250 ON THE EDGE OF THE WILDERNESS 
filled Red Slayer with joy. The noise and terror 
of the hens delighted him. He sprang upon a 
second fowl] and killed it. Then he sprang upon 
a third. He was hungry no longer, but filled 
with the lust to kill. He had just fastened on 
the throat of a fourth bird when the hen-house 
door opened, a blinding light flashed in, and a 
man and boy entered. Red Slayer let go of his 
prey and cast about for a means of escape. He 
sprang into a dark corner, but the wall was solid 
there, and the blinding light followed hin. Now 
the boy sprang at him with a club, while the hens 
were dashing madly around. The door was open, 
but it was behind the man. Yet it was his only 
hope, for under that had been the crack where he 
entered. Red Slayer made a spring for it. The 
club descended, just grazing his tail. Between 
the man’s legs he dove, out into the night, and 
away, pursued by the sounds of cackling hens, 
angry voices, the baying of a dog, the excited 
stamping of the horses in the stable. Up and up 
toward his wall he went. Yet even as he bounded, 
his nose caught on the still, frosty air the scent of 
a mouse, and he dropped to his stalking pace im- 
