed his eyes
• 1:42:36
  Speaker 1: and looked again, and then he discovered the orifice under
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 1: the dewberry bush. He had found the hiding place of
• 1:42:42
  Speaker 1: the scourge. A squirrel barked in a tree not ten
• 1:42:46
  Speaker 1: feet away and scampered about on a limb in plain view.
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 1: The boy did not shoot. He tucked the gun under
• 1:42:53
  Speaker 1: his arm instead and walked on his toes for a
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 1: quarter of a mile. Then he broke into a ruck
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 1: and arrived at home breathless. A few minutes later, the dog,
• 1:43:05
  Speaker 1: with a full stomach and a contented mind, was sleeping.
• 1:43:09
  Speaker 1: He had lain down with his wounded side next to earth,
• 1:43:12
  Speaker 1: so that the flies would not annoy him. But into
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 1: his dreams of slaughter and feasting crept some disturbing force,
• 1:43:19
  Speaker 1: something insistent, alarming, if intangible and vague. So strong was
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 1: it that the dog grudgingly opened his eyes a tiny slit,
• 1:43:29
  Speaker 1: and almost at the same time, his ear cocked up,
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 1: the end of it hanging limply because it had been
• 1:43:35
  Speaker 1: bitten through at some former encounter. The eyes opened wider
• 1:43:40
  Speaker 1: and rolled craftily towards the mouth of the lair. A
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 1: second more and the big round head was raised quickly.
• 1:43:48
  Speaker 1: There was a sudden stiffening throughout the strong, rugged frame,
• 1:43:52
  Speaker 1: and the dog arose to his feet and stole forward.
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 1: He crouched low and peered out expectantly. Directly beneath him
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 1: was a mixed crowd of men and dogs. All of
• 1:44:03
  Speaker 1: the men carried those sticks which he had learned to dread.
• 1:44:07
  Speaker 1: They were all looking towards his refuge, and some were
• 1:44:10
  Speaker 1: pointing it had come at last. He had tarried too
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 1: long at his killing, and somehow the daylight had betrayed him.
• 1:44:17
  Speaker 1: But not a tremor of fear passed over the dog.
• 1:44:20
  Speaker 1: He merely sank to the earth and watched a succession
• 1:44:24
  Speaker 1: of sharp clicks came to his ear. The men swung
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: their sticks forward and started up the slope in a body,
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 1: calling the dogs with them. About half way up the hill,
• 1:44:35
  Speaker 1: they halted. One picked up a stone and flung it
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 1: towards the hole in the hill. One of the dogs
• 1:44:41
  Speaker 1: detached himself from the others and sped after it. He
• 1:44:44
  Speaker 1: was a coon dog, small and venturesome. He poked his
• 1:44:47
  Speaker 1: head under the dewberry bush inquisitively. The sunlight outside was
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 1: still in his eyes, and he thrust part of his
• 1:44:54
  Speaker 1: body into catching a scent which warranted investigation. The move
• 1:45:00
  Speaker 1: was fatal, like a bolt of lightning. Some curved fang
• 1:45:03
  Speaker 1: store his throat open and without a sound, and was
• 1:45:07
  Speaker 1: scarcely a struggle. The coon dog rolled back down the
• 1:45:10
  Speaker 1: slope dead at the feet of his master above. The
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 1: dog licked his chops and waited. The men tried to
• 1:45:17
  Speaker 1: urge the wolfhound forward, but he slunk back, afraid. Among
• 1:45:22
  Speaker 1: those of his own blood kind who had come forth
• 1:45:25
  Speaker 1: to take the outcast was a half breed part bull,
• 1:45:29
  Speaker 1: part mastiff. He was a powerful fellow and sullen looking.
• 1:45:33
  Speaker 1: His owner took him by the collar and led him
• 1:45:35
  Speaker 1: up the hill a few feet, then spoke to him
• 1:45:38
  Speaker 1: and pointed towards the hole. The half breed seemed to understand,
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 1: for his hackles rose bristling, and he advanced slowly and warily.
