perty.

"No lion could ever get close to Wildfire," he soliloquized, with a
short laugh. Of that he was absolutely certain.

The sun rose, melting the frost, and a breath of warm air, laden with
the scent of pine, moved heavily under the huge, yellow trees. Slone
passed a point where the remains of an old camp-fire and a pile of deer
antlers were further proof that Indians visited this plateau to hunt.
From this camp broader, more deeply defined trails led away to the
south and east. Slone kept to the east trail, in which Wildfire's
tracks and those of the lion showed clearly. It was about the middle of
the forenoon when the tracks of the stallion and lion left the trail to
lead up a little draw where grass grew thick. Slone followed, reading
the signs of Wildfire's progress, and the action of his pursuer, as
well as if he had seen them. Here the stallion had plowed into a
snow-bank, eating a hole two feet deep; then he had grazed around a
little; then on and on; there his splendid tracks were deep in the soft
earth. Slone knew what to expect when the track of the lion veered from
those of the horse, and he followed the lion tracks. The ground was
soft from the late melting of snow, and Nagger sunk deep. The lion left
a plain track. Here he stole steadily along; there he left many tracks
at a point where he might have halted to make sure of his scent. He was
circling on the trail of the stallion, with cunning intent of ambush.
The end of this slow, careful stalk of the lion, as told in his tracks,
came upon the edge of a knoll where he had crouched to watch and wait.

From this perch he had made a magnificent spring--Slone estimating it
to be forty feet--but he had missed the stallion. There were Wildfire's
tracks again, slow and short, and then deep and sharp where in the
impetus of fright he had sprung out of reach. A second leap of the
lion, and then lessening bounds, and finally an abrupt turn from
Wildfire's trail told the futility of that stalk. Slone made certain
that Wildfire was so keen that as he grazed along he had kept to open
ground.

Wildfire had run for a mile, then slowed down to a trot, and he had
circled to get back to the trail he had left. Slone believed the horse
was just so intelligent. At any rate, Wildfire struck the trail again,
and turned at right angles to follow it.

Here the forest floor appeared perfectly level. Patches of snow became
frequent, and larger as Slone went on. At length th