, and Josh's bosom surged with mingled feelings. Why
did he not carry that little gun? Why did he not realize? were the
thoughts that came--$500! A noble chance! broad daylight only
twenty-five yards! and gone!

The Fox was still there when Josh drove on. On the next trip he brought
the little rifle. He had sawed off the stock so he could hide it easily
in his overcoat if need be. No man knew that he carried arms, but the
Foxes seemed 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.

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,