• 1:45:47
  Speaker 1: Just in front of the overhanging bush. He stopped, thrust
• 1:45:50
  Speaker 1: his head forward, and stood as a setter stands when
• 1:45:54
  Speaker 1: he holds a flock of birds. The dog inside arose
• 1:45:58
  Speaker 1: and made ready for the attack. It came speedily, without
• 1:46:02
  Speaker 1: sound or warning. The half breed leaped and they closed.
• 1:46:06
  Speaker 1: The dog had sprung forward to meet his foe, and
• 1:46:09
  Speaker 1: in the fearful struggle that ensued, they both appeared on
• 1:46:13
  Speaker 1: the hillside, full in the open. Urged on by the
• 1:46:16
  Speaker 1: voices of the men, the other dogs closed in two,
• 1:46:20
  Speaker 1: and the tawny shape of the outcast became the center
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 1: of a whirling vortex of animal fury. Down the slope
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 1: they all rolled together, the men cheering on their allies
• 1:46:31
  Speaker 1: and trying to find an opportunity to use their weapons.
• 1:46:34
  Speaker 1: Down down to the little stream that ran through the ravine.
• 1:46:38
  Speaker 1: The battle went, the half breed never losing the throat
• 1:46:41
  Speaker 1: hold which he took at the first leap. There on
• 1:46:45
  Speaker 1: the bank of the rivulet. The tragedy was played. The
• 1:46:48
  Speaker 1: men said they had never seen such a fight. End
• 1:46:53
  Speaker 1: of Sorry six. Story seven of the Race of the
• 1:47:02
  Speaker 1: Swift by Edwin Carlyle Litsey. This LibriVox recording is in
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 1: the public domain. Story seven The King of the Northern Slope.
• 1:47:12
  Speaker 1: Along a path which a man's eye could not have seen,
• 1:47:15
  Speaker 1: but which even at night was visible to the kind
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 1: that dwell in the hills, a long, lithe object passed
• 1:47:22
  Speaker 1: swiftly and without noise. It was down a knob slope
• 1:47:26
  Speaker 1: in a diagonal course. The object came, and the night
• 1:47:30
  Speaker 1: was only star bright, for the moon was late in coming.
• 1:47:34
  Speaker 1: This quiet figure, which a glided serpent like on its way,
• 1:47:38
  Speaker 1: was about three feet in length. Its slender, round body
• 1:47:41
  Speaker 1: was covered with short, thick hair, drab and mottled brown
• 1:47:46
  Speaker 1: in color, and had only a stump of a tail
• 1:47:48
  Speaker 1: about three inches long. The head was bullet round, the short,
• 1:47:53
  Speaker 1: stubby ears pricked and alert, and the nose muscles distended
• 1:47:57
  Speaker 1: and twitched with every cautious step. The padded feet of
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 1: this night rambler were almost as noiseless as the star
• 1:48:04
  Speaker 1: rays fall. Scarcely a leaf was overturned scarcely a dead
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 1: twig snapped his body curving sinuously, would not have brushed
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 1: an ant from the stem of a sapling. The king
• 1:48:16
  Speaker 1: of the Northern Slope was hungry, and his present errand
• 1:48:20
  Speaker 1: was to the sheepfold or pig sty of the nearest farmer.
