Redruff 



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rifled cry from Graytail as the dog sprang at 

 her, she rose in air and skimmed behind the 

 shielding trunk, away from the gunner in the 

 open, right into the power of the miserable 

 wretch under the bank. 



Whirr, and up she went, a beautiful, sen- 

 tient, noble being. 



Bang, and down she fell — battered and bleed- 

 ing, to gasp her life out and to lie, mere car- 

 rion in the snow. 



It was a perilous place for Redruff. There was 

 no chance for a safe rise, so he squatted low. 

 The dog came within ten feet of him, and the 

 stranger, coming across to Cuddy, passed at 

 five feet, but he never moved till a chance came 

 to slip behind the great trunk away from both. 

 Then he safely rose and flew to the lonely glen 

 by Taylor's Hill. 



One by one the deadly cruel gun had stricken 

 his near ones down, till now, once more, he 

 was alone. The Snow Moon slowly passed 

 with many a narrow escape, and Redruff, now 

 known to be the only survivor of his kind, was 

 relentlessly pursued, and grew wilder every day. 



It seemed, at length, a waste of time to fol 



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