Page:Gray Eagle (1927).pdf/90

 black oak trunk could not be deceived. But the watcher in the canes, having just come there from the inner regions of the swamp, had not seen the hunter take his seat on the pine stump; and when after many minutes this watcher had detected not the slightest movement, he concluded that the odd-looking, erect, dun-colored object yonder was a projecting portion of the stump itself.

At last, therefore, the cruel eyes in the canes shifted their gaze. The shape of which they were a part moved silently, sinuously forward. Next moment the canes parted and this shape came out into the open.

Sandy Jim Mayfield saw it instantly. He saw instantly, also, that this shape, this monstrous bay lynx, one of the largest that he had ever seen, had come out of the canes for a very definite purpose. He knew that the lynx's powers of scent are limited, but the whole attitude and behavior of this lynx showed him that it had scented something. His perception of this fact was so instantaneous that he checked by a conscious effort of his will the slight start of surprise which the sudden appearance of the creature had occasioned.

The lynx was advancing almost directly towards him, gliding forward very slowly, its padded feet making no sound, its great bearded face hanging low. For an instant Mayfield considered the pos-