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 1: He was the biggest wild cat in that part of
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 1: the country, and his rain on the northern slope was
• 1:48:30
  Speaker 1: respected and acknowledged by all the four footed things that
• 1:48:34
  Speaker 1: harbored and hunted in the hills. The mountains far eastward
• 1:48:38
  Speaker 1: had dwindled away here to a chain of knobs bisecting
• 1:48:42
  Speaker 1: the country from east to west. Miniature mountains. They were
• 1:48:46
  Speaker 1: indeed wooded, rocky, untillable, and lonely. Wild Cats, foxes, and
• 1:48:52
  Speaker 1: the smaller gentry of the forest squirrels, raccoons and apossums
• 1:48:56
  Speaker 1: lived and throve upon this chain of knobs. But gradually
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 1: those that had lived on the northern slope went over
• 1:49:03
  Speaker 1: the crest to the other side, and left the field
• 1:49:06
  Speaker 1: to the undisputed possession of the big cat, who did
• 1:49:09
  Speaker 1: not care to have his preserves poached upon by the
• 1:49:13
  Speaker 1: ragtags and bobtails of creation. Once a year he would
• 1:49:17
  Speaker 1: go questing for a mate, boldly invading the southern side
• 1:49:20
  Speaker 1: of the range and not coming back until he had
• 1:49:23
  Speaker 1: found the lady of his choice. Then, after a while
• 1:49:26
  Speaker 1: a root of whelps would be borne in the secret
• 1:49:29
  Speaker 1: layer of the king, And when these were scarcely able
• 1:49:32
  Speaker 1: to fall about the floor of their birthplace and play
• 1:49:35
  Speaker 1: and bite at each other's sought off tales, the king
• 1:49:38
  Speaker 1: would one fine day hustle them and their mother his
• 1:49:42
  Speaker 1: erstwhile bride out of his home and over the crest
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 1: of the range, to fare good or ill as luck
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: would send. At least, this was the story that the
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 1: human people told, and this much goes to support the
• 1:49:56
  Speaker 1: tale that, whereas those farmers living beyond the line of
• 1:49:59
  Speaker 1: knot to the southward, lost but few hogs from nocturnal depredations,
• 1:50:05
  Speaker 1: those living to the north were in nightly fear that
• 1:50:08
  Speaker 1: morning would show a trail of blood from barnyard or pen.
• 1:50:12
  Speaker 1: And the men people had sat together night after night
• 1:50:15
  Speaker 1: in council, with heads bobbing and tongues wagging, trying to
• 1:50:19
  Speaker 1: evolve a plan whereby to capture or destroy this scourge
• 1:50:23
  Speaker 1: of their fields and pastures. But they had failed. The
• 1:50:27
  Speaker 1: truest nosed hounds of the various packs scattered around, could
• 1:50:31
  Speaker 1: not keep his trail, but would lose the scent and
• 1:50:34
  Speaker 1: return crestfallen and shamefaced. He was never seen within gunshot,
• 1:50:40
  Speaker 1: and they could not find his lair. But one thing
• 1:50:43
  Speaker 1: they knew that nothing else. Ran at night on the
• 1:50:46
  Speaker 1: northern slope, picking his way as daintily as a satin
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 1: shod miss tips across a dirty street, from carriage door
• 1:50:54
  Speaker 1: to house door. The king pursued his diagonal course, which
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 1: would eventually bring him to a field adjoining the garden
• 1:51:01
  Speaker 1: of a farmhouse. He had but little more than half
• 1:51:05
  Speaker 1: completed his journey when to his quick ears came a
• 1:51:08
  Speaker 1: sharp snap, and something struck him sharply on the back,
• 1:51:12
  Speaker 1: just behind his shoulders. He bared his teeth with a
• 1:51:15
  Speaker 1: low growl of wrath, and smote back blindly with one paw,
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 1: which was remmed with five curving claws unsheathed with lightning swiftness.
• 1:51:26
  Speaker 1: At the same time, there came the sound of huge
• 1:51:28
  Speaker 1: wings beating the air to bear a heavy body up,
• 1:51:32
  Speaker 1: and a hoot owl laboriously made his way through the
• 1:51:35
  Speaker 1: trees his perch, a dead limb, having at last broken
• 1:51:39
  Speaker 1: beneath his weight. Low on the ground, two fiery eyes
• 1:51:43
  Speaker 1: glared up in the savage eight. Then the long white
• 1:51:47
  Speaker 1: claw slowly drew back out of sight, and the cushioned
• 1:51:50
  Speaker 1: feet moved on again. It had been a hard and
• 1:51:54
  Speaker 1: long winter for the king, and the spring had been
• 1:51:57
  Speaker 1: slow in coming. There had been when he could not
• 1:52:01
  Speaker 1: leave his den, when the leaden clouds had unburdened themselves
• 1:52:05
  Speaker 1: for hours at a time, and the snow had piled
• 1:52:08
  Speaker 1: up up up over the very door of his own
• 1:52:11
  Speaker 1: and all familiar landmarks were obliterated. Then he must needs
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 1: chafe inside his hiding place, and when hunger seized him,
• 1:52:20
  Speaker 1: the cold nipped him the harder, and it was a
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 1: bitter battle to keep them both off. But his fur
• 1:52:26
  Speaker 1: had grown heavy and thick, and he could curl up
• 1:52:29
  Speaker 1: and sleep and forget that hunger was gnawing within him.
