med to know. The Red ones kept afar and the Black one came no
more. Day after day he drove and hoped but the Black Fox has cunning
measured to his value. He came not, or if he came, was wisely hidden,
and so the month went by, till late in the cold Moon of Snow he heard
old Yancey, say "There's a Silver Fox bin a-hanging around the stable
this last week. Leastwise Dave says he seen him." There were soldiers
sitting around that stove, game guardians of the Park, and still more
dangerous, a scout, the soldiers' guide, a mountaineer. Josh turned not
an inch, he made no sound in response, but his heart gave a jump. Half
an hour later he went out to bed his horses for the night, and peering
around the stable he saw a couple of shadowy forms that silently shifted
until swallowed by the gloom.

Then the soldiers came to bed their horses, and Josh went back to the
stove. His big driving coat hung with the little sawed-off rifle in the
long pocket. He waited till the soldiers one by one went up the ladder
to the general bunk-room. He rose again, got the lantern, lighted it,
carried it out behind the lonely stable. The horses were grinding their
hay, the stars were faintly lighting the snow. There was no one about as
he hung the lantern under the eaves outside so that it could be seen
from the open valley, but not from the house.

[Illustration]

A faint _Yap-yah_, of a Fox was heard on the piney hillside, as he lay
down on the hay in the loft, but there were no signs of life on the
snow. He had come to wait all night if need be, and waited. The lantern
might allure, it might scare, but it was needed in this gloom, and it
tinged the snow with faint yellow light below him. An hour went by, then
a big-tailed form came near and made a little bark at the lantern. It
looked very dark, but it had a paler patch on the throat. This waiting
was freezing work; Josh's teeth were chattering in spite of his
overcoat. Another gray form came, then a much larger black one shaped
itself on the white. It dashed at the first, which fled, and the second
one followed but a little, and then sat down on the snow, gazing at that
bright light. When you are sure, you are _so_ sure--Josh knew him now,
he was facing the Silver Fox. But the light was dim. Josh's hand
trembled as he bared it to lay the back on his lips and suck so as to
make a mousey squeak. The effect on the Fox was instant. He glided
forward intent as a hunting cat. Again he stood in, oh!