Page:The Cross Pull.pdf/230

 —when he catches the body scent ahead. We can start breaking Flash on a friendly trail—yours.”

Vermont looked doubtful.

“I know considerable about dogs myself,” he said, “I don’t relish having that wolf turned loose on any trail of mine. That breed of a dog don’t know when to quit.”

“One more reason for keeping him in leash,” Moran explained. “When we overtake you he’ll see that there’s no resulting fight. He’ll soon learn that we’re not following a trail to kill whatever we find at the end of it. He’ll get the point after a few tryouts; learn that this tracking of men is only a friendly sport. Then we’ll have less trouble handling him when we finally put him on the trail we want.”

“It’s worth a trial,” Vermont decided. He was a man of action. “Let’s start right now,” he said. Moran shook his head.

“In the morning,” he returned. “I’m going to send him on an errand now and have him guard my horses to-night.”

Moran wrote a note on a leaf of his notebook, rolled it around the elkhide collar and fastened it with a pin. At the first sight of Moran’s notebook Flash was alert. He knew what this meant