• 1:52:33
  Speaker 1: He had lived through too many winters and seen too
• 1:52:35
  Speaker 1: many snows to venture out, for tracks can be seen
• 1:52:39
  Speaker 1: by the men people, and then it would be all
• 1:52:42
  Speaker 1: over with him, for they would come and smoke him out.
• 1:52:45
  Speaker 1: Once before, when he was younger, his life had been
• 1:52:48
  Speaker 1: thus jeopardized, and it was only by finding another exit,
• 1:52:52
  Speaker 1: far off from the one where his enemies sat waiting
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 1: that he escaped. The winter just passed had seen his
• 1:52:59
  Speaker 1: endurance de us to the utmost tortured by starvation. He
• 1:53:03
  Speaker 1: had at last determined to scout around on the top
• 1:53:06
  Speaker 1: of the knob, when the half covered entrance to his
• 1:53:09
  Speaker 1: den was darkened, and a striped tail raccoon came ambling
• 1:53:13
  Speaker 1: in one swift blow, and then the king feasted royally,
• 1:53:18
  Speaker 1: although his victim was old and bony and had but
• 1:53:21
  Speaker 1: little blood in his carcass. But this stayed his graving
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 1: maw for a few days longer, and then he crunched
• 1:53:28
  Speaker 1: the dry bones and licked the snow in lio of water,
• 1:53:32
  Speaker 1: and waited for a thaw. It came at last, and
• 1:53:36
  Speaker 1: the prisoned king sat just within his door and watched
• 1:53:40
  Speaker 1: the snow disappear with gloating eyes. But even then there
• 1:53:45
  Speaker 1: was danger in every step he took, for the soaked
• 1:53:47
  Speaker 1: ground caught and held the scent of his tracks. And
• 1:53:51
  Speaker 1: there were ever roaming the hills in search of him,
• 1:53:54
  Speaker 1: Those lop eared, thin flanked, tireless hounds, the only four
• 1:53:58
  Speaker 1: footed things in all his head kingdom that he feared,
• 1:54:02
  Speaker 1: And they never came alone to do him fair battle,
• 1:54:05
  Speaker 1: but always in overpowering numbers with hereditary hate in their hearts,
• 1:54:10
  Speaker 1: and so it was incumbent upon him to employ flight
• 1:54:13
  Speaker 1: and wily woodcraft when dealing with these arch enemies. And
• 1:54:18
  Speaker 1: such had been his cunning that he had always fooled
• 1:54:21
  Speaker 1: them and shaken them from his tracks. Ere he crept,
• 1:54:24
  Speaker 1: tired yet victorious, into his hidden chamber to rest. The
• 1:54:29
  Speaker 1: phantom like figure trailing its way down the knob slope,
• 1:54:32
  Speaker 1: reached the timberline without let or hindrance. Save the single
• 1:54:36
  Speaker 1: exception which we have seen. His back was still beset
• 1:54:40
  Speaker 1: by occasional sharp pains where the limb had struck, and
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 1: this fact did not heighten the quality of mercy in
• 1:54:47
  Speaker 1: his heart, if indeed such a thing abode there. He
• 1:54:51
  Speaker 1: halted for a moment on the edge of the cleared
• 1:54:54
  Speaker 1: ground before trusting himself to the open, and looked and
• 1:54:57
  Speaker 1: listened with painful intentness. Then a slender red tongue leaped
• 1:55:02
  Speaker 1: from his mouth and swept his chops hungrily, for a
• 1:55:05
  Speaker 1: peculiar odor was wafted to his nostrils across the field.
• 1:55:10
  Speaker 1: It came from the backs of a bunch of sleeping
• 1:55:12
  Speaker 1: shots in a far off corner of the barn yard.
