Part 8 (1/2)

Then he went on to the windfall, and in his warm nest slept until another day

That day Jacques Le Beau--whom the Indians called ”Muchet-ta-aao” (the One with an Evil Heart)--went over his trapline and rebuilt his snow-smothered ”houses” and re-set his traps

It was in the afternoon that Miki, as hunting, struck his trail in a swaer was his soul stirred by the wild yearning for a master He sniffed, suspiciously, of Le Beau's snowshoe tracks and the crest along his spine treht the wind, and listened He followed cautiously, and a hundred yards farther on came to one of Le Beau's KEKEKS or trap-shelters Here too, there wasMiki reached in From under his fore-paw ca sticks and snow into his face He snarled, and for a few moments he waited, with his eyes on the trap Then he stretched hi his feet Thus he had discovered the hidden menace of the steel jaws, and instinct told him how to evade them

For another third of a mile he followed Le Beau's tracks He sensed the presence of a new and thrilling danger, and yet he did not turn off the trail An impulse which he was powerless to resist drew him on He ca without springing the thing which he kneas concealed close under it His long fangs clicked as he went on He was eager for a glimpse of the man-beast But he did not hurry A third, a fourth, and a fifth trap he robbed of theirard and covered quickly the five miles between the swamp and his windfall

Half an hour later Le Beau came back over the line He saw the first empty KEKEK, and the tracks in the snow

”TONNERRE!--a wolf!” he exclaimed ”And in broad day!”

Then a slow look of amazement crept into his face, and he fell upon his knees in the snow and exa! A devil of a wild dog--robbingFrom the pocket of his coat he drew a small tin box, and from this box he took a round ball of fat In the heart of the fat was a strychnine capsule It was a poison-bait, to be set for wolves and foxes

Le Beau chuckled exultantly as he stuck the deadly lure on the end of the bait-peg

”OW, a wild dog,” he growled ”I will teach him To-morroill be dead”

On each of the five ravished bait-pegs he placed a strychnine capsule rolled in its inviting little ball of fat

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The next ain for the trapline of Jacques Le Beau It was not the thought of food easily secured that tereater thrill in killing for himself It was the trail, with its snet Where that s he wanted to lie down, and wait Yet with his desire there was also fear, and a steadily growing caution He did not tamper with the first KEKEK, nor with the second

At the third Le Beau had fu of his bait, and for that reason the little ball of fat was strong with the scent of his hands A fox would have turned away fro and dropped it in the snoeen his forefeet

Then he looked about him, and listened for a full ue The scent of Le Beau's hands kept hi it as he had sed the caribou meat A little suspiciously he crushed it slowly between his jaws The fat eet He was about to gulp it dohen he detected another and less pleasant taste, and what remained in his mouth he spat out upon the snow But the acrid bite of the poison reue and in his throat It crept deeper--and he caught up asensation that was crawling nearer to his vitals

Had he devoured the ball of fat as he had eaten the other baits he would have been dead within a quarter of an hour, and Le Beau would not have gone far to find his body As it was, he was beginning to turn sick at the end of the fifteen minutes A premonition of the evil that was upon him drew hione only a short distance when suddenly his legs gave way under hian to shi+ver Every reide, and it was i hie stiffness in the back of his neck, and his breath hissed chokingly out of his throat The stiffness passed like a wave of fire through his body Where his muscles had treid and lifeless The throttling grip of the poison at the base of his brain drew his head back until his ht up to the sky Still he made no cry For a space every nerve in his body was at the point of death

Then carip left the back of his neck; the stiffness shot out of his body in a flood of shi+vering cold, and in anotherup the snow in mad convulsions The spasm lasted for perhaps aStreams of saliva dripped from his jaws into the snow But he was alive Death had ered to his feet and continued on his way to the windfall

Thereafter Jacques Le Beau ht place a million poison capsules in his way and he would not touch the

Two days later Le Beau sahere Miki had fought his fight with death in the snow and his heart was black with rage and disappoint It was noon when he came to the windfall and saw the beaten path where Miki entered it On his knees he peered into the cavernous depths--and saw nothing But Miki, lying watchfully, saw the man, and he was like the black, bearded o And in his heart, too, there was disappoints there was always the thought of Challoner--the master he had lost; and it was never Challoner whom he found when he carowl, and the man's blood leapt excitedly as he rose to his feet He could not go in after the wild dog, and he could not lure him out But there was another way He would drive him out with fire!

Deep back in his fortress, Miki heard the crunch of Le Beau's feet in the snow A fewinto his lair

”BETE, BETE,” he called half tauntingly, and again Miki growled

Jacques was satisfied The windfall was not more than thirty or forty feet in diarowth It would be iet away from his rifle