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 and Shep had a firm grip on his free fore legs. They were holding him like a vise and were in the act of pulling him down. Two careful shots stretched the dogs by their intended victim and left the King free from the Renegade Pack. Slowly he arose, snorting and stamping at his new enemy. For he recognized this man with the thunder-stick as his most deadly foe. Yet this enemy had seemed to deliver him from the grip of the dogs. He could not flee without running straight toward the man. Yet he could not stay there; he had learned it was dangerous to stand still in the sight of man. So he trotted slowly toward him.

The warden's first impulse was to give him the remaining bullet in his rifle. He was a prize. He could let him lie until the morning when the open season would be on. He raised his gun. Then he noticed how spent the King was. He could barely move one leg by the other. Then another thought came to him. He could not shoot a deer with a rifle even if it had been a day later. Then, too, he was the