• 1:55:15
  Speaker 1: Discretion immediately gave place to the unsatisfied hunger of many
• 1:55:20
  Speaker 1: days and the insatiable lust for blood. With swift bounds,
• 1:55:25
  Speaker 1: the king advanced across the field, which had been sown
• 1:55:28
  Speaker 1: in wheat the fall before, and was now totally bare
• 1:55:31
  Speaker 1: of vegetation. He reached the rail fence enclosing the garden,
• 1:55:35
  Speaker 1: and skirted it warily, every nerve keyed to its highest tension,
• 1:55:40
  Speaker 1: for not a hundred feet away were the pack sleeping,
• 1:55:42
  Speaker 1: the light dog sleep under and about the house of
• 1:55:46
  Speaker 1: their master. And they had been taught from puppyhood, nay
• 1:55:50
  Speaker 1: for generations, even to rouse and give chase at the
• 1:55:54
  Speaker 1: wild cat's smell. The king knew this, but he had
• 1:55:57
  Speaker 1: dared the same thing before and carried off a prize.
• 1:56:00
  Speaker 1: While the guardians of the flock slept, the model shape
• 1:56:04
  Speaker 1: moved on with soundless steps, and in the shadow of
• 1:56:08
  Speaker 1: the barn it stopped, but it was only to glance
• 1:56:10
  Speaker 1: about to see that everything was still, and that none
• 1:56:13
  Speaker 1: of his blood enemies had scented him in their slumbers. Again,
• 1:56:17
  Speaker 1: he moved forward to stop rigidly. A fat fowl was
• 1:56:22
  Speaker 1: roosting on the top of a stake at the fence corner,
• 1:56:25
  Speaker 1: three feet from him. This was more delicate than hog meat,
• 1:56:29
  Speaker 1: but there was less of it, and the marauder was
• 1:56:32
  Speaker 1: half starved. He felt that he could have eaten a
• 1:56:34
  Speaker 1: full grown ox, and then slept peacefully. So the big
• 1:56:38
  Speaker 1: rooster dreamed on, not knowing how narrowly he had escaped,
• 1:56:42
  Speaker 1: and the sly cat resumed his sleeping journey. His trained
• 1:56:46
  Speaker 1: and faultless nostrils had already located the exact whereabouts of
• 1:56:51
  Speaker 1: his prey, and in a few moments he was as
• 1:56:53
  Speaker 1: close as he dared to go before the final move.
• 1:56:57
  Speaker 1: The fence was high and the rails were placed too
• 1:57:00
  Speaker 1: closely for even his sleek body to squeeze through a crack.
• 1:57:04
  Speaker 1: He could see the half grown shots in the corner,
• 1:57:07
  Speaker 1: sleeping huddled together. They were very still. At times one
• 1:57:11
  Speaker 1: would flick an ear, another would give a spasmodic kick
• 1:57:15
  Speaker 1: at some tormenting flea, and a third would ch ch
• 1:57:19
  Speaker 1: drowsily and relapse into unconsciousness. It was easy game for
• 1:57:24
  Speaker 1: an old hunter, and how juicy their sides look in
• 1:57:28
  Speaker 1: the starlight. But the king had hoped for a crack
• 1:57:31
  Speaker 1: through which to crawl. True, it would be no effort
• 1:57:33
  Speaker 1: for him to scale the highest fence ever built. But
• 1:57:36
  Speaker 1: top rails have a way of falling off with a
• 1:57:39
  Speaker 1: terrible clatter, and sometimes if the spoil be very heavy,
• 1:57:43
  Speaker 1: it is not such an easy matter to get back
• 1:57:45
  Speaker 1: over the fence to freedom. In the midst of his cogitations,
• 1:57:49
  Speaker 1: a light wind sprang up, and he noted with dismay
• 1:57:52
  Speaker 1: that it blew from him to the house yard to
• 1:57:55
  Speaker 1: the keen nostrils of the dog pack. Indecision vanished, with
• 1:58:00
  Speaker 1: eyes glowing like sulfurous coals. He crouched low and swiftly
• 1:58:04
  Speaker 1: inched his hind feet and haunches up under his belly,
• 1:58:09
  Speaker 1: But the semi darkness deceived him and he miscalculated the distance.
