THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUR GOOSE 



207 



that spot. I could hear the crashing 

 of brush and the yelps of the phantom 

 dogs ; then there was a pause, a rush- 

 ing noise, and out leaped as beautiful 

 a bull elk as I had ever seen — in fact 

 the first I had ever seen in his native 

 wildness. I had 

 only time to note 

 h i s muscular 

 neck, his grand 

 branching ant- 

 lers, and a pack 

 of black wolves 

 at h i s heels, 

 when I brought 

 my gun to my 

 shoulder, but be- 

 fore I could pull 

 the trigger "Big 

 Pete" struck it, 

 knoc king the 

 muzzle up. 



"Hist!" he 

 said, and pointed 

 to the bird. 



The eagle 

 screamed, and 

 skillfully avoid- 

 ing the branch- 

 ing antlers, 

 struck the buck 

 fair with its 

 hooked talons, 

 flapping its huge 

 wings in the poor . 

 beast's eyes. I 

 was thunder- 

 struck, the evi- 

 dent partnership 

 of wolves and 

 bird needed 

 some explana- 

 tion and it was 

 not long in com- 

 ing. A shrill 

 whistle pierced 

 the air, the black 

 wolves immedi- 

 ately ceased to worry the elk, the eagle 

 again soared overhead, and for an in- 

 stant the elk stood confused, then leaped 

 high in the air and fell dead. The next 

 moment I heard the crack of a rifle 



and saw a puff of blue smoke across 

 the lake. 



"That's no ghost, Pete," I said, when 

 partly recovered from my astonish- 

 ment. 



"Wait," said Pete laconically. 



Not long af- 

 terwards there 

 was a move- 

 ment among the 

 wolves and, 

 noiselessly as a 

 panther, a fig- 

 ure dropped, by 

 the aid of the 

 limb of a tree, 

 from an over- 

 hanging rock to 

 the side of the 

 dead elk. He 

 made no noise 

 uttered no 

 word to the pa- 

 tient black ani- 

 mals who sat 

 with their red 

 tongues hang- 

 ing from their 

 panting jaws, 

 but without a 

 moment's hesi- 

 tation whipped 

 out a knife, and 

 with a dexterity 

 and skill that 

 brought back 

 the color to 

 "'Big Pete's" 

 face, this 

 stran g e ma n 

 p r o c eeded to 

 take the coat 

 off the deer. 

 The great eagle, 

 perched upon 

 the branching 

 antlers. I could 

 hear it uttering 

 note peculiar to 

 The skin removed, with 



as beautiful a bull elk as I had ever seen 



whistling 



that low 



such birds. 



equal dexterity all the best parts of the 



meat were skillfully detached and 



packed in the green hide, then, remov- 



