Page:The Cross Pull.pdf/176

 whether even the mountain lion can keep in sight of him at all times. A ram’s hind feet are sharp, his front feet larger, each forefoot fitted with two oval, non-skid pads. He can jump ten feet along the sheer face of a cliff and land safely on a projecting nose of rock no larger than a foot across. In this way he tacks fearlessly from ledge to ledge along the dizzy wail of any precipice.

Betty studied these three rams with even more interest than any other animals she had seen. Moran had told her that they were his favorites of all horned game.

Flash knew all these things; knew that those rams were safe from him, temporarily safe at least. When he stalked his meat he was well aware of the individual abilities of his prey. He would move upwind on an elk, crouching motionless when it looked his way, knowing he might escape its sight but that he could never remain undetected for one instant if the wind carried his scent to it. When he stalked a sheep he paid less heed to the wind, crossed rock slides without care for the stones his feet dislodged, but centered his attention wholly upon avoiding those never-failing eyes until he could come between his prey and some impossible cliff.