• 1:58:13
  Speaker 1: The spring was too strong, and he clutched wildly at
• 1:58:16
  Speaker 1: the top rail as he passed over, only to drag
• 1:58:20
  Speaker 1: it crashing from its place. With a quickness found only
• 1:58:24
  Speaker 1: in the tribe to which he belonged, The great cat
• 1:58:26
  Speaker 1: touched the ground, only to rise in another leap, which
• 1:58:30
  Speaker 1: landed him in the midst of the half awakened and
• 1:58:32
  Speaker 1: dazed pigs. The deadly claws were bare, and they ripped
• 1:58:36
  Speaker 1: at the throat of a victim as the wicked teeth
• 1:58:39
  Speaker 1: closed upon its neck and snapped the vertebra. With the
• 1:58:42
  Speaker 1: gush of hot blood in his face and the smell
• 1:58:45
  Speaker 1: of it deluging his nostrils, Caution and secrecy took wing,
• 1:58:49
  Speaker 1: and the king stopped long enough to throw back his
• 1:58:52
  Speaker 1: head and give one terrifying scream of victory. Then he
• 1:58:57
  Speaker 1: seized the limp form before him in his powerful JOm,
• 1:59:00
  Speaker 1: and with one gigantic bound, cleared the barrier before him,
• 1:59:05
  Speaker 1: and was gone. Almost instantly, another sound went up to
• 1:59:10
  Speaker 1: the listening stars, the full throated bay of alarm from
• 1:59:13
  Speaker 1: the gaunt leader of the dog pack. Then over the
• 1:59:16
  Speaker 1: yard fence, brown shadows flitted singly and in pairs, and
• 1:59:21
  Speaker 1: a score of swift feet passed hither and thither while
• 1:59:24
  Speaker 1: sniffing noses searched for the trail. They found the place
• 1:59:28
  Speaker 1: of the slaughter, and the tracks of the bold marauder
• 1:59:31
  Speaker 1: smelled fresh and strong. Then, for a time the circling
• 1:59:35
  Speaker 1: forms were baffled, But quickly one leaner and warier than
• 1:59:40
  Speaker 1: the rest, had wriggled through the fence, and his keen voice,
• 1:59:44
  Speaker 1: excited yelp told that the trail had been found again. Leaping, climbing, crawling,
• 1:59:50
  Speaker 1: the whole pack were soon over, and with waving tails
• 1:59:54
  Speaker 1: and deep mouthed cries, took up the pursuit. It was
• 1:59:57
  Speaker 1: not the first time that they had followed the King
• 1:59:59
  Speaker 1: of the northern slope, but now he was close at hand,
• 2:00:03
  Speaker 1: for his tracks were hot in the soft soil of
• 2:00:05
  Speaker 1: the wheat field. The wildcat had barely reached the timber
• 2:00:09
  Speaker 1: line when his pursuers took up his trail in earnest.
• 2:00:13
  Speaker 1: His progress across the field had been slow, for the
• 2:00:16
  Speaker 1: ground was yielding, and the burden which he carried was
• 2:00:19
  Speaker 1: almost half as large as himself. For a while he
• 2:00:22
  Speaker 1: ran parallel to the open, husbanding his strength for greater need.
• 2:00:26
  Speaker 1: Then took a course up the knob side, directly opposite
• 2:00:30
  Speaker 1: the way he had come, and away from his lair.
• 2:00:33
  Speaker 1: He heard the dog pack after him. He heard them
• 2:00:36
  Speaker 1: change their course at the timber line, and he knew
• 2:00:39
  Speaker 1: that they were not to be lost by any simple ruse.
