terrific pace and with a
blind destination; he might leave them and scout far and wide, alone,
always at dizzy speed. As the hunter stayed longer by his puzzling
task, he began to wonder if this sprang from mere running instinct, or
knowledge that he must keep himself in the pink of condition. Like
a man, the preferences of Alcatraz were distinctly formed and well
expressed. He disliked the middle day and during this period sought a
combination of wind and shade. Only in the morning and in the evening
he ranged for pasture or for pleasure. Impulse still guided him. Now
and again he wandered to the eastern or the western mountains, then
far into the hot heart of the desert, then, with incredible boldness,
he doubled back to the well-watered lands of the Jordan ranch, leaped
a fence, followed by the mares to whom he had taught the art of
jumping, and fed fat under the very eye of his enemies.

The boldness of these proceedings taught Perris what he already knew,
that the stallion knew man and hated as much as he dreaded his former
masters. These excursions were temptings of Providence, games
of hazard. Perris, gambler by instinct himself, understood and
appreciated, at the same time that his anger at being so constantly
outwitted, outdistanced, grew hot. Then there remained no kindness,
only desire to make the kill. His dreams had come to turn on one
picture--Alcatraz cantering in range of the waiting rifle!

That dream haunted even his walking moments as he lay here on the
hilltop, wondering if he had not been mistaken in selecting this place
of all the range. Yet he had chosen it with care as one of the points
of passage for Alcatraz during the stallion's wanderings to the four
quarters of his domains and though since he took up his station
here an imp of the perverse kept the stallion far away, the watcher
remained on guard, baked and scorched by the midday sun, constantly
surveying the lower hills nearby or sweeping more distant reaches with
his glass. This day he felt the long vigil to be definitely a failure,
for the sun was behind the western summits and the time of deepening
shadows most unfavorable to marksmanship had come. He swung the glass
for the last time to the south; it caught the glint of some moving
creature.

He focused his attention, but the object disappeared. A full five
minutes passed before it came out of the intervening valley but then,
bursting over the hilltop, it swept enormous into the pow