Page:The Cross Pull.pdf/115

 His intelligence seemed so almost human that she hesitated to throw away these offerings lest he should take offense. When he was off on his hunts she dropped the undesirable specimens in deep cracks in the rock rubble that lay piled at the foot of the cliff.

In common with the majority of the human race she grossly underestimated animal powers of scent. Flash could scent a track made by a grouse two hours past. A rabbit has a half inch of hair on his feet yet Flash could follow the trail one left on hard frozen ground or even on glare ice as easily as a man sees its track in soft snow.

He had no need to go within thirty feet of the cliff to know accurately the exact spot in which each one had been dropped and just which one it was.

In the old days with Silver he himself had buried meat in a score of places near the den after the family had feasted to capacity. That these caches had never been re-opened mattered not at all. They were but reserves against the possible famine which never came.

It now seemed perfectly natural that the girl should bury her surplus meat, However he preferred dirt to rocks for this purpose and those