• 2:00:43
  Speaker 1: The enmity of years was in their hearts, and their
• 2:00:45
  Speaker 1: teeth were wetted for his death. They were drawing nearer
• 2:00:49
  Speaker 1: every moment, for they were fleet of foot and had
• 2:00:51
  Speaker 1: nothing to hold them back. The dead weight in his vice,
• 2:00:55
  Speaker 1: like teeth dragged at his neck, and as he ran,
• 2:00:58
  Speaker 1: the king made up his mind he might must leave
• 2:01:00
  Speaker 1: his prize if he would escape, for they were running
• 2:01:03
  Speaker 1: two yards to his one. He stopped for the shortest
• 2:01:06
  Speaker 1: instant by the side of a fallen tree, thrust his
• 2:01:09
  Speaker 1: muzzle into the torn neck of his kill, and drank
• 2:01:12
  Speaker 1: of the blood. Then, relieved of his load, he sped
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 1: up the hill with long, quick bounds. His enemies were
• 2:01:19
  Speaker 1: pressing upon him hard. He could hear them crashing through
• 2:01:23
  Speaker 1: the twigs and bushes, and their short, sharp cries told
• 2:01:27
  Speaker 1: him that they were straining every muscle to overtake him,
• 2:01:30
  Speaker 1: no matter they had done it before, and he was
• 2:01:33
  Speaker 1: ahead of them now and still king of the northern slope.
• 2:01:37
  Speaker 1: Nearer and nearer the top of the knob they came,
• 2:01:40
  Speaker 1: and the cat redoubled his efforts, for a cunning scheme
• 2:01:43
  Speaker 1: had crept into his subtle brain. He reached the crest
• 2:01:47
  Speaker 1: twenty yards in advance of the closest hound, dashed across
• 2:01:51
  Speaker 1: a small plateau terminating in a cliff, then swerved to
• 2:01:55
  Speaker 1: the left and was loft to sight as the pack came,
• 2:01:58
  Speaker 1: panting on his heels with their noses close to earth.
• 2:02:02
  Speaker 1: The lead hound went sheer over the cliff with a
• 2:02:04
  Speaker 1: howl of dismay. The when immediately behind him, braced his
• 2:02:08
  Speaker 1: fore legs and plowed two furrows in the leafy loam,
• 2:02:12
  Speaker 1: stopping with his dripping tongue hanging over the chasm. In
• 2:02:16
  Speaker 1: the momentary confusion which followed, the hunted gained twenty more yards,
• 2:02:21
  Speaker 1: and then the chase swept on again, hotter than before.
• 2:02:25
  Speaker 1: Along the crest of the range, the king led them,
• 2:02:28
  Speaker 1: his eyes glowing like twin head lights, and his muscles
• 2:02:32
  Speaker 1: playing free and strong under his loose skin. But his
• 2:02:36
  Speaker 1: strength was leaving him. The long winter fast, together with
• 2:02:40
  Speaker 1: the weight which he had carried that night for the
• 2:02:42
  Speaker 1: first mile of his flight, combined to weaken that tenacious
• 2:02:46
  Speaker 1: strength which was his birthright. His blood enemies were fresh
• 2:02:51
  Speaker 1: from sleep and strong from food, and their tireless limbs
• 2:02:55
  Speaker 1: were gradually overtaking him. He did not know how desperately
• 2:02:58
  Speaker 1: near they were to so the sharp clicking of teeth
• 2:03:01
  Speaker 1: at his hind quarters told him that the chase was
• 2:03:04
  Speaker 1: nearly done. There was one alternative, now, the last, and
• 2:03:09
  Speaker 1: he took it. Before him rose a large oak tree.
• 2:03:13
  Speaker 1: Gathering his spent energies. He leaped upon it, ran half
• 2:03:16
  Speaker 1: way up the trunk, then crouched on a limb, with
• 2:03:19
  Speaker 1: the breath rasping in his throat and a dreadful aching
• 2:03:23
  Speaker 1: in his strained lungs. It had been a long, hard race,
• 2:03:27
  Speaker 1: and he was only half a victor, for beneath him
• 2:03:30
  Speaker 1: was the pack, gnawing at the bark in blind frenzy,
• 2:03:33
  Speaker 1: or patrolling the tree with lugubrious howls expressive of baffled hate.
• 2:03:39
  Speaker 1: Throughout the long hours of the spring night, they remained.
• 2:03:42
  Speaker 1: Thus the king a prisoner in his tower. His captors
• 2:03:46
  Speaker 1: keeping sleepless guard below. All knew what the end would be,
• 2:03:51
  Speaker 1: especially did the silent figure in the tree think on
• 2:03:54
  Speaker 1: what the dawn would bring. There was no escape, but
• 2:03:57
  Speaker 1: there were two deaths, the one fight, the other to
• 2:04:00
  Speaker 1: be shot down like a skulking fox or a cringing opossum.
• 2:04:05
  Speaker 1: But life was sweet to the big wild cat, and
• 2:04:08
  Speaker 1: as the slow dawn broke, it seemed that the balsam
• 2:04:11
  Speaker 1: of the forest had never come so sweet to his nostrils,
• 2:04:15
  Speaker 1: and he could feel the old time vigor coursing through
• 2:04:18
  Speaker 1: his rested limbs. He placed his bullet head on his
• 2:04:21
  Speaker 1: paws and looked down through the misty vapor of early morning.
• 2:04:25
  Speaker 1: He could see them, ten in number, keeping wide eyed
• 2:04:29
  Speaker 1: watch over him, who had so long eluded their best efforts.
• 2:04:34
  Speaker 1: They had been quiet towards morning, but none of them
• 2:04:37
  Speaker 1: had slept. Now one lifted up his head and sent
• 2:04:41
  Speaker 1: forth his battle call of victory. Others joined in, and
• 2:04:45
  Speaker 1: just as the sun was beginning to peep over the
• 2:04:47
  Speaker 1: edge of the world, the answer came. A fox horn
• 2:04:51
  Speaker 1: sounded not far away. The men people were coming, and
• 2:04:55
  Speaker 1: there were two deaths. There was no need to wait.
• 2:04:58
  Speaker 1: No two footed things should stand laughing by and see
• 2:05:02
  Speaker 1: him perish. Let the four footed kind wreak his death.
• 2:05:06
  Speaker 1: But he would not die alone. Swiftly he raised himself
• 2:05:10
  Speaker 1: and walked along the limb for a few inches. Then
• 2:05:13
  Speaker 1: he lifted his back into an arch, reversed his fur
• 2:05:16
  Speaker 1: so that he looked like a great brown ball, and
• 2:05:19
  Speaker 1: sent forth one last awful cry, which echoed far and
• 2:05:23
  Speaker 1: wide over the knob range and over the lowlands, causing
• 2:05:27
  Speaker 1: the hate eager hounds to involuntarily draw back in their tracks,
• 2:05:32
  Speaker 1: and sending a shiver of fear to the hearts of
• 2:05:34
  Speaker 1: the denizens of the southern slope. Then he launched his
• 2:05:38
  Speaker 1: body in mid air straight at the leader of the
• 2:05:41
  Speaker 1: dog pack. The wily hound drew back, and the wildcat
• 2:05:44
  Speaker 1: struck the earth. They were on him before he could
• 2:05:47
  Speaker 1: lift his paws from the shock of the fall. Yet
• 2:05:50
  Speaker 1: he shook them off bravely and gave blow for blow,
• 2:05:53
  Speaker 1: and in a second the curving white claws were dripping
• 2:05:57
  Speaker 1: red drops. The pack leader held off for a time,
• 2:06:00
  Speaker 1: for he was old in war, But when the right
• 2:06:03
  Speaker 1: moment came, he rushed in for the throat hold and
• 2:06:06
  Speaker 1: got it. Then there was a confused medley of legs, tails, teeth, claws,
• 2:06:11
  Speaker 1: air and blood, all in a writhing heap. When order
• 2:06:15
  Speaker 1: was evolved from this chaos, two hounds were dead, two
• 2:06:19
  Speaker 1: lamped on three legs, another had but one ear, and
• 2:06:23
  Speaker 1: not one of the pack had a whole skin. And
• 2:06:26
  Speaker 1: in their midst was a shapeless, lifeless ball of mottled brown.
• 2:06:32
  Speaker 1: End of Story seven, End of the Race of the
• 2:06:36
  Speaker 1: Swift by Edwin Carlyle Litsey